Condi Lied, Bush Smirks – Anyone Surprised?

A memo received by United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice shortly after becoming National Security Advisor in 2001 directly contradicts statements she made to reporters yesterday, RAW STORY has learned.

"We were not left a comprehensive strategy to fight al Qaeda," Rice told a reporter for the New York Post on Monday. "Big pieces were missing," Rice added, "like an approach to Pakistan that might work, because without Pakistan you weren't going to get Afghanistan."

Rice made the comments in response to claims made Sunday by former President Bill Clinton, who argued that his administration had done more than the current one to address the al Qaeda problem before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. She stopped short of calling the former president a liar.

However, RAW STORY has found that just five days after President George W. Bush was sworn into office, a memo from counter-terrorism expert Richard A. Clarke to Rice included the 2000 document, "Strategy for Eliminating the Threat from the Jihadist Networks of al-Qida: Status and Prospects." This document devotes over 2 of its 13 pages of material to specifically addressing strategies for securing Pakistan's cooperation in air strikes against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Rice also falsely claims Bush’s pre-9/11 anti-terror efforts were ‘at least as aggressive’ as Clinton’s efforts. Not so, according to a 2002 Washington Post analysis of the Bush Admin’s failure to take Bin Laden seriously. The 9-11 Commission Report also seems to contradicts Condi’s claims.

What’s happening with Alec Station, you ask, that special Bin Laden task force at the CIA initiated during the Clinton Admin? Closed by the Bush Admin.

And where is our close ally, Pakistan, on locating Bin Laden? Oh, yeah – they signed a deal with the warlords in the area where Bin Laden is “allegedly” hiding.

And when given the opportunity to directly respond to questions about his pre-911 anti-terror efforts at a press conference yesterday, Bush refused to give any evidence that he did anything to stop Bin Landen.

LSB: Liar, liar, Dr. Rice…Pants are on fire, Mr. President. You DID NOT try!