The Hindu : International : <titleline>Rice swears by pre-9/11 anti-terror policy

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Friday, Apr 09, 2004

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International

Rice swears by pre-9/11 anti-terror policy

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, APRIL 8. The United States President's National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, today told the National Commission looking into the September 11, 2001 attacks that there was no "silver bullet" that could have prevented the terror attacks; and that in spite of all the language of war that was spoken before 9/11, America was not prepared.Dr. Rice told the panel that while there may have been concerns in the intelligence community about the use of airplanes as weapons by terrorists prior to 9/11, that kind of information did not reach the parties concerned. "To the best of my knowledge, this kind of analysis ... actually was never briefed to us," she maintained. Defending the Republican administration repeatedly on the steps that had been taken and stressing on more than one occasion that if specific information of an impending attack had reached, it would have moved to any extent to stop the attacks, Dr. Rice essentially argued that America's response to terrorism spanned several administrations and over a period of time. "The terrorists were at war with us, but we were not yet at war with them. For more than 20 years, the terrorist threat gathered and America's response across several administrations of both parties was insufficient ... And, tragically, for all the language of war spoken before September 11, this country simply was not on a war footing," she said.

Several times during the three-hour testimony, Dr. Rice said that the Bush administration had been in office for only 233 days prior to 9/11."In hindsight, if anything might have helped stop 9/11, it would have been better information about threats inside the United States, something made difficult by structural and legal impediments that prevented the collection and sharing of information by our law enforcement and intelligence agencies." Dr. Rice, who is practically setting the political stage in the days to come offered no apologies for the failure to prevent the attacks of 9/11 and insisted that a number of steps had been put into place by the Republican administration soon after coming to office in January 2001. Under some tough questioning, particularly by Democratic Commissioners, Dr. Rice steadfastly maintained that the President, George W. Bush was quite aware of the terrorist threat and the importance.

According to Dr. Rice, the President had made it known that he did not want to respond to the Al-Qaeda one attack at a time. "He told me he was `tired of swatting flies'," she said insisting on a different note that "no one" had "pushed anybody to twist the fact." In her prepared remarks, Dr. Rice maintained that the Bush administration realised that no counter-terrorism strategy could succeed in isolation and, therefore, the Republican administration's strategy "was part of a broader package of strategies that addressed the complexities of the region." Testifying under oath before the 10- member bipartisan Commission and with relatives of the victims of 9/11 seated behind her, Dr. Rice argued that integrating the counter-terrorism and regional strategies was the most difficult and the most important aspect of the new strategy and to get it right.

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