McClellan on Richard Clarke from yesterday’s gaggle <$NoAd$> …
QUESTION: And then, can I ask you to clarify, too, because one of the points you’ve made is he was here for nearly a decade; why did he raise these concerns — why did he raise these concerns a year-and-a-half after he left? What, then, was the report that he put together that, then, was on the President’s desk September 4th, the action plan in terms of doing —
McCLELLAN: Well, that was something the National Security Council put together. That was something — it was a comprehensive strategy for eliminating al Qaeda, not rolling back al Qaeda. The President wanted a strategy that had teeth, that when we came in and we looked at — looked at the threat posed by al Qaeda, we made it a top priority. But the President wanted to go beyond the actions of the past, which were maybe aimed at rolling back al Qaeda. He wanted a comprehensive strategy that had teeth. That’s why we made al Qaeda a priority from very early on.
And then you also look at what we did after 9/11. We immediately took action to go into Afghanistan and remove the Taliban from power and to deny al Qaeda the safe haven that they had in that country to plan and plot against America and our friends and allies.
QUESTION: But you have left the impression that Clarke did little or nothing to deal with or propose solutions to dealing with al Qaeda while he was here.
McCLELLAN: No, no, no. Here in the United States. No, no. Dr. Rice actually asked him for ideas in the very first week of this administration that he had for going after al Qaeda. And some of those — some of those we pursued —
QUESTION: Wasn’t he the one who pushed in many ways and helped put together the report that landed on the President’s desk September 4th?
McCLELLAN: He was involved in our counterterrorism efforts up until October 9th of 2001, when that position was separated, something that he actually suggested, as well.
QUESTION: Well, help clarify, because if he was involved with and helped author this report that had to deal with dealing with al Qaeda that landed on the President’s desk a week before September 11th —
McCLELLAN: At the direction of —
QUESTION: — how can you say he did nothing or raised no concerns?
McCLELLAN: At the direction of — at the direction of the National Security Advisor. I’m talking about here in the United States. Remember that the fact is that he was not in many of the meetings where he would have some of the direct knowledge of what he asserts. He appears to be more wrapped up in the process about what title he had and what meetings he was able to participate in or not participate in. The world according to Dick Clarke is all about Dick Clarke. If he and his ideas are not at the center of all that is going on, then he thinks you cannot be taking terrorism seriously.
Well, let’s look at the facts. Let’s look at the action we took. This President took action immediately upon coming into office to develop a comprehensive strategy to eliminate al Qaeda. The first major foreign policy directive of this administration was a comprehensive — to develop a comprehensive strategy to eliminate al Qaeda, not to roll back al Qaeda.
QUESTION: Understood, but explain how there’s not a glaring contradiction. You say he did nothing, and yet there was a report that was on the President’s desk a week before September 11th.
McCLELLAN: What did I say? Wait, wait. What did I say? I did not say —
QUESTION: You said he was more involved in process and which meetings he was in. Iâm trying to understand —
McCLELLAN: He is more focused on — he appears to be more focused on process and what title he had and what meetings he was in or not in.
QUESTION: What was the report on September 4th?
McCLELLAN: That was the comprehensive strategy to eliminate al Qaeda, at the direction of Dr. Rice and the National Security Council and the President of the United States, who made it clear early on. He said, I don’t want to be swatting at flies, we need a comprehensive strategy to eliminate al Qaeda.
More soon.
