National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice appeared on CBS's 60 Minutes
in an effort to quell growing questions surrounding the Administration's
inconsistent claims about its pre-9/11 actions. Not only did Rice refuse
to take Richard Clarke's lead and admit responsibility for her role in
the worst national security failure in American history, but she
continued to make unsubstantiated and contradictory assertions:


RICE CLAIM: "The administration took seriously the threat" of terrorism
before 9/11.

FACTS: President Bush himself acknowledges that, despite repeated
warnings of an imminent Al Qaeda attack, before 9/11 "I didn't feel the
sense of urgency" about terrorism. Similarly, Newsweek reports that his
attitude was reflected throughout an Administration that was trying to
"de-emphasize terrorism" as an overall priority. As proof, just two of
the hundred national security meetings the Administration held during
this period addressed the terrorist threat, and the White House refused
to hold even one meeting of its highly-touted counterterrorism task
force. Meanwhile, the Administration was actively trying to cut funding
for counterterrorism, and "vetoed a request to divert $800 million from
missile defense into counterterrorism" despite a serious increase in
terrorist chatter in the summer of 2001.

Source: "Bush At War" by Bob Woodward

Source: Newsweek & vetoed request -
http://foi.missouri.edu/terrorismfoi/whatwentwrong.html
(http://foi.missouri.edu/terrorismfoi/whatwentwrong.html)

Source: Refusal to hold task force meeting -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp...nguage=printer
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp...nguage=printer)

Source: Only two meetings out of 100 -
http://www.detnews.com/2002/politics...ics-526326.htm
(http://www.detnews.com/2002/politics...ics-526326.htm)



RICE CLAIM: "I don't know what a sense of urgency any greater than the
one we had would have caused us to do anything differently. I don't know
how...we could have done more. I would like very much to know what more
could have been done?"

FACTS: There are many things that could have been done: first and
foremost, the Administration could have desisted from de-emphasizing and
cutting funding for counterterrorism in the months before 9/11. It could
have held more meetings of top principals to get the directors of the
CIA and FBI to share information, especially considering the major
intelligence spike occurring in the summer of 2001. As 9/11 Commissioner
Jamie Gorelick said on ABC this morning, the lack of focus and meetings
meant agencies were not talking to each other, and key evidence was
overlooked. For instance, with better focus and more urgency, the FBI's
discovery of Islamic radicals training at flight schools might have
raised red flags. Similarly, the fact that "months before Sept. 11, the
CIA knew two of the al-Qaeda hijackers were in the United States" could
have spurred a nationwide manhunt. But because there was no focus or
urgency, "No nationwide manhunt was undertaken," said Gorelick. "The
State Department watch list was not given to the FAA. If you brought
people together, perhaps key connections could have been made."



Source: Slash counterterrorism funding -
http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/trans...e% 20Dept.htm
(http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/trans...e% 20Dept.htm)


Source: CIA knew 2 hijackers in the U.S. -
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/arti...2/111044.shtml
(http://www.newsmax.com/archives/arti...2/111044.shtml)



RICE CLAIM:"Nothing would be better from my point of view than to be
able to testify, but there is an important principle involved here it is
a longstanding principle that sitting national security advisors do not
testify before the Congress."

FACTS: Republican Commission John F. Lehman, who served as Navy
Secretary under President Reagan said on ABC this morning that "This is
not testimony before a tribunal of the Congress...There are plenty of
precedents for appearing in public and answering questions...There are
plenty of precedents the White House could use if they wanted to do
this." 9/11 Commissioner Jamie Gorelick agreed, saying "Our commission
is sui generis...the Chairman has been appointed by the President. We
are distinguishable from Congress." Rice's remarks on 60 Minutes that
the principle is limited to "sitting national security advisers" is also
a departure from her statements earlier this week, when she said the
principle applied to all presidential advisers. She was forced to change
this claim for 60 Minutes after 9/11 Commissioner Richard Ben-Veniste
"cited examples of non-Cabinet presidential advisers who have testified
publicly to Congress." Finally, the White House is reportedly moving to
declassify congressional testimony then-White House adviser Richard
Clarke gave in 2002. By declassifying this testimony, the White House is
breaking the very same "principle" of barring White House adviser's
testimony from being public that Rice is using to avoid appearing
publicly before the 9/11 commission.


Source: Quote from Tony Snow Show -
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washing...ice-usat_x.htm
(http://www.usatoday.com/news/washing...ice-usat_x.htm)



RICE CLAIM: "Iraq was put aside" immediately after 9/11.

FACTS: According to the Washington Post, "six days after the attacks on
the World Trade Center the Pentagon, President Bush signed a
2-and-a-half-page document" that "directed the Pentagon to begin
planning military options for an invasion of Iraq." This is corroborated
by a CBS News, which reported on 9/4/02 that five hours after the 9/11
attacks, "Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was telling his aides to
come up with plans for striking Iraq." The President therefore did not
put Iraq aside -- he merely deferred it to a second phase, after
Afghanistan. To the question of Iraq or Afghanistan, Bush replied: let's
do both, starting with Afghanistan. In terms of resources, the Iraq
decision had far-reaching effects on the efforts to hunt down Al Qaeda
in Afghanistan. As the Boston Globe reported, "the Bush administration
is continuing to shift highly specialized intelligence officers from the
hunt for Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan to the Iraq crisis."



Source: September 17th directive -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp...nguage=printer
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp...nguage=printer)


Source: Rumsfeld orders Iraq plan -
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/...in520830.shtml
(http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/...in520830.shtml)

Source: Shifting special forces -
http://www.iht.com/articles/106783.html
(http://www.iht.com/articles/106783.html)