Watch 60 minutes Sunday night...21 MAR
>
> FORMER WHITE HOUSE TERROR ADVISER SET TO BREAK SILENCE ON '60 MINS';
> SAYS
> PRESIDENT ISN'T DOING VERY GOOD JOB FIGHTING TERRORISM
> Fri Mar 19 2004 17:49:30 ET
> **Updated** Sat Mar 20 2004 09:52:43 ET
>
> President Bushâ?Ts former top terrorism advisor says the president
> isnâ?Tt
> doing the best job fighting terrorism. The former advisor, Richard
> Clarke,
> discusses this and other observations he made while he was a White House
>
> insider in an interview with Lesley Stahl to be broadcast on 60 MINUTES
> Sunday March 21 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.
>
> "Frankly, I find it outrageous that the president is running for
> re-election on the grounds that he's done such great things about
> terrorism," says Clarke in tomorrow night's interview. "He ignored it.
> He ignored terrorism for months, when maybe we could have done something
> to
> stop 9/11. Maybe. We'll never know," he tells Stahl.
>
> Clarke tells Stahl that on September 11, 2001 and the day after - when
> it
> was clear Al Qaeda had carried out the terrorist attacks - the Bush
> administration was considering bombing Iraq in retaliation.
>
> Clarke was surprised that the attention of administration officials was
> turning toward Iraq when he expected the focus to be on Al Qaeda and
> Osama
> bin Laden. "They were talking about Iraq on 9/11. They were talking
> about it
> on 9/12," says Clarke.
>
> The top counter-terrorism advisor, Clarke was briefing the highest
> government officials, including President Bush and Secretary of Defense
> Donald Rumsfeld, in the aftermath of 9/11. "Rumsfeld was saying we
> needed to
> bomb Iraq....We all said, 'but no, no. Al Qaeda is in Afghanistan,"
> recounts
> Clarke, "and Rumsfeld said, 'There aren't any good targets in
> Afghanistan
> and there are lots of good targets in Iraq.' I said, 'Well, there are
> lots
> of good targets in lots of places, but Iraq had nothing to do with [the
> 9/11
> attacks],'" he tells Stahl.
>
> Clarke goes on to explain what he believes was the reason for the focus
> on
> Iraq. "I think they wanted to believe that there was a connection
> [between
> Iraq and Al Qaeda] but the CIA was sitting there, the FBI was sitting
> there,
> I was sitting there, saying, 'We've looked at this issue for years. For
> years we've looked and there's just no connection,'" says Clarke.
>
> Clarke, who advised four presidents, reveals more about the current
> administration's reaction to terrorism in his new book, "Against All
> Enemies."
>
> Developing...