To: Brumar89 who wrote (104273 ) 8/1/2007 3:59:28 PM From: Steve Dietrich Read Replies (2) | Respond to It is true. But that's not the issue, just a dodge. The Bush administration didn't take terrorism seriously enough according to Clarke. He and Tenet were warning of imminent danger and the administration went on vacation. That has nothing to do with program funding levels. That has to do with focus and seriousness."I was asked to highlight the positive aspects of what the administration had done, and to minimize the negative aspects of what the administration had done," Mr. Clarke said. "And as a special assistant to the president, one is frequently asked to do that kind of thing. I've done it for several presidents." "George Tenet and I tried very hard to create a sense of urgency by seeing to it that intelligence reports on the Al Qaeda threat were frequently given to the president and other high-level officials," Mr. Clarke said, referring to the director of central intelligence, who testified earlier today. "But although I continue to say it was an urgent problem, I don't think it was ever treated that way,""My view was that this administration, while it listened to me, either didn't believe me that there was an urgent problem or was unprepared to act as though there were an urgent problem," Mr. Clarke said. "And I thought, if the administration doesn't believe its national coordinator for counterterrorism when he says there's an urgent problem, and if it's unprepared to act as though there's an urgent problem, then probably I should get another job."
