Richard Clarke makes for a very convincing witness... From his public apology to the victims' families to his attempt to explain why, someone working for the President, sometimes has to put a happy spin on bad news if he wants to keep working for the President. Condoleezza Rice continues her spiral downward into political hackdom; for someone who can't testify before the committee she manages quite nicely to get her attacks on Clarke out there. Hiding behind a pathetically lame separation of powers argument; she flings her accusations and selected declassified materials out to the public from her hide out in the White House. It is a shame that the public doesn't get to see her under pressure of cross examination... shameful in the usual administration S.O.P.
As far as the commission and hearings are concerned, in general, I really don't expect anyone to be found responsible for letting the attacks happen. I don't believe that any one person is responsible. Yes, it happened on this administration's watch; but I do not believe that any administration would have conceived of such a plan being carried out successfully... the possibility of such an act would seem improbable to a country that remained cut off from such things (for the most part). Any delays or shortcomings in the policies of the Bush administration would have been a product of our government's (no matter who was in charge) inability to grasp the threat or consider it possible. This commission is more of a collective attempt at closure. That is a good thing to attempt, even if it won't truly be possible.
As for the Bush administration's Iraq obsession; that is certainly a purposeful policy blunder and is fair game for criticism. Certainly, the truest thing he did say to the commission was this...
“The reason I am strident in my criticism of the president of the United States is because ... by invading Iraq, the president of the United States has greatly undermined the war on terrorism.”
No comments:
Post a Comment