The Bush-nosing sycophants in the anti-American way wing of the Grand Odorous Party want to pursue a potential perjury case against Richards Clarke. Have they no sense of shame? They want to persecute beyond the pale the only government official who had the courage to apologize to the families of the victims of 9/11. Unfortunately, these Bush hit-men will surely sink lower still in the months ahead. The future of the republic and its citizens be damned: George the Second rules by Divine Right, with his gawd constantly at his beck and call.
WASHINGTON - Leading congressional Republicans announced plans Friday to seek declassification of 2-year-old testimony from Richard Clarke, hoping to show discrepancies between his recent criticisms of the Bush administration's terrorism policies with flattering statements he made as a White House aide.
"Mr. Clarke has told two entirely different stories under oath," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said in a speech on the Senate floor.
The Tennessee Republican and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., want Clarke's July 2002 testimony before the joint House and Senate intelligence inquiry into the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks available publicly. ...
The declassification requests marked the latest turn in a Republican counterattack against Clarke, who has leveled his criticism against Bush in a new book, "Against All Enemies," as well as in interviews and this week's sworn testimony. ...
House Intelligence Chairman Porter Goss, R-Fla., who initiated the declassification request this week, said he feels an obligation to make sure Congress' 810-page report, released publicly in 2003, isn't "contaminated by this new revelation" from Clarke. ...
"We have to dig through this," Goss said, "not only for the continued accuracy and utility of the joint 9-11 report, but now we have this further question: Does this change things, or is it part of a book-selling tour?" ...
Former Senate Intelligence Chairman Bob Graham, D-Fla., who worked with Goss on the inquiry, supported the declassification of Clarke's testimony in its entirety and suggested the administration open the door even wider to include documents ? including Clarke's January 2002 al-Qaida plan ? that could help resolve issues in dispute.
"To the best of my recollection, there is nothing inconsistent or contradictory in that testimony and what Mr. Clarke has said this week," Graham said.
California Rep. Jane Harman, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, also wants to see more information disclosed, including 27 pages of the congressional inquiry's report addressing the involvement of a foreign government in supporting some of the 19 hijackers ? an item of dispute with the Bush administration.
"This is selective declassification, in my view, and it is all about discrediting an administration critic," Harman said.
