Some Dicks are bigger than others

Richard Clarke has always been a self-serving narcissist, but the declassification of his blockbuster memo to Bush only proves the point. The January 2001 memo is cited as Cassandrian in its emphases on "al Qida" as a significant threat.

What is left to smolder, however, is the entire point of the memo, which are Clarke's final recommendations for the "Principals" to discuss. He lists four, with the first being "Threat Magnitude":

"Do the Principals agree that the al Qida network poses a first order threat to US interests in a number or regions [sic], or is this analysis a "chicken little" over reaching and can we proceed without major new initiatives and by handling this issue in a more routine manner?"

One never assists one's point by comparing it to Chicken Little, but one can certainly rake in lots of dough by publishing a tell-all that doesn't quite tell all.