April 6, 2004

Urgent? Really?

From today's Washington Times.

The final policy paper on national security that President Clinton submitted to Congress - 45,000 words long - makes no mention of al Qaeda and refers to Osama bin Laden by name just four times.

The scarce references to bin Laden and his terror network undercut claims by former White House terrorism analyst Richard A. Clarke that the Clinton administration considered al Qaeda an "urgent" threat, while President Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, "ignored" it.

The Clinton document, titled "A National Security Strategy for a Global Age," is dated December 2000 and is the final official assessment of national security policy and strategy by the Clinton team. The document is publicly available, though no U.S. media outlets have examined it in the context of Mr. Clarke's testimony and new book.

Memo to the press: You can find links to the Clinton document by starting here at Captain Ed's blog and then scrolling up. Captain Ed is providing devastatingly detailed summaries of each section the Clinton document, and proving, once and for all, that Clarke lied when he said the Clinton administration had no higher priority than combating terrorism. [Via Glenn Reynolds, who has a good bit more to say on the subject.]