Condi Rice: Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

Semi-lost in the hullabaloo over revelations in Bob Woodward’s “State of Denial” of the Bush administration’s dysfunctionality regarding the Iraq war is a damning section concerning what Condoleezza Rice knew about Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda prior to the 9/11 attacks and why she failed to act on the warnings she received.

Rice, a Kremlinologist by calling and then President Bush’s national security advisor, has acknowledged that she was still fighting the Cold War in the run-up to 9/11, but has repeatedly denied -- including under oath to the 9/11 Commission -- that she was privy to information about the terror group.

Woodward puts the lie to Condi’s lies in describing a July 11, 2001, sitdown that she had with CIA Director George Tenet and J. Cofer Black, his counter-terrorism chief.:

"The two officials pleaded that the U.S. ‘needed to take action that moment - covert, military, whatever - to thwart bin Laden,’ but the two officials felt they were not getting through to Rice. She was polite, but they felt the brush-off. . . . Tenet left the meeting feeling frustrated. Though Rice had given them a fair hearing, no immediate action meant great risk. Black felt the decision to just keep planning was a sustained policy failure. Rice and the Bush team had been in hibernation too long. . . .

"Afterward, Tenet looked back on the meeting with Rice as a lost opportunity to prevent or disrupt the attacks. Rice could have gotten through to Bush on the threat, Tenet thought, but she just didn't get it in time. Black later said, 'The only thing we didn't do was pull the trigger to the gun we were holding to her head.' "

Rice, now secretary of state, has proven herself to be an extraordinary nitwit. She says that she has no recollection of the meeting, which The New York Times, among other media, has corroborated.

(Hat tip to Greg Mitchell at Editor & Publisher)