Clarke theorizes that top CIA brass tried to recruit the hijackers and turn them to our side, but were unsuccessful. And - when they realized had failed - they covered up their tracks so that the FBI would not investigate their illegal CIA activities , “malfeasance and misfeasance”, on U.S. soil.This may, or may not, be merely innocent speculation on Clarke's part, but his statements provide a convenient explanation for the coverups.
As usual when the political operatives of the ruling class are determined to hide their crimes, it will be many years before the facts are uncovered. There is already a lot that is available (see this, this, this and this), but kept completely out of any mainstream media. Most liberals are afraid to even discuss the issue of a 9/11 coverup and conspiracy because of negative repercussions to their careers, especially those in academia who are the most knowledgeable.
Although I have not followed recent findings regarding the 9/11 event very closely, I have read a lot of earlier evidence provided by a wide range of alternative sources. Because of this information plus an extensive knowledge of the history of the CIA, FBI, and right-wing political operatives, I have a speculation of my own. But first, a little historical background because I don't believe that 9/11 was mostly a result of foreign actors, or a coverup of illegal domestic CIA operations, or unrelated to political developments in the US.
I think that there is a lot of evidence that a secret government has grown inside the government like a cancer since the failed right-wing coup plot in 1935 to remove FD Roosevelt from the Presidency (1) and take over the government. The coup was hushed up and the public never learned what happened. There were hearings behind closed doors by a select few members of Congress, but nothing came of it.
After this failure the right-wing ensconced themselves mostly in the media, the FBI, and the military, but otherwise kept a low profile until WWII was concluded. They then passed the National Security Act of 1947 to set up the CIA under the naive, but well-meaning President Harry Truman. They also launched a powerful campaign to purge all pro-labor activists from unions and left wing academics from educational institutions, and attacked leftists in Hollywood (McCarthyism) and others.
The purge in Hollywood provided an opportunity for Zionist influence in Hollywood that bore first fruit with the production of "Exodus", a major propaganda film promoting Zionist interests. This was followed by hundreds of similar films and what has been described as a holocaust industry to promote support for Israel. American money and military aid poured into Israel and Zionists infiltrated all important areas of the media and government. Fortress Israel has served in a similar fashion to forts established in the 19th century in western parts of the US to suppress hostile Native American uprisings, only in this case, to impose a hegemony over the oil-rich Middle East.
The CIA's early cadre were almost totally made up of Wall Street people, mostly corporate lawyers. Their mission was that of right-wing capitalists: to rid the world of communist,socialist, and non-market oriented influences--only they were determined to do this secretly using the CIA (2 &3) to burrow into the hidden recesses of the government while extending their influence in the media and Hollywood. Pursuing a foreign affairs policy of "roll-back", they launched the Korean War, and used covert military forces to overturn many other unfriendly governments (unfriendly to corporate interests), followed by the Vietnam War, and the rest is history (see this). There is considerable evidence that the CIA was heavily involved in the assassination of John Kennedy.
The next pivotal event was the right-wing's engineering of Reagan's campaign to get him elected to the Presidency. Further attacks on unions followed, and the right-wing surfaced as neo-conservatives to take control of government officially.
After the collapse in 1989 of the Soviet Union there was a general sigh of relief among the American people and they looked forward to an era of peace, demilitarization, and prosperity. By this time the ultra-right, not being satisfied with the collapse of their main foe, in their arrogance were intent on spreading US hegemony using the Orwellian term "Pax Americana" over the entire world. But first, they had to do something about the peace loving American populace. This concern was expressed in numerous neo-conservative documents: especially in the 2000 neo-con document, "Rebuilding America's Defenses"(4), also in the Rumsfeld Commission Report which stated:
History is replete with instances in which warning signs were ignored and change resisted until an external, “improbable” event forced resistant bureaucracies to take action. The question is whether the U.S. will be wise enough to act responsibly and soon enough to reduce U.S. space vulnerability. Or whether, as in the past, a disabling attack against the country and its people—-a “Space Pearl Harbor”—-will be the only event able to galvanize the nation and cause the U.S. Government to act.(5)I believe that well before the 9/11 event the CIA became aware of an Arab militant group intent upon a terrorist project in the US. They monitored their movements closely and at some point realized that they could facilitate their activities and bring about a Peal Harbor event to "galvanize the nation" in support of their imperial project.
Clarke's explanation that the CIA was covering up its relations with the terrorist group because it was illegal for the CIA to be involved in domestic activities is patently ridiculous. Although there were some early jealousies and rivalries during J. Edgar Hoover's administration of the FBI in their relations with the CIA, the two agencies have since cooperated fully. And, the CIA is often involved in domestic actions. They are an entirely unaccountable, clandestine agency and do what they want regardless of the law.
Once you become knowledgeable about the content in these various sources, you can draw a straight line from 1935 to 2000 and then easily arrive at this sort of explanation for 9/11. Had that tragedy not happened, the American people would never have supported the many years of war and occupations since then.
Notes
1. The Plot to Seize the White House by Jules Archer
2. The Secret Team by Col. L. Fletcher Prouty (1972)
3. Bill Moyer's 1987 PBS program entitled, "The Secret Government: the Constitution in Crisis"
4. Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century--A Report of The Project for the New American Century September 2000.
5. Quoted here from Rumsfeld Commission Report.