Condaliar men have named you

Of COURSE the story is in an Australian paper. God forbid the American Press actually do any reporting.

Remember when the Richard Clarke first said that he had warned the Bush administration of the Al Qaeda threat? And remember when the right-wingers called him every name in the book, and tried to cast aspersions on the state of his sanity, and said that one of the most trusted men ever to hold his position suddenly lacked credibility?

Well, they just declassified a memo. Clarke was telling the truth, and Rice was lying.

What a surprise.

January 25, 2001
MEMORANDUM FOR CONDOLEEZZA RICE
FROM: Richard A. Clarke
SUBJECT: Presidential Policy Initiative/Review - The Al-Qida Network

Condi:

Steve asked today that we propose major Presidential policy reviews or initiatives. We urgently need such a Principals level review on the al Qida network.

Just some Terrorist Group?

As we noted in our briefing for you, al Qida is not some narrow, little terrorist issue that needs to be included in broader regional policy. Rather, several of our regional policies need to address centrally the transnational challenge to the US and our interests posed by the al Qida network. By proceeding with separate policy reviews on Central Asia, the OCC, North Africa, etc. we would deal inadequately with the need for a comprehensive multi-regional policy on al Qida.

al Qida is the active, organized, major force that is using a distorted version of Islam as its vehicle to acheive two goals:

- to drive the US out of the Muslim world, forcing the withdrawal of our military and economic presence in countries from Morocco to Indonesia;

- the replace moderate, modern Western regime(sic) in Muslim countries with theocracies modeled along the lines of the Taliban.

Compare and Contrast:

"No al-Qaeda threat was turned over to the new administration". - Condoleezza Rice, March 22, 2004

"In the memorandum that Dick Clarke sent me on January 25th, he mentions sleeper cells. There is no mention or recommendation of anything that needs to be done about them." - Condoleezza Rice - April 8, 2004

Caught red-handed lying about what they know about an attack on America. Now, watch the "liberal media" ignore it. And watch the right-wingers defend it.