Interesting. Condi Rice seems to support a lot of Richard Clarke's statements and that the government wasn't structured appropriately to deal with these "new" kinds of threats. And how many times did she say that they ( the Administration )had only been there for 233 days ??? I lost track.
After watching all of that testimony I must say Condi kicked some ass today. Talk about a tough woman. I think she could do a better job running this country then Bush. That is one tough chic. She was attacked relentlessly and never backed down. I don't know man, I never thought she would seek to run for a higher office but I am starting to doubt that now. I think 2008 will be very interesting. Good job Condi. Women have come a long way since the ending of women's suffrage.
LEHMAN: Were you aware of the extensive activities of the Saudi government in supporting over 300 radical teaching schools and mosques around the country, including right here in the United States? RICE: I believe we've learned a great deal more about this and addressed it with the Saudi government since 9-11. LEHMAN: Were you aware at the time of the fact that Saudi Arabia had and were you told that they had in their custody the CFO and the closest confidant of al-Qaida _ of Osama bin Laden, and refused direct access to the United States? RICE: I don't remember anything of that kind. LEHMAN: Were you aware that they would not cooperate and give us access to the perpetrators of the Khobar Towers attack? RICE: I was very involved in issues concerning Khobar Towers and our relations with several governments concerning Khobar Towers. LEHMAN: Thank you. Were you aware _ and it disturbs me a bit, and again, let me shift to the continuity issues here. Were you aware that it was the policy of the Justice Department _ and I'd like you to comment as to whether these continuities are still in place _ before I go to Justice, were you aware that it was the policy and I believe remains the policy today to fine airlines if they have more than two young Arab males in secondary questioning because that's discriminatory? RICE: No, I have to say that the kind of inside arrangements for the FAA are not really in my... LEHMAN: Well, these are not so inside. Were you aware that the FAA up until 9-11 thought it was perfectly permissible to allow four-inch knife blades aboard? RICE: I was not aware. LEHMAN: OK.
KERREY: You've used the phrase a number of times, and I'm hoping with my question to disabuse you of using it in the future. You said the president was tired of swatting flies. KERREY: Can you tell me one example where the president swatted a fly when it came to Al Qaida prior to 9/11? RICE: I think what the president was speaking to was... KERREY: No, no. What fly had he swatted? RICE: Well, the disruptions abroad was what he was really focusing on... KERREY: No, no... RICE: ... when the CIA would go after Abu Zubaydah... KERREY: He hadn't swatted... RICE: ... or go after this guy... KERREY: Dr. Rice, we didn't... RICE: That was what was meant. KERREY: We only swatted a fly once on the 20th of August 1998. We didn't swat any flies afterwards. How the hell could he be tired? RICE: We swatted at _ I think he felt that what the agency was doing was going after individual terrorists here and there, and that's what he meant by swatting flies. It was simply a figure of speech. KERREY: Well, I think it's an unfortunate figure of speech because I think, especially after the attack on the Cole on the 12th of October, 2000, it would not have been swatting a fly. It would not have been _ we did not need to wait to get a strategic plan. Dick Clarke had in his memo on the 20th of January overt military operations. He turned that memo around in 24 hours, Dr. Clarke. There were a lot of plans in place in the Clinton administration _ military plans in the Clinton administration. In fact, since we're in the mood to declassify stuff, there was _ he included in his January 25th memo two appendices _ Appendix A: Strategy for the elimination of the jihadist threat of Al Qaida, Appendix B: Political military plan for Al Qaida. So I just _ why didn't we respond to the Cole? RICE: Well, we... KERREY: Why didn't we swat that fly?
Waggie, nobody is here today OK? It's a holiday week. Please refrain from posting the entire dialogue of the Condi Rice testimony. I watched every minute of it and anybody that had an interest in it watched it as well. We don't need it read back to us. Thank you.
I simply posted a couple of "exchanges" that I believe are quite telling. - - - Oh, and by the way . . . Where did you "first" hear about the classified daily brief from August 6th, 2001 entitled: Bin Laden Determined to Strike in the U.S." Could it have actually been right here on ET from someone like myself? Gee, and where do you think I might have come across that kind of information? Duh.
This is where you "first" heard it: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=462111&highlight=August#post462111
ROFLAO!!!!! God knows that Mav NEVER does long cut and paste posts. JB PS. Not only does Mav live under the mistaken belief that he is the 'boss' of 'his threads'...now he wants to be the boss of Waggies as well. LOL