IPW Daily Report – Wednesday, March 24, 2004

* TODAY’S QUOTES:

"This administration came in fully recognizing the threat presented to the United States and its interests and allies around the world by terrorism. ... We went to work on it immediately. The president made it clear it was a high priority," Secretary of State Colin Powell said.

"Anything we might have done against al Qaeda in this period or against Osama bin Laden may or may not have had any influence on these people who were already in this country," Colin Powell said.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said, "I can say with confidence that President Clinton and his team did everything we could, everything that we could think of, based on the knowledge we had, to protect our people and disrupt and defeat al Qaeda. We certainly recognized the threat posed by the terrorist groups."

"You, Senator [Bob Kerry], I know, were the only person -- that I know of -- who suggested declaring war. You were probably -- in retrospect, you were probably right," said Madeleine Albright.

"John Kerry's campaign seems to be summed up this way: I went to Vietnam, yadda, yadda, yadda, I want to be president. He would have the American people ignore his 19-year record in the United States Senate. . . . In the case of John Kerry, the truth hurts," said Bush campaign spokesman Terry Holt.

"George Bush's campaign can be summed up this way: 'I lost three million jobs, turned record surpluses into record deficits, denied affordable health care and prescription drug coverage to most Americans, yadda, yadda, yadda, four more years," responded Stephanie Cutter spokeswoman for John Kerry.

Holt responded, "Kerry knows how to take a position, he just doesn't know how to hold a position. And that's really the most important part."

Cutter responded, "As much as they hate it, this President's record is what's on trial. Watching George Bush destroy this nation's economy is just as painful as watching Elaine dance. Like Seinfeld, this Administration's record is a show about 'nothing.' Only difference is Seinfeld will have been on the air longer."

"President Bush has led America in a time of recession, terrorism, and war. But through it all he has never forgotten his charge to protect our nation's security and promote opportunity for every American. He is guided by the right principles -- aided by his strong faith -- and I know that my family and the people of my state are more secure with George W. Bush in the White House," from the text of Sen. Zell Miller in accepting the chairmanship of Democrats for Bush.

* TODAY’S OFFERINGS:

CBS’s cover-up

The elephant in the room

Happenings today…

Labor’s contribution

Politicized intelligence . . .
By Mansoor Ijaz

Kerry’s new ad

* CANDIDATES & ISSUES:

CBS’s cover-up

CBS News continued to try to push Richard Clarke’s charges that the White House was covering up their inadequacies concerning 9/11.

During White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan’s daily briefing, CBS correspondent Bill Plante questioned whether the White House delayed Richard Clarke’s book, “Against All Enemies,” in the security review process.

Clarke has said that the book could have been published in December, but for the White House security review process. Clarke has made that statement as proof that he is not trying to use the book for political purposes of influencing the Presidential election.

McClellan said, "His book went through the normal review process. This is standard practice to make sure that classified information is not inadvertently released."

Dick Clarke could have released his book at any time, but the fact is he chose to release it at a time and in a way where he could maximize coverage to sell books, and at a time when he could have the impact to influence the political discourse," McClellan added. "That's very clear."

McClellan also said, "Keep in mind that his publisher put out that it would come out at the end of April. He chose to release it at a time when he could influence the political discourse."

Plante’s parent company previewed Clarke’s book and critical comments of President Bush on "60 Minutes." CBS has been criticized for failing ethical standards by not mentioning that Clarke’s book, "Against All Enemies," was published by the network's sister company, Simon & Schuster.

The elephant in the room

Social Security’s dilemma

The trustees’ report on Social Security and Medicare shows that there is a combined $72 trillion shortfall, which is nearly seven times the size of the U.S. economy. It is projected that the systems will go broke in 2019 for Medicare. The previous projection was 2026 (that projection was made one year ago.)

Part of the growing problem are the 76 million baby boomers who will be retiring and filing for Social Security in the next couple of decades. Social Security has never been individually funded. Instead, the system is based on current workers funding those who are currently retired.

Another key problem is the rising sots of health care. However, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said the reforms in the prescription drug bill that were passed will help keep Medicare affordable.

"The reforms built into the new Medicare law often get overshadowed by the new prescription drug benefits, but these reforms provide more tools to use to improve the solvency of the program," Thompson said.

The complete report is available online at the Social Security home page.

Happenings today…

Sen. Zell Miller, ever the thorn in Democrats' side, announces at an 11:00 am news conference that he will lead a Democrats for Bush organization.

Kerry wraps up his Idaho vacation and heads to DC, departing Twin Falls, ID at 4:00 pm ET and landing around 8:00 pm ET.

Labor’s contribution

The LA Times reports on how Labor is sponsoring a "Show Us the Jobs" bus tour with workers from all 50 states sharing their tales of economic deprivation during a tour of eight political swing states:

The eight-day "Show Us the Jobs" bus tour, organized by the AFL-CIO, will stop at a food pantry in Minneapolis and a shuttered manufacturing plant in Milwaukee. Participants will flip pancakes with workers who expect to get pink slips from a closing Electrolux plant in Greenville, Mich. They will tour homes sold in foreclosure in Youngstown, Ohio, and commiserate with college graduates unable to find work in Morgantown, W.Va.

Politicized intelligence . . .

By Mansoor Ijaz

Richard Clarke, former White House counterterrorism czar for Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, testifies today before the commission investigating the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States. He is well-qualified to do so because few individuals over the last decade, inside or outside government, better understood the Islamic extremism threat in all its dimensions.
But rather than deliver a factual recounting and analysis of intelligence failures and politically charged antiterrorism policies that plagued his years as coordinator for counterterrorism operations, he has chosen to characterize the Bush White House as indifferent to the threat posed by Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network prior to the September 11 attacks without consideration for the failures on his watch during the Clinton years. This is inaccurate and adds nothing to our understanding of how distant terrorists could plan and carry out such daring and effective attacks.
Mr. Clarke's premise that Bush national security officials neither understood nor cared to know anything about al Qaeda is simply untrue. I know because on multiple occasions from June until late August 2001, I personally briefed Stephen J. Hadley, deputy national security adviser to President Bush, and members of his South Asia, Near East and East Africa staff at the National Security Council on precisely what had gone wrong during the Clinton years to unearth the extent of the dangers posed by al Qaeda. Some of the briefings were in the presence of

former members of the Clinton administration's national security team to ensure complete transparency.
Far from being disinterested, the Bush White House was eager to avoid making the same mistakes of the previous administration and wanted creative new inputs for how to combat al Qaeda's growing threat.
Mr. Clarke's role figured in two key areas of the debriefings — Sudan's offer to share terrorism data on al Qaeda and bin Laden in 1997, and a serious effort by senior members of the Abu Dhabi royal family to gain bin Laden's extradition from Afghanistan in early 2000.
• Fall 1997: Sudan's offer is accepted by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, then rejected by Mr. Clarke and Clinton National Security Adviser Samuel "Sandy" Berger.
Sudan's president, Omar Hasan El Bashir, made an unconditional offer of counterterrorism assistance to the vice chairman of the September 11 Commission, then Rep. Lee Hamilton, Indiana Democrat, through my hands on April 19, 1997. Five months later on Sept. 28, 1997, after an exhaustive interagency review at the entrenched bureaucracy level of the U.S. government, Mrs. Albright announced the U.S. would send a high-level diplomatic team back to Khartoum to pressure its Islamic government to stop harboring Arab terrorists and to review Sudan data on terrorist groups operating from there.
As the re-engagement policy took shape, Susan E. Rice, incoming assistant secretary of state for East Africa, went to Mr. Clarke, made her anti-Sudan case and asked him to jointly approach Mr. Berger about the wisdom of Mrs. Albright's decision. Together, they recommended its reversal.The decision was overturned on Oct. 1, 1997.
Without Mr. Clarke's consent, Mr. Berger is unlikely to have gone along with such an early confrontation with the first woman to hold the highest post at Foggy Bottom.
U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by al Qaeda 10 months later. Files with detailed data on three of the embassy bombers were among the casualties of Mr. Clarke's decision to recommend missile attacks on an empty Khartoum pharmaceutical plant rather than get Sudan's data out almost a year earlier to begin unraveling al Qaeda's network.
To this day, neither Mr. Berger nor Mr. Clarke has explained to the American people why a deliberative decision of the U.S. government, made by interagency review, was overturned in such cavalier fashion by a small clique of Clinton advisers in the face of Sudan's unconditional April 1997 offer to cooperate on terrorism issues. If he was interested in facts, why did Mr. Clarke spurn the recommendations of his own intelligence and foreign policy institutions that the Sudanese offer be explored? Why did he not act on the Sudanese intelligence chief's direct approach to the FBI, of which he was aware, in early 1998 just prior to the final planning stages of the embassy bombings?
• Spring 2000: Abu Dhabi's offer to get bin Laden out of Afghanistan falls flat.
In late 1999, after a barrage of threats from al Qaeda's senior leadership against the Abu Dhabi royal family, a senior family member approached the Taliban foreign minister and Mullah Omar to discuss mechanisms for getting bin Laden out of Afghanistan. Mr. Clarke, who enjoyed close relations with the Abu Dhabi family, was brought into the loop early to prevent separation between Washington and Abu Dhabi on such a sensitive matter.
While Mr. Clarke was skeptical of the idea at first, he played ball long enough to understand the real intentions of the Taliban regime. Smart enough, except when the deal got real.
As the strategy started taking shape in earnest — a personal request from President Clinton to Sheikh Zayed, Abu Dhabi's ruler, seeking help to get bin Laden coupled with a $5 billion pan-Arab Afghan Development Fund that would be offered in return for bin Laden taking residence under house arrest in Abu Dhabi, with the possibility of extraditing him later to the United States — Mr. Clarke again scuttled the deal by opting instead for the militaristic solution. He pushed for armed CIA predator drones to hunt bin Laden in the remote mountains of northeastern Afghanistan.
Abu Dhabi was left with a black eye. The Taliban became even more aggressive in allowing al Qaeda to plan and carry out terrorist operations from Afghan soil. Another chance to capture the world's most notorious terrorist had been lost.
Mr. Clarke's selective memory serves no interest but his own agenda. He personifies the politicizing of intelligence by pointing fingers during the political high season for failures that not only occurred on his watch but also were due partly to his grand vision he would one day personally authorize a drone operation to kill bin Laden.
Mr. Clarke, as he testifies today, should remember he served at the pleasure of the American people. He was appointed to defend us against the very terrorists he repeatedly assessed inaccurately. A grateful nation recognizes the difficulty of his task but we ask that he stick to facts rather than inject vitriol and untruths into a debate that must yield answers to help protect our children in the future.

• Mansoor Ijaz is chairman of Crescent Investment Management in New York.

Kerry’s new ad

The following is Sen. John Kerry’s press release regarding his new TV ad:

The Kerry Campaign today launched a new ad campaign highlighting John Kerry’s plans to put opportunity into the hands of all Americans. While George W. Bush continues to blanket America with misleading attacks while ignoring the real concerns of average Americans, John Kerry is running his campaign on the real issues facing America, like making health care affordable, improving education and getting our economy back on track. John Kerry knows that as a nation we can do better than the last almost four years, and he has a plan to put the nation back on track and create a better future for America.

The 30-second spot will run in 17 states beginning Tuesday: Maine, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Iowa, New Mexico, Oregon, Wisconsin, Florida, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, Nevada, West Virginia, Arizona, Arkansas, Washington and Ohio.

"For four nearly four years, ordinary Americans have suffered through tremendous job losses, stagnant incomes and explosive increases in health care costs. Americans want a new approach, but George Bush stubbornly refuses to see the problems people are facing in this country each and every day," said Kerry Campaign Manager Mary Beth Cahill. "John Kerry will be a President who recognizes what people are facing and who will do something about it. This ad is the beginning of an effort to communicate John Kerry's positive vision and determination to change the failed policies of the Bush Administration and lead America in a new direction."

Text of Ad:

Announcer: "For 35 years John Kerry has fought for his country."

John Kerry: "We need to get some things done in this country: affordable healthcare, rolling back tax cuts for the wealthy, really investing in our kids. That’s why I’m running for President."

Announcer: "John Kerry: the military experience to defend America. A new plan to create jobs and put our economy back on track."

John Kerry: "I’m John Kerry and I approved this message because it’s time to put opportunity in the hands of all Americans."

Announcer: "John Kerry. A new direction for America."

The ad can be viewed by going to http://www.johnkerry.com/

* ON THE BUSH BEAT:

The Bush campaign has sent out a special e-mail on Wednesday to put forward President Bush’s actions in the War on Terrorism. Richard Clarke testifying Wednesday continued his assault on President Bush as being weak on terrorism. Clarke stated that the breaking story on Fox News was the result of complying with the Bush administrations goal of putting the best light on the Bush record. The facts presented in the Fox transcripts are directly counter to Clarke’s statement that Clinton had a plan to fight terrorism:

Bush campaign statement:

"On September the 11th, 2001, enemies of freedom made our country a battleground. Their method is the mass murder of the innocent, and their goal is to make all Americans live in fear. Yet our Nation refuses to live in fear. And the best way to overcome fear and to frustrate the plans of our enemies is to be prepared and resolute at home, and to take the offensive abroad."

President George W. Bush - October 1, 2003

Bush Administration’s efforts abroad:

Success against Al-Qaida. Through swift military action, increased intelligence activities and relentless law enforcement work, the United States and over 170 other countries participating in the war on terror have sent al-Qaida on the run, disrupting their networks and blocking their funds. More than two-thirds of al-Qaida’s most senior leaders have been either captured or killed.

Success in Afghanistan. With the support of the Afghan people and 70 other nations, U.S. forces liberated Afghanistan, dismantled the Taliban and destroyed al-Qaida’s terrorist training camps.

Success in Iraq. The U.S.-led coalition liberated 26 million people from a ruthless dictatorship that developed and used WMDs, cultivated ties to and harbored known terrorists and defied the U.N. We will stay the course in Iraq and finish the mission we set out to accomplish.

Progress in Libya, Iran and North Korea. Libya is now disclosing and dismantling all of its WMD programs. The U.S. is working with our allies and the International Atomic Energy Agency to ensure that Iran meets its commitments and does not develop nuclear weapons. Together with our partners in Asia, the U.S. is insisting that North Korea completely, verifiably and irreversibly dismantle its nuclear programs.

Rebuilding our military and intelligence gathering capacity. The President is committed to rebuilding our military and intelligence agencies after the decline and neglect that occurred during the 1990s. He has proposed increasing the Department of Defense’s budget by 7% for FY 2005, which represents a 35% increase over 2001 levels.

Promoting reform in the Middle East. Under President Bush’s leadership, America is pursuing a forward strategy of freedom, which will promote democracy throughout the Middle East.

Stopping the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The President has proposed a bold, robust international effort to stop the proliferation of WMDs.

Bush Administration’s efforts at home:

Created the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and has signed and enforced the PATRIOT Act. Since 2001, the President has tripled funding for homeland security and the PATRIOT act provides law enforcement officials with essential tools needed to track down terrorists.

Stopped continuing terrorist plots. Since September 2001, the DOJ has caught and convicted terrorist cells in Portland, Oregon and Buffalo, New York, and has arrested individual terrorist agents in Minnesota, Ohio, Seattle, Florida and New York.

Transforming the FBI. The FBI’s primary mission is now preventing terrorist attacks and the President increased its budget by over 40% since 2001.

Securing our ports. The President has made securing the nation’s ports one of his administration’s top priorities.

Defending against biological weapons. The President has proposed $5.6 billion over the next decade for the Project Bioshield initiative to develop and purchase cutting-edge drugs, vaccines and other bio-defense supplies.

Protecting our nation’s food supply. The President is proposing $553 million (a 180% increase) for a new agriculture and food defense initiative and $274 million for a new bio-surveillance initiative.

Supporting first responders. The President has allocated more than $13 billion to help state and local governments prepare for terrorism.

 

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