Clarke colleague: Bush outfit blinded by contempt for Clinton

[MnFats]

http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/4684189.html

snippet:


But Maertens said he was present for similar conversations involving top administration officials, such as Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, whom Maertens said "was clearly beating the drums for war against Iraq."
Wolfowitz insisted that Saddam had played a role in 9/11, despite the lack of any credible evidence, Maertens said. Wolfowitz and others urged their staff members never to think about Al-Qaida without thinking of Iraq.
After 9/11, the United States sent about 11,500 troops to Afghanistan to finish off the Taliban and help search for remnants of Al-Qaida. About 150,000 troops, at the peak, were massed in and around Iraq to overthrow Saddam, Maertens noted.
"If the war against Al-Qaida has been such a high priority, as Rumsfeld is now claiming, why not demonstrate it by putting as many troops into Afghanistan as they later put into Iraq?" Maertens asked.