Eventually, Frist's own spokesman admitted that his boss hadn't read
Clarke's testimony -- and that his only "evidence" was gossip from
other unnamed legislators who had called the majority leader to
complain that Clarke's "tone" differed from what he had said two years
earlier.

Some Republicans who had heard Clarke's testimony quietly suggested
that Frist didn't know what he was talking about, including Senate
Intelligence Committee chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kansas.

Harry

From Salon, 11/19/04:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2004/11/19/frist/

Bill Frist exposed

A newly declassified document vindicates counter-terrorism expert
Richard Clarke from the slander of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.

By Joe Conason

Last March, Frist rose on the Senate floor to demonstrate his fealty
to the White House by attacking Richard Clarke in the ugliest and most
personal terms.

Seeking to discredit the former counter-terrorism chief after his
stunning appearance before the National Commission on Terrorist
Attacks Upon the United States, Frist essentially accused the former
counter-terrorism chief of committing perjury.

But now we know who was telling the truth and who wasn't, thanks to
the release of a newly declassified document.

That document is the transcript of Clarke's testimony before a closed,
joint congressional hearing in June 2002, when he discussed "the
evolution of the terrorist threat" leading up to 9/11 with members of
the Senate and House Intelligence Committees.

While the declassified text contains lengthy redactions, it also shows
conclusively that Frist slandered Clarke last spring.

The Frist assault was among the most publicized fusillades in a
concerted effort to destroy Clarke, who had dared to criticize the
Bush administration's halting, inadequate response to the looming
threat from al-Qaida.

Predictably, Frist echoed the White House sniping at Mr. Clarke's
credibility, but went much further.

In his furious floor speech, the senator mocked Clarke for
acknowledging his own responsibility in the government's failure to
prevent the 9/11 disaster, berated his "profiteering" from the tragedy
with his revealing memoir, "Against All Enemies," and went on to
insinuate that the star witness had lied and might be prosecuted:

"Mr. Clarke has told two entirely different stories under oath," said
Frist.

"In July 2002, in front of the Congressional Joint Inquiry on the
Sept. 11 attacks, Mr. Clarke testified under oath that the
administration actively sought to address the threat posed by al-Qaida
during its first seven months in office ... .[It] is one thing for Mr.
Clarke to dissemble in front of the media. But if he lied under oath
to the United States Congress it is a far more serious matter. As I
mentioned, the intelligence committee is seeking to have Mr. Clarke's
previous testimony declassified so as to permit an examination of Mr.
Clarke's two different accounts. Loyalty to any administration will be
no defense if it is found that he has lied before Congress."

Clarke reacted by urging the immediate declassification of the entire
six-hour transcript of his secret testimony, confident that he would
be vindicated.

Eventually, Frist's own spokesman admitted that his boss hadn't read
Clarke's testimony -- and that his only "evidence" was gossip from
other unnamed legislators who had called the majority leader to
complain that Clarke's "tone" differed from what he had said two years
earlier.

Some Republicans who had heard Clarke's testimony quietly suggested
that Frist didn't know what he was talking about, including Senate
Intelligence Committee chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kansas.

At the time, though, Roberts declined to release the declassified
testimony, despite repeated requests from his ranking minority
colleague, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V.

Perhaps Roberts thought it wiser to wait until after Election Day to
revive this sore subject.

In fact, Clarke's declassified testimony contains very few references
to the Bush administration -- but what he did say wasn't flattering.

Neither criticizing nor praising the administration's efforts, Clarke
offered a dry factual account of the bureaucratic approach toward
terrorism taken by the president's appointees and advisors during the
months that preceded 9/11.

Clarke allowed the lawmakers to draw their own conclusions -- if they
chose to do so -- by contrasting the slow official process with his
vivid recollection of CIA warnings during the summer of 2001, when
al-Qaida was preparing an "imminent" offensive that might include
"multiple, simultaneous attacks, some overseas and some in the U.S."

He didn't say one word that was later contradicted by his far more
dramatic testimony before the 9/11 Commission.

Clarke's circumspect attitude toward the Bush administration was
understandable, since he was still working for the president in 2002.

But perhaps to the annoyance of the Republican legislators in
attendance at the closed hearing, he went out of his way to praise the
counter-terror efforts of the prior occupant of the Oval Office.

"You know," said Clarke, whose government résumé dates back to the
Nixon era, "it is very rare in my experience when the President of the
United States picks an issue after his administration has begun
because the world has changed, and says, 'This is a priority, guys. I
want you to create some new programs and deal with it.' But that
happened, and I think both [of Clinton's] national security advisers
and the Clinton administration spent an enormous amount of time on the
overall issue of counterterrorism and the new threats."

His detailed description of those efforts, which explodes Republican
attempts to blame Clinton for 9/11 and confirms both his testimony and
his book, should be required reading for mythologizers like the Senate
majority leader.

And when Frist has finished reading the 103 pages, the majority leader
ought to be decent enough to apologize publicly for lying about this
remarkable public servant.

_________________________________________________________

Slick Willie Frist's just one o' yer right wing sleazy slanderers.
Talk about lack of morals. That's Slick Willie Frist.

Harry