US administration in the spotlight over September 11

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1503&ncid=703&e=8&u=/afp/20040323/ts_afp/us_attacks_congress

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Top current and former US officials make their first public appearances before an official inquiry into the September 11 attacks, as the White House faces strong criticism over its anti-terrorism strategy.

Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites), Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and their counterparts from Bill Clinton (news - web sites)'s administration, Madeleine Albright (news - web sites) and William Cohen are to give evidence Tuesday in open hearings of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.

"By going into Iraq (news - web sites), the president has made the war on terrorism that much harder," Clarke told ABC television. "He's diverted resources from protecting our vulnerabilities here at home, like our railroads. He's inflamed the Arab world and created a whole new generation of al-Qaeda terrorists."


Clarke will also appear before the nine-member bipartisan commission, which was at first opposed by the White House, during its two days of public hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday.

more

[JoFerret]

1. Another story: You know they're in trouble when they use Limbaugh

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3893656,00.htmlWASHINGTON

(AP) -
...

``One of the key issues in all of the hearings is going to be the question of accountability,''
...

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Bush officials, meanwhile, should expect scrutiny about their counterterrorism strategy after taking office in January 2001 and whether officials downplayed the al-Qaida threat despite warnings from Clinton officials as well as growing intelligence chatter about a possible strike during the summer of 2001.

``We will focus on the leadup to 9-11 and the extraordinary information that was being collected during the summer of 2001 and how that information was or was not disseminated to the appropriate agencies,'' said Richard Ben-Veniste, a Democratic commissioner and former Watergate prosecutor.

The hearing comes as President Bush's re-election campaign is showcasing his role as a wartime president. And it follows explosive allegations in a book released Monday by Richard A. Clarke, Bush's former counterterrorism coordinator and a holdover from the Clinton administration.

Clarke said he warned Bush officials in a January 2001 memo, just as they were taking office, about the growing al-Qaida threat after the Cole attack but was put off by national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, who ``gave me the impression she had never heard the term before.''

...

In his book, ``Against All Enemies,'' Clarke wrote that the current president ``launched an unnecessary and costly war in Iraq that strengthened the fundamentalist, radical Islamic terrorist movement worldwide.''

Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday of Clarke's assertions, ``I fundamentally disagree with his assessment both of recent history, but also in terms of how to deal with the problem'' of global terrorism.

Clarke ``wasn't in the loop, frankly, on a lot of this stuff,'' Cheney said in a telephone interview with radio commentator Rush Limbaugh.

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The 10-member commission has invited Rice to testify, but she has declined on the advice of the White House, which cited separation of power concerns involving its staff appearing before a legislative body.
....
Ben-Veniste and Roemer have both said they believe Rice should testify in public.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

2. and the spotlight seems especially bright this time around

We can only hope the truth will out.

[The Stranger]

3. Televised live? CBS? ABC? NBC? . . . or just C-Span if that.

[polmaven]

4. C-Span and

CNN, though I don't know how long for either. C-Span was to go to the House sesession as soon as it convened.

[UpInArms]

5. related article: Defense Department number two called for Iraq attack in 2

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=afp/us_attacks_iraq

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Pentagon (news - web sites) hardliner Paul Wolfowitz called for an attack on Iraq (news - web sites) in the days after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) told an inquiry.

At a war cabinet meeting at the Camp David
presidential retreat, four days after New York and Washington were hit by hijacked airliners, Deputy Defence Secretary Wolfowitz "presented the case" for action against Iraq, Powell said.

"Secretary Wolfowitz raised the issue of whether or not Iraq should be considered for action during this time," Powell told an official inquiry into the September 11 attacks.

...more...

These things are criminally insane. :mad: