“There’s No Connection”
“The president dragged me into a room with a couple of other people, shut the door, and said, ‘I want you to find whether Iraq did this [9/11].’ Now he never said, ‘Make it up.’ But the entire conversation left me in absolutely no doubt that George Bush wanted me to come back with a report that said Iraq did this.
“I said, ‘Mr. President. We’ve done this before. We have been looking at this. We looked at it with an open mind. There’s no connection.’
“He came back at me and said, “Iraq! Saddam! Find out if there’s a connection.’ And in a very intimidating way. I mean that we should come back with that answer. We wrote a report.”
“We got together all the FBI experts, all the CIA experts. We wrote the report. We sent the report out to CIA and the FBI, and said, ‘Will you sign this report?’ They all cleared the report. And we sent it up to the president and it got bounced by the National Security Advisor or Deputy. It got bounced and sent back saying, ‘Wrong answer… Do it again.‘”
Richard A. Clarke,
60 Minutes (March 21, 2004)
White House Counter-Terrorism Adviser
(Reagan White House, Bush (I) White House, Clinton White House, Bush (II) White House)
“Evidence from intelligence sources, secret communications, and statements by people now in custody reveal that Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of al Qaeda.”
George W. Bush,
State of the Union, White House (January 28, 2003)
Texas National Guard (AWOL from duty, 1972-1973)
“How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?”
John F. Kerry,
Before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (April 23, 1971)
Future Democratic Presidential Nominee
Decorated Vietnam Veteran (Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat Valor, and three Purple Hearts)
