The best they can do

Times headline this morning: "Colleague of Ex-Official Disputes Part of Account"

While the subsequent story does indicate that the colleague, Franklin Miller, did disagree with some of the quotes Richard Clarke attributes to him and others while working in the Situation Room during the chaos of the morning of September 11, 2001, nothing he says "disputes" Clarke's main assertions in "Against All Enemies."

Focusing only on the first chapter (which I read last night and which held some interesting factoids that I hadn't known and will be posting on in the days to come), Miller says, "that almost none of the conversations that Mr. Clarke, who was the counterterrorism chief, recounts in the first chapter of his book, 'Against All Enemies,' match Mr. Miller's recollection of events."

F'rintance:

"In Mr. Clarke's account, in a chapter called 'Evacuate the White House,' he heads into the Situation Room at the first word of attack and begins issuing orders to close embassies and put military bases on a higher level of alert — not the kind of operational details usually handled by the National Security Council staff. He describes how Mr. Miller came into the room, squeezed Mr. Clarke's bicep, and said, 'Guess I'm working for you today. What can I do?'

"'I wouldn't say that,' Mr. Miller said Monday. I might say, `How can I help.'

"Mr. Miller disputes Mr. Clarke's recollection that the Secret Service asked for fighter escorts to protect Air Force One after it lifted off from Sarasota, Fla., where President Bush was visiting an elementary school. A young aide in the Situation Room made that suggestion to Mr. Miller, he said, who recalls telling the aide he had seen too many movies. A moment later, reconsidering, Mr. Miller asked Ms. Rice whether to call up fighter support, and she told him to go ahead, he recalled."

Well, that clearly shows Clarke is a lying, degenerate, political hack.