Charles Krauthammer Lands on Clarke With Both Feet

Speaking of the Clinton year during a 2002 interview with PBS, Richard Clarke said the following: "I believe that had we destroyed the terrorist camps in Afghanistan earlier, that the conveyor belt that was producing terrorists sending them out around the world would have been destroyed.'' Instead, ``now we have to hunt (them) down country by country.''

When asked what the United States should have been doing during the Clinton years, Clarke answered: "Blow up the camps and take out their sanctuary. Eliminate their safe haven, eliminate their infrastructure. ... That's ... the one thing in retrospect I wish had happened.''

And, the president who did nothing during those years is the same one whom Clarke now credits with taking terrorism more seriously than the current administration.

That's why, only three months into 2004, Charles Krauthammer is awarding Richard Clarke his "Chutzpah of the Year Award."