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SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCERThursday, April 8, 2004 · Last updated 3:10 p.m. PTAfter Rice testimony, questions remainBy CALVIN WOODWARDASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER WASHINGTON -- The blizzard of words in Condoleezza Rice's testimony Thursday did not resolve central points about what the government knew, should have known, did and should have done before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.The extraordinary session cast fresh attention, for example, on a CIA memo sent to President Bush a little more than a month before the attacks with the newly disclosed and pointed title: "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States."But President Bush's national security adviser asserted...

Why Bush didn't want Condoleezza Rice to testify before the September 11 commission--and why she's going to do so today. TO ALLOW National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice to testify under oath before the September 11 commission today, President Bush had to stand down from a claim of executive privilege. Bush was right to do that, but let's give the privilege its due. Bush has described executive privilege as a "principle" of separation of powers. That's an all too brief way of putting it. The framers of the Constitution understood that there are three kinds of power--legislative, executive and judicial--and that...

<p>Given her many years surrounded by neckties, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice should have no trepidations when testifying today before the September 11 commission.</p> <p>She was barely 35 when she toiled for the previous Bush administration as its "top Sovietologist." Yet during the 1990 U.S.-Soviet Summit, Miss Rice stood out in the crowd of international negotiators, a young black woman whom Soviet diplomats once thought too pretty to be serious.</p>

Thu Apr 8, 3:10 PM ET Commission member and former Sen. Bob Kerrey listens to testimony from National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) to the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks Thursday, April 8, 2004, in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

A text of National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice's testimony as delivered before the Sept. 11 commission on Thursday, as transcribed by eMediaMillWorks Inc.: RICE: Thank you very much. And now I'm happy to take your questions. KEAN: Thank you very much, Dr. Rice. I appreciate your statement, your attendance and your service. I have a couple of questions. As we understand it, when you first came into office, you just been through a very difficult campaign. In that campaign, neither the president nor the opponent, to the best of my knowledge, ever mentioned al-Qaida. There had been almost no congressional...

Despite Panel Leader's Appeal, Partisanship Seeps Through By TERENCE NEILAN It was hardly the nonpartisan hearing that the 9/11 commission leaders had planned for, and considerable parts of the questioning seemed to center on the same issue: a memo from President Bush's daily briefing on Aug. 6, 2001, and its related subject, Al Qaeda. "Swatting flies" was also a phrase that punctuated the hearing. Quite notably, too, the spectators broke into frequent applause, and, on seven occasions, even laughter. And if some of the questioning was pointed, even visibly impatient at times, Condoleezza Rice and the panel managed to maintain...

To: National Desk, Media Reporter Contact: David Almasi, 202-371-1400 ext. 106, for Project 21, project21@nationalcenter.org WASHINGTON, April 8 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Mychal Massie, a member of Project 21's National Advisory Council, participated in a CNN focus group watching National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice's testimony before the September 11 commission. His reactions will be broadcast on Thursday, April 8 on CNN's "Paula Zahn Now" program at 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. Eastern. Project 21, an African-American leadership network, has been a leading voice in the African-American community since 1992. In the wake of the testimony, fellow Project 21 member Darryn "Dutch"...

US national security adviser Condoleezza Rice was cool in the face of aggressive questioning from Democratic members of the commission investigating the attacks of 11 September. The White House had resisted calls for her to appear before the commission, but President George Bush finally relented under increasing political pressure both from his Democratic opponents and members of his own party. Many in Washington wondered whether her testimony would be an anti-climax. It was preceded by the fight over her appearance and by her numerous press appearances to defend the White House in the face of stinging criticisms from former counter-terrorism...

Give Condoleezza Rice credit for candor. Testifying before the 9/11 Commission today, President Bush's national-security adviser acknowledged that the United States "simply was not on a war footing" at the time the terrorist atrocities of 9/11 were committed. When should the U.S. government have taken the threat of radical, ideological Islamism seriously? Perhaps as far back as 1979, when our embassy in Tehran was seized by Iranian theocrats; perhaps as far back as 1983 when Hezbollah suicide terrorists slaughtered hundreds of U.S. Marines and diplomats in Beirut; certainly as far back as the attacks over Lockerbie, at Khobar Towers in...

WASHINGTON, April 8 (Reuters) - Some relatives of Sept. 11 victims responded in anger on Thursday to what they described as the White House's failure to accept responsibility for the 2001 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. Family members were among those in the crowded hearing room to listen to national security adviser Condoleezza Rice tell the 9-11 commission that bureaucratic structure was to blame for the administration's inability to counter the attacks. "No one wants to take any responsibility. Three thousand people died, and all they want to talk about is structural problems," Bob McIlvaine of Oreland, Pennsylvania, whose...

Statement of Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) Regarding NSC Adviser Condoleezza Rice's Testimony Before 9/11 Commission 4/8/2004 2:04:00 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk Contact: John Feehery or Pete Jeffries, 202-225-2800, both of the Office of House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, Web site: http://www.speaker.gov WASHINGTON, April 8 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) today made the following statement, regarding NSC Adviser Condoleezza Rice's Testimony before 9/11 Commission: "I appreciated Dr. Rice's candid and forthcoming testimony about the Administration's actions and pragmatic approach to counter-terrorism leading up to the tragic events of September 11th, 2001. "She...

WASHINGTON – In a moment of high political theater even by Washington standards, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice offered the most vigorous defense yet of the Bush administration's understanding of the terrorist threat in the months leading up to 9/11 - an appearance that may blunt some of the criticism leveled by former counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke, even while ensuring that the controversy continues to dominate the national spotlight in the short term. Testifying before the 9/11 commission, Ms. Rice catalogued the various early steps taken against terrorism, describing in some detail the Bush administration's first national security policy...

CRAWFORD, Texas, April 8 (Reuters) - From his pickup truck on his Texas ranch, U.S. President George W. Bush phoned his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, on Thursday to congratulate her on her testimony before the 9/11 commission. Bush and his wife, Laura, watched all of Rice's three hours of testimony on a television set at his ranch. Afterward, "The president was in his truck on the ranch. He talked to Dr. Rice, told her he thought she did a great job," said White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan. White House officials felt Rice gave a good accounting of what they...

Biography of Dr. Condoleezza Rice National Security Advisor Dr. Condoleezza Rice became the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, commonly referred to as the National Security Advisor, on January 22, 2001. In June 1999, she completed a six year tenure as Stanford University's Provost, during which she was the institution's chief budget and academic officer. As Provost she was responsible for a $1.5 billion annual budget and the academic program involving 1,400 faculty members and 14,000 students. As professor of political science, Dr. Rice has been on the Stanford faculty since 1981 and has won two of the...

Clarke Says Rice’s Testimony Bolstered His Claims April 8 — National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice repeatedly told the 9/11 commission today that there was no "silver bullet" that could have averted the deadly Sept. 11 terror attacks on America. But former counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke, who is also an ABCNEWS consultant, said he tried to warn the president of the imminent threat of al Qaeda. He testified during the Sept. 11 commission's public hearings that the Bush administration paid too much attention to Iraq and underestimated the threat from al Qaeda, before and after the Sept. 11 attacks. After...

<p>KEAN: Good morning. As chair of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, I hereby convene this hearing. This is a continuation of the commission's previous hearings on the formulation and conduct of U.S. counterterrorism policy. The record of that hearing, by the way, including staff statements, is available on our Web site, www.911commission.gov.</p>

Rice Testifies Before 9/11 Cmsn. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice testifies before the Sept. 11 Commission. Watch any of the eight previous public hearings. THURSDAY ON C-SPAN AT 8PM ET

WASHINGTON, April 8 (Reuters) - National security adviser Condoleezza Rice testified on Thursday before the commission investigating the hijacked airliner attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. She clashed sharply with Democratic members of the commission as she defended President George W. Bush's response to the terror threat before the hijacked airliner attacks. U.S. SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER, WEST VIRGINIA DEMOCRAT "I thought she handled herself very well. I expected her to. I also thought she in a sense presented a perfect case for the administration: she glossed over a great deal. "My general impression is she fundamentally did not disagree with anything...

Rice testifies before 9/11 Commission [Transcript of Rice’s testimony at the NY Times.]Report by Roger Wm. Hughes... National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice testified before the 9/11 Commission after the White House had worked out the difficulties of preserving the issue of "separation of powers." Her testimony was controlled, in charge and solid as a rock. She also placed doubts on Richard Clarke’s testimony. One large area of conflict between Rice and Clarke came towards the end of her testimony, when Rice was asked as to why Clarke did not brief the President as Clarke says he requested: RICE: ......