Former adviser charges Bush manufactured case for Iraq war

Former Bush counter-terrorism adviser Richard Clarke has denounced Bush for ignoring terrorism before and after September 11, 2001 and using the attacks to justify the invasion of Iraq. Here are some of the statements he made on the CBS program 60 Minutes:

Frankly I find it outrageous that the president is running for re-election on the grounds that he's done such great things about terrorism. He ignored it. He ignored terrorism for months, when maybe we could have done something to stop 9/11. Maybe. We'll never know.

I think he's [Bush has] done a terrible job on the war against terrorism.

I think they wanted to believe that there was a connection [between Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda and the September 11 terrorist attacks], but the CIA was sitting there, the FBI was sitting there, I was sitting there saying we've looked at this issue for years. For years we've looked and there's just no connection.

Update: Wednesday, March 24, Richard Clarke was questioned at the pubic hearings conducted by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States where he reiterated his concern about the invasion of Iraq when he stated, "The reason that I am strident in my criticism of the president of the United States is that by invading Iraq — something I was not asked by the commission — but by invading Iraq, the president of the United States has greatly undermined the war on terrorism."

Related articles:

• The Bush administration and September 11: the implications of Richard Clarke’s revelations (World Socialist Web Site, March 29, 2004)


• 9/11 hearings ignore political, historical issues behind terrorist attacks (World Socialist Web Site, March 25, 2004)


• Former US terror chief slams Bush (BBC News, March 25, 2004)


• Ex-Bush Aide Says Threat of Qaeda Was Not Priority (The New York Times, March 25, 2004)


• Former terrorism aide charges Bush manufactured case for Iraq war (World Socialist Web Site, March 23, 2004)


• Lifting the Shroud (The New York Times, March 23, 2004)


• Clarke's Take On Terror (CBS News, March 21, 2004)


• Sept. 11: Before And After (CBS News, March 20, 2004)

Book:

Against All Enemies : Inside the White House's War on Terror--What Really Happened
By Richard Clarke
Free Press, 304 pp., $27.00

Buy this book from Powell's Books or Amazon.com