http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-03-23-911-rice-usat_x.htmTextCommissioner Tim Roemer, a former Democratic congressman, held up a new book, Against All Enemies, that accuses Bush and his aides of ignoring warnings of the threat posed by al-Qaeda. The author, Richard Clarke, who was in charge of counterterrorism for Bush and President Clinton, has been discussing his charges in TV interviews.
Roemer said the discussion "belongs not on the airwaves" but before the commission.
"I hope Dr. Rice will reconsider and come before the commission for the sake of the American people," he said.
The audience at Tuesday's hearing included many people who lost family members in the attacks in 2001. They applauded each time commissioners criticized Rice's decision not to appear and testify under oath.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/jan-june04/rice_4-07.htmlRice is expected to challenge claims made by former counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke in his recent book "Against All Enemies: Inside America's War On Terror" and in his testimony before the panel last month.
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Clarke said the Bush administration did not take seriously enough the possibility terrorists might attack, choosing instead to focus on more traditional threats like long-range missiles in countries like Russia and China. ...
Members of the Bush administration -- including Rice -- spent the past several weeks trying to discredit much of what Clarke said on and before his official testimony.
"Before Sept. 11, we closely monitored threats to our nation. President Bush revived the practice of meeting with the director of the CIA every day -- meetings that I attended. And I personally met with George Tenet regularly and frequently reviewed aspects of the counterterror effort," Rice wrote in an editorial in The Washington Post.
And here is an excerpt from Condi's self-serving defensive editorial. Please note her incredible statements:
No al Qaeda plan was turned over to the new administration ... I personally met with George Tenet regularly and frequently reviewed aspects of the counterterror effort. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A13881-2004Mar21?language=printerThe al Qaeda terrorist network posed a threat to the United States for almost a decade before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Throughout that period -- during the eight years of the Clinton administration and the first eight months of the Bush administration prior to Sept. 11 -- the U.S. government worked hard to counter the al Qaeda threat.
During the transition, President-elect Bush's national security team was briefed on the Clinton administration's efforts to deal with al Qaeda. The seriousness of the threat was well understood by the president and his national security principals. In response to my request for a presidential initiative, the counterterrorism team, which we had held over from the Clinton administration, suggested several ideas, some of which had been around since 1998 but had not been adopted. No al Qaeda plan was turned over to the new administration.
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Before Sept. 11, we closely monitored threats to our nation. President Bush revived the practice of meeting with the director of the CIA every day -- meetings that I attended. And I personally met with George Tenet regularly and frequently reviewed aspects of the counterterror effort.
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