News Flash: Amember of the BushAdministrationcaught in a lie…
Revealed: De-Classified Clinton Anti-Terror Strategy Condoleezza Rice Claims Never ExistedBy Cliff MontgomeryIn a series of recent public statements, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has again denied that the Clinton Administration presented the incoming Bush cabinet with a “comprehensive strategy” against al-Qaeda. Rice’s denials were prompted by a September 22nd Fox News interview with former President Clinton, in which he declared that he had “left a comprehensive anti-terror strategy” with the incoming Bush Administration in January 2001.In a September 25th New York Post interview, Rice claimed that “We were not left a comprehensive strategy to fight al-Qaida,” and added that, “Nobody organized this country or the international community to fight the terrorist threat that was upon us until 9/11.”The problem with Ms. Rice’s denials is a declassified January 25, 2001 memo with attachments on al-Qaeda from Clinton counterterrorism coordinator Richard Clarke, sent directly to the National Security Adviser of the incoming Bush Administration–Condoleezza Rice. Together the papers spelled out a detailed terrorism strategy from the Clinton Administration to incoming Bush officials.A de-classified copy of the Clarke memo can be found on the website of the non-government, non-partisan National Security Archive, so any “doubting Thomas” may peruse it for himself.Clarke’s memo “urgently” requested a high-level National Security Council review on al-Qaeda, and included two interesting attachments: a de-classified December 2000 “Strategy for Eliminating the Threat from the Jihadist Networks of al-Qida: Status and Prospects,”and the September 1998 “Pol-Mil [Political-Military] Plan for al-Qida,” the so-called Delenda Plan, an apparently in-depth, detailed anti-terrorism strategy paper which for some reason the Bush Administration keeps classified.Below are sections of the “Strategy” attachment, part of the comprehensive Clinton anti-terror plan Secretary of State Rice claims she never received:”The al-Qida terrorist organization lead by Usama bin Laden has stitched together a network of terrorist cells and groups to wage jihad. Al Qida seeks to drive the United States out of the Arabian Peninsula and elsewhere in the Muslim world. It also seeks to overthrow moderate governments and establish theocracies similar to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. The al-Qida network is well financed, has trained tens of thousands of Jihadists, and has a cell structure in over forty nations. It also is actively seeking to develop and acquire weapons of massdestruction.”The United States’ goal is to reduce the al-Qida network to a point where it no longer poses a serious threat to our security or that of other governments. That goal can be achieved over a three to five year period, if adequate resources and attention are devoted to it.”Toward that end, the United States has developed a comprehensive and coordinated strategy that employs a variety of tools including: diplomacy, covert action, public information and media, law enforcement, intelligence collection, foreign assistance, financial regulation enforcement, and military means to affect al-Qida to its core.”The United States goal is to roll back the al-Qida network to a point to where it will no longer pose a serious threat to US or its interests, as was done to previously robust terrorist groups such as the Abu Nidal Organization and the Japanese Red Army. In order to significantly reduce the threat al Qida poses to US interests, every element of its infrastructure must be considerably weakened or eliminated, most notably:–the significant camp and facility infrastructure for training and safehaven sanctuary in Afghanistan.–access to large amounts of money and the ability to disperse it internationally to support cells and affiliated terrorist groups.–multiple active cells capable of launching military style, large-scale terrorist operations.–a large pool of personnel willing to risk being identified as al Qida members and willing to reside at al Qida facilities.”The United States actively seeks to reduce al Qida to such a rump group in the next three to five years through a steady and coordinated program employing all relevant means.”Secretary of State Rice may wish to deny the obvious, but that doesn’t mean that the American people should follow her in her denials and her fraud.Such denials almost make one wonder if the modern neo-conservative moment is based on neo-cons continuously asking Americans the old vaudeville joke: “Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?”
