Worth reading:

While we share Richard Clarke's view that the Bush administration did not do enough on terrorism prior to 9/11, we think people should be careful, and not automatically endorse 100% of what he's saying. In that vein, we suggest reading the article in Time magazine: Richard Clarke, at War With Himself.

UPDATE: We see that Political Animal (aka Calpundit) thinks the Time article has serious problems. We agree that some of what Romesh Ratnesar wrote is foolish, but we also think he's on to something when he asserts that Clarke is not the dispassionate civil servant playing it totally straight.

We don't think this is a reason to dismiss Clarke, but we think it's important to understand where everybody is coming from in this debate. Clarke, in our opinion, has done a few things that may make him vulnerable to Republican attacks. Therefore, it is wise to embrace Clarke's criticism on policy, but one should be careful before embracing Clarke the man.

That said, we do think Clarke did a noble thing when he apologized to the families of the 9/11 victims. That alone, may have done more to establish his good name to the general public than his long-time servie as a counterterrorism official.

posted by Quiddity at 3/25/2004 10:15:00 AM