'Who cares about a little terrorist in Afghanistan?' The real threat, Wolfowitz insisted, was state-sponsored terrorism orchestrated by Saddam Hussein."

The meeting was supposed to have been about implementing Clarke's persistent efforts to do something about Al Qaeda. He had written to National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, in late January, 2001, urgently requesting some attention be paid to the growing threat of domestic terrorism orchestrated by Al Qaeda. It wasn't until April, however, that a high-level meeting was convened, at which, according to Clarke, Wolfowitz cited as evidence to the contrary the writings of conspiracy theorist Laurie Mylroie, who has created an entire oeuvre around the idea that Saddam Hussein was responsible not only for the 1993 WTC bombing, but also the Oklahoma City terror incident \ufffd and, quite possibly global warming. "We've investigated that five ways to Friday, and nobody [in the government] believes that," replied Clarke. "It was Al Qaeda. It wasn't Saddam."

But facts weren't going to get in the way of the neoconservative drive to invade and conquer Iraq, no matter what the price to truth, common sense, or the national interest. The neocons' relentless single-tracked agenda didn't permit any other conclusion but the one pointing to Saddam as the main danger, even as Al Qaeda gathered in the shadows.

Ideological blindness is one thing: deliberate diversion is another. It is the difference between incompetence and treason. But that difference, in the context of the Clarke revelations, seems to disappear in light of the numerous warnings received by U.S. government officials in the months and days prior to 9/11: As the target date of the terrorists drew nearer, the alarm bells - sounded by foreign intelligence agencies, including the British, the French, the Argentineans, and the Israelis, and some of our own people \ufffd were getting louder. But was anybody listening? Was anybody in charge?

Well, er, yes, but they were too busy pursuing the florid fantasies of the eccentric Ms. Mylroie to worry about "a little terrorist in Afghanistan."