Ex-Advisor Says Bush Eyed Bombing of Iraq on 9/11

Fri Mar 19, 7:20 PM ET

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former White House anti-terrorism advisor says
the Bush administration considered bombing Iraq (news - web sites) in
retaliation after Sept. 11, 2001 even though it was clear al Qaeda had
carried out the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon (news
- web sites).


Richard Clarke, who headed a cybersecurity board that gleaned
intelligence from the Internet, told CBS "60 Minutes" in an interview to
be aired on Sunday he was surprised administration officials turned
immediately toward Iraq instead of al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden (news -
web sites).

"They were talking about Iraq on 9/11. They were talking about it on
9/12," Clarke says.

Clarke said he was briefing President Bush (news - web sites) and
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld among other top officials in the
aftermath of the devastating attacks.

"Rumsfeld was saying we needed to bomb Iraq. ... We all said, 'but no,
no. Al Qaeda is in Afghanistan (news - web sites)," recounts Clarke,
"and Rumsfeld said, 'There aren't any good targets in Afghanistan and
there are lots of good targets in Iraq."'

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