WAR: Bush Wanted to Bomb Iraq Right After 9/11

BREAKING NEWS: Former White House terrorism advisor Richard Clarke will reveal on 60 Minutes (CBS Television, Sunday, 7PM EST), that the Bush administration was considering bombing Iraq in retaliation for 9/11, despite knowing Al-Qaida was responsible. www.drudgereport.com... Breaking news from the Drudge Report.

I heard about this a couple of hours ago, I would think this would be held in a matter on National Security. With Spain's Conservative Party ouster after the Madrid bombings, and for their support of The US led invasion of Iraq, Incoming prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has publicly scrutinized the Bush Administration for policies in Iraq. If it is indeed true, the bombings had this effect on the election, what could this news do to other Nations? Being as the slander campaigns of Kerry and Bush have heated up on Terrorism and Defense, this is not good news to be revealed for the country's sake.

Updated Link
Yahoo/AP
[Edited on 19-3-2004 by TrickmastertricK]

[Edited on 20-3-2004 by TrickmastertricK]

Another book to be sold?
Another Paul O'Neil?
Time to cash in those chips, eh, Mr Clark?
Is he really saying anything that hasn't been said?
The wording in Matt's article needs some addressing? Like where did Matt ever get the idea that Mr. Clark was "a" terrorist advisor? After reading some material on Mr. Clark, my understanding was that he was "a" Cyberterrorism specific? Must be that word "terrorism," the catch-all of words...
I dunno, but seemingly Mr. Clark has his own "demons" to contend with?

Richard Clarke's Legacy of Miscalculation
Richard Clarke Office of Cyber Security Director

Btw, found this interesting article that would seemingly dispute what Mr. Clark is trying to insinuate?
Al Qaeda 'Game Plan' on Bush's Desk Sept. 9

The above article was reported by MSNBC, NBC, Reuters, etc.
Perhaps 60 Minutes forgot to ask Mr. Clark about "Operation Bojinka" and why this information was supressed from the incoming president?
But hell, does it matter. The "worldwide" war against Al-Qaeda was already sitting on the current President's desk...and subsequently followed by the war on the Taliban in Afghanistan, where Bin Laden and his main Al-Qaeda organization operated from....


seekerof

[Edited on 19-3-2004 by Seekerof]

Richard A. Clarke's commentary on top government leaders, from his new book, "Against All Enemies."
ap.tbo.com...
-President Bush: Clarke blames Bush for doing a "terrible job" fighting terrorism. Says "the critique of him as a dumb, lazy rich kid was somewhat off the mark," but that Bush looks for "the simple solution, the bumper-sticker description of the problem."

-President Clinton: Clarke says he was "beyond mad" over Clinton's lack of discretion that led to his impeachment, but generally praises Clinton as a charismatic, sharp thinker who couldn't get CIA, Pentagon and FBI to deal with terrorism issues. Says Clinton's approval of missile attacks against Iraq over the assassination attempt during Bush's father's presidency deterred Saddam Hussein from future terrorism against America.

-Vice President Dick Cheney: Clarke describes Cheney as quiet and calm but radically conservative. Says Cheney believes U.S. could handle Iraq alone and "everyone else is just more trouble than they are worth." Blames Cheney for failing to speak out about the threat of al-Qaida during senior White House meetings.

-CIA Director George Tenet: Clarke says Tenet "was as much concerned with the threat of al-Qaida as anyone in the government prior to September 11" but was struggling with internal rebuilding at the CIA. Tenet is quoted as saying in June 2001, "It's my sixth sense, but I feel it coming. This is going to be the big one." Says Tenet and Clarke jointly scrapped a doomed plan to capture bin Laden in 1996 at the heavily guarded Tarnak farm in Afghanistan. Clarke complains regularly about failures by CIA to insert spies effectively into Afghanistan and Somalia.

-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice: Clarke says Rice, who effectively demoted Clarke after Bush's election, has "a closer relationship with the second President Bush than any of her predecessors had with the presidents they reported to." Says she "looked skeptical" when Clarke briefed her early in 2001 about al-Qaida threats.

-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld: Clarke accuses Rumsfeld of plotting to bomb Iraq one day after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, despite any evidence of Iraqi involvement. Says Rumsfeld noted there weren't any good bombing targets in Afghanistan but plenty of targets in Iraq. "At first I thought Rumsfeld was joking. But he was serious and the president did not reject out of hand the idea of attacking Iraq," Clarke wrote.

-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz: Clarke quotes him as saying during an April 2001 meeting, "I just don't understand why we are beginning by talking about this one man bin Laden," and telling Clarke, "You give bin Laden too much credit."

-Secretary of State Colin Powell: Clarke praises Powell for urging focus on al-Qaida, not Iraq, immediately after 2001 attacks. Credited for recognizing al-Qaida threat early in 2001.

-Attorney General John Ashcroft: Clarke criticizes Ashcroft over his response to the 2001 attacks, especially over handling of alleged "dirty bomber" Jose Padilla as an enemy combatant. "The attorney general, rather than bringing us together, managed to persuade much of the country that the needed reforms of the Patriot Act were actually the beginning of fascism." Clarke says an unidentified staffer asked him after meeting with Ashcroft early in 2001, "He can't really be that slow, can he?" Clarke's response: "He did lose a Senate re-election to a dead man."

-FBI Director Robert Mueller: Clarke says Mueller, who was hired days before the 2001 attacks, "cannot be blamed for the failure of the bureau to find al-Qaida or even to have a computer network prior to then." But he complains that the FBI, under Mueller, hasn't managed to keep its top counterterrorism experts from retiring.

-Former FBI Director Louis Freeh: Clarke blames Freeh for failing to coordinate largely independent FBI field offices or upgrade their computer networks.


Does anyone recall the PNAC document that had the bush administration planning for regime change in Iraq before even going into office?

Why does this all make sense? Is it because this has been the "theory" we have heard. Isn't this just a rehash of the script of the cable movie DC 9/11?

I guess as more people come forward it may lend credibility to this or show it to be another angry ex-employee.

I personally am more inclined to believe the majority of this.

worldwatcher, yes and may I point this out to you also:
Iraq Liberation Act of 1998

Signed and enacted by none other than the Clinton Administration, while Mr. Clark whom also held a position within this administration?
Also that Clinton is also a Skull and Bones "brother-in-arms" with Bush.

Perhaps this:
Richard Clarke Flashback: Clinton Dropped Ball on bin Laden

And in a "60 Minutes" interview set to air Sunday night, Clarke blasts Bush for doing "a terrible job on the war against terrorism."

But just a year ago Clarke was singing a different tune, telling reporter Richard Miniter, author of the book "Losing bin Laden," that it was the Clinton administration - not team Bush - that had dropped the ball on bin Laden.

Or perhaps this:
Clinton Warned on Bin Laden Hijack-Kamikaze Plot

If you don't recall seeing the blaring post-Sept. 11 headline "Clinton Warned on Bin Laden Hijack-Kamikaze Plot," it's not because your memory is failing.

In fact, the big media mostly ignored the story - in marked contrast to today's wall-to-wall coverage of news that President Bush received a pre-Sept. 11 CIA briefing on a possible bin Laden hijack plot.

And while the warning transmitted to Bush gave no inkling that bin Laden planned to transform U.S. airliners into flying bombs and slam them into American office buildings, Clinton administration intelligence officials were in fact in possession of detailed information on an al Qaeda conspiracy to hijack several U.S. airliners - including a plan to crash one of the planes into the Pentagon or CIA.

It was called "Operation Bojinka," a 1995 plot hatched by an al Qaeda cell in the Philippines with an eye toward blowing up 12 American airliners. Some would be booby-trapped with bombs, like Pan Am 103, others hijacked like the four U.S. jets commandeered on 9-11 and crashed into buildings.

Or maybe someone forgot to mention that Mr. Clark has currently been found to have serious ties to Kerry? That critics are saying that because of those ties, it is hard to take an objective look at what this man, Mr. Clark, is claiming? Nah, Mr. Clark doesn't have an axe to grind? Or, nah, he isn't trying to "catch the wave", as everyone else is?



seekerof

[Edited on 21-3-2004 by Seekerof]

seekeroff, I look at it this way, all those guys, Bush, Clinton, Kerry are all one in the same....they all are controlled or tied to skull and bones and whatever that group's ulterior motives for this country are.

Clarke is indeed using this time and all his allegations to sell a book and yes to support Kerry and hurt Bush's chances in the upcoming elections....but being realistic, I think this will be blown over and brushed aside before we know it.

However be it Clinton, or Bush, Al-Qaeda was known as a threat and the administrations in charge let us down and they continue to mislead us even now.

However be it Clinton, or Bush, Al-Qaeda was known as a threat and the administrations in charge let us down and they continue to mislead us even now.

Yes, just as the previous administration continued to mislead and let us down. I concur...


seekerof

My little finger is telling me that Bush jr. wanted to bomb Irak a looooooong time before 9/11.