The 9/11 Commission

THE 9/11 COMMISSION

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I would like to close on an unrelated topic. I am in the process of reading a book, "Against All Enemies," by Richard Clarke, and as I started reading the book I was struck by the first chapter. You may remember Mr. Clarke served as the terrorism adviser and coordinator under President Clinton and then again under this President Bush. He has been working for some 30 years as a professional in this field. He has made some statements over the last 10 days which have become a source of headlines across America.

The administration has spent more time since he first appeared on "60 Minutes" 7 or 8 days ago discrediting Richard Clarke than I have ever seen spent on any other individual. It is clear what he has said is painful to them. What he said is he believes this administration-the Bush administration, and the Clinton administration for that matter-could have done a better job in anticipating the threat of al-Qaida.

He says in his book, of course, that he thinks they were too focused on Iraq, even though there was no connection between Iraq, Saddam Hussein, and 9/11 and the al-Qaida terrorists responsible for it.

These statements have enraged the White House. They have sent everyone out-from the President on down-stating publicly that Richard Clarke is out to sell books.

If you read the first chapter of this book, you will get a much different impression of this Richard Clarke, who to many is just another faceless bureaucrat working in the White House. You will learn when you read this book-or others will tell you-that on 9/11 after the World Trade Center was struck in New York, it was Richard Clarke in his capacity as coordinator to deal with terrorism in the White House-who had I guess as much as any single person in the Government-who had a particular personal responsibility to deal with the safety of the President and the Vice President and the Cabinet, the continuity of Government, and the whole question of grounding aircraft around this country. He was the man who was at the controls at that point in time as everyone was trying to deal with what was going on.

I say that in a positive fashion because I do not know that I have ever heard many say what I have just said. But it tells me that a man who spent 30 years dealing with the intelligence and domestic security and terrorism who is now being discredited in a matter of 7 or 8 days as a person who can't be trusted to share his insights on what happened raises some important questions.

I honestly believe Richard Clarke has done us a service. He says in this book the Clinton administration could have done a better job. He says the Bush administration could have done a better job. And, frankly, we all could have done a better job, including Members of Congress, the Senate and the House. That is something we ought to face up to.

Let me also add he appeared last week before the 9/11 Commission. The September 11 Commission is a bipartisan commission cochaired by Governor Kean of New Jersey and former Congressman Lee Hamilton of Indiana-two good men, professionals who are trying to get at the bottom of why 9/11 occurred and what we could have done to avoid it.

They have had testimony from Mr. Tenet, who is Director of the CIA, from Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld, and his predecessor, Secretary Cohen. They are going to entertain testimony from President Clinton and President Bush. They certainly had Mr. Clarke before them, and I think that is all well and good. I think all of those leaders in Government who were involved in the decisionmaking should sit and meet with this commission to get to the bottom of how America can be safer, which brings us to the story of the day.

I can't understand why Condoleezza Rice, who has served this administration and this country so well, is resisting an invitation to appear before the 9/11 Commission. If the President can find time, if former President Clinton, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, and the head of the CIA can find time, certainly it is not a matter of scheduling.

Second, she has made a number of appearances, as you know, on television on "60 Minutes" last night, and many other shows. So she is prepared to entertain questions from reporters. Why is she resisting this opportunity to testify? To say it has never been done, that it is unprecedented, let me say thank goodness 9/11 had never occurred before and it was unprecedented.

Let us gather together in a bipartisan fashion. Ms. Rice should come before the bipartisan commission and answer as many questions as openly and honestly as she can without ever crossing the line in the area of national security. But as she resists this opportunity to share her feelings about the preparation of the defense of America, she shortchanges the process which is simply trying to make America a safer nation.

Let us keep this bipartisan. Let us entertain not only Mr. Clarke but also Ms. Rice in terms of her views and memories of what happened on that fateful day.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.