(Bill) Clinton did not leave plans to fight al Qaeda: Rice

[sabra]

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-09-26T061249Z_01_N26315500_RTRUKOC_0_US-SECURITY-CLINTON-RICE.xml

Clinton did not leave plans to fight al Qaeda: Rice

<snip>

Clinton said he had "battle plans" drawn to go into Afghanistan, overthrow the Taliban and launch a full-scale search for bin Laden.

But Rice, who was national security advisor at the time of the September 11 attacks, strongly disagreed with Clinton's version of events during an interview on Monday with the New York Post.

"We were not left a comprehensive strategy to fight al Qaeda," Rice said in a transcript of her comments released by the State Department.

"For instance, big pieces were missing, like an approach to Pakistan that might work, because without Pakistan you weren't going to get Afghanistan," Rice said.

Asked whether she thought Clinton was a liar, Rice replied: "No, I'm just saying that, look, there was a lot of passion in that interview."

[Judi Lynn]

1. So Bush sends someone out to lie for him. Again. n/t

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

22. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Tellurian]

32. Prez Clinton should take her on through press releases

Carville and Begala are coming on NOW on nbc..(7:03am)
Let them carry the water..and drown the bast****!

Don't let them drag you in to the fray..I'm afraid it
will end badly..Let others do the gunslinging..Bout time
for them getting their feet wet anyway!

It has begun!

[wholetruth00]

37. Clinton may not have left a "road map" for fighting Osama but I am sure

his administration left a plan and a HUGE warning about Osama which the Bush administration and the Republican Congress politely ignored. And this is what the Democrats should be pointing out. There wan not only the Clinton administration plan but there was the Hart-Rudman report which was also sidelined by the Bush administration. The record clearly shows this and any Democrat appearing on national TV debating this issue ought to go with documents in hand to prove their case.

[Tellurian]

42. Exactly, and the response to Condi should be..

Something like..."What do you mean pieces of the puzzle were missing?"

"You were left a "road map" if you needed help reading it, why didn't you ask for it!"

With these people, you don't explain, you don't let up.

You gotta keep the onus on them...unrelenting..never let them up for air, not for a nanosecond!

[wholetruth00]

136. You are very spot-on. The Democrats seem to stop pushing back at critical

junctures. Even if they are not speaking to their opponents directly they can make these points to the pundits who are always trying to spin for the administration.

[Jawja]

84. Last night on

Lou Dobbs, he quoted Richard Clarke on Condi Rice regarding her complete dismissal of terrorism as top priority. That pretty much debunks any claim from Rice that she wasn't left a plan.

[LiberalFighter]

87. Bush held up plan to hit Bin Laden

Bush held up plan to hit Bin Laden
The Bush administration sat on a Clinton-era plan to attack al-Qaida in Afghanistan for eight months because of political hostility to the outgoing president and competing priorities, it was reported yesterday.

The plan, under which special forces troops would have been sent after Osama bin Laden, was drawn up in the last days of the Clinton administration but a decision was left to the incoming Bush team.

/snip/

According to today's Time magazine, Mr Clinton's national security adviser, Sandy Berger and Mr Clarke outlined the threat in briefings they provided for Condoleezza Rice, George Bush's national security adviser, in January 2001, a few weeks before she and her team took up their posts.

At the key briefing, Mr Clarke presented proposals to "roll back" al-Qaida which closely resemble the measures taken after September 11. Its financial network would be broken up and its assets frozen. Vulnerable countries like Uzbekistan, Yemen and the Philippines would be given aid to help them stamp out terrorist cells.

[Tellurian]

102. I remember that, now that you mention it..

She had tv Air time making the announcement!

If only we had the wherewithal to find the clip!

CRAMIT!

[rustydog]

122. It's Clinton's fautl because he did not get Osama, THEN it is

Clintons fault because he did not tell Condi and Georgie boy how to get Osama....
These gutless, incompetent fucks need to rot in prison.
Like Olberman said, they fit the very description of COWARD.

[truthisfreedom]

2. without the WILL to capture Bin Laden, one would CONTINUOUSLY overlook

reports with his NAME in the title. that's what she means.

[maddezmom]

4. Did SHE or THEY do ANYTHING to FIX the BIG PIECES??? NO

they disregarded everything from Clinton...fired Clarke, held secret energy meeting, continued to draft plans for War with Iraq and went on vacations and read "My Pet Goat"

[Jawja]

85. And either planned the whole

attack or looked the other way while it happened, IMHO.

[gr8dane_daddy]

5. Like she has any credibility...

she's been caught in lies before....

shoe buying bitch

[ninkasi]

6. Bush and his neocons

worked hard to remove every trace of Bill Clinton and his policies. He signed executive orders right and left to undo as much as he could of President Clinton's presidency. There was no way he would have followed any plan that had Clinton's imprint on it. Rice lies, just like Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld all lie.

[wholetruth00]

39. This is very true including the ME peace plan and issue. They purposely

ignored it saying that the Bush administration was not going to engage in "nation building." The record is clear and we should beging digging it up if it has not been wiped from the Internet.

[Captain Hilts]

7. Okay, they were at the Pentagon. nt

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[JoFerret]

34. Could we please dispense with the

unnecessary gender specific name calling and the comments on physical characteristics. get mad, get really mad but try to avoid the petty personal name calling and misogyny.

[w13rd0]

10. Sorry...

...we already know this is bullshit, because they admitted two years ago that they had a "battle plan" on Bush's desk the day before the attacks, and they just went with that plan. More lies from the professional liars and criminals. What a bunch of phoney bullshit...

[grasswire]

11. so she admits Clinton left a plan...

....it just wasn't COMPREHENSIVE enough for them. You know what sticklers they are for complete and comprehensive plans!! Like the plans for Iraq!! Plans for the Bush WH can't have BIG HOLES!!

</sarcasm>

[maddezmom]

13. just like the PDA from August 6th

[driver8]

15. That is a "historical document." Didn't you listen to Condi??

It didn't mean anything. It was perfectly fine for jr. to take his vacation.

[maddezmom]

30. oh yeah, I fogot about that one

:D

[CAcyclist]

118. Hmm, I Think That Needs To Be a T-Shirt

Does that have a url or did you just scan it in directly? I would love to be able to print that on a t-shirt so people could actually read the whole thing.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

16. Right On!!!

"You know what sticklers they are for complete and comprehensive plans!! Like the plans for Iraq!!"

Can you picture the session when they hovered over the plans and decided doing nothing was the best option?

[tanyev]

35. It must have been a fly-swatting plan. And you know how they hate

to swat flies. Better to wait until the problem gets really bad and then soak the area with DDT, killing the flies and everything else in the area.

[Dogmudgeon]

12. It's possible Condi got nothing

This sounds exactly the way Team Bush operates. They not only mess with the American people, they mess with their own.

Nobody's really sure who's pulling whose chain in the Bush mis-Administration. And nobody has told me, that's for sure.

My point isn't that we ought to let Condi off the hook; no, not at all. My point is that Team Bush has been operating under an omertà-like code of silence and secrecy since Day One. We don't know who has been doing what. And because of that, it makes it tough to separate the bald-faced lies from genuine head-up-the-ass lack of information.

A lot of Clinton's work was literally trashed the first week the Bushistas hit town. That's a dangerous thing to do. Clinton, for example, did not just trash everything that Poppy left behind, nor should the Democrat who takes office in January of 2008 trash everything that Li'l Boots leaves. Even one's political adversaries may have useful insights; and political continuity ought to be kept, if for no other reason than we paid for the responsible handling of our history.

And it looks like Bush's disdain for the work of the Clinton Administration undermined our vigilance against OBL and al-Qaeda, an act of feckless negligence that cost 3000 people their lives one morning five years ago.

Bush has shown himself to be a responsibility-evading "just git-'er-done, and spare me the indictable details" species of weasel who delegates the heavy lifting and, eventually, the prison time. But it's not like Clinton to NOT leave detailed plans, nor is it like Condi to pull lies out of her ass. Condi, a policy wonk like Bill, is more of a spinner. What we would call puke, Condi would call ambergris humaine.

Dr. Rice will certainly have a lot to answer for. But, as she faces the interminable investigations that will last until she is old and gray, she will also learn to her regret, that as she deceived America, she too was deceived. Daily. Cynically.

Criminally.

Lie down with dogs, Condi, and you get up with fleas. And it may be worth remembering that it was fleas that carried the bubonic plague.

--p!

[maddezmom]

19. Richard Clarke briefed Condi 1/25/01

Bush Administration's First Memo
on al-Qaeda Declassified

January 25, 2001 Richard Clarke Memo:
"We urgently need . . . a Principals level
review on the al Qida network."

Document Central to Clarke-Rice Dispute on Bush Terrorism Policy Pre-9/11

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 147

Edited by Barbara Elias

February 10, 2005





Washington, D.C., February 10, 2005 - The National Security Archive today posted the widely-debated, but previously unavailable, January 25, 2001, memo from counterterrorism coordinator Richard Clarke to national security advisor Condoleezza Rice - the first terrorism strategy paper of the Bush administration. The document was central to debates in the 9/11 hearings over the Bush administration's policies and actions on terrorism before September 11, 2001. Clarke's memo requests an immediate meeting of the National Security Council's Principals Committee to discuss broad strategies for combating al-Qaeda by giving counterterrorism aid to the Northern Alliance and Uzbekistan, expanding the counterterrorism budget and responding to the U.S.S. Cole attack. Despite Clarke's request, there was no Principals Committee meeting on al-Qaeda until September 4, 2001.

The January 25, 2001, memo, recently released to the National Security Archive by the National Security Council, bears a declassification stamp of April 7, 2004, one day prior to Rice's testimony before the 9/11 Commission on April 8, 2004. Responding to claims that she ignored the al-Qaeda threat before September 11, Rice stated in a March 22, 2004 Washington Post op-ed, "No al Qaeda plan was turned over to the new administration."

Two days after Rice's March 22 op-ed, Clarke told the 9/11 Commission, "there's a lot of debate about whether it's a plan or a strategy or a series of options -- but all of the things we recommended back in January were those things on the table in September. They were done. They were done after September 11th. They were all done. I didn't really understand why they couldn't have been done in February."

Also attached to the original Clarke memo are two Clinton-era documents relating to al-Qaeda. The first, "Tab A December 2000 Paper: Strategy for Eliminating the Threat from the Jihadist Networks of al-Qida: Status and Prospects," was released to the National Security Archive along with the Clarke memo. "Tab B, September 1998 Paper: Pol-Mil Plan for al-Qida," also known as the Delenda Plan, was attached to the original memo, but was not released to the Archive and remains under request with the National Security Council.

Below are additional references to the January 25, 2001, memo from congressional debates and the 9/11 Commission testimonies of Richard Clarke and Condoleezza Rice.


MORE:

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/

[Dogmudgeon]

24. Well, not as much as she should have

Thanks for bringing that document to my attention. It was one that I missed reading, though I think I recall it from the news a while ago.

But it's not my fault, honest. My predecessor failed to leave me the complete details.

:)

Condi's behavior, whether spin-meistering or outright lying, will eventually be exposed, no matter what my own (often erroneous) take on it may be. And it will be exposed, if only to deflect blame from her boss, whose life has been lived to evade all possible accountability.

Strictly speaking, I'm sure that Condi didn't get the full in-basket of Clinton intelligence. It would have meant Bush having to assume responsibility for the USA's role in world affairs and a serious terrorist threat. Before 9-11, his idea of how to deal with an international crisis was to fret over whether temporarily-detained spy plane pilots had enough bibles. ("To hell with the bibles, Mr. President -- can you get us a couple of cartons of Marlboro red pack? These Chinese smokes taste like ass!") A whole lot of hard-won Clinton-era intelligence went straight into the memory hole. The Clarke memo appears to establish at least one big chunk of that.

The Bush bunch has played a lot of hide-and-seek games with its own, and it's becoming very visible. I'm sure much of it was done to establish "plausible deniability". What at one time in history might have been the occasional ad hoc "gentleman's agreement" has been elevated to White House S.O.P. As far as I can tell, no matter who is eventually found responsible for what, this will be the first time in history that a President has implemented a policy of deliberate ignorance as a cornerstone of its first principles.

And, as I learned in my own callow youth from watching Deputy Dawg -- Ignorance of the Law is No Excuse.

--p!

[savemefromdumbya]

105. not only did she know about it

they used Al Q to do their errands re: 9/11

[EST]

23. Dick Clark said he had delivered the plans and all the

particulars (strategy and tactics)to her and she just basically blew him off.

This is her normal fatuous, fat headed attempt to misdirect, pretending that just because a piece of information does not have every last detail of instruction for that unimaginative useless bunch to follow, the whole thing is without merit. It's all a lie, cover for the fact that those pompous asses wanted simply to play at being world beaters.

She is the most dumbass smart person that any normal human is likely to meet. Monstrous incompetence is their forte.

[LynneSin]

92. The 2008 democrat president won't have anything to Trash

I'm guessing the paper shredders are going to be awfully busy after Nov 2008 election

[brentspeak]

99. Condi Rice didn't even know who Osama and al Qaeda were

when Richard Clarke first brought up their names to her. And she was the National Security Advisor, for Pete's sake! No surprise then, that no effort was put in by her and the Bush administration to combat terrorism before 9/11.

[driver8]

14. Oh, well that settles it. If Condi says it, it must be true.

Boy...did she make Clinton look like a big liar!!

[Kagemusha]

17. She's not refuting Clinton at all!

She's saying that battle plans were not a comprehensive strategy handing everything to the Bush administration on a silver platter, so they ignored everything!

[EFerrari]

18. I guess if my team were going down in flames

and I was going to be forever associated with the most incompetent American administration in history, I'd be spinning, too.

[Journeyman]

20. Oh! If only she'd known what seat the terrorists would sit in. . .

she could have prevented 9-11!

[flordehinojos]

27. even if they had been told directly by the terrarizts "we are on our way",

they would have done nothing to stop them ... they needed the staging and happening of 9/11 so that they could dismantle our democracy and get the wheels rolling on their PNAC.

they--the bushes and his beloved liar--are all part of the 9/11 Reichstag.

[truthisfreedom]

21. if only her self-named oil tanker could have chased down the planes

on 9-11.

[Pastiche423]

25. The Hart-Rudman report was presented to them

which dealt, in great part, w/terroism.

Din't they read it?

[Goat or Panic]

26. From Time Magazine

"Other senior officials from both the Clinton and Bush administrations, however, say that Clarke had a set of proposals to "roll back" al-Qaeda. In fact, the heading on Slide 14 of the Powerpoint presentation reads, "Response to al Qaeda: Roll back." Clarke's proposals called for the "breakup" of al-Qaeda cells and the arrest of their personnel. The financial support for its terrorist activities would be systematically attacked, its assets frozen, its funding from fake charities stopped. Nations where al-Qaeda was causing trouble—Uzbekistan, the Philippines, Yemen—would be given aid to fight the terrorists. Most important, Clarke wanted to see a dramatic increase in covert action in Afghanistan to "eliminate the sanctuary" where al-Qaeda had its terrorist training camps and bin Laden was being protected by the radical Islamic Taliban regime. "


http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101020812/story.html

The "Plan" didn't involve invading. So it was therefore no good.

[JPZenger]

46. Hundreds of special forces would have been involved

The reports I read said that Clarke's plan to get Al Quaida would have involved hundreds of special forces troops attacking the camps in helicopters. They would have had to refuel at night, which what killed large numbers of special forces when the US tried the same thing in Iran in 1979. Clinton was hesitate to start a major military move right before a change in the administration, so he passed the plan off to Bush's people. Also, according to magazine reports, Clinton was hesitant about the expected number of deaths among the special forces. Vietnam and Somalia were very much in his mind.

[okoboji]

28. "We were not left a comprehensive strategy..........

translation:

"We were not left with the damn play book for the football game. Don't you people understand, that my husband was and still is a cheerleader? He needed the play book and we wern't given one!! It's not our fault."

[SeattleGirl]

29. F you, Kindasleazy! F you, Dubya! F you, Rummy, F you Rove!

There are NO WORDS to express the absolute disgust and contempt and HATRED I feel for you.

Go fuck yourselves, and then GO TO HELL, ASS-FUCKING-HOLES. :nuke: :nuke: :nuke:

[PurityOfEssence]

31. Sandy Berger literally jumped up and down about it

but nobody listened. It was much more important to gut Clinton's restrictions on offshore holdings, deny funds to any AIDS relief group that didn't toe the line on condoms and abstinence, and give huge tax breaks to the freeloading rich.

The Israel/Palestine issue was left to fester, and the prime focus of the fiscal conservatives remained the obsession: consolidate power and crush all opposition.

This is all extremely ugly and should be fought with every breath. The Clinton Administration was seriously focused on Bin Laden and the Republicans accused him of using this to distract attention from the impeachment witch hunt.

[xchrom]

33. then what do you call all that stuff that clinton left?

something that would of worked, huh?

and that's why you guys didn't want to do it -- you'd have to give clinton credit.

[MiniMe]

36. Thats not what Richard Clark said

If fact, he said that he had the plan, and kept trying to meet with Rice and Bush, but they wouldn't meet with him. Like the big dawg said, read Richard Clark's book.

[mucifer]

38. problem is many aren't gonna believe anything but what rice said.

I bet the press won't challenge her. Why isn't the press reporting on page one across the nation what the generals said in the hearing yesterday?

We are soooo Fucked!

Everyone please go out and work for a dem and please realize that everyday they do fight what the neocons are doing but the press refuses to cover it.

[leesa]

40. Typical Condi...just what she said about the brief that said Al Qaeda

was determined to attack the Ubited States..."Well, they didn't give us a date and a time and a location..." Is she always this lazy?

She proved his point quite well. They did nothing.

[underpants]

41. No flight numbers or seat numbers either

I mean COME ON! what's a girl to do?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2223674&mesg_id=2223674

[mucifer]

43. very funny quote from Al Franken's last book regarding this:

http://www.avatara.com/operationignore0.html
Al Franken's book: Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them

Chapter Operation Ignore

"Bill Clinton's far-reaching plan to eliminate al Qaeda root and branch was completed only a few weeks before the inauguration of George W. Bush. If it had been implemented then, a former senior Clinton aide told Time, we would be handing a war when they took office." Instead, Clinton and company decided to turn over the plan to the Bush administration to carry out. Clinton trusted Bush to protect America. This proved, nine months later, to be a disastrous mistake - perhaps the biggest one Clinton ever made.

Clinton's National Security Advisor Sandy Berger remembered how little help the previous Bush administration had provided to his team. Believing that the nation's security should transcend political bitterness, Berger arranged ten briefings for his successor, Condoleezza Rice, and her deputy, Stephen Hadley. Berger made a special point of attending the briefing on terrorism. He told Dr. Rice, “I believe that the Bush administration will spend more time on terrorism in general, and on al Qaeda specifically, than any other subject.''

Which brings me to a lie. When Time asked about the conversation, Rice declined to comment, but through a spokeswoman said she recalled no briefing at which Berger was present" Perhaps so, Dr. Rice. But might I direct our mutual friends, my readers, to a certain December 30, 2001, New York Times article? Perhaps you know the one, Condi? Shall I quote it? "As he prepared to leave office last January, Mr. Berger met with his successor, Condoleezza Rice, and gave her a warning. According to both of them, he said that terrorism-and particularly Mr. bin Laden's brand of it-would consume far more of her time than she had ever imagined.'' (Italics mine.)

When I read this, my instinct was to shout for joy and dance around the room, naked, celebrating the finding of a lie. And I did. "Badda Bing!" I cried, as I ran around the house, my genitals flopping wildly, embarrassing my wife and her bridge group.

After the dressing down from my wife, who really read me the riot act, it occurred to me that all I had really found was a contradiction between Time and the Times. Maybe The New York Times had it wrong. Maybe Dr. Rice, considered a paragon of integrity, had told Time magazine the truth-that her predecessor had never warned her about the impending threat from al Qaeda and its evil mastermind. It was time for the Franken investigative juggernaut to assert itself. I called Dr. Rice's office, prepared to pierce the infamous White House veil of secrecy with a lance of white-hot journalistic enterprise. I left a message, and they called me right back with the answer. A White House official told me that Dr. Rice had met with Berger at a briefing, and he had told her about the seriousness of the al Qaeda threat. Condi lied to Times! Badda Bing!..."

[deadparrot]

44. Come now, folks...Condi, lie? Where would you ever get an idea like that?

:eyes:

[DoYouEverWonder]

45. "For instance, big pieces were missing"

Like a WH with a single fuctioning brain cell.

[KansDem]

47. This is bullshit. It haas been known for years Clinton briefed Bush

...on Osama and al Qaeda. This infuriates me. F*ck you, Condi! You f*cking liar!

You and your boy f*cked up. Just admit it and face the consequences!

Sorry for the gutter language but this shit just infuriates me...

[EnviroBat]

93. It infuriates me too.

Wasn't it Clinton that was trying to establish bases in PAKISTAN she we could gain access to Afghanistan? Lying bitch!

[Autonomy]

48. Rice: We were at least as aggressive as Clinton

Rice disputes Clinton on terror claims

NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice challenged former President Clinton's claim that he did more than many of his conservative critics to pursue al Qaeda, saying in an interview published Tuesday that the Bush administration aggressively pursued the group even before the 9/11 attacks.

"What we did in the eight months was at least as aggressive as what the Clinton administration did in the preceding years," Rice said during a meeting with editors and reporters at the New York Post.

<snip>

"We were not left a comprehensive strategy to fight al Qaeda," she told the newspaper, which is owned by News Corp., the same company that owns Fox News Channel.

In the interview, Clinton accused host Chris Wallace of a "conservative hit job" and asked: "I want to know how many people in the Bush administration you asked, 'Why didn't you do anything about the Cole?' I want to know how many people you asked, 'Why did you fire Dick Clarke?' "

Rice portrayed the departure of former White House anti-terrorism chief Richard A. Clarke differently, saying he "left when he did not become deputy director of homeland security."



more: http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/09/26/rice.clinton.ap/index.html

[pinerow]

49. He also left when he realised how inept

the chimp administration behaved...:wtf:

[Tellurian]

64. "AT LEAST?" LIKE WHAT?

examples please...

Tell us the plan Condi!

Enquiring minds and all that.

[underpants]

50. Way to keep that bar as low as possible Condi

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2223674&mesg_id=2223674

[Autonomy]

57. great post, underpants

:evilgrin: :headbang:

[leesa]

51. Condi the Liar

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

52. LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIAR! n/t

[niceypoo]

53. Note she couldn't actually name anything they did...

...she is as soulless as they come...

[Demeter]

69. Probably Because It Was All Illegal

I'm sure the Bushites were aggressive-what they weren't is: Constitutional, intelligent, honest, good neighbors to other countries, respectful of humanity and the environment and US citizens, compassionate to refugees, and understanding of Science and Nature.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

54. Yes, on the defensive, on the ropes! B.C.hit a nerve! n/t

MKJ

[CoffeeCat]

55. BWHAHAHAHA!!!!

The Big Dog did it!!!

The neocon clowns are on the defensive now!!!

They're defending themselves!!!

For ONCE---the Democrats come out swinging and the Republicans are forced to
defend themselves--and look like weak, little assholes.

Clinton won. The neocons are worried about the fallout from this, and they're
engaging in damage control.

The next step-----is that we must come back at them JUST AS HARD. I'm sitting here
in the middle of America and even I know that what Condi said is BUNK. What DID they
do to get bin Laden??????? She didn't mention anything. No meeting. No plan. NOTHING.
There was nothing, because they did nothing.

Come on Democrats....let's continue having spines!!! Bill Clinton can't toe the line
for you all of the time.

SPEAK UP!!!! DON'T BACK DOWN!!!!

[indepat]

60. If the big dog relentlessly exposes the big lies, many panties will be

in wads.

[JuniperLea]

56. But... but... but...

They said Clinton did nothing! That he let OBL go free and that he is the cause of 9/11!

So, the BushCo was at least as aggressive as that?

Their spin makes me dizzy!

They spin me right 'round, baby, right 'round, like a record baby right 'round, 'round 'round...

Where's my boa? This dance needs some feathers!!


<>

[TlalocW]

58. That's why Cheney's anti-terrorism council

Didn't meet until after 9/11?

Is that why Condi was scheduled to give a speech on 9/11 about getting missile-defense working being the most important thing to focus on militarily (not terrorism)?

Is that why the DOJ started giving less time, attention, and money to their anti-terrorism efforts so Ashcroft could go after prostitutes and order blankets to cover up naked statues at the DOJ?

Bitch, please.

TlalocW

[wholetruth00]

59. They may as active NOW but the issue was what they did in 2001.

Hammer it away at them. They can't keep getting away with smooth talking lies and half-truths.

[TheCowsCameHome]

61. And attacking Iraq really helped, didn't it Condi?

[Joe Bacon]

62. Oh, Kindasleazy, go back to your Led Zepplin workout

Tell KKKatie KKKouric I said she blows dead elephant dicks.

[0007]

63. Sure would love to see a three way debate with Richard A. Clarke

President Clinton & Ms Rice.....

.......and Hugo stole my mouth wash!

[DoYouEverWonder]

65. Wow, whenever I think she can't go any lower

she continues to astound me.

How can anyone be this delusional? The scary part is they all are.

[pinto]

66. Funny, I don't see any "discussion" Ms. Rice. I see Pres. Clinton going on

TV for a very public interview and you talking to a closed "meeting" of Post editors. That's not a discussion, that's planting your spin at the top echelon of a friendly paper you know will run it without question.

[gratuitous]

67. I-N-I-T-I-A-T-I-V-E

"We were not left a comprehensive strategy," whines Dr. Rice. Gee, you only had eight months to develop one, what were you all doing? I know that Mr. Bush was keeping up with his relentless vacation schedule. Mr. Ashcroft refused to fly commercially beginning in July 2001. Mr. Cheney was preoccupied with refashioning the energy industry to siphon the U.S. Treasury directly into his own pocket. We lost a spy plane to China and had to ask our good friends the Russians to get it back for us in teeny, tiny pieces. An American submarine re-surfaced too quickly and killed a boatload of Japanese fishermen, and there is some question about just who might have been at the controls of the sub when that happened.

Yeah, with all that going on, it's hard to see how anyone had any time to run the country, let alone be bothered with reading a National Intelligence Estimate dated August 6, 2001.

[CraigHinTenn]

68. bullshit

[fladonkey]

70. Did anyone...

really think she was going to say otherwise.

[leftofthedial]

71. lying shitstain

she did NOTHING.

by not "comprehensive," the lying idiot means that it didn't include an invasion of Iraq and billions of dollars of profit for Halliburton.

Liar. Bald-faced, stink-eyed liar.

[Say_What]

72. WTF??? CondiSLEEZA LIES AGAIN...

Does this douche bag think we don't have a memory?


From 60 Minutes, 2004

..."There's a lot of blame to go around, and I probably deserve some blame, too. But on January 24th, 2001, I wrote a memo to Condoleezza Rice asking for, urgently -- underlined urgently -- a Cabinet-level meeting to deal with the impending al Qaeda attack. And that urgent memo-- wasn't acted on.

"I blame the entire Bush leadership for continuing to work on Cold War issues when they back in power in 2001. It was as though they were preserved in amber from when they left office eight years earlier. They came back. They wanted to work on the same issues right away: Iraq, Star Wars. Not new issues, the new threats that had developed over the preceding eight years."

Clarke finally got his meeting about al Qaeda in April, three months after his urgent request. But it wasn't with the president or cabinet. It was with the second-in-command in each relevant department.

For the Pentagon, it was Paul Wolfowitz.

Clarke relates, "I began saying, 'We have to deal with bin Laden; we have to deal with al Qaeda.' Paul Wolfowitz, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, said, 'No, no, no. We don't have to deal with al Qaeda. Why are we talking about that little guy? We have to talk about Iraqi terrorism against the United States.'

"And I said, 'Paul, there hasn't been any Iraqi terrorism against the United States in eight years!' And I turned to the deputy director of the CIA and said, 'Isn't that right?' And he said, 'Yeah, that's right. There is no Iraqi terrorism against the United States."

Clarke went on to add, "There's absolutely no evidence that Iraq was supporting al Qaeda, ever."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/03/19/60minutes/main607356.shtml

[hadrons]

73. Condi screws up GOP talking points

"at least as aggressive"

If the GOP says that Bush was aggressive going after terrorists, then so was Clinton

If the GOP says that Clinton was soft going after terrorists, then so was Bush

Condi screws up again

[LynnTheDem]

74. WOWZAH that's one huge lie! NOT ONE MEETING HELD

on al Qaeda for the entire 8 months prior to 911.

That's a FACT, rice.

You WERE TOO left a "comprehensive strategy to fight al Qaeda".

That's a FACT, rice.

And then the lie about Richard Clarke...wow.

Of course the rightwingnut freeping bushbots will swallow every bit of this bullshit...but no one else is that stupid, thankfully.

[KansDem]

75. Yeah? I am absolutely certain Clinton wouldn't have sat on his butt

...and done nothing when he heard "we were under attack," so your "we were at least as aggressive as Clinton" statement is bullshit.

Admit it; you and the rest of the Bushistas f*cked up big time...

[Algorem]

76. let's see her debate Clinton on this then

if she's not too busy under her "husband"'s desk

[bluedog]

77. Shes a LIAR.............9-11 testimony

Claim vs. Fact: Rice's Q&A Testimony Before the 9/11 Commission

April 8, 2004

Planes as Weapons

CLAIM: "I do not remember any reports to us, a kind of strategic warning, that planes might be used as weapons."

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."

CLAIM: "I was certainly not aware of at the time that I spoke" in 2002.

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."
Domestic Threat



**************************************************
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."

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.


more of her so calles truths @

http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=44918

[LynnTheDem]

78. The 911 Commission report says condi is LYING again,

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2224098

"As the Clinton administration drew to a close, Clarke and his staff developed a policy paper of their own, the first such comprehensive effort since the Delenda plan of 1998. The resulting paper, entitled "Strategy for Eliminating the Threat from the Jihadist Networks of al Qida: Status and Prospects" reviewed the threat and record to date, incorporated the CIA's new ideas from the Blue Sky memo, and posed several near-term policy options".

<snip>

page 200

Rice made an initial decision to hold over both Clarke and his entire counter terrorism staff... She decided also that Clarke should retain title of national counter terrorism coordinator, though he would no longer be a de facto member of the Principals Committee on the issues.

page 201

"Within the first few days after Bush's inauguration, Clarke approached Rice in an effort to get her- and the new President- to give terrorism very high priority and to act on the agenda that he had pushed during during the last few months of the previous administration. After Rice requested that all senior staff identify desirable major policy reviews or initiatives, Clarke submitted an elaborate memorandum on January 25, 2001. He attached his 1998 Dlenda Plan and the December 2000 strategy paper. "We urgently need... a Principals level review on the al Qida network", Clarke wrote."

[Bob3]

79. "we were not left a comprehensive strategy"

Ah...excuse me, since your husband was now president, wasn't that your damn job?

lying shit heels the lot of them.

And Condi, don't mess with the big dog - the only thing that will be left will be your designer shoes.

[OregonDem]

80. Yes, if going on month long vacations = fighting terrorism aggressively

then yes the Bush administation did something about terrorism before 9/11. Those al Queada types were hiding in the brush W was cutting down.

[moondust]

81. Condi, your little buddy demoted the terrorism czar.

And this is what Richard Clarke told the Guardian about your "hard work":

JB: What about the claim that the administration did work hard on the issue?

RC: Its not true. I asked - on January 24 in writing to Condi - urgently for a meeting on cabinet level - the principal's committee - to review the plan and I was told I can't have that. It had to go to the deputies. They had a principals meeting (on al Qaeda) on September 4. Contrast that with the principal's meeting on Iraq on February 1. So what was urgent for them was Iraq. Al-Qaida was not important to them.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1175790,00.html

Does that help refresh your memory, Condi?

[treestar]

82. She expected that? Suddenly they are dependent on a democrat

to provide plans for them? LOL.

[neuvocat]

97. Only to prop up their talking points.

The Bush admin was very pro-active in not having anything to do with the Clinton admin out of pure spite. This is just one consequence for having been so partisan.

[screenplaya]

83. Token Liar

Is she really qualified?

[Spazito]

86. Geez, I bet her head was moving back and forth rapidly as she

spewed these outrageous lies. You can always tell she is lying, which is MOST of the time, because her head does this moving thing and, in this case, it must have been moving at light speed.

[anotherdrew]

88. andbush's big idea with Pak was the old carpet of gold or bombs choice

big deal, that must have taken minutes to come up with that idea.

oh and what a great job they did in Afganistan too, love the way they let him escape. and what chaos they've left behind there for an understaffed nato operation to flounder in.

[bif]

89. Do these folks EVER tell the truth?

It's all lies and spin 24/7.

[area51]

90. "We were not left a comprehensive strategy to fight al Qaeda..."

CondoSLEAZA said:

"We were not left a comprehensive strategy to fight al Qaeda..."

Next question: why were you so fscking stupid that you couldn't think up your own? Oh, wait, this is from the "people" who couldn't be bothered to read the PDB that said "bin Forgotten determined to attack". :eyes:

[confludemocrat]

101. Clinton could parse, but she and the rest of her criminal gang are better

at it. A "comprehensive" strategy? He gave you A to Y but not Z? Dumb lying ass. Can't ya just see that sniveling, snarling look she gives when she lies. What human refuse.

[VegasWolf]

91. Clinton didn't use enough crayons in order for the Bush admin to be able

to read the plan. It's all Clinton's fault!

[LynneSin]

94. So this is their excuse for ignore the August 6th PDB memo

:eyes:

[Zenlitened]

95. Will she repeat that statement under oath?

[TheDonkey]

96. oh no she didn't

Clinton didn't say he gave those plans to Condi. Just that the FBI and CIA wouldn't certify that OBL was behind the Cole when he did want to invade Afghanistan.

[Doctor_J]

98. From the woman who ignored "Bin Laden Determined to Strike inside US"

I believe her! :sarcasm:

[demo dutch]

100. So, now we have a "we did, they did" mud slinging contest. Bring it on!

[TankLV]

103. What a lying BITCH! They certainly got THEIR spin ready to go!

Ain't gonna work this time - we can check the TRUTH for ourselves.

Nothin' works like the truth...

[BlueSpark]

104. Maybe he did leave plans...

Perhaps he left them at Al Gore's house.

[judaspriestess]

106. lying whore must have IGNORED that memo too.

what goes around comes around

[Yavin4]

107. Clinton Needed To Use Sock Puppets

in order to explain terrorism to Bush.

[tabasco]

108. Jesus H. Christ - she lies when it is easily shown to be a lie.

These people lie right through their &&^%$$&^**(^$% teeth !

Does Rice think nobody else knows wtf happened or what plans existed?

Amazing that 38% still support these criminals.

[saigon68]

113. She's a beauty

[SOS]

109. "Big pieces were missing,

so we decided to ignore the whole thing".

In 2001, Bush's Wall Street bosses were more interested in privatizing Social Security than in domestic security.
Bushco works for the Fortune 500, not We the People.

[gully]

110. Oh no pieces were missing?! OMG not pieces?!

:eyes:

I love the fact that they're playing defense on "terror" FINALLY!

[mvd]

120. It's great to see

We need to keep it up. Not be afraid of talking about terror/Iraq.

[gully]

124. It's marvelous that they are playing "defense!"

I hope we can continue through November with positive results.

[gully]

111. Read the 911 report section 6 starting on page 9 - HERE

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/911/pdf/sec6.pdf

See >>> "Pressing Pakistan" toward the bottom of the page tells the story:

SHE IS FULL OF SHIT! - They obviously count on the fact that their voters don't f-king read.

[bkcc]

116. Unfortunately, they're usually right about that.

Most people can't be bothered to read anything that doesn't involve Hollywood gossip or Harry Potter.
They get their "news" from 30-second sound bites on TV.

I just spoke to someone this past weekend who said she'd never heard of Osama bin Laden before 9/11. This is the voting public. Scary.

[gully]

125. Scary indeed.

sheesh.

[GeorgeGist]

112. Condi flunks again...

this time because, she claims, Clinton didn't do her homework.

[ronnykmarshall]

114. Lying sack of crap!

Blow it out your ass Condi.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

115. He did more planning and strategizing to combat Al-Qaeda in the years

preceding 9/11 than you and your entire team of morons are capable of doing even now Ms Rice. Remember how you and your husband spent the first eight months of his presidency pussyfooting around and trying to re-start the Cold War instead of concentrating on imminent national security threats? Clinton and his advisors warned you and warned you and warned you again about Al-Qaeda and Bin Laden and suggested numerous national security recommendations -some of which had been blocked by YOUR party in congress-all of which you ignored. You dropped the ball big time Condi

Condi's concerned because Clinton has come out with all guns blazing to defend his record. And she knows that the truth will prove her to have been an incompetent, inept, bumbling and arrogant buffoon who has consistently proved ineffectual and unable to do her job properly -although in fairness this seems to be a character requirement for employment in the current Administration

[CAcyclist]

117. An Approach to Pakistan?

What did she want, Clinton to spoon feed them? And what does that even mean - without Pakistan you weren't going to get Afghanistan? Considering that Pakistan is where OBL is thought to now be hiding, I find that statement to be particularly curious.

[mvd]

119. Um, Condi vs. Clinton, who do I trust?

CLINTON, of course. Clinton didn't lie about foreign relations. He was heartfelt in his beliefs, unlike propagandist Condi.

[fshrink]

121. When will it be remembered

that it is this administration's stupidity and greed, including the Exotic Dancer's, that directly caused 9/11 by botching the negotiations with the Taliban in 2000 and 2001, brushing aside with the usual arrogance reports from agencies all over the world, including the Taliban's own warnings of what was likely to happen. At some point, some neo-nazi lunatic (like Wolfowitz) probably thought that some terrorist attack could in fact justify invading Iraq and initiating the systematic destabilization of the ME, thus jeopardizing EU's long-term development and getting cheap oil and juicy contracts to US firms paid for by public dollars. This was in the news, a tiny little bit, back then. Now it's gone. What's left is spin. On both sides. So I guess it will not be remembered.

[screenplaya]

123. Link to the plan

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/2001_memo_to_Rice_contradicts_statements_0926.html

[Generator]

126. And God knows, you would have NEVER thought of handling it yourself

You, who (direct testimony from 9/11 commission) wasn't told she needed to "do anything about Al Queda cells in the US."

I (or almost anyone with active brain cells) could do a better job than this piece of lying shit.

Oh and Ben Veniste said yesterday on CNN (see GD) that Bush said "no one told him that Al Queda was behind the Cole bombing."

These people are a danger to the US and the world.

[bdamomma]

127. no what a freaking witch

it was Sandy Berger and a number of officials who tried to tell them about Al Queda they chose not to listen. What a bunch of repig cowards.

[Javaman]

128. Whooops! water carrier condi, I have never ever had an original

idea ever, rice seems to have dropped the bucket.

Couldn't happen to a better scumbag.

they just hate it when they get caught lying.

screwheads, all of them.

[gully]

129. So what is the Bush plan for Pakistan?

Will anyone dare to ask. Clintond did have a plan for pakistan, its in the 911 report. Section 6 - page 9.

[CBHagman]

130. The counterterrorism plan was a front-page story

I think it was Newsweek that ran a timeline and article regarding the outgoing administration's recommendations.

Here's a timeline from Common Dreams:

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0326-10.htm

[JerseygirlCT]

131. Did she look in the top desk drawer to the right? Sheesh. nt

[Lisa]

135. nope -- because for some reason they forgot the flashing red light

If they had only included one of those, she would certainly have picked up the documentation and looked at it. She can take a hint, you know!

[deutsey]

132. This is rich coming from the person who ignored a report flatly

declaring that Bin Laden was determined to strike in America.

:eyes:

[AusTexDem]

133. While Bush vacationed, 9/11 warnings went unheard.

"Joe Conason has calculated that up until Sept. 11, 2001, Bush had spent 54 days at the ranch, 38 days at Camp David, and four days at the Bush compound in Kennebunkport—a total of 96 days, or about 40 percent of his presidency, outside of Washington.

Yet by that inference, Bush has remained a remarkably out-of-touch—or at least out-of-town—leader, even in the two and a half years since 9/11. Dana Milbank counts that through his entire term to date, Bush has spent 500 days—again, about 40 percent of his time in office—at the ranch, the retreat, or the compound.

The 9/11 commission has unveiled many critical problems in the FBI and the CIA. But the most critical problem may have been that the president was off duty."

http://www.slate.com/id/2098861/

Hey Condie sounds like your boss/husband should have stayed in D.C. and done some work!

[Orangepeel]

134. The operative word is "comprehensive"

to the bush administration, it wouldn't have been a comprehensive plan unless it included a detailed explanation of how following it would 1) benefit Cheney's cronies at either Haliburton or the oil industry and 2) make democrats in general and Clinton in particular look bad.