Offering frequent news and analysis from the majestic Evergreen State and beyond, The Cascadia Advocate is the Northwest Progressive Institute's unconventional perspective on world, national, and local politics.

Saturday, February 12, 2005

Rice Received Several Urgent Warnings Prior to 9/11

This most alarming of stories should have been on the front pages of every newspaper in the country. Unfortunately, it wasn't considered quite sensational enough, so it was shoved to page A27.

New memos have recently surfaced that reveal evidence harsher than anything Richard Clarke or the 9/11 Commission ever said. In addition to the now-notorious memo entitled, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike U.S." (which Rice derided as "historical information"), there is a new memo indicating that the new Secretary State (then National Security Adviser) was warned repeatedly by Clarke and others to quickly get on board with Islamic terrorism and formulate an outlined defense strategy against potential attacks on American soil.

Needless to say, their prudent warnings were not heeded, and the tragic result was the deaths of 3,000 Americans. Here's the full story:

Eight months before the Sept. 11 attacks, and days after the Bush administration first took office, then-White House counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke issued a memo to then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice describing the "urgent need" for "a principals-level review on the al-Qaeda network." A newly released memo seriously undermines Rice's claim in a 3/22/04 column in the Washington Post that "No al-Qaeda threat was turned over to the new administration."

Also, a previously undisclosed 9/11 Commission report released yesterday showed federal aviation officials received dozens of warnings before the Sept. 11 attacks about Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda, including some that mentioned airline hijackings or suicide attacks.

Former members of the Commission and families of the 9/11 victims are pushing a reluctant White House to release the entire classified 9/11 Commission report.

Anything this damning should have prevented Rice from advancing to any higher position within the Bush Administration, let alone becoming the Secretary of State.

That the Bush propagandists actually succeeded in manipulating the debate and playing the race card is simply astonishing. The 13 Democrats who actually bothered to examine Rice's abysmal record as National Security Advisor should be commended, and the integrity of "moderates" such as Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Joe Lieberman (D-CT) should be in question. It is high time for progressives to keep a vigilant eye on Rice and come out in forceful opposition whenever any neoconservative scheme crops up.

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