Fear of Clowns

Condi Rice: "I don't remember the al Qaeda cells being something that we were told we needed to do something about."

The National Security Advisor needed to be told that al Qaeda terrorist cells inside the US deserved attention? Is this really what she was saying? Who's job is it to advise the security advisor? Who was Rice trying to pass the buck to? Who?

Listening to the hearing, it seemed to me that everybody - including Condi - had concentrated on preparing messages to give instead of answers to find. For example, the "gotcha" moment about the title of the August 6, 2001 Presidential Daily Briefing had happened years ago ...

From the front page of the Sunday, May 19, 2002 Washington Post:

• Aug. Memo Focused On Attacks in U.S.
  Lack of Fresh Information Frustrated Bush
  
  By Bob Woodward and Dan Eggen
  Washington Post Staff Writers
  Sunday, May 19, 2002; Page A01
  

  The top-secret briefing memo presented to President Bush on Aug. 6 carried the headline, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.," and was primarily focused on recounting al Qaeda's past efforts to attack and infiltrate the United States, senior administration officials said.

  The document, known as the President's Daily Briefing, underscored that Osama bin Laden and his followers hoped to "bring the fight to America," in part as retaliation for U.S. missile strikes on al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan in 1998, according to knowledgeable sources.

  Bush had specifically asked for an intelligence analysis of possible al Qaeda attacks within the United States, because most of the information presented to him over the summer about al Qaeda focused on threats against U.S. targets overseas, sources said. But one source said the White House was disappointed because the analysis lacked focus and did not present fresh intelligence.

  New accounts yesterday of the controversial Aug. 6 memo provided a shift in portrayals of the document, which has set off a political firestorm because it suggested that bin Laden's followers might be planning to hijack U.S. airliners.

  In earlier comments this week, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and other administration officials stressed that intelligence officials were focused primarily on threats to U.S. interests overseas. But sources made clear yesterday that the briefing presented to Bush focused on attacks within the United States, indicating that he and his aides were concerned about the risks.

I would rather have heard an answer to "Condi, why didn't you think terrorist cells in the US were something you should do something about?" But as nobody had anticipated Rice would offer such an ridiculous defense for the White House's involvement in the intelligence failures, the question was not asked ...

// posted by Erik @ 4/09/2004 01:37:00 AM
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