Ben-Veniste Leaks Excerpt of Condi's Classified Testimony

While the 9/11 Commission is examining whether it can release former terrorism czar Richard Clarke's behind-closed-doors testimony, Commission Democrat Richard Ben-Veniste isn't waiting for any similar deliberation when it comes to National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice's classified account.

On Friday Ben-Veniste began leaking snippets of Rice's confidential interview to friendly media outlets, detailing her still-classified explanation of public comments in 2002 where Rice said, "I don't think anybody" could have predicted that al-Qaida would hijack an airplane and "slam it into the World Trade Center."

In comments published on Saturday, Ben-Veniste told the New York Daily News that Rice "corrected herself in our private interview."

Then, quoting her classified testimony, he said Rice insisted, "'I could not anticipate that they would try to use an airplane as a missile' [while] acknowledging that the intelligence community could anticipate it."

Democrats on the Commission immediately seized on Ben-Veniste's leak to issue new demands that Rice testify in public.

"This [latest discrepancy] is yet another reason why we need to have Dr. Rice come before us in public rather than at the highest classified level," complained 9/11 Commission Democrat Tim Roemer.

Editor's note: