Clarke - Guardian Interview - 9/11 Hijackers Could Have Been Stopped

[StlMo]

Clarke - 9/11 Hijackers Could Have Been Stopped


Julian Borger in Washington
Tuesday March 23, 2004
The Guardian

If the Bush White House had heeded warnings in early 2001 about the threat from al-Qaida at least two of the September 11 hijackers would "probably have been caught" and "there was a chance" the attacks could have been prevented, the president's former top counter-terrorism adviser told the Guardian yesterday.

Richard Clarke, who served in the White House for 10 years under three presidents, also claimed that George Bush had come to office already convinced of the necessity to topple Saddam Hussein, and had remained focused on that goal until the invasion last March - when Mr Clarke resigned.

The former counter-terrorism "tsar" also argued that the White House's obsession with Iraq had undermined the military effort in Afghanistan, and helped Osama bin Laden escape.

...

Mr Clarke wrote that when he briefed Ms Rice on al-Qaida, "her facial expression gave me the impression that she had never heard the term before".

...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1175928,00.html


Transcript of the Interview:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1175929,00.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1175790,00.html

[Florida_Geek]

1. Legs I love

the legs this story has :bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce:

[Paradise]

2. Since the Administration knew all of the names, and had most of the photos

of the 9/11 hijackers/murderers immediately after the attacks, wouldn't it stand-to-reason that they could have been stopped! :shrug:

[StlMo]

4. Yes

:mad:

[indepat]

3. That Ms. Rice might not have heard the al-Qaida term before is no surprise

considering her background/expertise was Soviet/Russian-related. From Michael Beschloss's accounts in his 'At the Highest Levels,' Ms. Rice provided GHWB with considerable input as to the Soviet/Russian makeup during the period before the breakup of the Soviet Union: that her expertise was elsewhere is a given but I suspect her apparent failure to have a good handle on the al-Qaida threat was ideological, that is their minds were already made up about Iraq, the focus was there, and the al-Qaida threat was largely ignored.

[StlMo]

5. Maybe not surprising, but it is deeply disturbing.

A top national security official should definitely have already had some knowledge about all major threats to American lives.