I see Richard Clark everywhere!

I know I'm writing a lot about Richard Clarke lately. But he really ticked me off with his ubquitous appearances promoting his Bush bashing book just in time to grandstand before the 9-11 hearings.

I'd never heard of Richard Clarke, former White House Chief of Counter-Terrorism, before last week. Now I see him everywhere. It' like when you're buying a car and you're looking at a new model you hadn't thought of before and suddenly you're seeing that car everywhere you drive. Only worse.

Example. I was up late one night this week in insomnia mode. I was flipping on the remote when I settled in on a PBS Frontline special called the Ghosts of Rawanda. It recounted the genocide there in the early 90's and the world's failure to stop it. Including the Clinton administration. One storyline involved why the U.S. pulled troops out of the UN peacekeeping mission. Apparently Belgium wanted to pull out after loosing 6 soldiers in an attack. Not wanting to look weak, although not fearing being weak, they wanted cover and they pressured the US to pull out too. For political reasons, the US granted cover. Madeline Albright was instructed to support UN pullout at the General Assembly. After listening to an impassioned plea from the Nigerian ambassador rebutting the pullout, Albright decided against the plan. She called Washington and "screamed into the phone" that it was the wrong thing to do. Who was on the other end of the phone screaming back demanding the pullout - Richard Clarke. Never mind that 800,000 people were slaughtered. We, via Richard Clarke and Bill Clinton, gave Belgium cover.

Example: After TWA Flight 800 exploded over Long Island there was immediate evidence, including more than 100 eyewitnesses, indicating that the jet was brought down by a missle. I personally believe that evidence. However, a terrorist attack was an inconvenient fact to the Clinton administration. They didn't know who to blame, did not want to get into a war, and were trying to get Clinton re-elected. So the official story became a fuel tank explosion. Who was at the center of the story change? From pressuring the FBI, to twisting eyewitness accounts, to involving the CIA to dummy up an animation supporting the official version (source: Newsmax.com). Richard Clarke, of course.

That's why Clarke bashing the Bush administration for being weak on terrorism is more than I can stomach.