March 22, 2004

Dick Clarke, President Bush's first terrorism chief, has drawn fire from the White House for his characterizations of President Bush and other top officials. NBC's Norah O'Donnell reports:

Clarke characterizations:
Below is a look at some of Clarke's descriptions of the president and other top officials:

1. President Bush: Says “the critique of him as a dumb, lazy rich kid was somewhat off the mark,” but that Bush looks for “the simple solution, the bumper-sticker description of the problem.”

2. President Clinton: Clarke was “beyond mad” over Clinton’s lack of discretion that led to his impeachment, but generally praises Clinton as a charismatic, sharp thinker who couldn’t get the CIA, Pentagon and FBI to deal with terrorism issues. Says Clinton’s approval of missile attacks against Iraq over the assassination attempt during Bush’s father’s presidency deterred Saddam from future terrorism against America.

3. Vice President Dick Cheney: described as quiet and calm but radically conservative. Says Cheney believes U.S. could handle Iraq alone and “everyone else is just more trouble than they are worth.” Blames Cheney for failing to speak out about the threat of al-Qaida during senior White House meetings.

4. CIA Director George Tenet: He “was as much concerned with the threat of al-Qaida as anyone in the government prior to Sept. 11” but was struggling with internal rebuilding at the CIA. Tenet is quoted as saying in June 2001, “It’s my sixth sense, but I feel it coming. This is going to be the big one.” Says Tenet and Clarke jointly scrapped a doomed plan to capture bin Laden in 1996 at the heavily guarded Tarnak farm in Afghanistan. Clarke complains regularly about failures by CIA to insert spies effectively into Afghanistan and Somalia.

5. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice: has “a closer relationship with the second President Bush than any of her predecessors had with the presidents they reported to.” She effectively demoted Clark in November 2001, when he became head of cyber-security instead of counter-terrorism.

6. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld: accused of plotting to bomb Iraq one day after the 9/11 attacks, despite any evidence of Iraqi involvement. Says Rumsfeld noted there weren’t any good bombing targets in Afghanistan but plenty of targets in Iraq. “At first I thought Rumsfeld was joking. But he was serious and the president did not reject out of hand the idea of attacking Iraq,” Clarke wrote.

7. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz: quoted as saying during an April 2001 meeting, “I just don’t understand why we are beginning by talking about this one man bin Laden,” and telling Clarke, “You give bin Laden too much credit.”

8. Secretary of State Colin Powell: praised for urging focus on al-Qaida, not Iraq, immediately after 9/11. Credited for recognizing al-Qaida threat early in 2001.

9. Attorney General John Ashcroft: criticized over his response to 9/11, especially over handling of alleged “dirty bomber” Jose Padilla as an enemy combatant. “The attorney general, rather than bringing us together, managed to persuade much of the country that the needed reforms of the Patriot Act were actually the beginning of fascism.” Clarke says an unidentified staffer asked him after meeting with Ashcroft early in 2001, “He can’t really be that slow, can he?” Clarke’s response: “He did lose a Senate re-election to a dead man.”

10. FBI Director Robert Mueller: hired days before 9/11, he “cannot be blamed for the failure of the bureau to find al-Qaida or even to have a computer network prior to then.” But he complains that the FBI, under Mueller, hasn’t managed to keep its top counterterrorism experts from retiring.

11. Former FBI Director Louis Freeh: blamed for failing to coordinate largely independent FBI field offices or upgrade their computer networks.