To: stockman_scott who wrote (40171 ) 3/22/2004 11:54:17 AM From: TigerPaw Read Replies (3) | Respond to of 89467 Now Rice wants to pretend that she was on the ball about Al Qaeda.washingtonpost.com Note how she contradicts herself in back to back paragraphs. <font color=brown> Despite what some have suggested, we received no intelligence that terrorists were preparing to attack the homeland using airplanes as missiles, though some analysts speculated that terrorists might hijack airplanes to try to free U.S.-held terrorists. The FAA even issued a warning to airlines and aviation security personnel that "the potential for a terrorist operation, such as an airline hijacking to free terrorists incarcerated in the United States, remains a concern." We now know that the real threat had been in the United States since at least 1999. The plot to attack New York and Washington had been hatching for nearly two years. According to the FBI, by June 2001 16 of the 19 hijackers were already here. Even if we had known exactly where Osama bin Laden was, and the armed Predator had been available to strike him, the Sept. 11 hijackers almost certainly would have carried out their plan. So, too, if the Northern Alliance had somehow managed to topple the Taliban, the Sept. 11 hijackers were here in America -- not in Afghanistan. </font> Apparently without a flight number and a terrorist passenger list the security agency was not able to do anything, (except advice Ashcroft not to fly commercial planes). She argues that the only way to stop Bin Laden was with an armed predator drone? It's clear she had not heard of Al Qaeda, but apparently she had not heard about F117 aircraft, cruise missles, or special forces before 9/11 either. <font color=brown>Once advised that there was no evidence that Iraq was responsible for Sept. 11 , the president told his National Security Council on Sept. 17 that Iraq was not on the agenda and that the initial U.S. response to Sept. 11 would be to target al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. </font> Hmm, so Iraq was not on the agenda? We know Rice likes to do her lying in op-ed pieces where she does not have to take questions.query.nytimes.com Lest we forget. TP