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Is There Light at the End of the Tunnel?
by Ruben Arvizu*

After hearing testimony from former White House adviser Richard Clarke on the 9/11 Hearings we could say that it is possible to see a light at the end of this dark tunnel of governmental deceit.

In his opening statement Mr. Clarke said to the families of the victims of 9/11, “Your government failed you.” He added, "and I failed you" and asked for forgiveness. He insisted on his accusations of the Bush administration’s failure to recognize the urgency of the threat posed by the al Qaeda network and its leader Osama ben Ladin. In other words, the Bush administration considered terrorism important but not an urgent issue.

His presentation was clear, concise and logical. His responses to the panel demonstrate his integrity and his real concern that the American people know the truth of the REAL reasons for the war with Iraq.

Mr. Clarke described his numerous frustrations for the lack of interest and the rush to judgment among the top officials of the Bush administration when dealing with terrorism. An example of this, the letter he wrote on September 4, 2001 to Bush’s National Security Adviser Condolezza Rice “urging policymakers to imagine a day after hundreds of Americans lay dead at home and abroad after a terrorist attack.”

There is an enormous and visible difference between his well-articulated responses to the Committee in comparison to the babbling of Condolezza Rice, Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Vice-president Cheney who tried to discredit the integrity and honesty of Clarke’s allegations.

During the more than two and ahalf hours of hard questions and smart responses very important issues were discussed, like the mysterious flight after 9/11 with Saudis taken out of the country without being properly interrogated by the FBI and or the CIA. Who gave the orders to authorize a plane to depart from the US when all the flights were cancelled nationally? To this day the answers have been withheld.

James Thompson, an obvious supporter of the Bush administration, did everything possible to put Mr. Clarke on the spot with misleading questions but in the end was unsuccessful. The applause of the audience supporting Clarke’s answers were the best indicator of who was the credible winner.

The American people have the enormous responsibility to evaluate the results of these Hearings and to put in the right perspective where the truth lies and where lies cover-up and deceit.

*Ruben Arvizu is Director for Latin America of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation