transcript: condi blows it BIG TIME under Ben-Veniste questions

[diamond14]

this is the part of the 9/11 hearing, where condi blows it....she didn't have to tell the title to the PDB, condi blurted it out accidentally, and THAT IS WHY THE PDB IS NOW BEING DECLASSIFIED...and she LIES about what is in the PDB, thinking it will never be revealed and she can LIE with a smile (BTW, seemed she GRINNED a lot, inappropriately, considering the seriousness of the topic)...so, Richard Ben-Veniste, the old WATERGATE hero of the nixon-era...rises again to save the day...go Ben-Veniste....go....

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/04/08/rice.transcript/index.html

RICHARD BEN-VENISTE, COMMISSION MEMBER: Good morning, Dr. Rice.

RICE: Good morning.

BEN-VENISTE: Nice to see you again.

RICE: Nice to see you.

BEN-VENISTE: I want to ask you some questions about the August 6, 2001, PDB. We had been advised in writing by CIA on March 19, 2004, that the August 6 PDB was prepared and self-generated by a CIA employee. Following Director Tenet's testimony on March 26 before us, the CIA clarified its version of events, saying that questions by the president prompted them to prepare the August 6 PDB.

Now, you have said to us in our meeting together earlier in February, that the president directed the CIA to prepare the August 6 PDB.

The extraordinary high terrorist attack threat level in the summer of 2001 is well-documented. And Richard Clarke's testimony about the possibility of an attack against the United States homeland was repeatedly discussed from May to August within the intelligence community, and that is well-documented.

You acknowledged to us in your interview of February 7, 2004, that Richard Clarke told you that al Qaeda cells were in the United States.

BEN-VENISTE: Did you tell the president, at any time prior to August 6, of the existence of al Qaeda cells in the United States?

RICE: First, let me just make certain...

BEN-VENISTE: If you could just answer that question, because I only have a very limited...

RICE: I understand, Commissioner, but it's important...

BEN-VENISTE: Did you tell the president...

RICE: ... that I also address...

It's also important that, Commissioner, that I address the other issues that you have raised. So I will do it quickly, but if you'll just give me a moment.

BEN-VENISTE: Well, my only question to you is whether you...

RICE: I understand, Commissioner, but I will...

BEN-VENISTE: ... told the president.

RICE: If you'll just give me a moment, I will address fully the questions that you've asked.

First of all, yes, the August 6 PDB was in response to questions of the president -- and that since he asked that this be done. It was not a particular threat report. And there was historical information in there about various aspects of al Qaeda's operations.

Dick Clarke had told me, I think in a memorandum -- I remember it as being only a line or two -- that there were al Qaeda cells in the United States.

Now, the question is, what did we need to do about that?

And I also understood that that was what the FBI was doing, that the FBI was pursuing these al Qaeda cells. I believe in the August 6 memorandum it says that there were 70 full field investigations under way of these cells. And so there was no recommendation that we do something about this; the FBI was pursuing it. I really don't remember, Commissioner, whether I discussed this with the president.

BEN-VENISTE: Thank you.

RICE: I remember very well that the president was aware that there were issues inside the United States. He talked to people about this. But I don't remember the al Qaeda cells as being something that we were told we needed to do something about.

BEN-VENISTE: Isn't it a fact, Dr. Rice, that the August 6 PDB warned against possible attacks in this country? And I ask you whether you recall the title of that PDB?

RICE: I believe the title was, "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States."

Now, the...

BEN-VENISTE: Thank you.

RICE: No, Mr. Ben-Veniste...

BEN-VENISTE: I will get into the...

RICE: I would like to finish my point here.

BEN-VENISTE: I didn't know there was a point.

RICE: Given that -- you asked me whether or not it warned of attacks.

BEN-VENISTE: I asked you what the title was.

RICE: You said, did it not warn of attacks. It did not warn of attacks inside the United States. It was historical information based on old reporting. There was no new threat information. And it did not, in fact, warn of any coming attacks inside the United States.

BEN-VENISTE: Now, you knew by August 2001 of al Qaeda involvement in the first World Trade Center bombing, is that correct? You knew that in 1999, late '99, in the millennium threat period, that we had thwarted an al Qaeda attempt to blow up Los Angeles International Airport and thwarted cells operating in Brooklyn, New York, and Boston, Massachusetts.

As of the August 6 briefing, you learned that al Qaeda members have resided or traveled to the United States for years and maintained a support system in the United States.

And you learned that FBI information since the 1998 blind sheikh warning of hijackings to free the blind sheikh indicated a pattern of suspicious activity in the country up until August 6 consistent with preparation for hijackings. Isn't that so?

RICE: Do you have other questions that you want me to answer as a part of the sequence?

BEN-VENISTE: Well, did you not -- you have indicated here that this was some historical document. And I am asking you whether it is not the case that you learned in the PDB memo of August 6 that the FBI was saying that it had information suggesting that preparations -- not historically, but ongoing, along with these numerous full field investigations against al Qaeda cells, that preparations were being made consistent with hijackings within the United States?

RICE: What the August 6 PDB said, and perhaps I should read it to you...

BEN-VENISTE: We would be happy to have it declassified in full at this time, including its title.

RICE: I believe, Mr. Ben-Veniste, that you've had access to this PDB. But let me just...

BEN-VENISTE: But we have not had it declassified so that it can be shown publicly, as you know.

RICE: I believe you've had access to this PDB -- exceptional access. But let me address your question.

BEN-VENISTE: Nor could we, prior to today, reveal the title of that PDB.

RICE: May I address the question, sir?

The fact is that this August 6 PDB was in response to the president's questions about whether or not something might happen or something might be planned by al Qaeda inside the United States. He asked because all of the threat reporting or the threat reporting that was actionable was about the threats abroad, not about the United States.

This particular PDB had a long section on what bin Laden had wanted to do -- speculative, much of it -- in '97, '98; that he had, in fact, liked the results of the 1993 bombing.

RICE: It had a number of discussions of -- it had a discussion of whether or not they might use hijacking to try and free a prisoner who was being held in the United States -- Ressam. It reported that the FBI had full field investigations under way.

And we checked on the issue of whether or not there was something going on with surveillance of buildings, and we were told, I believe, that the issue was the courthouse in which this might take place.

Commissioner, this was not a warning. This was a historic memo -- historical memo prepared by the agency because the president was asking questions about what we knew about the inside.

BEN-VENISTE: Well, if you are willing...

RICE: Now, we had already taken...

BEN-VENISTE: If you are willing to declassify that document, then others can make up their minds about it.

Let me ask you a general matter, beyond the fact that this memorandum provided information, not speculative, but based on intelligence information, that bin Laden had threatened to attack the United States and specifically Washington, D.C.

There was nothing reassuring, was there, in that PDB?

RICE: Certainly not. There was nothing reassuring.

But I can also tell you that there was nothing in this memo that suggested that an attack was coming on New York or Washington, D.C. There was nothing in this memo as to time, place, how or where. This was not a threat report to the president or a threat report to me.

BEN-VENISTE: We agree that there were no specifics. Let me move on, if I may.

RICE: There were no specifics, and, in fact, the country had already taken steps through the FAA to warn of potential hijackings. The country had already taken steps through the FBI to task their 56 field offices to increase their activity. The country had taken the steps that it could given that there was no threat reporting about what might happen inside the United States.

BEN-VENISTE: We have explored that and we will continue to with respect to the muscularity and the specifics of those efforts.

The president was in Crawford, Texas, at the time he received the PDB, you were not with him, correct?

RICE: That is correct.

BEN-VENISTE: Now, was the president, in words or substance, alarmed or in any way motivated to take any action, such as meeting with the director of the FBI, meeting with the attorney general, as a result of receiving the information contained in the PDB?

RICE: I want to repeat that when this document was presented, it was presented as, yes, there were some frightening things -- and by the way, I was not at Crawford, but the president and I were in contact and I might have even been, though I can't remember, with him by video link during that time.

The president was told this is historical information. I'm told he was told this is historical information and there was nothing actionable in this. The president knew that the FBI was pursuing this issue. The president knew that the director of central intelligence was pursuing this issue. And there was no new threat information in this document to pursue.

BEN-VENISTE: Final question, because my time has almost expired.

Do you believe that, had the president taken action to issue a directive to the director of CIA to ensure that the FBI had pulsed the agency, to make sure that any information which we know now had been collected was transmitted to the director, that the president might have been able to receive information from CIA with respect to the fact that two al Qaeda operatives who took part in the 9/11 catastrophe were in the United States -- Alhazmi and Mihdhar; and that Moussaoui, who Dick Clarke was never even made aware of, who had jihadist connections, who the FBI had arrested, and who had been in a flight school in Minnesota trying to learn the avionics of a commercial jetliner despite the fact that he had no training previously, had no explanation for the funds in his bank account, and no explanation for why he was in the United States -- would that have possibly, in your view, in hindsight, made a difference in the ability to collect this information, shake the trees, as Richard Clarke had said, and possibly, possibly interrupt the plotters?

RICE: My view, Commissioner Ben-Veniste, as I said to Chairman Kean, is that, first of all, the director of central intelligence and the director of the FBI, given the level of threat, were doing what they thought they could do to deal with the threat that we faced.

There was no threat reporting of any substance about an attack coming in the United States.

RICE: And the director of the FBI and the director of the CIA, had they received information, I am quite certain -- given that the director of the CIA met frequently face to face with the president of the United States -- that he would have made that available to the president or to me.

I do not believe that it is a good analysis to go back and assume that somehow maybe we would have gotten lucky by, quote, "shaking the trees." Dick Clarke was shaking the trees, director of central intelligence was shaking the trees, director of the FBI was shaking the trees. We had a structural problem in the United States.

BEN-VENISTE: Did the president meet with the director of the FBI?

RICE: We had a structural problem in the United States, and that structural problem was that we did not share domestic and foreign intelligence in a way to make a product for policymakers, for good reasons -- for legal reasons, for cultural reasons -- a product that people could depend upon.

BEN-VENISTE: Did the president meet with the director of...

KEAN: Commissioner, we got to move on...

BEN-VENISTE: ... the FBI between August 6 and September 11?

KEAN: ... to Commissioner Fielding.

RICE: I will have to get back to you on that. I am not certain.

KEAN: Commissioner Fielding?

[swag]

1. You know, I saw her blurt the title of the memo

and I just thought she got duped like a grade school student who wanted to prove she was the smartest kid in class, even smarter than the teacher.

I think Ben Veniste is a very crafty counsel.

[Florida_Geek]

3. I love Ben Veniste

and he was fun to watch during the Whitewater commission hearings.

[diamond14]

6. yes, that blurt out of the title was the BIGGEST SCREW-UP....

if not for that screw-up, bush* might have been able to bury the Presidential Daily Briefing forever....

NOW, a lot more must come out...that PDB is extremely damaging to bush* re-selection effort, and may even take down the pResidency earlier...and it has such a nice snappy title...something even the simplest American minds can understand...nothing complicated about it....

bush* is going down...his ship is sinking fast...it's no wonder that bush* and his entire cabal have fought like hell to keep that PDB secret...fought to hide it for TWO and a half years...fought all Americans....fought against the 9/11 families....and just like nixon, the whole thing just fell apart suddenly, due to their own pompous arrogance....

little missy condi thought she was smarter that anyone else, and as you say, like a little school kid, she remembered the title and could state it proudly like she was best in class....falling down on her own arrogance....this whole thing is such a soap-opera...it would actually be funny if it weren't so very tragic....

[Stephanie]

10. It had to be deliberate. She must have been required to answer that questi

Otherwise she never would have answered it. Legally she must have been bound to answer that. Maybe the title is not classified?

[diamond14]

13. look at it again....the question was whether she recalled the title...

she was never asked what the title was...only whether she RECALLED the title....so she could have just said that she did recall the title....but, she blurted out the entire classified title to show Ben-Veniste how terribly smart she is...like a little know-it-all school kid....

and because she blurted out the entire title....now the world knows, she essentially de-classified the report herself...a BIG mistake...


---------------------------------------------------
from the transcript in my first post.....


BEN-VENISTE: Isn't it a fact, Dr. Rice, that the August 6 PDB warned against possible attacks in this country? And I ask you whether you recall the title of that PDB?

RICE: I believe the title was, "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States."

Now, the...

BEN-VENISTE: Thank you.

.............

RICE: I believe, Mr. Ben-Veniste, that you've had access to this PDB. But let me just...

BEN-VENISTE: But we have not had it declassified so that it can be shown publicly, as you know.

RICE: I believe you've had access to this PDB -- exceptional access. But let me address your question.

BEN-VENISTE: Nor could we, prior to today, reveal the title of that PDB.

[JohnOneillsMemory]

23. Woodward already revealed the PDB title in a 2002 article.

So this exchange was a prosecutorial tactic to make her say it out loud to begin characterizing it as a FACE VALUE WARNING AND CALL TO ACTION, not her mush-mouth 'historical' explanation.

By the way, she also blew it when she tried to read more of the Dubya quote in Woodward's book where he admits he 'didn't feel urgency' regarding al-Queda.

She read outloud the part where Dubya said "I wasn't on point..."

The boy king used that good ole boy southernism about hunting dogs by admitting he was not facing the hunted prey.

That's a confession!

I say 'that dawg don't hunt!'

[0007]

14. I think and believe she was caught off guard...

perhaps for a brief moment she forgot that was no no land where Ben Veniste took her.

Condi strolled into the hearing less humble and more arrogance than she should have. Condi underestimated the challenge. I believe, that in her mind she had a well prepared game plan that couldn't be defeated.

[maddezmom]

2. Ben Veniste is a HERO of the 9/11 Commission

said so the day I watched live. and watched again today on CSPAN...and still think so. Thanks for posting.

[leftofthedial]

19. I think Gorelick and Roemer

also had very good moments, although they were far less aggressive than Ben Veniste.

[maddezmom]

25. they both did a fine job

:)

[shockingelk]

4. big lie, right here:

"It did not warn of attacks inside the United States. It was historical information based on old reporting. There was no new threat information."

From the actual PDB:

"FBI information since that time indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attack"

[diamond14]

8. yes, hijackings means airplanes....and it also says NY and DC....

it's no wonder such a BIG BIG fight over hiding this Presidential Briefing...two and half years to peel this out of the bush* hiding places....and cheers to the dedicated American Patriots that exposed these frauds and traitors...

what else is bush* hiding???

[shockingelk]

9. This establishes that Bush knew of suspected plots

The commission will issue it's findings which will examine the action taken in response to those suspected plots ... and Bush will not be able to divorce himself from whatever bungles there were.

Ie, "This piece of information about Moussaui was not followed up up upon."

"Did Bush know the FBI had leads on an al Qaeda plot to hijack planes?"

"If he read the PDB, he did!"

[Beetwasher]

12. They Will Argue Thusly:

That sentence is not a warning. Do you see the word "warning" in that sentence? Therefore, it is not a warning.

That will be there pathetic defense, bank on it.

[enough]

5. Has the commission seen the full version of the PDB,

or just the redacted version?

[diamond14]

7. two members saw whole PDB and were allowed to take notes

for the rest of the commission...so this is the FIRST time that the whole commission has seen any part of the full document...the two members were one Democrat and one reTHUGlican...only for 15 minutes, no photos.....so this PDB is a real big revelation for everyone...

IMO, there's plenty of damage here...redacted version or not....it's clear to see that bush* knew, and did nothing (except to tell his buddy asscroft not to fly commercial)....

the good thing is that the whole PDB is very very simplistic, simple enough for the average American to understand that bush* knew....short and sweet, rather than a long drawn-out unintelligible government report loaded with acronyms and nuances...and I LOVE the nice snappy attention-drawing title....the PDB was likely written for bush*'s 'little' brain...so it plays well for all America: it's a real clear warning of upcoming bin laden attacks on NY and DC, and bush* knew and did nothing....

[calimary]

16. Jamie Gorelick was one of them. She's the one quoted as saying

its contents would "set your hair on fire."

And note, by the way, we're only seeing a page and a half. There were apparently ELEVEN pages. Wonder what's in THOSE?

Those contact numbers again...


Please note, here, The World's Greatest Lists of Media Contacts - not one but TWO of 'em - in the following thread:

LINK:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1380003

[leftofthedial]

20. L'il George's requirment that all briefings

be written at a 4th-grade level so only limited explanation would be required for him may end up biting him in the ass.

[Beetwasher]

11. PERJURY

No way aroung it...

[WhereIsMyFreedom]

15. Ahhh

I missed that the first time around. I figured the declassification happened before the hearing. Isn't it a crime to reveal classified information?

I thought Roemer did a good job too. He got her to say that they didn't have any warning that something was going to happen in the US. No date, time, or place attached to her statement. I smell perjury.

ROEMER: What is a warning, if August 6 isn't and September 4th isn't, to you?

RICE: Well, August 6 is most certainly an historical document that says, "Here's how you might think about al Qaeda." A warning is when you have something that suggests that an attack is impending.

And we did not have, on the United States, threat information that was, in any way, specific enough to suggest that something was coming in the United States.

The September 4th memo, as I've said to you, was a warning to me not to get dragged down by the bureaucracy, not a warning about September 11.

[opihimoimoi]

17. Daily? Meaning there are many more? Well, lets review them too for gods

sake.
Lets see what the Prez let slide never mind warning us of these things.

[WhereIsMyFreedom]

22. Hell yeah

That's one down. Let's see the other 200-some-odd briefings between his taking office and 9/11. According to Clarke, Tenet was constantly reminding Shrub of the terrorist threat. That probably made it into many of the other daily briefings.

[maggrwaggr]

18. wow. that's pretty cut-n-dried lying

no two ways about it.

She lied.

[Dover]

21. I don't recall the dates exactly, but once 9/11 happened it seemed

that the Bush Doctrine, The Patriot Act and other policy changing documents were put out in record time....as though they had been prepared beforehand. They didn't seem to spend much time pondering their next move...it all seemed to unfold like a planned event (much like their practice drills for the continuity of power in an emergency).

[TeeYiYi]

24. Her best performance yet . . .

. . . WOW. Miss prissy pants "little star" blew it. She DIDN'T have to answer that question the way she did. She could have just said "yes" and been done with it. Instead, she was going for extra credit beyond the A+ and blurted out top secret classified info, ultimately paving the way for its declassification. Way to go little star! — Your performance was dazzling! . . . and thank you Richard Ben-Veniste. Very slick.

TYY

[diamond14]

27. yes....condi's performance outed that PDB in just a couple days..

her revelations mandated that the White House release the pResidential Briefing....IMO, the only reason it took so long to release it (2 days) was that the bushie LIE team had to spin in....the Washington Post wrote a BIG article about the late Saturday night mandated conference call with White House officials, AND the WH 'explanation' of the PDB, which was TWICE as long as the PDB itself....

[Isome]

26. Who was that woman...

who asked something to the effect of: "What did the President know and when did he know it?"

It appears she was awfully brave in asking the hard questions, while most other Dems prepared for Dubya's coronation as king of the world and were ready to hand him the keys to the kingdom. It doesn't pay to have courage when you're surrounded by ignorant cowards (both private and public citizens alike).

[supercrash]

28. Jeeesh

OK guys....the name of the memo was released some time ago...well maybe leaked...instead of released....we have had this info for sometime now

Condi didn't let the secret out

[DoYouEverWonder]

29. Until last Thursday all we had was leaked info and rumors

Last Thursday was the first time that even the title was officially made public. There's a big difference between rumors and an official acknowledgment of something.

[supercrash]

32. Well...

The rumor seemed to be exactly right...word for word

the SIC leaked the name sometime ago

[DoYouEverWonder]

33. So then does that mean

all the other consiricy theories are right too?

So far the left seems to be batting a thousand.

[Digit]

30. Blow Job vs Job Blown

The title belies the seriousness of the carnage which occurred on 9/11 but it is accurate in it's simplicity.
There were many warnings that something HUGE was going to happen, and Boosh KNEW. Maybe that is WHY he was taking such a long vacation far away from DC. Even Ashcroft was not flying commercial airliners.

Are we to believe * is such a simpleton that when he saw the plane hit the WTC that he remarked that the person "was one bad pilot"? Especially after we now know of the PDB from August 6th, 2001?
THEN, he continues to read to the school children. The Secret Service at that point should have ushered him out of the classroom...but that did not happen.

He KNEW, THEY KNEW...they allowed it to happen anyway.

[diamond14]

31. video of what bush* did, juxtaposed with NYC towers events....

caution: GRAPHIC video...

thanks to Symbolman, this flash video shows the events of 9/11 from the films of bush* arriving at the elementary, to bush* reading the goat book to little kids, while American citizens jump to their deaths out of the Twin Towers.....it shows photos of both events (NYC and bush*) juxtaposed next to each other on the screen....moving, graphic....


http://www.takebackthemedia.com/true911.html

[9215]

34. Big problem with all this......

It did not give the specific time and place that the aircraft would strike, the type of aircraft used (a cessna or a 747) or even from what airports they would be hijacked from. Mr. Veniste how can you conclude we "knew" of anything that was non-traditional happening? :eyes: :eyes:

Agreed this is a major fuck-up by Rice. As somebody said she was probably lured into the "smartest kid in the class" routine.

Veniste may well go down in history as the guy who broke the whole thing open.

[Blue_Roses]

35. Ben-Veniste

is so good at what he does:)

[opihimoimoi]

36. To the Thinkers of America, Condi seemed she was Spinning.

to the Sheep, she was dazzling. WTH is wrong with this picture? Look at the evidence.... Many people died but would have been saved if the warnings were made public.

She is covering her ass.