House Intel Chair: Clarke Is 'Lying'

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee is accusing former White House terrorism czar Richard Clarke of flat-out "lying" in his sworn testimony this week before the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks.

"Clarke’s testimony to our committee is 180 degrees out of line with what he is saying in his book," Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla., told Roll Call yesterday. "He’s either lying in his book or he lied to our committee. It’s one or the other."

Clarke's testimony before the 9/11 Commission mirrored the blistering portrait in his book, where he painted the Bush administration as asleep at the wheel in the war on terrorism.

"If he was lying to a congressional committee, he's got a big problem here," Goss warned.

The Florida Republican did not elaborate on how Clarke contradicted his previous testimony.

But his charges echo comments from former Navy secretary and 9/11 Commission member John Lehman, who read Clarke the riot act during his testimony on Wednesday.

"[Your book] is so different from the whole thrust of your testimony to us," said Lehman, referring to 15 hours of interviews Clarke gave the commission behind closed doors late last year.

"When you add to it the inconsistencies between what your promoters are putting out and what you yourself said as late as [last] August 5, you've got a real credibility problem," he added.

Lehman said that during the private debriefings, the bulk of Clarke's criticism was directed at the Clinton administration, not Bush.

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