WASHINGTON, March 20 (UPI) -- A top U.S. advisor on counter-terrorism since the Reagan administration is lashing out at President Bush's failures before and after the 9/11 attacks.
Richard Clarke, a top advisor on terrorism for each administration since Ronald Reagan, resigned from the Bush White House last year. He criticizes the president's handling of intelligence reports before the Sept. 11, 2001, al Qaida attacks on the United States, and the invasion of Iraq despite what he said was no evidence of a link with al Qaida. The criticism comes in a new book and on CBS' 60 minutes Sunday.
"Frankly, I find it outrageous that the President is running for re-election on the grounds that he's done such great things about terrorism," Clarke said in the interview. "He ignored it. He ignored terrorism for months, when maybe we could have done something to stop 9/11... I think he's done a terrible job on the war against terrorism."
"It's not correct," said Stephen Hadley of the National Security Council. Responding to Clark on the news magazine show, he added, "Iraq, as the president has said, is at the center of the war on terror."
