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Rice Defends Bush, Says White House Couldn't Have Done More
to Avoid 9/11
Two Ex-CIA Analysts Blast Bush Administration on 9/11
Two FBI Whistleblowers Accuse Bureau of Ignoring Warnings
Before 9/11
9/11 Widow Blames White House for Mishandling 9/11 Threat
and Hampering Investigation
Rice Defends Bush, Says White House Couldn't Have
Done More to Avoid 9/11
After weeks of stonewalling, National Security Adviser Condoleeza
Rice testified in public and under oath Thursday before the
bi-partisan panel of ex-government officials investigating
the Sept. 11 attacks. Democracy Now! hosts a roundtable discussion
on her testimony with two former-CIA analysts, two FBI whistleblowers
and a 9/11 widow. National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice
testified in public and under oath yesterday before the bi-partisan
panel of ex-government officials investigating the Sept. 11
attacks.
In nearly three hours in the witness chair, Rice stuck to
the White House line and insisted that there was "no
silver bullet" that could have prevented 9/11. She defended
the Bush administration's approach to terrorism citing vague
intelligence as well as "structural" problems with
counter-terrorism efforts and inter-agency intelligence sharing.
Rice's testimony, which was carried live by the networks,
came after weeks of stonewalling by the White House. As part
of the deal to have Rice testify, the 9/11 Commission cannot
seek public testimony from any more White House officials.
In her widely anticipated appearance before the panel, Rice
offered no apology for the government's failure to prevent
the attacks - as former counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke
did two weeks ago.
Clarke has blasted Bush for not considering terrorism to
be an urgent issue before the Sept. 11 attacks and has accused
the president of undermining the war on terror by invading
Iraq.
When asked to rebut Clarke's claim that Bush pressed him
to find an Iraq connection to 9/11, Rice said she did not
recall such a discussion. She added, "I'm quite certain
the president never pushed anybody to twist the facts."
Rice also maintained that Bush was committed well before
9/11 to a broad approach to eradicating Al Qaeda. She said
"He made clear to me that he did not want to respond
to al-Qaida one attack at a time. He told me he was 'tired
of swatting flies.'"
Some of the most heated exchanges at the hearing concerned
a classified briefing memo prepared for the president on August
6, 2001. Rice said the memo "did not warn of attacks
inside the United States. It was historical information based
on old reporting."
The title of the memo: "Bin Laden Determined To Attack
Inside the United States." Rice maintained that President
Bush "understood the threat, and he understood its importance."
Bush received the memo while on a month-long vacation on his
ranch in Crawford Texas.
A joint House-Senate report issued last year found the briefing
included "FBI judgments about patterns of activity consistent
with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks;
as well as information acquired in May 2001 that indicated
a group of bin Laden supporters was planning attacks in the
United States with explosives."
Today, a roundtable discussion on Condoleeza Rice's testimony.
We speak with two former-CIA analysts, two FBI whistleblowers
and a 9/11 widow.
Two Ex-CIA Analysts Blast Bush Administration on
9/11
Ray McGovern, a 27-year career analyst with the CIA who
was one of Vice President George Bush daily briefer says Rice's
testimony and the events surrounding it have "the very
strong odor of the most accomplished PR machine in White House
history." Former CIA and State Department analyst Mel
Goodman says the staff studies of the commission, which were
released the same day as Richard Clarke's testimony and were
largely ignored, "make it clear that there was reduced
urgency within the Bush administration" on 9/11.
- Ray McGovern, 27-year career analyst with the CIA. He
is co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for
Sanity. He worked under George Bush Sr., both when he was
director of central intelligence, as well as when he was
Vice President. He was one of his daily briefers.
- 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 author of the newly-published book "Bush
League Diplomacy: Putting the Nation At Risk" (Prometheus).
Two FBI Whistleblowers Accuse Bureau of Ignoring
Warnings Before 9/11
We speak with FBI agent Coleen Rowley, who accused FBI headquarters
in 2002 of hampering the investigation into alleged 20th hijacker
Zacarias Moussaoui and former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds
who was hired shortly after 9/11 to translate intelligence
related to the attacks and says the FBI had information that
an attack using airplanes was being planned before Sept. 11,
2001. Rowley reveals one of her fellow FBI agents contacted
FBI HQ before Sept. 11 and said Moussaoui was the type that
might try to fly a plane into the World Trade Center. [includes
rush transcript]
- Coleen Rowley, FBI agent. In May 2002 she wrote a caustic,
13-page letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller accusing FBI
headquarters of hampering the investigation into alleged
20th hijacker Zacarias Moussaoui. She says officials at
FBI headquarters resisted seeking search warrants and admonished
agents who sought help from the CIA. Read Coleen Rowley's
May
2002 letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller
- Sibel Edmonds, former FBI translator who was hired shortly
after Sept. 11 to translate intelligence related to the
attacks. She speaks fluent Farsi and Turkish.
9/11 Widow Blames White House for Mishandling 9/11
Threat and Hampering Investigation
Monica Gabrielle, who lost her husband Richard in the Sept.
11 attacks on the World Trade Center, criticizes the Bush
administration for mishandling intelligence prior to 9/11
and hampering the 9/11 investigation. [includes
rush transcript]
She says: "Let's remember that the intelligence works
not as an invitation to come to a party. You don't get time,
date and place. What you get is bits of pieces of information
that analysts then have it to put together. There were many
warnings. There were many dots. There was a failure to connect
the dos."
- Monica Gabrielle, wife of Richard Gabrielle who was killed
in the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. She is
a member of the Family Steering Committee for the 9/11 Commission,
Co-Chairperson of the Skyscraper Safety Campaign and a member
of Member of Coalition of 9/11 Families and 9/11 Families
for a Secure America.
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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