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April 09, 2004

O'Neill Was Right

As I speculated and continue to believe regarding the pre-nine eleven state of readiness, John O'Neill was right.

So Rice is technically correct. But her "context" for the case omits the bigger picture -- which tends, in fact, to corroborate Clarke's version, and moreover paints Rice and her Team Bush cohorts in a decidedly incompetent light.

The bigger picture includes what happened next: Namely, FBI agents and the Clinton counterterror team, headed by Clarke -- realizing the enormity of what Ressam represented -- sprung quickly into action and soon uncovered most of the rest of his co-conspirators. Ressam, it must be remembered, was scheduled to bomb L.A. International Airport. However, there were at least three other millennium plots, all outside the U.S. but against mostly American targets. (As far as I know, the speculation that the Space Needle was targeted has been mostly discredited.) More to the point, investigators began uncovering a much broader assortment of Al Qaeda terrorist cells operating within the U.S.

This happened largely because of Clarke's "battle station" status for officials in Washington. The Seattle FBI agent investigating the case, Fred Humphries, was quickly brought under the wing of John O'Neill, Clarke's counterterrorism chief (and himself a victim of 9/11, having been forced out by the Bush administration). And O'Neill, as Clarke explained in a PBS interview last year, used Ressam to springboard into a broad swath of terrorist cells -- and because of that, the other components of the Millennium Plot were stymied:


Orcinus demonstrates the patience I lack these hectic days in his review of the Rice testimony vis a vis Clarke's claims. I questioned her placement in the Bush Administration but only in hindsight. She's a cold warrior and her bailiwick is Russia, it is certainly reasonable to question what she does (and why) when the war has turned to terror. Surely she's not contemplating what the Russians are doing in Chechnya.

At any rate, this is a rabbit hole I am likely to pursue with the understanding that as a long time advocate of cloak & dagger activities against terrorists I am likely to land on the hawkish side of affairs. Clarke, with only a cursory review, appears to be more intelligently hawkish on the matter than Rice and his suggestion that there are profound differences in the interpretation of the same facts is quite damning of the wisdom of the current administration - namely Rice if CT is indeed her job.

Rice can't be blamed entirely. She rode in on the coattails of GWBush who was not elected in the context of terror. It would have been McCain. So when and how Rice knew O'Neill is what I want to know next.

Posted by mbowen at April 9, 2004 11:26 AM

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Comments

In the week before September 11, the Bush administration apparently agreed on a three year plan to topple the Taliban. Who is more serious about terror - a president who offers, during the first year of his term, a three year plan to take out a terrorist sponsoring nation, or one who offers a five year plan with a year or so left in his term?

And I think Orcinus argument hangs on a very thin string - that they rolled up all the millenium plotters efficiently and effectively. The dates aren't entirely clear, but according to the Richard Clarke interview he leaked, by sometime in February 2000, they realized there were likely to be al queda cells in the US and starting moving against Ressam's contacts. Orcinus then says "Lo! they had Moussaoui in August 2001 - how come Bush couldn't connect the dots?" He gives the previous admin kudos for piecing things together in a month and a half and damns Bush for not doing the same in three weeks.

Posted by: mike p at April 10, 2004 09:41 AM

Forgot the disclaimer:

The whole 9-11 Commission has degenerated into partisan finger pointing anyway. If it weren't tragic, it'd be entertaining politcal theater. Take everything Clarke, Condi, and all the pundits say with a grain of salt each time they open their mouths, and you'll have enough for nice margarita party. (If it wasn't obvious though my bias is that I'm supporting re-election.)

Posted by: mike p at April 10, 2004 09:46 AM

It's well known that the Bush Administration gave the Taliban 60 Million for drug eradication in early 2001, I would like to see the logic which changed that stance before nine-eleven.

I've also heard that Clinton waffled on whether or not to deal harshly with Mullah Omar.

I'm satisfied that the American public is not as hawkish on CT as I. So I'm never going to be satisfied, especially considering that I don't find Ashcroft as tough on real domestic terror as Freeh and Reno were. I hold Tenet blameless. But let's not forget that even as tough as Freeh and Reno were, they couldn't find Eric Rudolph for years. Don't forget the hell Richard Jewell went through, wrongly.

I tend to believe that Ashcroft has lucked out, but there very well may be 100 Richard Jewells at Gitmo.

My point is that this administration bristles at criticism from the people they ought to be learning from, namely the FBI and the CIA. They've been that way since day one.

Posted by: Cobb at April 10, 2004 10:02 AM

I'll give you the CIA. The FBI is in serious need of overhaul.

I disagree with you on Rice. The issues are much bigger than the domestic capture of some plotters. Until the networks are destroyed root and branch there will only be continued attacks. Most will be prevented, some may get through.

Don't forget that it was EASY to predict millenium attacks. As soon as you leave that specific time frame, it gets a lot harder.

Posted by: rkb at April 11, 2004 03:52 PM

If wishing only made it true, we could hire Disney animation to run the country. And, while we're wishing for things, knowing what we know now, wouldn't it have been wonderful if that Hilter baby wasn't just dropped on the floor when he came out?

Posted by: Carol in California at April 11, 2004 06:22 PM