US-Antiterrorzar a.D. löst neue Sicherheitsdebatte aus

--- Die Vorwürfe des ehemaligen Cybersicherheitszaren der USA, Richard Clarke, gegen das Weiße Haus und seinen Terrorschutz haben eine heftige Diskussion jenseits des Atlantiks und in Großbritannien ausgelöst: Clarke, who resigned 13 months ago, wrote in his book, "Against All Enemies," that Bush "failed to act prior to September 11 on the threat from al Qaeda despite repeated warnings and then harvested a political windfall for taking obvious yet insufficient steps after the attacks." The shift of focus to Iraq "launched an unnecessary and costly war in Iraq that strengthened the fundamentalist, radical Islamic terrorist movement worldwide," he said. ... The timing of Clarke's accusations is particularly sensitive for Bush because the independent commission investigating the 2001 attacks is taking public testimony this week from Bush and Clinton administration national security officials about their actions before the attacks. The White House, citing constitutional prerogatives, has declined to allow the commission to take testimony from national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, although she has been interviewed by commission members privately. ... The furor over the allegations by Clarke, who served in the Reagan, Clinton and both Bush administrations, came as former president Jimmy Carter delivered an unusually stern rebuke of Bush over the Iraq war. "That was a war based on lies and misinterpretations from London and Washington, claiming falsely that Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11, claiming falsely that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction," Carter told the Independent newspaper of London, where the Clarke allegations were causing new trouble for Prime Minister Tony Blair, a Bush ally. Entgegen der üblichen Contenance, die die Bush-Administration bisher angesichts ähnlichen Anschuldigungen bewahrte, wirken die Reaktionen dieses mal ziemlich genervt: Half a dozen top White House officials, departing from their policy of ignoring such criticism, took to the airwaves to denounce Clarke as a disgruntled former colleague and a Democratic partisan. Vice President Cheney, on Rush Limbaugh's radio show, said the counterterrorism coordinator "wasn't in the loop, frankly, on a lot of this stuff." Cheney suggested Clarke did not do enough to prevent three attacks during the Clinton administration and said "he may have a grudge to bear there since he probably wanted a more prominent position."

Update: Einige Zitate aus dem Buch gibt es über AP.

clarke.buch.html