Quote:
Originally posted by The Larry Davis Experience
As I wrote in my post, I don't think he's saying that they didn't do much. He's saying they didn't do enough.
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Exactly, which is consistent with Armitage's comment about Clarke before the Commission. Discussing Clarke's participation in the planning process in the first eight months of the Administration, Armitage said [slight paraphrase]:
"He was in the deputy meetings. He was impatient, and helping to move the process along well."
My point is that this chracterization of Clarke pre-9/11 is consistent with a man holding the same opinions expressed in this book and his testimony today: that the Admin. did not consider the issue _important enough_ or do as much as they could have done as early as they could have done it and as Clarke would have liked.
This is also consistent with Clarke's criticism of the relative lack of principal's meetings on al Qaeda during that period. The scheduling is a fact. Clarke says meetings at the highest level could have communicated more urgency downward and possibly gotten things done quicker and better (esp. re information sharing). Powell, et al. disagree -- say working it at deputy meetings was fine and principal meetings would have made no difference. Who can say, but this doesn't suggest that Clarke has changed his tune.
S_A_M
