Yesterday's Perjuries Today

Remember back in March, when Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist called for the declassification of Richard Clarke's secret June 2002 testimony to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, in order to determine whether the former counter-terrorism chief committed perjury when he slammed the Bush Administration in his nationally televised testimony to the 9/11 Commission? The oft-parroted idea being that, behind closed doors, Clarke actually heaped praise upon the president.

Well, after some delays, the testimony has finally been made public (PDF). What does it show? According to the Associated Press,

The declassified version neither criticizes nor strongly praises the Bush administration. It focuses instead primarily on the Clinton administration.

"I believed it was important to recognize that Mr. Clarke's character was unfairly attacked for political purposes," said Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., who worked with the Senate Intelligence Committee to have the testimony released. "A detailed review shows that his testimony is not inconsistent with his testimony before the 9/11 Commission."