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Monday, March 29, 2004

The former chief counterterrorism adviser at the White House, who has criticized the Bush administration's preparedness for the attacks, said he would welcome the attempt by leading Republicans to declassify 2-year-old congressional testimony.

The lawmakers hope to show discrepancies between Richard Clarke's recent attacks on the administration's terrorism policies with flattering statements he made as a White House aide.

The White House has asked the commission for a second private session with Rice to clear up "a number of mischaracterizations" of her statements and positions about the attacks. She met with the panel for about four hours at the White House on Feb. 7.

But the White House is declining to let her appear at the commission's televised hearings, citing the constitutional principle of separation of powers.

"We will accept any testimony" from Rice, who was "very, very forthcoming in her first meeting with us," said former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean, a Republican named by President Bush to lead the commission.

"But we do feel unanimously as a commission that she should testify in public. We feel it's important to get her case out there. We recognize there are arguments having to do with separation of powers. We think in a tragedy of this magnitude that those kind of legal arguments are probably overridden," Kean told "Fox News Sunday."

Commissioner John Lehman, a Republican, said Rice "has nothing to hide, and yet this is creating the impression for honest Americans all over the country and people all over the world that the White House has something to hide, that Condi Rice has something to hide.

"And if they do, we sure haven't found it. There are no smoking guns. That's what makes this so absurd. It's a political blunder of the first order," Lehman told ABC's "This Week"

Kean said commissioners "are still going to press" for her public testimony. Asked about issuing a subpoena in an attempt to compel her appearance, Kean said it is not clear that such a legal step is the best way to get the information sought and whether it would be successful given the doctrine of executive privilege.

"We've only got a certain life on this commission, and to get into a court battle over a subpoena we don't think is really appropriate right now, or will it help us leading to our conclusion, so we can issue a report in July, which is now our mandate," Kean said.

Rice Scheduled for '60 Minutes'

Rice, who was to appear on CBS' "60 Minutes" on Sunday night, has spoken at length to reporters about the administration's commitment and strategy for fighting terrorism.

She also has taken a leading role in criticizing Clarke, who testified last week that the administration was preoccupied with Iraq and ignored the threat posed by Usama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda terrorist network.

Rice has said Clarke praised Bush's anti-terror efforts while working for the president, but then began telling a different story after leaving his post and writing a book that has become a best seller since going on sale last week.

On Capitol Hill last week, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn, said Clarke "has told two entirely different stories under oath" — one before the commission and one in classified testimony in July 2002 before a joint House-Senate intelligence inquiry into the Sept. 11 attacks.

Clarke told NBC's "Meet the Press" that he "would welcome" that declassification. He also said Rice's private testimony before the commission should be declassified, as well as e-mails, memos and all other correspondence between Rice and Clarke.

"Let's declassify everything," Clarke said.

He also accused the administration of waging a "campaign to destroy me professionally and personally," and called on the White House to "raise the level of discourse."

Clarke also fired back at the administration by reading Bush's response to his resignation letter.

Noting it was in the president's handwriting, Clarke said the letter read that he would "be missed. You served our nation with distinction and honor," and had "left a positive mark on our government."

"He thinks I served with distinction and honor," Clarke said, while "the rest of his staff is out there to destroy me."

Earlier Sunday, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld insisted that Iraq was not a distraction for the administration in the days before and after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Even before New York and Washington were struck, Al Qaeda was a concern, Rumsfeld said. "We were thinking about what to do about Al Qaeda. Any suggestion that the administration was not would just be incorrect," he said on "Fox News Sunday."

Asked if Bush should apologize to the Sept. 11 families for the government's failure to prevent the attacks, Rumsfeld said the president has made clear his sorrow.

"I think the president has recognized the failure that existed and the concern he has for those people and the fact that the government, our government, was there and that attack took place. I don't know quite what else one would do," the defense secretary said.

In public hearings last week before the commission, Clarke apologized to the families of Sept. 11 victims. He said their government failed them and he did, too.

© 2003 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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