In article <c580gj$2u9s$1@pencil.math.missouri.edu>, Ruf Twohy says...

Once your head clears from Rice's soporific performance, read this and
learn the facts:

April 9th, 2004
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.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/04/09/1524215

April 9th, 2004
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).

Streaming video at: 
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/04/09/1524219

April 9th, 2004
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 
http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101020603/memo.html

* 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.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
JUAN GONZALEZ: We're joined on the telephone by Coleen Rowley, who
wrote the 13-page letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller, accusing FBI
headquarters of hampering the investigation into the alleged 20th
hijacker of Sept. 11. Welcome to Democracy Now! Your reaction,
especially to the revelations in the testimony yesterday that the FBI
was actively pursuing 70 sleeper cells, in the United States, of al
Qaeda.

COLEEN ROWLEY: Well, let me preface anything I say. I have been
instructed not to talk to the media, and that's actually surprising
since the letter that I wrote initially supposedly got whistleblower
protection. But I think the FBI now is in a very precarious position
because of the fact that there's threats to split the FBI up.
Therefore, the hierarchy is very sensitive to saying anything or even
to allowing people to talk. So, today I'm speaking only in my personal
capacity, and I'm trying to speak only from what I have said before,
which is on the 13-page letter and in which in theory has
whistleblower protection. But, obviously, if you read or anyone
rereads that letter, which is now kind of ancient history, you will
see a remarkable denial on the part of the mid-level management people
at headquarters that any al Qaeda operative could exist -- be existing
here in the United States. Of course, the comments that were made
which I'm aware of do not display that there was any urgency on the
part of these people to react to news that was being generated from
the field offices.

AMY GOODMAN: Now, yesterday, Dr. Condoleezza Rice said that all of the
field offices knew about the potential threats. What did you
understand at the time, Coleen Rowley?

COLEEN ROWLEY: Well, you know, historically the FBI has been
investigating al Qaeda for a long time. Obviously, the first 1993
World Trade Center attacks brought that into focus. So, al Qaeda
certainly was considered a threat, but what I'm talking about is any
special urgency, especially during the summer of 2001 which would have
made people, especially the mid-level management people, more aware of
information, little pieces of information that were generated to them.
And again, if you read -- reread the letter and the fact that the
Phoenix Memo and the information that came in from our office and
other offices simply was not acted on --

AMY GOODMAN: I just want to interrupt for one second. On August 15,
Zacarias Moussaoui was taken into custody. To refresh people's
memories -- three weeks before the September 11th attacks. At that
point when the alleged 20th hijacker is taken into custody, at a point
when -- well certainly, if information was gathered and if in fact he
was a part of this, and you could get information, perhaps the
September 11 attacks could have been avoided -- averted, can you talk
about what you understood the threat level to be, and if you
understood how high the people in Washington -- how seriously they
were treating things at this point?

COLEEN ROWLEY: I don't have any firsthand information about what the
threat level was, and the people in Washington, other than what the
comments and the responses that were given from these people to our
field office agents here. Again, if you reread the testimony, even

>from the Joint Intelligence Committee of responses that were given, it

does not show that there was any understanding of the urgency of the
threat.

JUAN GONZALEZ: We're also joined on the phone by Sibel Edmonds, a
former F.B.I. translator, who was hired shortly after September 11 to
translate intelligence gathered over the previous attacks, and she
speaks fluent Farsi, Arabic and Turkish. Welcome to Democracy Now!.

SIBEL EDMONDS: Good morning. Thank you for having me back. Let me make
a correction. I don't speak Arabic. I do speak Farsi, Turkish and
Azerbaijani on the side.

JUAN GONZALEZ: Okay, thank you for the correction. Your reaction as
you listen to the National Security Advisor, Condoleeza Rice,
yesterday in terms of your knowledge of the material that you were
hired to translate.

SIBEL EDMONDS: Well, some good questions were asked, however, many
questions were not asked, and some questions remained unanswered. I
would like to point out the one correction that Ms. Rice made during
this hearing. Two weeks ago, I said -- I made a statement saying that
Ms. Rice has a statement that "we did not have any specific
information" was an outrageous lie. Ms. Rice corrected herself
yesterday by saying, "I should have said, I personally was not aware
rather than we." I think that's a very important piece that not many
people have picked up on and who else is left after she herself
removes herself from this statement? Who is she referring to when she
says we? Now it's that "I am not" and "I was not aware" of this
specific information. And so, that was not answered. And there was no
question basically following up on that, and then another thing that
she referred about breaking down the walls between counterterrorism,
counterintelligence and criminal investigations and she's not
mentioning the walls that the administration -- these people
themselves create. And what has been glossed over so far under the
name of diplomatic relations. And how many investigations were not
pursued, despite the warnings, just due to the diplomatic relations
that they are referring to. That leaves me very skeptical and I don't
know who is going to answer these questions.

AMY GOODMAN: Coleen Rowley, could you understand that planes could be
used at that point? Zacarias Moussaoui is in custody. He is learning
how it use a plane. You have serious questions about him, but you
can't even look at his hard drive.

COLEEN ROWLEY: Of course these were agents in my office doing the
investigations, not me personally. But one of our agents actually
spoke with somebody at Headquarters and suggested that this would be a
type of a person who could fly a plane into the World Trade Center. At
that time it was met with the remark, something like, "that ain't
going to happen." Which again just displays the lack of understanding
on the part of the people at Headquarters.

AMY GOODMAN: The remark by who? 

COLEEN ROWLEY: By an F.B.I. supervisor. 

AMY GOODMAN: In your office? 

COLEEN ROWLEY: No. At Headquarters. 

AMY GOODMAN: In Washington? 

COLEEN ROWLEY: Yes. 

AMY GOODMAN: What higher-up? What supervisor? 

COLEEN ROWLEY: Well, I'm not going to name names, but you know, these
were mid-level management people that when you make a request from a
field office, you have to have their okay and approval to even take it
a step further. And these people, I don't think they were fully aware
of the urgency and the threat that summer.

AMY GOODMAN: When did this happen? 

COLEEN ROWLEY: This happened in August -- the first request was made
around August 22nd.

JUAN GONZALEZ: Mel Goodman, to get back you to, the former C.I.A. and
State Department analyst, as you listened to the testimony yesterday,
of course, Security Advisor, National Security Advisor, Rice several
times referred to the August 6 Presidential Briefing as basically a
historical document, but what you know of the information that was in
there, what we have been able to glean from months of discussion
around it, without the actual paper being released yet, what is your
sense of whether that was a historial document or not?

MEL GOODMAN: Well, it was clearly a review document, but it had
current emphasis and current interest. The title of the piece, as you
said earlier, was "bin Laden determined to strike inside the United
States". This in itself should have attracted a good deal of
attention. And then it went into F.B.I. reporting which was very
sensitive at the time. Noting that there were increased indicators of
hijackings that could take place in the United States, again inside
the United States. And that there were increased indicators of
infiltration from Canada, of al Qaeda terrorists, with explosives.
Now, the last time I looked, Canada was on the United States' border.
So, I don't know how Condi Rice cannot see the sensitivity of such
reporting. And let me add one thing about the job of the National
Security Advisor. The National Security Advisor was created to do two
things above all else: one, to make sure that all relevant information
and options got in front of the President, which she clearly didn't do
with regard to al Qaeda cells operating in the United States. And two,
to make sure that if the President wants something done, that it's
indeed carried out. That's the vetting job that she has. She said
several times during the testimony that the assumption was, there was
an F.B.I. director and he carried out the jobs given to the F.B.I., so
on and so forth. But we know now that there was a lot that wasn't done
at the F.B.I. We know that the Transportation Secretary Mineta did not
even know about the increased urgency. We know that the FAA didn't get
reporting, and there was no oversight responsibility by the National
Security Advisor. So, on that level, she wasn't doing her job.

AMY GOODMAN: Coleen Rowley, what was the reaction in your office on
the morning of September 11 when the planes hit the World Trade
Centers and then when the plane hit the Pentagon?

COLEEN ROWLEY: Unfortunately, within really probably just seconds or
minutes of seeing the news, we realized that this connected with the
matter in Minneapolis and began then to seek the criminal way of
getting a search warrant.

AMY GOODMAN: Was there an understanding that these -- this was a
terrorist attack?

COLEEN ROWLEY: Yes. Very quickly from the first footage, I think there
was a quick understanding this was not only a terrorist attack, but
probably -- al Qaeda was responsible for it. Can I add something, just
about the nature of prevention of terrorism. I think there's a
misunderstanding that you have to have a "silver bullet" to prevent
things like this, and just as a series of mistakes can lead to a
tragedy, and it's not just one thing, it can be a multitude of things,
it's also a multitude of things that can lead to prevention, and in
many cases a tragedy might be diminished simply because of luck, a
little bit of luck along with other things. If we're to have this
attitude that we have to have a "silver bullet" to prevent things, we
will really be in sorry shape in the future.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to just add, Coleen Rowley was named "Time" Person
of the Year in 2002 for speaking out as a whistleblower in the F.B.I.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/04/09/1524223

April 9th, 2004
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.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

JUAN GONZALEZ: I'd like to get back to Monica Gabrielle right here in
the studio with us. Your reaction -- I see you nodding your head
several times, especially when Mel Goodman and Coleen Rowley were
speaking. Your assessment from the perspective of some of the families
of how this investigation is unfolding, and whether the Commission is
doing the job it should be doing, and in terms of getting to the
bottom of these matters?

MONICA GABRIELLE: First of all, I think that the Commission is -- it's
been stonewalled and footdragging for most of the time. We are now
coming into, you know the final stretch, so it speak, and with all of
the information that's suddenly been brought forth, the whistleblowers
that are coming forth, I fear that there is not going to be enough
time to follow the investigation of -- you know, the information
they're getting now.

AMY GOODMAN: This is a report that's called an Independent Commission.

MONICA GABRIELLE: Yes. 

AMY GOODMAN: What's your reaction to the news that the White House
plans to vet the 9-11 Commission Report, possibly delaying the release
until maybe even after the election?

MONICA GABRIELLE: Yeah. We have heard of that, and we figured that it
would probably have to go through a vetting process because of the
sensitive material. If you recall, the Family Steering Committee
wanted to take this Commission and its work out of the election cycle.
We proposed a January final date. I think that would have -- you know,
eliminated this problem. What we want is a transparent, full report of
the failures, and because of the limitations set by the White House,
because of their refusal to cooperate and stonewall, what we have now
is a Commission that's under crunch time. And I fear that perhaps we
won't get all of the answers through this Commission, and quite
honestly, the fact that Condi Rice as National Security Advisor
continues maintain they didn't know or couldn't have known is
unconscionable. There were warnings out there, outside of a specific
date, time and place, there was plenty of material out there that if
they had just paid attention, or if she had done her job, and put
people on alert in August, the FAA would have been notified. The Port
Authority would have been notified. The city of New York would have
been notified. New York City was a clear target after '93. The people
in Tower Two -- my husband, should have had the opportunity to decide
whether it was time to run or whether there was not a reason to get
out of those buildings. And instead, they heard -- you know, claims
that everything was fine. Everything was safe and they took their time
getting out. I think it's unconscionable. I think we need to revisit
probably the job description of the National Security Advisor and take
a look at what she did or didn't do in those months prior to September
11th, in filtering information that was critical. When you have a
P.D.B. that is titled, "bin Laden determined to strike inside the
U.S.", and you have chatter that says the big thing is coming, you are
going to get hit -- you know there are sleeper cells, that you don't
take that very seriously and protect the cities -- the big cities like
New York and Washington and L.A., I just find it just unconscionable.

AMY GOODMAN: August 6, 2001, when Bush received that report, once
again on that month-long vacation at Crawford, Texas. Do you think
this could have been averted?

MONICA GABRIELLE: I -- from everything that's coming out, I feel that
we can never be 100% sure, but I firmly believe that the destruction
and death could have been minimized.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to thank you all very much for being with us.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/04/09/1524226