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Thursday, April 08, 2004 The following is the full text of Condoleezza Rice's testimony before the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks on April 8, 2004: Speakers: • THOMAS H. KEAN, Commission Chairman • LEE H. HAMILTON, Commission Vice Chair • RICHARD BEN-VENISTE, Commission Member • MAX CLELAND, Commission Member • FRED F. FIELDING, Commission Member • JAMIE S. GORELICK, Commission Member • SLADE GORTON, Commission Member • JOHN F. LEHMAN, Commission Member • TIMOTHY J. ROEMER, Commission Member • JAMES R. THOMPSON, Commission Member • BOB KERREY, Commission Member • PHILIP ZELIKOW, Commission Executive Director • CHRISTOPHER KOJM, Commission Deputy...

Ever since Condoleezza Rice revealed Thursday that the title of an Aug. 6, 2001 Presidential Daily Briefing was, "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States," the press has been feigning cardiac arrest. Typical was the reaction of MSNBC's Chris Matthews, who complained Thursday night that the PDB headline should have set off smoke alarms at the White House. "We're talking about five weeks before 9/11, before hell struck in this country," Matthews told his "Hardball" audience. He insisted that the memo should have been enough to send Bush's national security team into a frenzy of action. But...

When the Washington investigative machinery gets rolling, it takes a major event to stop it. National security adviser Condoleezza Rice's defense of the Bush anti-terrorism effort at yesterday's hearing before the 9/11 commission was not enough. But while the hotly anticipated hearing -- a sometimes testy affair played out live before television cameras in a room packed as tight as a rush-hour Red Line train -- did not end the scouring of the Bush administration, it helped to narrow the focus to this: What did President Bush and his senior advisers know in the summer of 2001 about a flurry...

WASHINGTON, (AFP) - Leading US dailies were divided along ideological lines over national security advisor Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites)'s performance before the September 11 commission, whose members were criticized for partisanship. The Washington Post and New York Times agreed that Rice was unconvincing in her attempt to show that the administration of President George W. Bush (news - web sites) was focusing on terrorism before the tragedy of 2001 that cost the lives of some 3,000 people. Rice was "at her weakest," said the Times, when she attempted to portray Bush as a "hands-on admnistrator" with keen...

<p>April 9, 2004 -- CRAWFORD, Texas - From his pickup truck on his Texas ranch, President Bush yesterday phoned his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, to congratulate her on her testimony before the 9/11 commission.</p> <p>Bush and his wife, Laura, watched all of Rice's three hours of testimony on a television set at his ranch.</p>

<p>Under contentious questioning, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice testified today "there was no silver bullet that could have prevented" the deadly terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and disputed suggestions that President Bush failed to focus on the threat of strikes in advance.</p>

<p>The interlocutors of the 9/11 Chowder Society and Uptown Minstrel Show got their turn on national television yesterday and were unexpectedly disappointed. Condoleezza Rice got all the good lines.</p> <p>The Democrats who only last week complained that they couldn't get answers from the White House were reduced yesterday to kvetching that Miss Rice should keep her answers short to give them more time on camera.</p>

<p>Broadcasters dutifully dwelled on National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice's appearance before the September 11 commission for three hours yesterday, then scrambled to deconstruct the proceedings and pluck out partisan bits or rude moments in the aftermath.</p> <p>Most honed in on testy behavior from two commission members — "tense moments," said CNN's Wolf Blitzer.</p>

<p>The television at Steve's Barbershop in Peoria, Ill., was tuned to National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice's testimony before the September 11 commission yesterday, and co-owner Steve Bainter and his customers watched her in awe.</p> <p>"I'd say she's done an excellent job, but I was expecting her to do that. My customers agree," Mr. Bainter said, when contacted by The Washington Times and asked whether he was watching the much-ballyhooed hearing.</p>

<p>National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice told the September 11 commission yesterday that the White House completed work on its first major national-security policy directive on Sept. 4, 2001, and that the topic was "not Russia, not missile defense, not Iraq, but the elimination of al Qaeda."</p>

Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's national security adviser, testified Thursday that Mr. Bush was warned a month before the Sept. 11 terror attacks that the F.B.I. had detected "suspicious activity" that suggested terrorists might be planning a domestic hijacking. She said he was also told that the bureau was conducting 70 investigations of possible terrorist cells connected to Al Qaeda operating within American borders. In her long-awaited sworn testimony before the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, Ms. Rice acknowledged that the special intelligence briefing that had been requested by Mr. Bush and presented to him on Aug. 6, 2001,...

Condoleezza Rice sat alone at the red-draped table looking as she always does - poised and perfectly coiffed, self-assured but without swagger. A few feet behind her were the families of some of the 3,000 people killed on Sept. 11, 2001. In front, staring down, were 10 commission members trying to determine why those people died and whether President Bush or Rice, his national security adviser, could have prevented the attacks. For weeks the White House had been refusing to allow Rice to do this: To sit in public, under oath, available to answer any questions commission members chose to...

Condoleezza Rice didn't apologize to families of the Sept. 11 victims the way former counterterrorism official Richard Clarke did, but neither did she run and hide. Engulfed by a scrum of photographers after nearly three hours on the hot seat yesterday, she made her way immediately to the relatives in the front rows of the Senate hearing room. She told Helga Gerhardt -- eyes red and wet with tears, holding a picture of her dead son -- that she was sorry for her loss. She greeted Rosemary Dillard -- widow of a passenger on the plane that slammed into the...

If it were to be viewed as a battle, or a sporting event, or a contest -- and of course that would be wrong -- then Condoleezza Rice won it. Indeed, the national security adviser did so well and seemed so firmly in command of the situation yesterday, when she testified under oath before the 9/11 commission, that one had to wonder why the White House spent so much time and energy trying to keep her from having to appear. Anderson Cooper, CNN's most telegenic anchor, said on his "360" program the night before that Rice's was "the most...

Nightline: Clarke Dissects Rice Testimony on Live

The Book on Ben-Veniste 9/11 Commissioner Richard Ben-Veniste, who grilled Condoleezza Rice on Thursday as if she were a criminal suspect, is usually identified in press reports as merely a former Watergate prosecutor. But as the leading finger-pointer in the 9/11 probe, a few other details in Ben-Veniste's background might be deemed relevant. The Washington super-lawyer's last high-profile roll came in 1995-96, when he served as lead Democratic counsel for the Senate Whitewater hearings. His chief mission: Defending Bill and Hillary Clinton for all he was worth. A review of press reports from the period shows that he'd been auditioning...

President Bush leads a tour of Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford, Texas with wildlife conversation leaders and sportsmen leaders, Thursday, April 8, 2004. Pictured with the President from left, are Jeffrey Crane, Director of Policy and Programs, Congressional Sportsmen Foundation, Bud Pidgeon, President, U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance, and Michael Rogers, Safari Club International Senior writer. But todays "DOSE" is dedicated to the excellent testimony given by Condi Rice ................ Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island

How national security adviser's testimony hurt Bush WASHINGTON - Republicans who'd been hoping that Condi Rice would calm the political waters with her testimony to the 9/11 commission have to be disappointed. Stylistically and tactically, she was serviceable. Her voice seemed to quaver at times, but overall she was a confident master of detail, choosing, for the most part, to praise rather than confront the accusatory Richard Clarke. But the larger picture she painted of herself, her president and the administration certainly won't help George W. Bush's re-election chances. A self-proclaimed expert at understanding "structural" change in large institutions, Rice...

Public Hearing September 11 Commission: National Security Council National Cmsn. on Terrorist Attacks Washington, District of Columbia (United States) Rice, Condoleezza, Adviser, White House, National Security Council Kean, Thomas H., Chairman, National Cmsn. on Terrorist Attacks Hamilton, Lee H., Vice Chairman, National Cmsn. on Terrorist Attacks

September 11 memo may have warned about hijackings Thu Apr 8, 2:17 PM ET Add U.S. National - AFP to My Yahoo! WASHINGTON (AFP) - A classified memo sent to President George W. Bush (news - web sites) about a month before the September 11, 2001 attacks may have warned that al-Qaeda planned to hijack US airliners, an official inquiry was told. AFP Photo AFP Slideshow: September 11 National security advisor Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) was closely questioned about the memorandum, sent to Bush on August 6, 2001, when she gave sworn testimony to the commission. But she...