Rice clashes with Democratic panel members

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, April 09, 2004

Rice clashes with Democratic panel members

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US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice had some heated exchange with Democratic members of an independent commission looking into the Sept. 11 attacks during a nearly-three-hour testimony Thursday over the Bush administration's anti-terror efforts.

Commissioner Richard Ben-Veniste asked Rice if she had told President George W. Bush about warnings from former White House counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke that al Qaeda cells were operating in the United States.

He stopped Rice to repeat the question when she began to respond with a broader answer. Rice said she did not remember whether she discussed with Bush concerns about al Qaeda cells inside the United States.

Ben-Veniste also asked Rice about the title of an August 6, 2001, intelligence memo to Bush on al Qaeda, in which intelligence agencies warned that al Qaeda was attempting to strike inside the United States.

Rice, who has insisted that all warnings about terror attacks before the Sept. 11 pointed to overseas, said she believed the title was "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States."

While she was trying to explain that the memo was only "historical information based on old reporting," Ben-Veniste interrupted her.

"I would like to finish my point here," Rice insisted.

"I didn't know there was a point," Ben-Veniste said.

Former Senator Bob Kerry took issue with Rice when she said President Bush was "tired of swatting at flies" when dealing with al Qaeda network.

"Can you tell me one example where the president swatted a fly when it came to al Qaeda prior to 9/11 ... We only swatted a fly once on the 20th of August 1998. We didn't swat any flies afterwards. How the hell could he be tired?"

Rice responded that Bush meant that the United States should deal with the threat of al Qaeda strategically instead of just responding to individual terrorists.

Rice also clashed with former Democratic Representative Tom Roemer when he pressed her to say how much Bush had been informed of the threat of terror activity.

The 10-member 9/11 panel, The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, was created by congressional legislation in late 2002. There are five Democratic members.

Source: Xinhua

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