Despite attempts to defame him by the Bush Administration and its syncophants at FOX News, Richard A. Clarke is a true American hero. When Clarke gave testimony before the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, he insisted that he and CIA director George Tenet warned the president on multiple occasions that al-Qaeda was planning something "spectacular." The president, as well as Condoleeza Rice, ignored Tenet's insistence that the administration pursue a policy of "rolling back" al-Qaeda (that is, "rolling" bombing attacks -- in waves, over a course of a few years -- designed to cripple them), and ignored the Northern Alliance and Pakistan's requests for help against the Taliban.

This was March 24. On March 25, the White House conveniently "leaked" to FOX News an old press briefing from August, 2002 in which Clarke apparently contradicts some of the things he's saying now. Dick Cheney was quick (too quick, given his medical condition; he should go lie down now) to point out 1) that Clarke is just trying to sell a book (Against All Enemies) and 2) that he was passed over for a promotion to Deputy Director of Homeland Security. These are all wonderful attempts to discredit Clarke, but they just don't hold water.

First of all, Clarke is risking perjury if he lies. Is it worth prison time to sell a book? Second, a panel member already addressed the discrepency between the 2002 press briefing and Clarke's current testimony. Panel member Thompson asked, "Are you saying to me that you were asked to make an untrue case to the press and the public and that you went ahead and did it?" Clarke replied, "Not an untrue case. 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. 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." The press briefing was not held under oath. And it was, after all, a press briefing: it's when the administration's spin control kicks in to high gear.

Clarke's current testimony matches exactly with a Time special report from August 12, 2002 on the intelligence failures before September 11. Everything -- from the lack of attention to al-Qaeda, to the lack of help for Pakistan and the Northern Alliance, to the bureaucracy that took nine months to review a counterterrorism policy that was completed -- but not implemented -- before Bush took office.

This last element is surprising. Clarke, as the so-called terrorism czar, had drafted a proposal for President Clinton in December, 2001 but decided to wait until the Bush administration took office in January to implement it. (Condoleeza Rice insists that she never received any formal counterterrorism paper.) The Bush team thought that Clinton's people were amateurs when it came to terrorism, so they reviewed all the Clinton national security policies, and White House bureaucracy pushed review of Clarke's policy back months. It was September 4 before the policy finally came to a "principals meeting" (a meeting of all the Cabinet secretaries).

Attempts to discredit Clarke show the full range of dirty tricks that the administration will resort to in order to cover its ass. Scott alerted me to a Talking Points Memo (not Bill O'Reilly's) in which FOX News completely and unabashedly misquotes Clarke. It made me furious and it was then that I finally decided that FOX News was worthless as a source of actual news and will do whatever it takes to protect Republicans. "We report, you decide"? How about, "We contort, then deride"?