9/11 Did Not Invalidate the Constitution

Rchard A. Clarke, the national coordinator for security and counterterrorism under Clinton and George W. Bush, has published an Op-Ed in the Washington Post challenging the trauma excuse being advanced by former Vice President Dick Cheney as a rationale for why the Bush administration authorized the use of torture. Clarke repeatedly warned Bush and Cheney that an attack was imminent before 9/11, but was ignored by them. Clarke concludes:

"I'll freely admit that watching a coordinated, devastating attack on our country from an underground bunker at the White House can affect how you view your responsibilities," Cheney said in his recent speech. But this defense does not stand up. The Bush administration's response actually undermined the principles and values America has always stood for in the world, values that should have survived this traumatic event. The White House thought that 9/11 changed everything. It may have changed many things, but it did not change the Constitution, which the vice president, the national security adviser and all of us who were in the White House that tragic day had pledged to protect and preserve.