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Desperately Seeking Condi: Rice Avoids 9/11 Commission
Bush & Clinton Officials Defend Pre-9/11 Actions At Hearings
Desperately Seeking Condi: Rice Avoids 9/11 Commission
As the 9/11 Commission opens its second day of public hearings,
one top Bush official will be noticbly absent: National Security
Advisor Condoleezza Rice. On Tuesday Commissioners repeated
their request she come to testify under oath but she has so
far refused citing separation of powers. Today is day 2 of
the 9/11 Commission hearings in Washington DC. Much of the
attention will be focused on the testimony of President Bush's
former terrorism czar Richard Clarke, whose new book "Against
All Enemies" slams the White House's handling of the
9/11 attacks and the subsequent war against Iraq.
Among those who testified yesterday were: Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell, former
Defense Secretary William Cohen, former Secretary of State
Madelline Albright and Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul
Wolfowitz. The hearings thus far have been very tame, with
no major confrontations. In a moment, we are going to look
at what has been said at these hearings up to this point.
But first, we are going to look at what has not been said
and who is not saying it.
As the White House began to feel the heat from the publication
of the scathing new book by President Bush's former terrorism
czar Richard Clarke, the administration sent out its attack
dogs to discredit him. Leading the offensive for the administration
was National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. The media
blitz intensified early this week, as Rice appeared on all
5 morning talk shows on Monday. By 11 a.m. that day, the White
House had booked its people on 15 cable news channels.
While Rice has led the administrations media offensive, attacking
Clarke's credibility and his criticism of Bush's handling
of 9-11, one stop she is not making is at the 9-11 Commission's
Hearings underway in Washington. Despite repeated requests
from the commission, Rice has refused to give any sworn testimony.
Commission member Timothy Roemer:
- 9/11 Commissioner Tim Roemer
While Rice refused to testify under oath in front of the
American public, she opted instead to make her case in a major
Op-Ed in Monday's Washington Post called "9/11
For the Record."
-
David Corn, Washington Editor of The Nation magazine.
He is also author of The Lies of George W. Bush: Mastering
the Politics of Deception. He was at the 9-11 Commission
hearings yesterday and is there again today.
Bush & Clinton Officials Defend Pre-9/11 Actions
At Hearings
We hear excerpts from testimony by Secretary of State Colin
Powell and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and former Secretary
of State Madeleine Albright as well as Deputy Defense Secretary
Paul Wolfowitz. And we get response from former CIA analyst
Melvin Goodman and Andrew Rice who lost his brother in the
World Trade Center attack. The independent commission investigating
the Sept. 11 attacks heard testimony from top Clinton and
Bush administration officials yesterday.
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was one of the
first to testify. She came under questioning from commissioner
Tim Roemer.
- Secretary of State Madeline Albright
Albright was followed by her Bush Administration counterpart
Colin Powell, who described efforts to bring Pakistani President
Pervez Musharraf on board the U.S. campaign.
- Secretary of State Colin Powell
Secretary of State Colin Powell using the word “crusade”
to describe anti-terror efforts. Two-and-a-half years ago
President George W Bush used the same word and had to backtrack
afterwards.
Others who testified in the public hearings included Deputy
Secretary of State Richard Armitage and former Defense Secretary
William Cohen. To conclude the day, Defense Secretray Donald
Rumsfeld along with his deputy Paul Wolfowitz and Chairman
of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Richard Myers took the stand.
Rumsfeld came under questioning from former Senator Bob Kerrey.
- Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld being questioned
by former Senator Bob Kerrey
Rumsfeld was later questioned by commissioner Tim Roemer:
- Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld being questioned
by Commissioner Tim Roemer
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was questioned about
claims made by former counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke.
Clarke is widely viewed as a leading figure in national security
circles. He has held top posts under every president since
Reagan and served as both President Clinton and President
Bush's top anti-terrorism official.
Clarke said in his new book that before Sept. 11 Deputy Defense
Secretary Paul Wolfowitz claimed Iraq was behind the 1993
World Trade Center bombing and posed at least as much as danger
as Al Qaeda.
Commissioner Tim Roemer questioned Wolfowitz about the Clarke’s
claims. After initially avoiding the question, Wolfowitz responded.
- Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz
We talk now with former CIA analyst Melvin Goodman
Melvin Goodman, former CIA and State Department analyst.
He is a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy
and director of the Center's National Security Project. He
is the co-author of the forthcoming book "Bush League
Diplomacy: How the Neoconservatives Are Putting the World
at Risk"
- Andrew Rice, chair of the 9-11 Commission Committee for
September Eleventh Families For Peaceful Tomorrows. His
brother, David, was killed at the World Trade Center on
Sept. 11
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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