After Bill Clinton charged that the Bush administration didn't
follow up on the anti-terrorist initiatives his administration left
them, Secretary Rice blasted back:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"She also disputed Mr Clinton's statement that he "left a
comprehensive anti-terror strategy" for incoming officials when he
left office, including "battle plans" to go into Afghanistan,
overthrow the Taleban regime and launch a full-scale search for Bin
Laden.
"We were not left a comprehensive strategy to fight al-Qaeda," she said.
"For instance, big pieces were missing, like an approach to Pakistan
that might work, because without Pakistan you weren't going to get
Afghanistan."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5382914.stm>
Er... except that's a complete lie. Surprise!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
...just five days after President George W. Bush was sworn into
office, a memo from counter-terrorism expert Richard A. Clarke to
Rice included the 2000 document, "Strategy for Eliminating the Threat
from the Jihadist Networks of al-Qida: Status and Prospects." This
document devotes over 2 of its 13 pages of material to specifically
addressing strategies for securing Pakistan's cooperation in
airstrikes against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.
[snip]
But Clarke also made it clear that the Clinton Administration
recognized the problem that Pakistan posed in mounting a more
sweeping campaign against bin Laden: "Overt action against bin Laden,
who is a hero especially in the Pushtun-ethnic border areas near
Afghanistan," Clarke speculated in late 2000, "would be so unpopular
as to threaten Musharraf's government." The plan notes that, after
the attack on the USS Cole, Pakistan had forbidden the United States
from again violating its airspace to attack bin Laden in Afghanistan.
The memo sent by Clarke to Rice, to which the Clinton-era document
was attached, also urges action on Pakistan relating to al Qaeda.
"First [to be addressed,]" wrote Clarke in a list of pending issues
relating to al Qaeda, is "what the administration says to the Taliban
and Pakistan about ending al Qida sanctuary in Afghanistan. We are
separately proposing early, strong messages on both."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
<http://www.rawstory.com/news/
2006/2001_memo_to_Rice_contradicts_statements_0926.html>
( -or- http://tinyurl.com/p4jvw )
Anyone else enjoy the irony of the right dogging Clinton about
"lying under oath" (remember, it wasn't about sex!), but here is one
of their darlings caught in a documented lie under oath to Congress.
Let's see whether the same people who called for Clinton's
impeachment will call for similar aggressive action against Rice,
since this document contradicts her testimony to Congress and to the
9/11 commission, both of which were under oath.
-- Ed Leafe
-- http://leafe.com
-- http://dabodev.com
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