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White House defends handling of pre-Sept 11
Key members of Congress on Thursday demanded to know if the US government had enough information to head off the September 11 attacks, but Vice President Dick Cheney said that Democratic criticism was irresponsible at a time when a more devastating act of terror could be in the works.
Key members of Congress on Thursday demanded to know if the US government had enough information to head off the September 11 attacks, but Vice President Dick Cheney said that Democratic criticism was irresponsible at a time when a more devastating act of terror could be in the works.
The White House said intelligence given President Bush in August about a possible hijack plot was too general to act upon. "I don't think anybody could have predicted that these people would take an airplane and slam it into the World Trade Center, take another one and slam it into the Pentagon," Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, said.
Bush told Republicans in a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill that "there is a sniff of politics in the air" in the fact Democrats were attacking him on the issue, sources familiar with his remarks said. The White House admitted Bush had a pre-Sept. 11 warning about possible hijackings by followers of Osama bin Laden only after CBS News revealed it on Wednesday night.
Bush, who has enjoyed widespread popularity for his handling of the post-Sept. 11 period, has consistently described the hijack assaults as a "sneak attack."
Cheney said in a speech in New York that suggestions by some Democrats the attacks could have been prevented were "thoroughly irresponsible and totally unworthy of national leaders in a time of war." He cautioned the administration's critics in Congress, saying, "An investigation must not interfere with the ongoing efforts to prevent the next attack, because without a doubt a very real threat of another perhaps more devastating attack still exists."
Pressure was building in Congress for an independent commission to investigate what the government knew in advance of September 11 and whether there was a failure among various federal agencies to respond adequately.
Bureau Report
Bush told Republicans in a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill that "there is a sniff of politics in the air" in the fact Democrats were attacking him on the issue, sources familiar with his remarks said. The White House admitted Bush had a pre-Sept. 11 warning about possible hijackings by followers of Osama bin Laden only after CBS News revealed it on Wednesday night.
Bush, who has enjoyed widespread popularity for his handling of the post-Sept. 11 period, has consistently described the hijack assaults as a "sneak attack."
Cheney said in a speech in New York that suggestions by some Democrats the attacks could have been prevented were "thoroughly irresponsible and totally unworthy of national leaders in a time of war." He cautioned the administration's critics in Congress, saying, "An investigation must not interfere with the ongoing efforts to prevent the next attack, because without a doubt a very real threat of another perhaps more devastating attack still exists."
Pressure was building in Congress for an independent commission to investigate what the government knew in advance of September 11 and whether there was a failure among various federal agencies to respond adequately.
Bureau Report