Democrats Say Bush Abuses Power in Slamming Critic [View All]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats on Tuesday accused the White House of election-year "abuses of power" in trying to discredit former top U.S. counter-terrorism official Richard Clarke, who has accused President Bush (news - web sites) of ignoring threats from al Qaeda before the Sept. 11 attacks.


Democrats took to the Senate floor to lambaste the Bush White House, which had fiercely condemned Clarke on Monday.


"We are seeing abuses of power that cannot be tolerated. The president needs to put a stop to it right now. We need to get to the truth and the president needs to help us do that," Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota said.


Clarke specifically accused Bush of paying insufficient attention to the al Qaeda threat before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and thereafter focusing on Iraq (news - web sites) at the expense of efforts to crush the Islamic militant group.

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