What is actually happening in DC

Rice was forced to admit that on August 6th, 2001 she briefed Bush that Bin laden groups seemed to be preparing for hijackings. The title of the “President’s Daily Briefing” was:

“Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside The United States”

I just broke Federal law by posting it. At this hour not only the contents but the title itself remain classified, despite a promise later in the day to declassify parts of the document by the Bush administration.

Meanwhile, despite promises to reverse themselves this weekend, the Bush group also refuses to release certain documents from the Clinton administration to the Commission. Rice, although smiling, was nervous, defensive, and evasive throughout her testimony. Her technique was to fly off on a tangent in wordy, uninformative answers as a way of avoiding any tough questions. At one point she even referred to her race as a way of making herself appear sympathetic although the relation to National Security was lost on me. She also admitted that she was informed in detail during the summer of 2001 of al Qaeda sleeper cells operating inside the United States. Here’s a quote from Commission member Bob Kerrey, after a struggle with Rice to get answers:

(Chairman) KEAN. This is the last question, senator.

KERREY. Actually it won’t be a question. In the spirit of further declassification this is what the Aug. 6 memo said to the president. That the F.B.I. indicates patterns of suspicious activity in the United States consistent with preparations for hijacking. That’s the language of the memo that was briefed to the president on the 6th of August.

And, I’ve broken Federal law again by showing it to you.

So this means, Bush was 3 days into the longest Presidential vacation in 32 years, in Crawford, Texas, Rice was informed of Al Qaeda sleeper cells inside the United States, and Bush was briefed using the document described above. Bush stayed on vacation until August 31, 2001, and took no action on the briefings. Richard Clarke’s anti-terror plan, submitted on Jan. 25, 2001, was still rejected.

Oh, and everything’s fine in Iraq.