Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin Editorial: Troubling allegations

[TahitiNut]

Editorial: Troubling allegations

As the Sept. 11 Commission explores the reasons for America's vulnerability on that dark day, one would hope its hindsight has better than 20-20 vision. With the release Monday of the administration's former top terrorism official's scathing book on how President Bush ignored terrorism warnings, and the ensuing attack on Richard A. Clarke by the administration, a war of words may end up clouding the commission's view.

<snip>

Clarke, the CIA and FBI submitted a joint report to the president that showed there was no connection between al-Qaida and Iraq.

"Wrong answer. ... Do it again," Clarke said the president replied.

<snip>

Clarke said he had a series of meetings in April 2001 about his al-Qaida concerns with the second-in-command of each security-related department. During a meeting with Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, Clarke told him the country must focus on Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida. He says Wolfowitz replied: "No, no, no. We don't have to deal with al-Qaida. Why are we talking about that little guy? We have to talk about Iraqi terrorism against the United States."

Wolfowitz, Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld were all members of The Project for the New American Century, a group founded in 1997 that promoted a return to "Reaganite" military strength and a preemptive defense plan. PNAC's September 2000 report, "Rebuilding America's Defenses" -- to which Wolfowitz contributed -- clearly defined Iraq, Iran and North Korea as the greatest threats to the United States.

<snip>

---

Binghamton, NY is not what one would call a "liberal hotbed."

[Gloria]

1. No, it's not. If you go up Rte 81 to Ithaca, it's between Scranton

and Cayuga's waters....

I remember taking the bus from Ithaca and waiting in the Binghamton depot several times. It was a pretty forlorn place back then....any better now? At least it has SUNY

[TahitiNut]

2. I'm rather pleased to see that tone in an editorial there.

About 50 miles south of Syracuse and 10 miles north of the NY/PA border, SUNY Bingahamton was, IIRC, one of the "teacher's colleges" of the early 20th century. Binghamton's in what we called (when I lived in Rottenchester) the "Souther Tier" of Western NY ... a largely moderate-to-conservative (firmly conservative in NY terms) area politically. And it tied the Busholini fetish with Iraq into the PNAC cabal ... which makes it evident that this deep-seated obsession was 10-15 years brewing.

I don't think Smirk has a snowball's chance in Bushville to take NY this fall save some disaster for Kerry.

[Beetwasher]

3. I Went to Binghamton Univ.

and the univerisity is a big part of the town and is VERY liberal, however, the rest of the area isn't. It's very upstate NY, right on the border of PA, which is fairly conservative.

[donhakman]

4. Yep

My father was the Constitutional law professor at Bing. State University.

[paulk]

5. I grew up near Binghamton

and most of my family still live in the area. As other posters have noted, SUNY (we always called it Harper College) Binghamton is pretty liberal, but the area is solidly conservative.

An editorial that questions the president? Wow. Who'd of thunk it.
I'm also surprised to see PNAC mentioned - perhaps the worm is truly turning...

[TahitiNut]

6. I think progressives would welcome this editorial anywhere, but ...

... it's heartening to me to see it in an area like Binghamton. While I'm somewhat familiar with the area, I'm not familiar with the editorial policy of this particular newspaper. I can only surmise that it would be moderate to conservative in keeping with the area. I'd guess most folks in the area would subscribe to a Syracuse paper (or USA Today?) for more comprehensive news. (I think it's in the Syracuse 'media market'.)