Condoleezza Rice is not credible. This was obvious even before today's testimony.
Remember when she made this statement on Meet the Press, June 8, 2003, concerning one of the false statements in Bush's SOTU address:
"We did not know at the time — no one knew at the time, in our circles — maybe someone knew down in the bowels of the agency, but no one in our circles knew that there were doubts and suspicions that this might be a forgery. Of course, it was information that was mistaken."
And yet, within days, we learn her top assistant Stephen Hadley had been warned in person not to use that claim by George Tenet! Was Rice "out of the loop" or lying?
Today, she made several unbelievable statements. How about this whopper:
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]
And another:
CLAIM: There was "nothing about the threat of attack in the U.S." in the Presidential Daily Briefing the President received on August 6th. [responding to Ben Veniste]
FACT: Rice herself confirmed that "the title [of the PDB] was, 'Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States.'" [Source: Condoleezza Rice, 4/8/04]
Rice is simply not credible. No wonder the 9/11 families spokesman (a Republican pleading for non-partisanship) labeled Rice today as "not truthful". |
