Free Republic

Now that Condi Rice has averted the initial lynching, it might be time to look back at some of the evidence. The 9-11 commission was out in full force Thursday as National Security Adviser Condi Rice took the stand to get grilled in public, but stuck to her guns. What remains to be seen is how attacks in Iraq will play in Peoria, particularly when the politics of nation destruction is the history repeat this time around. Democrats launched the "Ted Offensive," letting Sen. Kennedy out of the beach house to cross yet another bridge back towards the 20th Century...

Planes as Weapons CLAIM: "I do not remember any reports to us, a kind of strategic warning, that planes might be used as weapons." [responding to Kean] FACT: Condoleezza Rice was the top National Security official with President Bush at the July 2001 G-8 summit in Genoa. There, "U.S. officials were warned that Islamic terrorists might attempt to crash an airliner" into the summit, prompting officials to "close the airspace over Genoa and station antiaircraft guns at the city's airport." [Sources: Los Angeles Times, 9/27/01; White House release, 7/22/01] CLAIM: "I was certainly not aware of [intelligence reports about planes...

Laxity was the central cause of America's sloppy security prior to 9/11. Yet lax liberals, the ones who typically view heightened security as an attack on civil liberties, are the loudest critics of Condoleezza Rice and the Bush administration. Had the Bush administration adopted ramped-up, hardheaded security policies prior to 9/11, the Richard Ben-Venistes would have been the first to cry foul. Let's say George Bush during the 233 days before 9/11 had armed pilots, instructed airline officials to profile Muslim males, and called for more domestic intelligence on radical Muslims wandering through the U.S. Would the Democrats have applauded...

Eager to tout improved relations with Libya for abandoning its weapons programs, the White House omitted the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing from the list of terrorist attacks cited today by national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, angering victims' families. After the backlash, the White House scrambled to minimise the damage, issuing a letter of apology by Rice to the Lockerbie families, some of whom said they had been sickened by the administration's stance. "We did not include attacks that were the work of a government, such as the Libyan government's bombing of Pan Am 103. This was a mistake, for which...

Kerrey/Rice Clash Ex-Nebraskan not satisfied with testimony Former Nebraska Governor and Senator Bob Kerrey said he was not satisfied Thursday by national security adviser Condoleezza Rice's responses to questions posed by the commission investigating the September 11 attacks. "I simply don't like a conclusion that says we didn't make any mistakes," Kerrey said after he questioned Rice as part of the 10-member commission in Washington. Rice appeared to blame lack of communication between the FBI and CIA on intelligence matters, but that is not an acceptable response, Kerrey said. There were enough warnings that Rice and others in the...

<p>April 9, 2004 -- A politically diverse panel of New Yorkers assembled by The Post generally gave Condoleezza Rice high marks yesterday for showing grace under pressure during her appearance before the 9/11 commission.</p> <p>"I think she did very well," said Morgan Friedman, 28, a political independent who's a computer programmer from Williamsburg.</p>

President Bush's August 2001 briefing on terrorism threats, described largely as a historical document, included information from three months earlier that al-Qaida was trying to send operatives into the United States for an explosives attack, according to several people who have seen the memo. The so-called presidential daily briefing, or PDB, delivered to Bush on Aug. 6, 2001 - a month before the Sept. 11 attacks - said there were various reports that Osama bin Laden had wanted to strike inside the United States as early as 1997 and continuing into the spring of 2001, the sources told The Associated...

WASHINGTON -- Condoleezza Rice never seemed to face her toughest audience Thursday. Row after row of families of Sept. 11 victims sat directly behind her in the stark, cavernous hearing room, a silent chorus demanding answers. It was these families whose persistence led to the creation of the commission, and by the time the three-hour grilling of the president's national security adviser was over, they knew little more than when they came.

The testimony in front of the 9/11 Commission yesterday by Bush National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice finally put to rest all of the nonsense that has been out there, peddled by Richard Clarke, that Al Qaeda simply wasn't a concern or a priority for the Bush administration. The three hours of testimony (carried on all the networks) was electric, and a political home run. There were a few heated exchanges between Condi and the liberals on the panel...and she wasn't going to have any of it. This woman is tough as nails. Like I said yesterday, she could run for...

College conservatives are wondering why their liberal classmates won't talk about terror Ryan Gorsche says college liberals don't get it WEB EXCLUSIVE By Ryan Gorsche Newsweek Updated: 7:22 p.m. ET April 09, 2004April 9 - Dartmouth conservatives breathed a sigh of relief last week after national-security adviser Condoleezza Rice’s strong performance before the 9/11 Commission. For weeks, the news had been dominated by former White House counterterrorism coordinator Richard Clarke's unfair and inaccurate portrayal of the Bush administration’s actions before September 11. With her testimony, Rice finally set the record straight. Even before the attacks, Rice told the commission, President...

WASHINGTON - U.S. government agencies issued repeated warnings in the summer of 2001 about potential terrorist plots against the United States masterminded by Osama bin Laden (news - web sites), including a possible plan to hijack commercial aircraft, documents show. While there were no specific targets mentioned in the United States, there was intelligence indicating al-Qaida might attempt to crash a plane into the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi. And other reports said Islamic extremists might try to hijack a plane to gain release of comrades. The escalating seriousness was reflected in a series of warnings issued by the State Department,...

U.S. Supreme Court justice John Marshall is famous for arguing that "the power to tax involves the power to destroy." But that was before the emergence of the special commission. Marshall might have written differently had he witnessed one in action using its powers as much for political gain as for legitimate investigation. As a long-time political observer, Dan Rather knows this very well, or at least he did back when Republicans were interested in using hearings as a weapon against President Clinton (more on that later). But now that Democrats are using the 9/11 commission to try and diminish...

<p>Rice appeared rattled when Watergate prosecutor Richard Ben-Veniste confronted her with the title of the presidential daily briefing (PDB) forwarded to Bush at his Crawford ranch on Aug. 6, 2001: “Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States.” Rice called it “historical information based on old reporting” that did not warn of new attacks. Ben-Veniste countered that it established a pattern of suspicious activities and challenged the administration to declassify the memo so the American people could decided its relevance for themselves.</p>

<p>April 9 (Bloomberg) -- A growing number of Americans say they believe the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush did everything that could be expected to stop the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to two new polls.</p> <p>A Time/CNN survey taken yesterday showed that 48 percent of Americans said they believe the Bush administration did all it could to prevent the attacks, up from 42 percent in a poll taken March 26-28. A CBS News poll, also conducted yesterday, showed 32 percent of Americans said the administration did everything possible to stop the attacks, up from 22 percent the previous week.</p>

Testimony continued today in the parliamentary hearings on the reasons for the defeat at the hands of the Saracens in battle on September 11. Commission member Ben-Veniste reiterated the body's mandate to seek the truth, wherever it might lead. "Let's not lose sight of the facts. For want of a nail, the shoe was lost. Then the horse; then the rider; and ultimately the battle," he said. "This raises disturbing questions. I want to know how the enemy knew that particular nail was coming out, and why King George did not. That is, if he did not." The panel heard...

Condoleezza Rice says she's asked herself a thousand times if there was anything she could have done to prevent the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. And the answer every time, apparently, has been no. Which is either really impressive or simply terrifying. My experience of the world is that it is a complex, messy place that constantly offers up unanswerable questions and choices between bad options and worse ones. And that's just how I feel when I'm deciding which coffee to buy. The spectacle of Rice's testimony before the 9/11 commission -- a theatrical exercise in which the commissioners pretended to...

Comment -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9/11 hearings won't help Kerry Democrats should focus on Bush's post-September 11 failings, argues Philip James Friday April 9, 2004 She was poised, composed and did what she set out to accomplish: defend the Bush White House from the charge that they should have seen September 11 coming. If Democrats were hoping that Condoleezza Rice would crack under pressure they were disappointed. Under fierce questioning from some of the best interrogators inside the beltway, such as Richard Ben-Veniste, who cut his teeth on the Watergate hearings, the national security adviser gave no ground. She did not squirm when...

While flipping through TV coverage of National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice’s testimony before the 911 commission, I stopped at ABC. More clearly, I was floored by ABC. Upon conclusion of Dr. Rice’s testimony, Peter Jennings, introduced ABC’s consultant on national security issues to review, confirm or rebut her testimony. In a episode of naked bias, ABC’s consultant was Richard Clarke. The same Richard Clarke whose prior testimony in front of the same commission and whose currently on-sale book places him squarely as part of the story. By way of an introduction, Mr. Jennings stated that ABC had retained Richard Clarke...

April 8, 2004--In the wake of Condoleezza Rice's testimony before a national television audience, 50% of American voters have a favorable view of the nation's National Security Advisor. Just 24% have an unfavorable view, while 26% are not sure or do not know who she is. Condoleezza Rice? Favorable 50% Unfavorable 24% RasmussenReports.com ---------------------------------------------------------Richard Clarke? Favorable 27% Unfavorable 42% RasmussenReports.com ------------------------------------------------------

Is there anything clearer than hindsight? And is there anyone - inside the Washington Beltway or beyond it - who wouldn't want to rewrite our pre-Sept. 11 history? But as national security adviser Condoleezza Rice told the 9/11 commission, ``There was no silver bullet that could have prevented'' the attack on American soil.'' Shouldn't the FBI and the CIA have been forced to talk to each other? Shouldn't the CIA's information about al-Qaeda have been shared with the FBI, which knew of Middle Eastern men attending U.S. flight schools? Yes, of course, that's what should have happened. But it didn't...