WALLACE: Do you think you did enough, sir?
CLINTON: No, because I didn’t get him.
WALLACE: Right.
CLINTON: But at least I tried. That’s the difference in me and some, including all the right-wingers who are attacking me now. They ridiculed me for trying. They had eight months to try. They did not try. I tried.
So I tried and failed. When I failed, I left a comprehensive anti-terror strategy and the best guy in the country, Dick Clarke, who got demoted.
So you did Fox’s bidding on this show. You did your nice little conservative hit job on me. What I want to know is…
WALLACE: Well, wait a minute, sir.
CLINTON: No, wait. No, no…
WALLACE: I want to ask a question. You don’t think that’s a legitimate question?
CLINTON: It was a perfectly legitimate question, but I want to know how many people in the Bush administration you asked this question of.
I want to know how many people in the Bush administration you asked, Why didn’t you do anything about the Cole?
I want to know how many you asked, Why did you fire Dick Clarke?
I want to know how many people you asked…
WALLACE: We asked — we asked…
CLINTON: I don’t…
WALLACE: Do you ever watch Fox News Sunday, sir?
CLINTON: I don’t believe you asked them that.
WALLACE: We ask plenty of questions of…
CLINTON: You didn’t ask that, did you? Tell the truth, Chris.
Bill Clinton Speaks Truth To Faux News, Think Progress, 9-22-06
GS(3) Thunderbolt 10-5-06: Simple Arithmetic of Anguish --
7/10 + 8/6 = 9/11
By Richard Power
Here is the simple arithmetic of anguish: The 7/10/01 emergency briefing for Condi Rice plus the 8/06/01 Presidential Daily Briefing ("Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US") equal 9/11/01.
As I drove into the city this morning, enveloped in the dark rain, I listened to a podcast of Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez interviewing Rand Beers concerning the most significant revelation to date concerning the pre-9/11 inaction of the Bush-Cheney regime. And my mind wandered back to a morning in early 2005, during US Senate confirmation hearings on Condoleezza Rice's appointment as US Secretary of State.
I was attending a meeting of chief security officers from diverse industries at the corporate headquarters of a global information age giant in the Pacific Northwest. I was sharing breakfast with my former boss (and former friend).
We were joined by the behemoth's own "national security advisor," one of the many beltway bandits who had cashed in on the post-9/11 homeland security boondoggle. He plopped down in his seat and blurted out, "I was just listening to the confirmation hearings for Condi Rice. You wouldn't have believed it. That Barbara Boxer sure has a lot of gall. Who the hell does she think she is?"
I turned and fired a shot across his unsuspecting bow, "Well, I have never been prouder of my Senator." An awkward silence fell over the table. It was just assumed at that level of corporate power that everyone went along with the party line.
While my nemesis fumbled for the words to respond, I pressed the attack: "Have you read the 9/11 Commission Report?" He said he had (probably bluffing). "Well then," I followed up, "how could you support promoting her to Secretary of State? She shouldn't have been allowed to stay on in her job as National Security Advisor. She should have resigned in disgrace on September 12th."
It was over, that breakfast, and soon, my role in those particular corridors of corporate power.
9/11 changed my life. Not because of the tragedy of that morning, but because of what didn't happen in the weeks and months prior to the slaughter of the innocents. What I knew about what didn't happen (all of it open source) could not be contained in my own life. It had to come out. In writings, briefings, and conversations -- and in actions. I am relieved to see some more of the truth finally being revealed for consumption by the body politic.
The 9/11 Commission let the country down. Otherwise, you wouldn't have had to read about 7/10/01 in Woodward's book. But Woodward also let the country down. It shouldn't have taken him three books to start telling the truth about Bush-Cheney national insecurity team. However, neither the 9/11 Commission nor Woodward could be said to have betrayed the country. The Bush-Cheney regime, on the other hand, has to be viewed with suspicion until there is a truly independent investigation. Criminal negligence? Or betrayal? It is hard not to conclude, based on established fact, that the verdict would have to be either one or the other.
Here is a brief excerpt from the Democracy Now! interview with Rand Beers. I commend it to you in its entirety. Download the transcript or the podcast. Read it, share it with others. The world can't wait...
Juan Gonzalez: In his new book, State of Denial, Bob Woodward reveals that on July 10, 2001, then CIA Director George Tenet called President Bush's National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice to hold an emergency meeting to review the latest on Osama Bin Laden...According to Woodward, Tenet and his counterterrorism chief Coffer Black told Rice that Al Qaeda was going to attack American interests, possibly in the United States itself. They also said they needed to immediately take covert or military action to thwart Bin Laden....
Amy Goodman: Rand Beers joins us now from Washington, D.C. He served as Senior Director for Combating Terrorism on the National Security Council. He also served on the National Security Council during the Reagan, first Bush and Clinton administrations. He resigned in protest from the Bush administration in March 2003, five days before the US invasion of Iraq. He is currently President of the National Security Network....Can you tell us about this July meeting?
Rand Beers: Well, I think it is pretty straightforward and the facts are all on the table now. There was a meeting. It was a surprise, or emergency, or unscheduled meeting. Rice was there. Richard Clarke and Roger Cressey, his deputy, were there, in addition to Tenet and his assistant, Coffer Black. They did present information that there was a huge amount of intelligence incoming that indicated that an attack was imminent. The United States was a target either in an overseas environment or possibly within the United States. So the information was all clearly put on the table, based on the information that was particularly new when they went into the room. What Dr. Rice appears to have done is a classic Washington "push-off," which is to say, "Go brief somebody else." She did not do, as National Security Advisor, what previous National Security Advisors had done with this kind of a meeting, which was to herself call a meeting of senior levels within the government to discuss the serious information which was available. And so, as I have said before, the issue here is what she did about it, and what she did about it is basically nothing.
SOME RELATED POSTS:
Words of Power #28: On 9/11/06, Ask Yourself "Is This My Country?"
Hard Rain Journal Weekend Edition (9/9-9/10): Five Years into the Era of the National Insecurity State, Some Context & Continuity
Hard Rain Journal 9-7-06: While ABC Catapults the Propaganda, Bush’s “Key Ally” Makes Peace with Al Qaeda
Hard Rain Journal 9-3-06: Remember, Remember the First Week of September
Hard Rain Journal 8-22-06: The Central Theme of Future Historians will be Betrayal, Just Ask Judge Anna Diggs Taylor, Spike Lee & Valerie Plame Wilson
Hard Rain Journal 7-25-06: As the Next Bait & Switch Get Pulled, Remember Osama Bin Laden & the Child Brides of Afghanistan
Hard Rain Journal 7-5-06: Al Qaeda Endorsed Bush-Cheney in 2004, But US Mainstream News Media Chose to Ignore It
Hard Rain Journal 6-19-06: Coulter, Beck and The Death of The News
Hard Rain Journal 6-15-06: Foreign Affairs survey of 100 US policy leaders grades Bush-Cheney "failed" at 1.8 out of 10
Hard Rain Journal 6-14-06: Wrongly Premised “War on Terrorism” has Increased Danger from Terrorism, and Ignored Greater Risks
Words of Power #23: A Reality Check, What A Real World War on Terrorism Would Look Like, and a US Mid-Term Election Strategy
Words of Power #21: Judith Miller, Ken Lay, Florida, 9/11 and The Return of The Forbidden Truths?
Words of Power #15: Bring Me the Head of Osama, Nero Fiddles while the Planet Burns, Religion as the Crystal Meth of the People, & The Democrats' Plan
Words of Power #13: What You Need To Know About The Port Security Scandal
Words of Power #21: Judith Miller, Ken Lay, Florida, 9/11 and The Return of The Forbidden Truths?
Richard Power is the founder of GS(3) Intelligence and http://www.wordsofpower.net. His work focuses on the inter-related issues of security, sustainability and spirit, and how to overcome the challenges of terrorism, cyber crime, global warming, health emergencies, natural disasters, etc. You can reach him via e-mail: richardpower@wordsofpower.net. For more information, go to www.wordsofpower.net
Condoleeza Rice, Rand Beers, George Tenet, Bob Woodward, 911, Cheney, Bush, Bill Clinton, Richard Clarke, Roger Cressey, Coffer Black
