From today’s Progress Report:
We were not left a comprehensive strategy to fight al Qaeda [by the Clinton administration].
– Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
As the Clinton administration drew to a close, [Richard] Clarke and his staff developed a policy paper of their own [which] incorporated the CIA’s new ideas from the Blue Sky memo, and posed several near-term policy options. Clarke and his staff proposed a goal to ‘roll back’ al Qaeda over a period of three to five years…[including] covert aid to the Northern Alliance, covert aid to Uzbekistan, and renewed Predator flights in March 2001. A sentence called for military action to destroy al Qaeda command-and control targets and infrastructure and Taliban military and command assets. The paper also expressed concern about the presence of al Qaeda operatives in the United States.
– 9/11 Commission report