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WASHINGTON,
D.C. – U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) issued today’s “Bush Administration’s
Misstatement of the Day” on the threat of terrorism.
For
weeks, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice had refused to testify
before the 9/11 Commission in public and under oath. The White House
finally caved to public pressure today and Dr. Rice is expected to testify
soon before the Commission.
Dr.
Rice has appeared on numerous television programs, including 60 Minutes,
where she said, for example: “The administration took seriously the
threat" of terrorism before 9/11.”
The
analysis released by the Center for American Progress of Dr. Rice’s
3/28/04 appearance on 60 Minutes, however, rebuts claims made by her about
the national security failures of the Administration.
RICE
CLAIM: "The administration took seriously the threat" of terrorism before
9/11.
FACTS:
President Bush himself acknowledges that, despite repeated warnings of
an imminent Al Qaeda attack, before 9/11 "I didn't feel the sense of urgency"
about terrorism. Similarly, Newsweek reports that Bush's attitude was reflected
throughout an Administration that was trying to "de-emphasize terrorism"
as an overall priority. As proof, just two of the hundred national security
meetings the Administration held during this period addressed the terrorist
threat, and the White House refused to hold even one meeting of its highly-touted
counterterrorism task force. Meanwhile, the Administration was actively
trying to cut funding for counterterrorism, and "vetoed a request to divert
$800 million from missile defense into counterterrorism" despite a serious
increase in terrorist chatter in the summer of 2001. |
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