Lets suppose that by admitting that this administration made mistakes, we must admit that the Clinton administration made mistakes.

Okay. Done. Clinton f'd up. So did Bush the Father. But that does not strip those who want Bush held accountable of the poihnt that we are trying to make.

What is the point?

The point is that this administration is using its record on terrorism as a campaign issue- is saying that it did a good job.

By sending Condi out as one of the Clarke-assassins, and then refusing to allow her testimony to be on the record, under oath and in public it means that Condi Rice can say anything she wants to in both the public and congressional arena.

Your point about prevention is not ignored. I think, and a lot of people thing, you can't have prevention without accountability. If this administration is never taken to task for this incident that happened on their watch, but is instead allowed to spin it to look like they did the right things- then there is no accountability and the message to all presidents is this:

"Don't worry if you screwed up, don't even bother trying to avoid a screw up- just focus on the political spin effort and you can turn it into an attribute to run for re-election on"

No, if as you say, we have to lay some of the blame on Clinton- then so be it. But the point is that 3000 people lay dead under piles of smoking rubble and nobody in the administration has even said so much as a 'whoops'! (Clarke has, BTW). Instead, this administration would have you believe that it did nothing wrong, could have done nothing different. Despite all the data that we have now that shows clearly how this could have been averted- this administration is standing there saying that these perfect flawless terrorists could not have been stopped no matter what.

And not only are they saying this, but they are preventing these claims from being tested- they are refusing to allow Dr. Rice (who, and according to clarke, could make-or-break these above claims of perfection and innocence) to testify under oath, in public and oin the record.

So what we are left with is: "Its not our foault- simply believe us!"

Now for shills and fools, this is not an issue- but for all of us who think democracy works at least in part because we hold our elected officials accountable for thir actions- this is a problem.

Its not a "you have nothing to hide, so why not" argument. Its a "its your damn job!" argument. This is a gov't of the people for the people and by the people- and Condi Rice and Bush have some explaining to do. Its our duty and right to hear that explanation and then take action at the voting booths.

Now as far as political shills and partisan whips go- I have never seen a more shameful performance than I have seen from you. It is painfully obvious that you have not read the book, it is painfully obvious you did not read the transcripts of Clarkes testimony. All I have seen from you is a recycling of the same hints and allegations against Mr. Clarke that I see on Fox News and hear on Right Wing Radio.

You use the same false misconstructions of his claims (strawmen) and attack those misconstructions in the same hyperbolic, emotionally charged and derrogatory fashions as you have heard on those radio shows. You only answer the points that you have a pre-packaged answer for, and ignore the posts that contain questions or points or arguments that you don't have a defense against.

In the end: For you this is not about it ever happening again or not, and I'm sick of hearing you pretend it is. You don't want to see Bush's pogrom invalidated by the american voter and you don't want to see a democrat in office. Aside from that, I don't see any reason to believe that you care about any other issue. Stop pretending, and don't be so hypocritical as to moralize with bowser and say he is just looking for a political weapon, as thats all you have become since the Iraqi war. Your posts used to be Adam Smith and Congressional Budgets. Now they are recyclked partisan rhetoric from blog after blog after blog after ....

Davin L.