I will never forget Richard Clarke's opening statement at the 9/11 Commission Hearings. I hadn't realized until he spoke, how much the country needed to hear someone apologize for the failures that led to what happened on 9/11. His heartfelt and humble apology was healing and it was in sharp contrast to what we had become so accustomed to from other administration officials.
Until he spoke directly to the victims' families that day, all we heard was talk of killing and war. Talk of revenge rather than justice. Whenever they spoke, I felt a foreboding sense of hopelessness and knew that nothing could stop them from the path they were on to create more victims, more bloodshed and heartbreak and hatred, and more reason for those who wanted to do us harm to justify their own irrational, vengeful and murderous actions.
More:
Richard Clarke's simple words therefore, were like balm on an open wound that day, and I remember that many of the victims' families who were present in the Committee room, broke down in tears, as did many, including me, who were watching at home. This is what he said:
Clarke's testimony, while foreshadowed by his new book assailing Bush's stewardship on national security, was gripping, and marked the climax of an extraordinary two days of nationally televised hearings by the commission.
"Your government failed you, and I failed you," he said. "We tried hard, but that doesn't matter because we failed you. And for that failure, I would ask, once all the facts are out, for your understanding and for your forgiveness."
Clark: Bush Did Not See Terror As Urgent
Directly after his stunning testimony, the WH began its usual smear campaign against him, as they against anyone who speaks the truth. They claimed his 'attitude' towards them was because of 'sour grapes' because he was demoted, and because of the book he had written. But most who really listened to his testimony that day, were not fooled.
So, it's no surprise to see his outrage today after he viewed the docudrama PT9/11. Here is some of what he said:
Although I am not one to easily believe in conspiracy theories and have spent a great deal of time debunking them, it is hard to escape the conclusion that the errors in this screen play are more than the result of dramatization and time compression. There is throughout the screenplay a consistent bias and distortion seeking to portray senior Clinton Administration officials as holding back the hard charging CIA, FBI, and military officers who would otherwise have prevented 9-11.
The exact opposite is true. From the President, to all of his White House team, and NSC Principals (Lake, Berger, Albright, Tenet, Reno) there was a common fixation with terrorism, al qaeda, and bin Ladin. The President approved every counter-terrorism operation presented to him, including many that CIA proved unable or unwilling to implement. He increased counter-terrorism spending by 400% and initiated the first homeland security program in forty years. Even though the US had taken relatively few casualties from al qaeda at the time, the President repeatedly authorized the use of lethal force against bin Ladin and his deputies and personally requested the US military to develop plans for "commando operations" against them. Even though he knew the timing of an attack aimed at killing bin Ladin would be labeled by critics as a political diversion, Clinton decided to follow the advice of his national security team and pay the price politically.
more here:
ABC Consultant, Richard Clark, Blasts First Installment of Film and Hints at Conspiracy
Richard Clarke met John O'Neill during the nineties and recognized him as someone who probably knew more about Osama Bin Laden and Al Queda than any one else in the intelligence community. He talks about it in the PBS Frontline Documentary The Man Who Knew
In the above statement, he also mentions that it will not serve this country well to allow 'entertainers' to document history this way, and raises questions about why the FBI blocked John O'Neill's efforts to go after Al Queda.
Richard Clark is a consultant for ABC, yet he was not consulted on this Docudrama (or Flopudrama as it is turning out to be).
I just read that he was interviewed on ABC after the second installment of the movie ends tonight. I don't think there's a transcript up yet.
The bad news just keeps coming for ABC and Disney.
Note: I didn't see a diary on this but if there is one that I did not find, I'll delete this one.