Baker fired Clarke, accusing him of condoning Israel's illicit transfer of American air-defense technology to China. Clarke raises this dispute in his book (see Page 46) but denies that any such transfers were made (quoting an official report to that effect). He acknowledges that he came under heavy criticism as a result of the allegations, but doesn't say that he lost his job over the incident.

Around this time, when I was the defense reporter for the Boston Globe, Clarke—then still at State—told me that Baker was blocking or somehow interfering with Israel's attempt to acquire Patriot air-defense missiles or to market its own missiles. I must confess, I don't remember the details. In any case, I could not get his story confirmed; one source (who appears briefly in Clarke's book in a different context) flatly denied it. So I didn't write a story. Clarke never talked with me, or returned any of my phone calls, again.

In other words, Dick Clarke plays hardball. And that's why Bush's operatives are finding it harder than usual to bring him down.