Richard Clarke to Stump for Obama in Mass.

Metrowest Daily News (Framingham, MA): Former Bush counter-terrorism adviser to stump for Obama in Sudbury

SUDBURY —

A past presidential adviser and longtime critic of the Bush administration will speak at a local fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama later this month.

Richard A. Clarke, former counter-terrorism adviser to both former President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush, is scheduled to appear at an Obama fundraiser on Sept. 26 in Sudbury. Clarke has spent the last several years criticizing Bush's handling of Al Qaeda before Sept. 11, 2001, as well as the administration's rationale for invading Iraq in 2003.

Clarke is on the faculty of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, where he teaches a course called "Terrorism and the American Response" as an adjunct lecturer in public policy. Sudbury resident Doug Barth, who attended the Kennedy School, got in touch with Clarke through a mutual friend and sent Clarke an e-mail invitation.

"He responded in 30 seconds: 'I'll be there,' " said Barth.

[]

Clarke, who served as counter-terrorism chief for Bush until March 2003, has charged that the Bush administration ignored al Qaeda up until Sept. 11, 2001, then reacted poorly. From the beginning, Bush's focus was on Iraq, not terrorism, he has argued.

In June, the Senate released a report that reportedly concluded the Bush administration exaggerated available intelligence and ignored disagreements between intelligence agencies about Iraq's weapons programs and ties to al Qaeda. In response to the report, Clarke ripped into the administration during an interview with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC.

"These weren't close calls; they made things up," Clarke said about the White House's case leading up to the war.

Later in the interview, he said decision-makers involved with the war should ask forgiveness from Americans in a forum like a "truth and reconciliation" commission used in some countries.

"Someone should have to pay in some way for the decisions they made to mislead the American people," Clarke told Olbermann.

Sliming Clinton -- Corporate Media Spins Out Fox Lies

In this handout photo provided by Fox News Sunday, former President Bill Clinton responds to host Chris Wallace during a taping of an interview for 'Fox News Sunday', on Friday, Sept. 22, 2006, in New York. (AP Photo/Fox News Sunday, Michael Simon)
Chris Wallace, the weaselly son of real newsman Mike Wallace, ambushed Bill Clinton on FoxNewsSunday today. [From here on in, he will be referred to as 'Wallace the Weasel'] Surprised? Of course not. Clinton was invited on the show to talk about the Clinton Global Initiative and all the money he raised to fix the world's problems last week. So of course the first question out of Wallace the Weasel's mouth was, essentially, don't you feel responsible for 9/11 'cause you didn't get Bin Laden. Good for Clinton, he defended himself with his best weapon -- the truth, and his enormous capacity to marshall the facts to support his case.

And the truth is, as he said, Clinton tried to stop Bin Laden, and Bush sat on his hands then went on vacation. And Clinton also pointed out the hypocrisy of FoxNewsSunday in pushing him on these issues when they have never asked the Bush Administration officials who appear regularly on their in-house propaganda channel the same questions. As ThinkProgress points out, Wallace the Weasel himself interviewed Condoleeza Rice days after she testified in front of the 9/11 Commission, and unbelievably didn't ask her about the August 6, 2001 PDB, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike Inside US". While Wallace the Weasel hammered Clinton about the USS Cole bombing, Fox had never before asked a Bush Administration official about their failure to act after the FBI and the CIA certified that Bin Laden was responsible for the Cole bombing early in 2001, despite FoxNewsSunday having interviewed Cheney 6 times, Rumsfield 9 times, Rice 23 times, and Hadley 4 times since then.

And Wallace the Weasel has interviewed those same 4 officials forty-two (42) times and never once asked the sensible question, Why did you demote Richard Clarke, the most experienced anti-terrorism official in government.

So all that is bad enough. And Clinton was mad, and he was wagging his finger as he responded point by point with the truth. Today as I drove home from the Craft Center after a nice Sunday afternoon of making pots, I had WBZ Radio on to see what the weather report is (the clouds were black). And the perky little Clear Channel announcer said, I kid you not, "Bill Clinton was angry and defensive while being interviewed about Bin Laden. Story in a few minutes." Can you say 'slant'? Clinton was being interviewed about the Clinton Global Initiative. He was being interviewed by Fox News. And the question was unfair and had never before been asked of any Bush Administration official on the same network. But all those facts are dropped so the corporate media can spin out the lies that Commander Codpiece needs to keep his sorry ass in office. It just makes me sick.

Crooks & Liars has the video.

Richard Clarke's Doomsday Scenario

Clarke on Al Qaeda: They're Going to Disneyland!

Richard Clarke predicts the future & it ain't pretty.