The real cause of the Clarke ire appears to be that Rice (a black woman) dared to make him work without stroll in access to the Oval Office as he was used to under Clinton. This smells to me like a white male ego squashed by a Black Female. He grew to basically hate her. Hell hath no fury than a bureaucrat put in his place. Newsweek's article this week is a must read because it is balanced and clear

Clarke's animus against Rice is transparent. Still, the once obscure, now famous bureaucrat cleverly and effectively portrayed his boss last week as slow-footed and almost clueless in the race to head off a terrorist attack.

Expanding his power as the threat grew during the '90s, he was widely viewed in the bureaucracy as an alarmist. "He was always this guy in a white sheet, going around with a big sign saying the world was coming to an end," says a Defense Department official. "Who listens to people like that?"

Polls indicate that both Clarke's credibility and Bush's approval of his War on Terror have suffered blows. Read the article. I still say that this White House has proved once again that they are brain dead. They had this book INSIDE the White House for three months prior to publication and they weren't ready. Rice is being pushed by both Liberal and Conservative Media into testifying; Public Opinion is also demanding it. Just a mess.