Contest: find an instance of Bush, Cheney et al saying 'al Qaeda' pre-9/11

[Feanorcurufinwe]

Beat the Progress Report

Yesterday, on Hannity and Colmes, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice said "the assertion that somehow the Bush administration wasn't paying attention when we came into office is just false." But, despite Rice's comments, we were unable to find a single instance where Rice, Vice President Cheney or President Bush said "al Qaeda" or "bin Laden" in public between Bush Inauguration and 9/11. (The closest thing we could dig up – despite extensive searches on Nexis and the White House website – was a routine written extension of an executive order dealing with the Taliban.) During the same period, however, we were able to identify roughly 400 times that Rice, Cheney and Bush publicly mentioned "tax relief" or "tax cut." Prove you're better than the Progress Report! Send any instance of Rice, Cheney or Bush uttering the words "al Qaeda" or "bin Laden" in public between 1/20/01 and 9/10/01 to [e-mail]. The first person to submit a successful entry (which we can verify) will receive a free copy of "Deliver Us From Evil" by Fox News Anchor Sean Hannity signed by the members of the Progress Report team.
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=6228

James Carville said on Crossfire he'd throw in a copy of his book, too.

[Bozita]

1. It'd be easier to find the "missing" WMDs in or around Iraq

[cornfedyank]

2. meet the press

the vice-president told TR on Meet the Press, 4 or 5 days after 9-11-01, that saddam was no problem. i believe his words were "we've got saddam pretty well bottled up." what changed???

[newyawker99]

5. Hi cornfedyank!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Hav]

3. good luck

I decline to participate in that contest ;).

[TheStateChief]

4. If Colin Powell is to be believed

The only time I've heard anyone say Bush mentioned Al Qaeda in his February, 2001 letter to the president of Pakistan. Of course that wasn't exactly public.

Don't ask me to point to a second time because I doubt one exists.