The Times Throws Condi A Rope

A Bob Woodward excerpt from a few days back contained a shocker - DCI George Tenet briefed Condoleeza Rice about a dire terror threat on July 10, 2001 and not only did Condi give him the brush-off, but the meeting was not reported to the 9/11 Commission.

I was skeptical at the first report, but now the Times arrives firing the big guns (but read past the ominous headline):

Records Show Tenet Briefed Rice on Al Qaeda Threat

By PHILIP SHENON and MARK MAZZETTI

JIDDA, Saudi Arabia, Oct. 2 —  A review of White House records has determined that George J. Tenet, then the director of central intelligence, did brief Condoleezza Rice and other top officials on July 10, 2001, about the looming threat from Al Qaeda, a State Department spokesman said Monday.

The account by Sean McCormack came hours after Ms. Rice, the secretary of state, told reporters aboard her airplane that she did not recall the specific meeting on July 10, 2001, noting that she had met repeatedly with Mr. Tenet that summer about terrorist threats. Ms. Rice, the national security adviser at the time, said it was “incomprehensible” she ignored dire terrorist threats two months before the Sept. 11 attacks.

Mr. McCormack also said records show that the Sept. 11 commission was informed about the meeting, a fact that former intelligence officials and members of the commission confirmed on Monday.

...

Officials now agree that on July 10, 2001, Mr. Tenet and his counterterrorism deputy, J. Cofer Black, were so alarmed about an impending Al Qaeda attack that they demanded an emergency meeting at the White House with Ms. Rice and her National Security Council staff.

According to two former intelligence officials, Mr. Tenet told those assembled at the White House about the growing body of intelligence the Central Intelligence Agency had collected pointing to an impending Al Qaeda attack. But both current and former officials took issue with Mr. Woodward’s account that Mr. Tenet and his aides left the meeting in frustration, feeling as if Ms. Rice had ignored them.

Mr. Tenet told members of the Sept. 11 commission about the July 10 meeting when they interviewed him in early 2004, but committee members said the former C.I.A. director never indicated he had left the White House with the impression that he had been ignored.

“Tenet never told us that he was brushed off,” said Richard Ben-Veniste, a Democratic member of the commission. “We certainly would have followed that up.”

Mr. McCormack said the records showed that, far from ignoring Mr. Tenet’s warnings, Ms. Rice acted on the intelligence and requested that Mr. Tenet make the same presentation to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Atttorney General John Ashcroft.

But Mr. Ashcroft said by telephone on Monday evening that he never received a briefing that summer from Mr. Tenet.

“Frankly, I’m disappointed that I didn’t get that kind of briefing,” he said. “I’m surprised he didn’t think it was important enough to come by and tell me.”

Ben-Veniste is normally a reliable Dem attack dog, so if he is not backing this, forget it.

I think the facts are enough to criticize Condi's effort that summer - no need to make stuff up.

UPDATE:  Jonathion Landay et al of the McClatchy News Service round out the laugh track, complete with scary headline unsupported by the text:

Rumsfeld, Ashcroft received warning of al Qaida attack before 9/11

By JONATHAN S. LANDAY, WARREN P. STROBEL and JOHN WALCOTT

McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and former Attorney General John Ashcroft received the same CIA briefing about an imminent al-Qaida strike on an American target that was given to the White House two months before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The State Department's disclosure Monday that the pair was briefed within a week after then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice was told about the threat on July 10, 2001, raised new questions about what the Bush administration did in response, and about why so many officials have claimed they never received or don't remember the warning.

Questions have been raised!

Later Ashcroft denies all knowledge:

Ashcroft, who resigned as attorney general on Nov. 9, 2004, told the Associated Press on Monday that it was "disappointing" that he never received the briefing, either.

And here comes what mihgt be some weaseling:

David Ayres, who was Ashcroft's chief of staff at the Justice Department, said that the former attorney general also has no recollection of a July 17, 2001, terrorist threat briefing. Later, Ayres said that Ashcroft could recall only a July 5 briefing on threats to U.S. interests abroad.

He said Ashcroft doesn't remember any briefing that summer that indicated that al-Qaida was planning to attack within the United States.

The CIA briefing didn't provide the exact timing or nature of a possible attack, nor did it predict whether it was likely to take place in the United States or overseas, said three former senior intelligence officials.

Ahh!  Well, if he forgot the briefing because it didn't cite a threat to the US, that is understandable.

But the 9/11 Commission does remember!

Nor is it clear why the 9/11 commission never reported the briefing, which the intelligence officials said Tenet outlined to commission members Ben-Veniste and Zelikow in secret testimony at CIA headquarters. The State Department confirmed that the briefing materials were "made available to the 9/11 Commission, and Director Tenet was asked about this meeting when interviewed by the 9/11 Commission."

The three former senior intelligence officials, however, said Tenet raised the matter with the panel himself, displayed slides from the PowerPoint presentation and offered to testify on the matter in public.

Ben-Veniste confirmed to McClatchy Newspapers that Tenet outlined for the 9/11 commission the July 10 briefing to Rice in secret testimony in January 2004. He referred questions about why the commission omitted any mention of the briefing in its report to Zelikow, the report's main author. Zelikow didn't respond to e-mail and telephone queries from McClatchy Newspapers.

Zelikow does have a friendly past (and present) with Rice, but why is everyone else, particularly Ben-Veniste, playing along?  My guess - this briefing was just as memorable as Tenet would like to remember it.

EVERYTHING NEW IS OLD AGAIN:  Apparently Woodward's scoop about a special July meeting was first aired in a discredited TIME story from August 2002:

In mid-July, Tenet sat down for a special meeting with Rice and aides. "George briefed Condi that there was going to be a major attack," says an official; another, who was present at the meeting, says Tenet broke out a huge wall chart ("They always have wall charts") with dozens of threats. Tenet couldn't rule out a domestic attack but thought it more likely that al-Qaeda would strike overseas. One date already worrying the Secret Service was July 20, when Bush would arrive in Genoa for the G-8 summit; Tenet had intelligence that al-Qaeda was planning to attack Bush there. The Italians, who had heard the same report (the way European intelligence sources tell it, everyone but the President's dog "knew" an attack was coming) put frogmen in the harbor, closed airspace around the town and ringed it with antiaircraft guns.

But nothing happened. After Genoa, says a senior intelligence official, there was a collective sigh of relief: "A lot of folks started letting their guard down."

THE WAPO JOINS IN (And smites Woodward's version - emphasis added):

Former CIA director George Tenet told the 9/11 Commission that he had warned of an imminent threat from al-Qaeda in a July 2001 meeting with Condoleezza Rice, adding that he believed Rice took the warning seriously, according to a transcript of the interview and the recollection of a commissioner who was there.

Tenet's statements to the commission in January 2004 confirm the outlines of an event in a new book by Washington Post Assistant Managing Editor Bob Woodward that has been disputed by some Bush administration officials. But the testimony also is at odds with Woodward's depiction of Tenet and former CIA counterterrorism chief J. Cofer Black as being frustrated that "they were not getting through to Rice" after the July 10, 2001, meeting.

...

Members of the commission -- an independent, bipartisan panel created by Congress to investigate the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks -- have said for days that they were not told about the July 10 meeting and were angry at being left out. As recently as yesterday afternoon, both commission chairman Thomas H. Kean and vice chairman Lee Hamilton said they believed the panel had not been told about the July 10 meeting.

But it turns out that the panel was, in fact, told about the meeting, according to the interview transcript and Democratic commission member Richard Ben-Veniste, who sat in on the interview with Tenet. The meeting was not identified by the July 10 date in the commission's best-selling report.

 

Comments

[Carol Herman]

Condi was wounded this summer, getting such a bad deal at the UN. No. It's not a shame. Better to know this about her; than to think she's presidential timber. Which she isn't.

Meanwhile, Bob Woodward's book is bombing. And, Nixon ghost must be laughing. Since he burst onto the scene with the Foley fiasco.

If Foley doesn't look like a fiasco, yet, for the dems, that's because it takes time to build. As it did in RatherGate.

And, what happens at the UN is just a waste of time.

Did Condi "know" that 19 Saudi's would take over American commercial aircraft and fly these, as bombs, into buildings? HELL, NO!

But there always seems to be a market for rumors. Just as we've still got this crap in place over Pearl Harbor. Dished by the most ignorant people. Those who remain aware that Japan was active (and at war with others) in the Pacific, starting in 1931.

I'm no longer impressed with what people don't know. Since having a large, ignorant base doesn't change much, except job opportunities. And, MacDonald's isn't requiring high school graduates who can read above 4th grade level. So there ya go.

If you're curious (and nobody else is paying attention to the print markets), then you already know more than the MSM propagandizes. You'd think they'd stop. But why is that? Their people get paid for crap. School teachers get paid for crap.

And, problems mount up. Because a lot of government jobs have excellent pension plans, the taxpayers will get to pay for.

We still have an election day coming. And, there's no proof that the donks have anything in the bag, yet.

That Condi takes hits? Bush's team can be very lackluster. And, it's comical that she's taking gaff from Tenet! He really is out of the loop, now. Thank goodness.

[Tood]

This is all a byproduct of Bush becoming soft.

But I don't think this hurts the WH or teh GOP in November. Virtually every opinion has already been formed and will not change.

[section9]

Poor Carol, I'm with you on this whole Woodward scam, but I can't buy your analysis of Condi. Sorry, it ain't her fault she was saddled with Ehud the Unready and Amir the Feckless.

You go to war with the Israeli Government you've got, I guess. Too bad Condi had a sack of coal. Maybe the Israelis will get their act together before the Persians finish rearming Nasrallah.

Oh, expect Republicans to do better than advertised. MSM is underpolling Pubbies. They do it every cycle.

[Bertie Wooster]

"Meanwhile, Bob Woodward's book is bombing"

You delusional rethuglicans are so fucked. Woodward's book is already in it's 3rd printing, and is already at #1.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061002/ap_en_ot/books_woodward;_ylt=AujF6D3XERTKOVFF8Aq1LIms0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3OTB1amhuBHNlYwNtdHM-

Foleygate/Predatorgate isn't a fiasco for the Dems, it's your Waterloo. Now Frist says the Taliban should share power in Afghanistan. You are sooo fucked.

[dauber]

People would have been less likely to jump at the idea that the Commission hadn't been briefed if they were going off the book itself, as opposed to excerpts. In the book, this story if followed immediately by the thoughts of Philip Zelikow, who served as Executive Dir. of the Commission. While it's left implicit, it isn't clear why he would have had a response, or been asked for his response, unless this had been brought to the Commission's attn -- or at least to the attn of the Commission's staff.

[Neo]

Drudge is reporting Washington Times is calling for Hastert's resignation tomorrow.

[Orson]

RE Berties comments-

Early newsreports are often wrong or mistaken about the facts, an are later revised; so is your opinion.

[Fentris]

You delusional rethuglicans are so fucked.

Put the fucking crack pipe back in your pocket, Rooster. Screw what passes for your head on straight.

[Neo]

Maybe now, the 9/11 Commission can take up Michael Scheuer's (Imperial Huberius) comments of Sunday morning on Fox with Chirs Wallace, that no members of his bin Laden Task Force were interviewed by the 9/11 Commission and that a large volume of documents that should have been reviewed by the 9/11 Commission weren't unread.

[Florence Schmieg]

Didn't Ben-Veniste and Roemer have a fake "horror" a few days ago about the 9-11 commission never having been briefed about this?? And now Ben-Venista completely reverses himself on this?? Interesting.

I agree with Tood. Woodward is too late here to make any difference in the election or how people feel about Bush and the war. He will get a lot of publicity from his adoring media colleagues and the Bush haters and then his book will join the other 15000 books bashing Bush. Too bad the Foley fiasco won't die down as easily, although the hypocrisy about that on both sides is awful. How about a citizen's rebellion demanding EVERYBODY in Congress leave and we start over, this time with term limits.

[Neo]

Woodward's book is already in it's 3rd printing

His publisher didn't have very much faith.

[Chris Finney, Esq.]

The cat's outta the bag, folks. People are buying Woodward's book like it's going out of style. The administration can't bash Woodward, after their hearty endorsement of his last two books. Cheney even had the books on his official website. You've got the wingnut vote nailed, that shrill 32% that always give The Chimp thumbs up no matter what, but the independents are leaving you cold. Now Foleygate, and Frist's Nevile Chamberlain act with the Taliban (aka, Al Qaeda). Hastert is toast, so is Reynolds, and Boehner is in trouble too. It's curtain time for you folks. Maybe it's time that you folks started thinking about restarting your lithium regimen again.

[Chris Finney, Esq.]

"Woodward's book is already in it's 3rd printing", on it's SECOND DAY IN RELEASE!

Now it's proved that Rice is a liar, the House Rethuglican 'leadership' is outed for covering for a pedophile and Uncle Bill Frist says we should surrender to the Taliban

Unless The Chimp and his handler Rove can produce Bin Laden you knuckle dragging rethugs are royally fucked.

[jaycee]

More fake but accurate from Bob Woodward.
Why should this guy get a free pass like he has a guarantee of accuracy? HE WANTS TO SELL HIS BOOK NOW. It's dead meat after November elections.

[BTW]

Do you think Bush will clear the use of torture on Foley so that he can protect us from those who hate American children?

[BTW]

The repugs are in some deep deep doodoo!

By Dan Eggen and Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, October 3, 2006; Page A03

Former CIA director George Tenet told the 9/11 Commission that he had warned of an imminent threat from al-Qaeda in a July 2001 meeting with Condoleezza Rice, adding that he believed Rice took the warning seriously, according to a transcript of the interview and the recollection of a commissioner who was there.

Tenet's statements to the commission in January 2004 confirm the outlines of an event in a new book by Washington Post Assistant Managing Editor Bob Woodward that has been disputed by some Bush administration officials. But the testimony also is at odds with Woodward's depiction of Tenet and former CIA counterterrorism chief J. Cofer Black as being frustrated that "they were not getting through to Rice" after the July 10, 2001, meeting.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called it
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called it "incomprehensible" that she flouted a specific warning.

Rice angrily rejected those assertions yesterday, saying that it was "incomprehensible" that she would have ignored such explicit intelligence from senior CIA officials and that she received no warning at the meeting of an attack within the United States.

[Neo]

Bob Woodward has had amazing free access around the White House, but this sort of "bonehead" show boating will close a lot of doors. I suspect Condi's schedule is full for the next two years.

Retirement comes soon, Bob. Check in with the Social Security folks, as you qualify to start now.

[Buddy Larsen]

I love it, those rethuglican catch-phrases just get better and better the more years ya hear 'em!

[Buddy Larsen]

...really funny, when we Chimpions already have the voting machines "fixed" and all you smartie-panties know it and *still* can't figure out how to stop us. Ho ho ha ha!
;-D

[Neo]

And we got the Chimpy without the Haliburton, so it is obvious a satire post.

[Pofarmer]

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Condi's not perfect. Rummy's not perfect. Oh, my, what's a poor disgruntled righty to do?

Think I'll go out and pull the full blown R lever in Nov. The way I see it. If we cut the Dimocraps numbers down enough, they will have to start to be some semblance of reasonable.

[SunnyDay]

As usual, lefties overplay their hand.

[George The Chimp]

WE ARE FUCKED

[Neo]

A deer ran out into the New Jersey Turnpike, was hit by a car and flew up into the air. The deer came down, smashing through the passenger side of the front windshield of a stationwagon. The driver, a bit in shock but happy the deer was dead and not kicking, drove on to the next exit. As he approached the ticket booth, he pulled over to the side and parked the car. One of the Ticket takers came down from the booth to see the man.

She said to the man .. Sir, you can’t keep the deer

[SunnyDay]

Y'all got of the elevator at the wrong floor. This isn't DU.

[John Kerry]

SEE? I tried to tell you, but, noooo, you just HAD to swiftboat me.

[Neo]

The deer was played by Bob Woodward.

[Neo]

BP said it had restarted production at the Lisburne oil field and Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska over the weekend.

When it shut down, there was a Congressional investigation. When it restarted, it went unnoticed.

[John Galt]

It is hard to see how Denny Hastert can possibly remain as Speaker when people like Michael Reagan are demanding his resignation, while people like Joe Scarborough -- who has been a friend of Foley's ever since they entered Congress together in 1994 -- are saying things like this:

"Reading the first set of e-mails made me uneasy. My friends who knew Mark and I got on the phone and wondered aloud why he would ask a high school kid for a picture . . .

Where was the Republican leadership over the past year? They knew of Mark’s inappropriate e-mails to a former page but never informed Democratic leaders so they could warn those pages they had brought to Washington.

How could the Speaker of the House not remember being told by the Chairman of the Republican Congressional Committee that Foley had been confronted with his inappropriate emails to a male intern? Does this happen so often in Congress that it was no big deal to Denny Hastert?"

The most frivolous claim being advanced is that the e-mails which the entire GOP leadership knew about were totally innocuous and should not have prompted an investigation even though, in those e-mails, Foley asked the page to send a picture of himself, talked admiringly about what "good shape" another underage page was in, and asked the page what he wanted for his birthday.

Hastert's first interview since this scandal began is with CNN. He really just seems exhausted, beaten, and even resigned. He dismissively shrugs off the reporter's incredulous question as to how he could simply forget reports from Rep. Reynolds that a 53-year-old Congressman was sending inappropriate emails to a 16-year-old page, and speculates that perhaps he forget about it because Reynolds mentioned it in passing along with a half-dozen or dozen other "campaign" items. This story really can't end unless and until Hastert resigns.

And now Drudge just put up a screaming headline, complete with the whole melodramatic multi-color siren bit, which reads:

"WASHINGTON TIMES ON TUESDAY WILL CALL FOR SPEAKER HASTERT'S RESIGNATION, NEWSROOM SOURCES TELL DRUDGE... DEVELOPING... 'House Speaker Dennis Hastert must do the only right thing, and resign his speakership at once' -- Washington Times, October 3, 2006"

If Drudge (who last night was blaming the 16-year-old pages for Foley's conduct) and The Washington Times are now on the "Fire Hastert" train, it's hard to see him lasting more than a week. I actually think the best thing that could happen for Republicans would be for Hastert to resign sooner rather than later, although they then would be faced with the very serious problem that the next in line, Rep. Boehner, is quite implicated in all of this also. It seems like a safe bet that while the top level of the GOP House leadership is focused on saving themselves, the next level down is focused on which new jobs will be up for grabs.

Couple this with the bombshells being dropped by Woodward and Bill Frist openly calling for the Taliban to be returned to the government in Afghanistan, with only a month to go before the election, it looks like the Republicans are toast.

[Semanticleo]

The 'Titanic' was the ship which could not sink, therefore lifeboats were deemed unnecessary. As a consequence, only about
1/5 of the beings aboard that craft had any
hope for survival.

Does Condi have her space allocated?

Do you Maguire?

[Bertie Wooster]

A Big Scoop of Schadenfreude!

The Rethuglicans start an unwinnable war against the wrong country, bankrupt this country, wipe their asses with the Bill of Rights, and ultimately it is a sex scandal is what will bring them down.

Sweet revenge!

[Neo]

Did we give up when the German's bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell No.

bombshells being dropped by Woodward
Try again please. He spitting duds.

Bill Frist openly calling for the Taliban to be returned to the government in Afghanistan
The Ass-ociated Press strikes again. I think someone was booing during those remarks and the AP got it a bit wrong.

[Diebold Mechanic]

Noble Democrats! Save your swanning for the stage!

The election returns are already "in".

You know it, I know it; it's a done deal, you can fork a stick in it.

You guys can never win another election until such time as you can produce a Democrat who knows how to use the basic hand tools. Or even, what they "look like" when you "see them".

[Neo]

The dispute that has played out in recent days gives further evidence of an escalating battle between the White House and Mr. Tenet over who should take the blame for such mistakes as the failure to stop the Sept. 11 attacks

I wonder how far up their asses the NYT had to reach to get this line. On second reflection, this looks like sloppy editing.

The dispute that has played out in recent days gives further evidence of an escalating battle between the White House and Mr. Woodward's account.
I'll leave it to the historians as to whether Mr. Woodward's account gives further evidence of an escalating battle between the White House and Mr. Tenet over who should take the blame for such mistakes as the failure to stop the Sept. 11 attacks

[Brendan]

The repugs are in full fledged panic mode, and denial is setting in. the wheels have come off of their crooked wagon, yet this bunch of chickenhawk loonies can't accept reality.

That reality is that you dimwits are soooo screwed!

[JM Hanes]

I love it when the Dem's start counting their chickens! Takes me right back to '04 and '02. Those elections were yours to lose too, and darned if you didn't do it. I'd have thought you couldn't possibly manage to make it 0 for 3, but the premature triumphalism sounds so familiar, I'm beginning to suspect you may trump the odds yet again. Enjoy it while it lasts guys. I know I'm enjoying the show.

[BTW]

"You guys can never win another election until such time as you can produce a Democrat who knows how to use the basic hand tools."

Hmm I wonder what type of "hand tools" Foley uses?.

[Jason Leopold]

Hmm I wonder what type of "hand tools" Foley uses?.

My cigars.

[anon]

This used to be such a nice web site, before Chris Finney, Esq appeared.

Looking around his web site, I see Mr Finney was awarded “Educator of the Year” in 1997, presumably before his unfortunate anurism.

[Diebold Mechanic]

"Brendan" that's one of the names programmed to count as a GOP vote. Be sure and show up at the polls, Big B!

[BTW]

"Did we give up when the German's bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell No."

Ra Ra sis boom ba!

[BTW]

Give me a I

[John Kerry]

Hi, My name is John Kerry and I'm reporting for Doody!

[BTW]

Give me an M

[BTW]

Give me a P

[BTW]

Give me an E

[Neo]

In his own book, Mr. Woodward wrote that over time Mr. Tenet developed a particular dislike for Ms. Rice, and that the former C.I.A. director was furious when she publicly blamed the agency for allowing President Bush to make the false claim in the 2003 State of the Union Address that Saddam Hussein was pursuing nuclear materials in Niger.

“If the C.I.A., the Director of National Intelligence, had said ‘take this out of the speech,’ it would have been gone, without question,” Ms. Rice told reporters in July 2003.

What so ironic here is that it was the "Island of Misfit Toys" that utimately forced Tenet to resign when they couldn't backup the assertion made by the British.
Val and her buddies ended the career of George Tenet. Have they no shame ?

[BTW]

Give me an A

[Bill Clinton]

IMPEACHMENT?

[BTW]

What's that spell!