Claim vs. Fact: Rice's Q&A Testimony
Before the 9/11 Commission
Planes as Weapons
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]
CLAIM: "I was certainly not aware of [intelligence reports about planes as
missiles] at the time that I spoke" in 2002. [responding to Kean]
FACT: While Rice may not have been aware of the 12 separate and explicit
warnings about terrorists using planes as weapons when she made her denial
in 2002, she did know about them when she wrote her March 22, 2004
Washington Post op-ed. In that piece, she once again repeated the claim
there was no indication "that terrorists were preparing to attack the homeland
using airplanes as missiles." [Source: Washington Post, 3/22/04]
August 6
PDB
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]
Domestic Threat
CLAIM: "One of the problems was there was really nothing that look like was
going to happen inside the United States...Almost all of the reports focused
on al-Qaida activities outside the United States, especially in the Middle East
and North Africa...We did not have...threat information that was in any way
specific enough to suggest something was coming in the United States."
[responding to Gorelick]
FACT: Page 204 of the Joint Congressional Inquiry into 9/11 noted that "In
May 2001, the intelligence community obtained a report that Bin Laden
supporters were planning to infiltrate the United States" to "carry out a
terrorist operation using high explosives." The report "was included in an
intelligence report for senior government officials in August [2001]." In the
same month, the Pentagon "acquired and shared with other elements of the
Intelligence Community information suggesting that seven persons associated
with Bin Laden had departed various locations for Canada, the United
Kingdom, and the United States." [Sources: Joint Congressional Report,
12/02]
CLAIM: "If we had known an attack was coming against the United
States...we would have moved heaven and earth to stop it." [responding to
Roemer]
FACT: Rice admits that she was told that "an attack was coming." She said,
"Let me read you some of the actual chatter that was picked up in that spring
and summer: Unbelievable news coming in weeks, said one. Big event --
there will be a very, very, very, very big uproar. There will be attacks in the
near future." [Source: Condoleezza Rice, 4/8/04]
Cheney Counterterrorism Task Force
CLAIM: "The Vice President was, a little later in, I think, in May, tasked by
the President to put together a group to look at all of the recommendations
that had been made about domestic preparedness and all of the questions
associated with that." [responding to Fielding]
FACT: The Vice President's task force never once convened a meeting. In the
same time period, the Vice President convened at least 10 meetings of his
energy task force, and six meetings with Enron executives. [Source:
Washington Post, 1/20/02; GAO Report, 8/03]
Principals Meetings
CLAIM: "The CSG (Counterterrorism Security Group) was made up of not
junior people, but the top level of counterterrorism experts. Now, they were in
contact with their principals." [responding to Fielding]
FACT: "Many of the other people at the CSG-level, and the people who were
brought to the table from the domestic agencies, were not telling their
principals. Secretary Mineta, the secretary of transportation, had no idea of
the threat. The administrator of the FAA, responsible for security on our
airlines, had no idea." [Source: 9/11 Commissioner Jamie Gorelick, 4/8/04]
Previous Administration
CLAIM: "The decision that we made was to, first of all, have no drop-off in
what the Clinton administration was doing, because clearly they had done a
lot of work to deal with this very important priority." [responding to Kean]
FACT: Internal government documents show that while the Clinton
Administration officially prioritized counterterrorism as a "Tier One" priority,
but when the Bush Administration took office, top officials downgraded
counterterrorism. As the Washington Post reported, these documents show
that before Sept. 11 the Bush Administration "did not give terrorism top
billing." Rice admitted that "we decided to take a different track" than the
Clinton Administration in protecting America. [Source: Internal government
documents, 1998-2001; Washington Post, 3/22/04; Rice testimony, 4/8/04]
FBI
CLAIM: The Bush Administration has been committed to the "transformation
of the FBI into an agency dedicated to fighting terror." [responding to Kean]
FACT: Before 9/11, Attorney General John Ashcroft de-emphasized
counterterrorism at the FBI, in favor of more traditional law enforcement. And
according to the Washington Post, "in the early days after the Sept. 11,
2001, attacks, the Bush White House cut by nearly two-thirds an emergency
request for counterterrorism funds by the FBI, an internal administration
budget document shows." And according to a new report by the
Congressional Research Service, "numerous confidential law enforcement and
intelligence sources who challenge the FBI's claim that it has successfully
retooled itself to gather critical intelligence on terrorists as well as fight
crime." [Source: Washington Post, 3/22/04; Congressional Quarterly, 4/6/04]
CLAIM: "The FBI issued at least three nationwide warnings to federal, state
and law enforcement agencies and specifically stated that, although the vast
majority of the information indicated overseas targets, attacks against the
homeland could not be ruled out. The FBI tasked all 56 of its U.S. field offices
to increase surveillance of known suspects of terrorists and to reach out to
known informants who might have information on terrorist activities."
[responding to Gorelick]
FACT: The warnings are "feckless. They don't tell anybody anything. They
don't bring anyone to battle stations." [Source: 9/11 Commissioner Jamie
Gorelick, 4/8/04]
Homeland Security
CLAIM: "I think that having a Homeland Security Department that can bring
together the FAA and the INS and Customs and all of the various agencies is
a very important step." [responding to Hamilton]
FACT: The White House vehemently opposed the creation of the Department
of Homeland security. Its opposition to the concept delayed the creation of
the department by months.
CLAIM: "We have created a threat terrorism information center, the TTIC,
which does bring together all of the sources of information from all of the
intelligence agencies -- the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security
and the INS and the CIA and the DIA -- so that there's one place where all of
this is coming together." [responding to Fielding]
FACT: "Knowledgeable sources complain that the president's new Terrorist
Threat Integration Center, which reports to CIA Director George Tenet rather
than to Ridge, has created more of a moat than a bridge. The ability to spot
the nation's weakest points was going to make Homeland Security different,
recalled one person involved in the decision to set up TTIC. But now, the
person said, 'that whole effort has been gutted by the White House creation of
TTIC, [which] has served little more than to give the appearance of progress.'"
[Source: National Journal, 3/6/04]
IRAQ-9/11
CLAIM: "There was a discussion of Iraq. I think it was raised by Don
Rumsfeld. It was pressed a bit by Paul Wolfowitz."
FACT: Rice's statement confirms previous proof that the Administration was
focusing on Iraq immediately after 9/11, despite having no proof that Iraq was
involved in the attack. Rice's statement also contradicts her previous denials
in which she claimed "Iraq was to the side" immediately after 9/11. She made
this denial despite the President signing "a 2-and-a-half-page document
marked 'TOP SECRET'" six days after 9/11 that "directed the Pentagon to
begin planning military options for an invasion of Iraq." [Source: Condoleezza
Rice, 3/22/04, 3/22/04; Washington Post, 1/12/03]
CLAIM: "Given that this was a global war on terror, should we look not just at
Afghanistan but should we look at doing something against Iraq?"
FACT: The Administration has not produced one shred of evidence that Iraq
had an operational relationship with Al Qaeda, or that Iraq had anything to do
with the 9/11 attacks on America. In fact, a U.S. Army War College report
said that the war in Iraq has been a diversion that has drained key resources
from the more imminent War on Terror. Just this week, USA Today reported
that "in 2002, troops from the 5th Special Forces Group who specialize in the
Middle East were pulled out of the hunt for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan
to prepare for their next assignment: Iraq." Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL)
confirmed this, noting in February of 2002, a senior military commander told
him "We are moving military and intelligence personnel and resources out of
Afghanistan to get ready for a future war in Iraq." [Sources: CNN, 1/13/04;
USA Today, 3/28/04; Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL), 3/26/04]
War on Terror
CLAIM: After 9/11, "the President put states on notice if they were
sponsoring terrorists."
FACT: The President continues to say Saudi Arabia is "our friend" despite
their potential ties to terrorists. As the LA Times reported, "the 27 classified
pages of a congressional report about Sept. 11 depict a Saudi government
that not only provided significant money and aid to the suicide hijackers but
also allowed potentially hundreds of millions of dollars to flow to Al Qaeda and
other terrorist groups through suspect charities and other fronts." Just this
week, Newsweek reported "within weeks of the September 11 terror attacks,
security officers at the Fleet National Bank in Boston had identified
'suspicious' wire transfers from the Saudi Embassy in Washington that
eventually led to the discovery of an active Al Qaeda 'sleeper cell' that may
have been planning follow-up attacks inside the United States." [Source: LA
Times, 8/2/03; CNN, 11/23/02; Newsweek, 4/7/04] |
