Yellow Dog

As National Security Advisor, Condoleezza Rice did a pretty crappy job, failing to protect the country from terrorist threats. According to the Sept. 11 commission report, Condi failed to act on repeated warnings in the first part of 2001 about the likelihood of a major terrorist attack on the United States.

Here's more from The Washington Post:

"The report also detailed several more specific warnings from [counterterrorism coordinator Richard] Clarke to Rice in the spring and summer of 2001:

• On March 23, he told Rice that he thought terrorists might attack the White House with a truck bomb and also that "he thought there were terrorist cells within the United States, including al Qaeda."

• On May 29, Clarke wrote to Rice and her deputy, Stephen J. Hadley, about possible assaults by a Palestinian associate of al Qaeda, adding that, "When these attacks occur, as they likely will, we will wonder what more we could have done to stop them."

• On June 25, Clarke informed Rice and Hadley that "six separate intelligence reports showed al Qaeda personnel warning of a pending attack," the report said.

• Three days later, he added that the pattern of al Qaeda activity indicating preparations for an attack "had reached a crescendo."

• On June 30, a briefing was given to top officials titled, "Bin Ladin Planning High-Profile Attacks."

The spike in reported al Qaeda activity ended in July, but senior intelligence analysts continued to be deeply concerned, the report noted, causing them to include in the Aug. 6 "President's Daily Brief" an article titled "Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US."

Imagine how things might have been different if Condi had only taken even one of the above threats seriously. I hope she is grilled during her confirmation hearings about why she ignored each of these threats, although it won't do much good now since it's clear the Bush admin. plans to continue its pattern of rewarding incompetence (following the pattern of 51% of voters who recently rewarded incompetence).

Rice's NSC Tenure Complicates New Post (washingtonpost.com)