The U.S. Ambassador to Britain William S Farish took an unusual step today: He published an editorial article in today's "Independent". The title says it all:
"Don't believe these self-serving allegations against Mr Bush's anti-terrorism policies". I believe it is embarrassing that U.S. Ambassadors engage into such an debate. It is for the 9-11 commission to decide, who is truthful.
But here are some excerpts from this embarrassing article:
"Who is Richard Clarke? For 30 years, he was a civil servant in the United States government. When President Bush assumed office, he kept Dick Clarke on as his principal counter-terrorism expert. In return, Clarke has written a new book giving his view of events. He has accompanied its release with an orchestrated array of books and self-promotion interviews, to launch a political attack on President Bush and his administration in the hothouse atmosphere of a presidential campaign season. This is a good atmosphere to sell books, perhaps, but not one designed for a cold examination of the facts." [...]
"The President was well aware of the threat posed by al-Qa'ida."
"Immediately after taking office, the President's national security team worked aggressively and rapidly to develop a new strategy on al-Qa'ida, one designed not to counter al-Qa'ida but to destroy it. Although this involved a spectrum of complex issues and challenges, the President's team completed the new strategy in less than six months."
"After the 11 September attacks, the President sought to determine who was responsible. Given Iraq's past record of terror, including an attempt by Iraqi intelligence to kill a former US President, it would have been irresponsible not to consider this possibility. However, when the Director of Central Intelligence told the President that there was no evidence that Iraq was responsible for the attack, the President advised his principal national security advisors on 17 September that Iraq was not on the agenda, and that the initial US response to 11 September would be to target al-Qa'ida and its parasitic host, the Taliban, in Afghanistan.
Given these facts, and all that has been written on the subject, can anyone give credence to the suggestion that President Bush didn't take seriously the threat of terrorism?"
Well this reminds me of an event four years ago. I lived in Tanzania then. two days after the November elections, the Tanzanian newspaper Guardian came out with the great headline "U.S. Joins 3rd World In Vote Mismanagement". This caused not only a lot of laughter but also an angry open letter to the editor by the U.S. Embassy, angrily accusing the Guardian of not understanding how much of a model for free democracy the U.S. elections were, especially with the recounts in Florida. It just made things worse and it became even more embarrassing. Diplomats should stay out of such things.