Barbara J. Stock
Absolute power corrupts absolutely
By Barbara J. Stock
One man had the country's undivided attention this past week. While Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld was given a mere hour for questioning in front of the 9/11 Commission, Richard Clarke was given two and one-half hours. Now that's power.
Anyone watching could easily see Clarke loved every minute of it. For years he labored behind the scenes, carrying presidential water with no recognition. He was called on to make plans to protect the country from terrorist attacks and just as often, his opinions and plans were ignored.
The eight years he worked for the Clinton Administration he saw attack after attack go unanswered. Love him or hate him, he knew where this would eventually lead. An attack without punishment is seen as weakness and the enemy grew bolder and bolder. It was only a matter time. Clarke's experience told him this. All the signs were there. He must have been sickened on September 11, 2001 to watch those planes crash into the World Trade Center Buildings and the Pentagon. Three thousand dead and thousands injured. Billions of dollars lost. Two major American icons destroyed — the very heart of our military attacked. Could it have been avoided? We will never know.
Did something happen to Richard Clarke that day? Did he throw up his hands and say "I will be ignored no longer!" Is that the day he decided to write his book?
It seems that Clarke decided it was his time in the spot-light. For too long he had hidden in the shadows of powerful men and labored in obscurity.
According to his testimony, the only thing the Bush Administration cared about was Iraq. Afghanistan and bin Laden were of little consequence. This amazed him, he said, because there was absolutely no connection between Saddam and al Qaeda. But that is not what he said when Bill Clinton needed to justify his attack on the pharmaceutical plant in Sudan.
While laying out the justification for that attack, he claimed that Saddam's nerve gas specialist was meeting with members of al Qaeda in Iraq to teach them how to make VX gas in that very factory. Certainly, this man didn't meet with bin Laden's people in secret. Saddam had to have approved such visits. That is the link that he now denies. Did he forget about his clear connection while talking to Leslie Stahl on "60 Minutes?" Somehow I doubt this memory lapse was due to a small stroke. It was intentional and sensational.
While in the Clinton administration, he complained to friends, "What will al Qaeda have to do to get their attention, attack the Pentagon?" Yet all that was forgotten in his transparent quest to lift most blame from Clinton and place it solely on the shoulders of the present administration.
His appearance on "Sixty Minutes" and his testimony before the commission have brought him fame and — based on how his book is selling — fortune. After thirty years of being the man behind the men in front of the cameras, he now had the power to have an entire country fixated on his words. Like a starving man, he feasted. While the cameras were rolling and the flashbulbs were popping, he had the power.
Clarke must have realized that he had the power to influence the up-coming presidential election with his words. This sitting president had slighted him, demoted him and denied him the job he wanted — the job he probably felt should have been his reward for his years of service.
The past president had also ignored his warnings and advice but at least had made him feel important and met with him personally. The possible future president is the one that needs to be impressed. It's flawless logic in some ways. But this man, who felt no one had listened to him for years, had had his words recorded, nonetheless. Those words are now coming back to haunt him. It's hard to spin your own words.
For years, he has lurked behind the politics. Now, he finds himself at the heart of political turmoil. I wonder if he will find it as much fun in two weeks as he does at this moment. He has put thirty years of hard work and dedication to his job on the line to earn his 15 minutes of fame.
I have tried my very best to dislike this man, but I can't. I don't feel he has been completely honest but he has become a bitter, angry man. That anger has clouded his judgment. Bitter perhaps, that he was unable to convince two presidents that they needed to take immediate action. But he has attacked the wrong man. While Clinton had several actionable attacks, Bush had none — until 9/11.
Is there guilt involved? Clarke opened his testimony with a blanket apology for his failure to protect the country. He took a farther step by also apologizing for the government as a whole, which he had no right to do. Did FDR apologize for Pearl Harbor? President Bush did not attack the country, the terrorists did. Perhaps Clarke's anger would have been better spent on bin Laden instead of his own president.
Instead of lashing out at his own, he should have put his knowledge to use to do what he tried to do all those years — protect the country. Many of his plans were used against the enemy in Afghanistan, but — unfortunately — that is not how he will be remembered.
Richard Clarke will be remembered as a bitter man who let the taste of momentary power corrupt him — absolutely.
© Barbara J. Stock
One man had the country's undivided attention this past week. While Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld was given a mere hour for questioning in front of the 9/11 Commission, Richard Clarke was given two and one-half hours. Now that's power.
Anyone watching could easily see Clarke loved every minute of it. For years he labored behind the scenes, carrying presidential water with no recognition. He was called on to make plans to protect the country from terrorist attacks and just as often, his opinions and plans were ignored.
The eight years he worked for the Clinton Administration he saw attack after attack go unanswered. Love him or hate him, he knew where this would eventually lead. An attack without punishment is seen as weakness and the enemy grew bolder and bolder. It was only a matter time. Clarke's experience told him this. All the signs were there. He must have been sickened on September 11, 2001 to watch those planes crash into the World Trade Center Buildings and the Pentagon. Three thousand dead and thousands injured. Billions of dollars lost. Two major American icons destroyed — the very heart of our military attacked. Could it have been avoided? We will never know.
Did something happen to Richard Clarke that day? Did he throw up his hands and say "I will be ignored no longer!" Is that the day he decided to write his book?
It seems that Clarke decided it was his time in the spot-light. For too long he had hidden in the shadows of powerful men and labored in obscurity.
According to his testimony, the only thing the Bush Administration cared about was Iraq. Afghanistan and bin Laden were of little consequence. This amazed him, he said, because there was absolutely no connection between Saddam and al Qaeda. But that is not what he said when Bill Clinton needed to justify his attack on the pharmaceutical plant in Sudan.
While laying out the justification for that attack, he claimed that Saddam's nerve gas specialist was meeting with members of al Qaeda in Iraq to teach them how to make VX gas in that very factory. Certainly, this man didn't meet with bin Laden's people in secret. Saddam had to have approved such visits. That is the link that he now denies. Did he forget about his clear connection while talking to Leslie Stahl on "60 Minutes?" Somehow I doubt this memory lapse was due to a small stroke. It was intentional and sensational.
While in the Clinton administration, he complained to friends, "What will al Qaeda have to do to get their attention, attack the Pentagon?" Yet all that was forgotten in his transparent quest to lift most blame from Clinton and place it solely on the shoulders of the present administration.
His appearance on "Sixty Minutes" and his testimony before the commission have brought him fame and — based on how his book is selling — fortune. After thirty years of being the man behind the men in front of the cameras, he now had the power to have an entire country fixated on his words. Like a starving man, he feasted. While the cameras were rolling and the flashbulbs were popping, he had the power.
Clarke must have realized that he had the power to influence the up-coming presidential election with his words. This sitting president had slighted him, demoted him and denied him the job he wanted — the job he probably felt should have been his reward for his years of service.
The past president had also ignored his warnings and advice but at least had made him feel important and met with him personally. The possible future president is the one that needs to be impressed. It's flawless logic in some ways. But this man, who felt no one had listened to him for years, had had his words recorded, nonetheless. Those words are now coming back to haunt him. It's hard to spin your own words.
For years, he has lurked behind the politics. Now, he finds himself at the heart of political turmoil. I wonder if he will find it as much fun in two weeks as he does at this moment. He has put thirty years of hard work and dedication to his job on the line to earn his 15 minutes of fame.
I have tried my very best to dislike this man, but I can't. I don't feel he has been completely honest but he has become a bitter, angry man. That anger has clouded his judgment. Bitter perhaps, that he was unable to convince two presidents that they needed to take immediate action. But he has attacked the wrong man. While Clinton had several actionable attacks, Bush had none — until 9/11.
Is there guilt involved? Clarke opened his testimony with a blanket apology for his failure to protect the country. He took a farther step by also apologizing for the government as a whole, which he had no right to do. Did FDR apologize for Pearl Harbor? President Bush did not attack the country, the terrorists did. Perhaps Clarke's anger would have been better spent on bin Laden instead of his own president.
Instead of lashing out at his own, he should have put his knowledge to use to do what he tried to do all those years — protect the country. Many of his plans were used against the enemy in Afghanistan, but — unfortunately — that is not how he will be remembered.
Richard Clarke will be remembered as a bitter man who let the taste of momentary power corrupt him — absolutely.
© Barbara J. Stock
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
