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Bush, Clinton Aides Set for 9/11 Hearing

Posted on: Tuesday, 23 March 2004, 06:00 CST

WASHINGTON - A federal panel reviewing the Sept. 11 attacks says a two-day hearing will focus on the Bush and Clinton administrations' failed response to the threat from al-Qaida amid new allegations that Bush officials didn't do enough to prevent the tragedy.

Timothy Roemer, a former Democratic congressman from Indiana, said officials from both administrations will face tough questions about why the government didn't consider a stronger military option sooner, particularly after U.S. intelligence received repeated warnings in early 2001 of a possible attack.

"One of the key issues in all of the hearings is going to be the question of accountability," Roemer said. "While the commission has been reluctant to name names, as we get more revealing and intriguing information, it will become more obvious to the general public. That's why these hearings are so important."

Scheduled to testify Tuesday were Secretary of State Colin Powell and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, as well as their counterparts in the Clinton administration, William Cohen and Madeleine Albright. They are appearing as part of the panel's review of failures in diplomatic and military strategy.

Commissioners say questions for Clinton officials include why the administration reverted to a nonmilitary approach despite knowledge that al-Qaida terrorists had planned attacks to coincide with the Dec. 31, 1999, millennium festivities and particularly after the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole.

In August 1998, Clinton had ordered cruise missile attacks on al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan and a factory in Sudan in retaliation for al-Qaida's suspected role in the bombing of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Osama bin Laden is thought to have narrowly escaped the attacks in Afghanistan.

Bush officials, meanwhile, should expect scrutiny about their counterterrorism strategy after taking office in January 2001 and whether officials downplayed the al-Qaida threat despite warnings from Clinton officials as well as growing intelligence chatter about a possible strike during the summer of 2001.

"We will focus on the leadup to 9-11 and the extraordinary information that was being collected during the summer of 2001 and how that information was or was not disseminated to the appropriate agencies," said Richard Ben-Veniste, a Democratic commissioner and former Watergate prosecutor.

The hearing comes as President Bush's re-election campaign is showcasing his role as a wartime president. And it follows explosive allegations in a book released Monday by Richard A. Clarke, Bush's former counterterrorism coordinator and a holdover from the Clinton administration.

Clarke said he warned Bush officials in a January 2001 memo, just as they were taking office, about the growing al-Qaida threat after the Cole attack but was put off by national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, who "gave me the impression she had never heard the term before."

Rice responded in a series of morning talk show interviews Monday that she asked Clarke to come back with a more comprehensive strategy to eliminate al-Qaida, including military options rather than "pinprick strikes against training camps that had already been abandoned."

Clarke resigned his White House job 13 months ago, after holding senior posts under Presidents Reagan and Clinton and the first President Bush.

In his book, "Against All Enemies," Clarke wrote that the current president "launched an unnecessary and costly war in Iraq that strengthened the fundamentalist, radical Islamic terrorist movement worldwide."

Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday of Clarke's assertions, "I fundamentally disagree with his assessment both of recent history, but also in terms of how to deal with the problem" of global terrorism.

Clarke "wasn't in the loop, frankly, on a lot of this stuff," Cheney said in a telephone interview with radio commentator Rush Limbaugh.

Clarke was scheduled to testify Wednesday, along with CIA Director George Tenet; Clinton national security adviser Sandy Berger, who was Rice's predecessor, and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.

The 10-member commission has invited Rice to testify, but she has declined on the advice of the White House, which cited separation of power concerns involving its staff appearing before a legislative body.

Rice did meet privately with commission members for four hours on Feb. 7 in what Ben-Veniste termed a "very useful interview" in which he found her "candid and forthcoming." Roemer said the "tone and level of cooperation ... was productive." But Ben-Veniste and Roemer have both said they believe Rice should testify in public.

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