| The Bushies are worried | | Date Created:03/28/04 02:24 PM |
 She won't testify before the commission investigating 9/11, but Condi Rice took time to be on "60 Minutes" tonight. The Bushies are clearly on the defensive, having spent the entire previous week defending themselves from charges that they did not pay attention to terrorism before 9-11, then screwed up the war on terrorism by getting involved in Iraq. The charges, of course, were leveled last week by Richard Clarke, the administration's former terrorism specialist.
Since then, Rice has tried to take the offensive, offering an op-ed piece in the Washington Post, and appearing on all the networks. Meanwhile, the GOP has been threatening to make transcripts of that secret testimony public.
Senate Republicans have been accusing Clarke of either misleading Congress in secret testimony he gave two years ago, while still part of the administration, or doing so in his testimony before the 9-11 commission last week. Today Clarke said, go ahead and do -- declassify my testimony. (Fat chance that will happen.)
The intensity of the White House response has certainly been noticed. It has given John Kerry the opportunity to blast Bush's vindictiveness and seeming inability to take criticism. Worst of all for the Bush administration, the efforts don't seem to be working. Clarke is coming off as credible. Furthermore, by engaging in a blame game, attention is being drawn to Bush's nascent presidency before 9-11 -- something his presidential campaign does not want.
Attention may also be drawn to the administration's difficulty with truth-telling and admitting mistakes. For example, Rice tonight confirmed what the White House had previously denied -- that Bush had asked Clarke on September 12, 2001 to find out if Iraq was involved in the 9-11 attacks. Previously, the Bushies even denied the conversation had taken place. Meanwhile, the 9-11 committee is finding evidence that Bush was warned about the threat of terrorism early in his presidency, as well as evidence that he did little about it.
Late last week, Bush said if he had known that terrorists would use hijacked airplanes to attack the U.S. he would have done whatever was necessary to stop them. Even his critics would not suggest otherwise. However, we now know that Bush was told in August of 2001 that Bin Laden's gang was believed capable of hijacking commercial jets in the U.S. Interestingly, I was in Washington, D.C. in August 2001 for an academic convention. I was surprised at the time to see so much conspicuous security at the White House. For years it was known that the White House was heavily protected. However, on previous visits, it was not obvious. But in August 2001, it was easy to see a half dozen armed guards on the roof of the White House, and heavily armed guards on the grounds. The president was not even there at the time -- he had taken a month-long vacation in Crawford, Texas. Clearly, the Secret Service was concerned enough at that point to fortify the White House. |
|
|
|
