Whoa
I have not read the book yet but this review caught my attention, specifically:
Somehow the meeting did not come up when everyone talked to the 9/11 Commission? Wow. Just wow. Kind of makes me wonder what else didn't come up.The book also reported that then-CIA Director George Tenet and his counterterrorism chief, Cofer Black, grew so concerned about a possible al-Qaida attack in summer 2001 that they abruptly decided to drive straight to the White House to get high-level attention.
Tenet called Rice, then the national-security adviser, from his car to ask to see her in hopes that the surprise appearance would make an impression.
But the meeting on July 10, 2001, left Tenet and Black frustrated and feeling brushed off, Woodward reported. Rice, they believed, did not feel the same sense of urgency about the threat and was content to wait for a policy review.
The report of such a meeting takes on heightened importance after former President Clinton this week complained that the Bush team did not do enough to try to kill Osama bin Laden before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., said her husband would have paid more attention to warnings of a possible attack than did Bush.
Rice fired back on behalf of the current president, saying the Bush administration "was at least as aggressive" in eight months as Clinton had been in eight years.
The July 10 meeting among Rice, Tenet and Black wasn't mentioned in various investigations into the Sept. 11 attacks and Woodward wrote that Black "felt there were things the commissions wanted to know about and things they didn't want to know about."
Jamie Gorelick, a member of the Sept. 11 commission, said she checked with staff members, who told her investigators were never told about a July 10 meeting.
White House and State Department officials confirmed Friday that the July 10 meeting took place, although they took issue with the portrayal of its results. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, responding on behalf of Rice, said Tenet and Black had never publicly expressed any frustration with her response. Tenet and Black did not respond to messages Friday.
posted by Logic101 at 9/30/2006 08:41:00 AM
4 Comments:
At this point, there probably have been enough books from Richard Clarke to Ron Suskind, to Woodward, even George Friedman for anyone to see pretty clearly that the Bush administration and particularly NSA chief Rice to have been aware that Al Qaeda was planning something pre 9/11.
The fact that the administration hasn't shared a transcript of the July meeting (I would imagine one exists) is probably even more revealing.
Hi, Logic101,
Snipped your blog. Great job. I also wonder who will publish the first exposé behind the curtain of the 9/11 Commission? Come by and read about The State of Denial. How long has it been now? I haven't read the book but did read Woodward's column today and Friday's story.
Agree with Chancelucky as well, which accentuates for me the lack of congressional oversight and media pit bulls. Too few Olbermanns and too many "conservative hit jobs" on reality.
The fact that the meeting wasn't mentioned (was withheld?) broke the law and the people responsible for the omission need to be hauled in front of a tribunal and prosecuted. Whe, and if, this will happen is anybody's guess; but it will not happen if the Republicans gain a majority in Congress. So vote Democrat, have your friends vote Democrat, and contribute to them. Sure the Democrats can be wimpy and stupid, but it's now the only alternative to being a victim once again.
"but it will not happen if the Republicans gain a majority in Congress."
Repugs already HAVE a majority. Given the backbone of the Democratic leadership, I don't see anyone being held accountable, even if they regain the house and senate. And thats a big if, given they haven't asked for paper ballots on all those proven-hackable electronic voting machines.
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