JPMiginiac.com

11/9: Rice dément vigoureusement avoir ignoré une mise en garde de la CIA
AFP 02/10/06

"La secrétaire d'Etat américaine, Condoleezza Rice, a vigoureusement démenti lundi avoir été prévenue de risques terroristes imminents pour les Etats-Unis deux mois avant les attentats du 11 septembre, comme l'affirme le journaliste vedette Bob Woodward dans son nouveau livre.

Interrogée à ce sujet dans l'avion la conduisant au Proche-Orient, avant une escale à Shannon, en Irlande, Mme Rice, qui était alors conseillère à la sécurité nationale à la Maison Blanche, a déclaré ne pas se souvenir d'une rencontre le 10 juillet 2001 avec l'ancien patron de la CIA, George Tenet.

"Mais ce dont je suis certaine, c'est que je me souviendrais si on m'avait dit, comme ce récit le dit apparemment, qu'il allait y avoir un attentat aux Etats-Unis", a-t-elle déclaré à un groupe de journalistes avant l'arrivée à Shannon (Irlande) lundi matin..."

Two Months Before 9/11, an Urgent Warning to Rice
WaPo 01/10/06

"On July 10, 2001, two months before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, then-CIA Director George J. Tenet met with his counterterrorism chief, J. Cofer Black, at CIA headquarters to review the latest on Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda terrorist organization. Black laid out the case, consisting of communications intercepts and other top-secret intelligence showing the increasing likelihood that al-Qaeda would soon attack the United States. It was a mass of fragments and dots that nonetheless made a compelling case, so compelling to Tenet that he decided he and Black should go to the White House immediately.

Tenet called Condoleezza Rice, then national security adviser, from the car and said he needed to see her right away. There was no practical way she could refuse such a request from the CIA director.

For months, Tenet had been pressing Rice to set a clear counterterrorism policy, including specific presidential orders called "findings" that would give the CIA stronger authority to conduct covert action against bin Laden. Perhaps a dramatic appearance -- Black called it an "out of cycle" session, beyond Tenet's regular weekly meeting with Rice -- would get her attention..."

"...Tenet and Black felt they were not getting through to Rice. She was polite, but they felt the brush-off. President Bush had said he didn't want to swat at flies.

As they all knew, a coherent plan for covert action against bin Laden was in the pipeline, but it would take some time. In recent closed-door meetings the entire National Security Council apparatus had been considering action against bin Laden, including using a new secret weapon: the Predator unmanned aerial vehicle, or drone, that could fire Hellfire missiles to kill him or his lieutenants. It looked like a possible solution, but there was a raging debate between the CIA and the Pentagon about who would pay for it and who would have authority to shoot.

Besides, Rice seemed focused on other administration priorities, especially the ballistic missile defense system that Bush had campaigned on. She was in a different place.

Tenet left the meeting feeling frustrated. Though Rice had given them a fair hearing, no immediate action meant great risk. Black felt the decision to just keep planning was a sustained policy failure. Rice and the Bush team had been in hibernation too long. "Adults should not have a system like this," he said later..."

"...Afterward, Tenet looked back on the meeting with Rice as a tremendous lost opportunity to prevent or disrupt the Sept. 11 attacks. Rice could have gotten through to Bush on the threat, but she just didn't get it in time, Tenet thought. He felt that he had done his job and had been very direct about the threat, but that Rice had not moved quickly. He felt she was not organized and did not push people, as he tried to do at the CIA.

Black later said, "The only thing we didn't do was pull the trigger to the gun we were holding to her head." "