The apparent defection of former counter-terrorism official Richard Clarke is a propaganda coup for the Bush Regime. It is reminiscent of the old fable of the smart man who manages to elude a King�s scrutiny by smuggling wheel barrels past him in full view.

Let�s begin with a selection of facts:

1. In his book Painful Questions Eric Hufschmid points out that the World Trade Center rubble was quickly shipped out of New York City after 9-11 before proper examination by qualified investigators took place (Painful Questions, 2002, Eric Hufschmid).
   
   
2. Richard Clarke was designated �crisis manager� by Condoleezza Rice within minutes after the �second jetliner hit the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001� (Washington Post, 03/23/04, Eggen and Pincus). Although the mainstream media won�t inquire to know all that he was responsible for, presumably the decision to quickly sell the WTC rubble for scrap was on his to-do list.
   
   
3. Clarke writes a book (�Against All Enemies�) that states the top officials in the Bush Regime were immediately trying to link 9-11 to Iraq; while he was telling them it was �Al Qaeda� and made-to-order villain Osama bin Laden.
   
   
4. The White House controlled the book�s publication date, citing �national security� (Patrick Martin, 23 March 2004, WSWS.org).
   
   
5. The White House chose a date for Clarke�s book to be published shortly before its top officials would be testifying before the 911 Commission.
   
   

So, why should anyone think that Clarke isn�t representing the acceptable opposition to the Bush Regime as its top officials receive the old frat-boy-network treatment from the already-compromised 911 Commission? Clarke is telling the 911 Families and the 911 Commission that the Bush Regime failed to act on the �al Qaeda� threat. That�s food for the Left Gatekeepers and other sources of disinformation.

In other words, it is hard not to believe that Clarke�s defection is a hoax . The target audiences are the media sources and personalities who are still trying to promote the Bush Regime�s Official Story of what happened on 9/11/01. (This is the fable of 19 suicidal hijackers flying planes into tall buildings at the behest of dialysis patient Osama bin Laden from his cave in Afghanistan.) Since the 911 Truth Movement is now very publicly challenging the Official Story, the White House surely enlisted Richard Clarke�s �defection� in order to help the media define the level of permissible dissent from the 911 Commission.

Sadly, the Left Gatekeepers continue to represent Richard Clarke�s actually very narrow divergence from the Bush Regime�s propaganda as significant. Meanwhile, every chance they get they repeat the ludicrous elements of the 9-11 Official Story as if no one has yet heard the World Trade Center 7 mystery , among thousands of others. The 911 Truth Movement can only stand on the sidelines while what used to constitute the Left in the US prefers their audience be fooled by the Bush Regime�s very obvious wheelbarrow.