Condeleeza Rice
Condeleeza Rice
FACT CHECK: Condi Rices 60 Minutes Interview, 3/28/04
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice appeared on CBSs 60 Minutes in an effort to quell growing questions surrounding the Administrations inconsistent claims about its pre-9/11 actions. Not only did Rice refuse to take Richard Clarkes lead and admit responsibility for her role in the worst national security failure in American history, but she continued to make unsubstantiated and contradictory assertions:
RICE CLAIM: “The administration took seriously the threat” of terrorism before 9/11.
FACTS: President Bush himself acknowledges that, despite repeated warnings of an imminent Al Qaeda attack, before 9/11 “I didnt feel the sense of urgency” about terrorism. Similarly, Newsweek reports that Bushs attitude was reflected throughout an Administration that was trying to “de-emphasize terrorism” as an overall priority. As proof, just two of the hundred national security meetings the Administration held during this period addressed the terrorist threat, and the White House refused to hold even one meeting of its highly-touted counterterrorism task force. Meanwhile, the Administration was actively trying to cut funding for counterterrorism, and “vetoed a request to divert $800 million from missile defense into counterterrorism” despite a serious increase in terrorist chatter in the summer of 2001.
Source: “Bush At War” by Bob Woodward
Source: Newsweek & vetoed request –
Source: Refusal to hold task force meeting –
Source: Only two meetings out of 100 –
RICE CLAIM: “I dont know what a sense of urgency any greater than the one we had would have caused us to do anything differently. I dont know howwe could have done more. I would like very much to know what more could have been done?”
FACTS: There are many more things that could have been done: first and foremost, the Administration could have desisted from de-emphasizing and cutting funding for counterterrorism in the months before 9/11. It could have held