I find it quite an amazing coincidence that Richard Clarke's accusations (that the Bush Administration was hesitant to act against Al Qaeda) were delayed until his book was published. Seems as though the former counter-terror head wasn't concerned enough to raise a stink until he could make some money off of the deal. But leave it to CBS to position Clarke's book tour as "news".



Condoleezza Rice: "This retrospective rewriting of the history of the first several months of the administration is not helpful... to somehow suggest that the attack on 9/11 could have been prevented by a series of meetings -- I have to tell you that during the period of time we were at battle stations..."



...Rice pointed out that Clarke was in charge of counterterrorism efforts in 1998 when U.S. embassies in African were bombed and in 2000 when the USS Cole was bombed, as well as during "a period of the '90s when al Qaeda was strengthening and when the plots that ended up in September 11th were being hatched."



...Rice said the only time she recalls Clarke asking to brief the president was in June 2001 -- and it was on the issue of cybersecurity...



CNN: Rice rejects Clarke charges