Post by GSC Admin on Mar 30, 2004 17:59:41 GMT -5
www.canada.com/calgary/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=773e0431-44da-4aca-83fe-ba6787099a95
Bush admin agrees to let Rice testify publicly to Sept. 11 commission
Tuesday, March 30, 2004
WASHINGTON (AP) - Bowing to pressure, the White House will allow National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice to testify in public under oath before the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney also agreed to speak with the full panel privately.
To reach the compromise, the administration said Tuesday it had won agreement from the commission that it would seek no further public testimony from White House officials and that Rice's appearance would not be viewed as a precedent.
The commission welcomed the decision in a statement which said, "We will work with the White House to schedule both sessions promptly."
Bush and Cheney have agreed to a single joint private session with all 10 commissioners, with one commission staff member present to take notes of the session, White House counsel Alberto Gonzales said in a letter to the panel. Previously, the administration was only offering private interviews of Bush and Cheney with just the commission chairman and vice-chairman.
The decision to have Rice testify follows the publication of former White House counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke's book, in which he charges that the Bush administration was slow to act against the threat of al-Qaida.
Commissioner Slade Gorton, a former Republican senator from Washington, said the Sept. 11 panel accepted the proposal in a meeting Tuesday morning, including the stipulation that it not call other White House officials because "we hadn't planned to."
"I think the White House would have been better off if it had made the agreements sooner, but I'm delighted," said Gorton. "I have felt all along that her public testimony would be good for the country."
Commissioner Bob Kerrey, a former Democratic senator from Nebraska, said the president and vice-president will not be under oath in their meeting with the commission. Kerry said Rice's testimony will be critical in determining what the Bush administration could have done to prevent the attacks and that the White House "made the right decision."
Aboard Air Force One, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush had decided over the weekend to pursue an arrangement with the commission for Rice's testimony "provided that we can uphold this important principle. It's important to protect the principle of separation of powers between the executive and legislative branch." The president was to make public remarks about the agreement later Tuesday.
The session with the president and vice-president would be without set time constraints, Gorton said. Originally, Bush and Cheney had wanted to restrict any meeting to one hour, although Bush relaxed that requirement earlier this month. Former president Bill Clinton and former vice-president Al Gore agreed last month to private meetings without restrictions. Regarding Rice, Gorton said a previous proposal to make public notes from her private meeting with the panel in February is now moot and won't be done.
Gonzales' letter conditioned the White House's decision on written assurances from the commission that such a step does not set a precedent and that the commission does not request "additional public testimony from any White House official, including Dr. Rice."
Subject to the conditions, the president will agree "to the commission's request for Dr. Rice to testify publicly regarding matters within the commission's statutory mandate," Gonzales' letter said.
"The president recognizes the truly unique and extraordinary circumstances underlying the commission's responsibility to prepare a detailed report on the facts," Gonzales added.
New York Democratic Senator Charles Schumer said, "The administration's reversal shows that it was using executive privilege as an excuse to keep Dr. Rice from testifying. . . . The dedication and bull's-eye integrity of the commission has succeeded, and now hopefully we will be a lot closer to the truth."
"The Bush administration has finally come to its senses," said House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California.
Republican leaders focused their praise on Bush. "We applaud the decision of the president to allow the National Security Adviser, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, to testify before the 9/11 Commission," House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, both Republicans, said in a joint statement.
On Sunday, Rice offered a rebuttal to criticism by Clarke that Clinton "did something, and President Bush did nothing" before Sept. 11 and that both "deserve a failing grade."
Rice responded in televised news interviews. "I don't know what a sense of urgency - any greater than the one that we had - would have caused us to do differently," she said.
Clarke testified before the commission last week.
-
Associated Press writer Hope Yen contributed to this report.
Bush admin agrees to let Rice testify publicly to Sept. 11 commission
Tuesday, March 30, 2004
WASHINGTON (AP) - Bowing to pressure, the White House will allow National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice to testify in public under oath before the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney also agreed to speak with the full panel privately.
To reach the compromise, the administration said Tuesday it had won agreement from the commission that it would seek no further public testimony from White House officials and that Rice's appearance would not be viewed as a precedent.
The commission welcomed the decision in a statement which said, "We will work with the White House to schedule both sessions promptly."
Bush and Cheney have agreed to a single joint private session with all 10 commissioners, with one commission staff member present to take notes of the session, White House counsel Alberto Gonzales said in a letter to the panel. Previously, the administration was only offering private interviews of Bush and Cheney with just the commission chairman and vice-chairman.
The decision to have Rice testify follows the publication of former White House counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke's book, in which he charges that the Bush administration was slow to act against the threat of al-Qaida.
Commissioner Slade Gorton, a former Republican senator from Washington, said the Sept. 11 panel accepted the proposal in a meeting Tuesday morning, including the stipulation that it not call other White House officials because "we hadn't planned to."
"I think the White House would have been better off if it had made the agreements sooner, but I'm delighted," said Gorton. "I have felt all along that her public testimony would be good for the country."
Commissioner Bob Kerrey, a former Democratic senator from Nebraska, said the president and vice-president will not be under oath in their meeting with the commission. Kerry said Rice's testimony will be critical in determining what the Bush administration could have done to prevent the attacks and that the White House "made the right decision."
Aboard Air Force One, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush had decided over the weekend to pursue an arrangement with the commission for Rice's testimony "provided that we can uphold this important principle. It's important to protect the principle of separation of powers between the executive and legislative branch." The president was to make public remarks about the agreement later Tuesday.
The session with the president and vice-president would be without set time constraints, Gorton said. Originally, Bush and Cheney had wanted to restrict any meeting to one hour, although Bush relaxed that requirement earlier this month. Former president Bill Clinton and former vice-president Al Gore agreed last month to private meetings without restrictions. Regarding Rice, Gorton said a previous proposal to make public notes from her private meeting with the panel in February is now moot and won't be done.
Gonzales' letter conditioned the White House's decision on written assurances from the commission that such a step does not set a precedent and that the commission does not request "additional public testimony from any White House official, including Dr. Rice."
Subject to the conditions, the president will agree "to the commission's request for Dr. Rice to testify publicly regarding matters within the commission's statutory mandate," Gonzales' letter said.
"The president recognizes the truly unique and extraordinary circumstances underlying the commission's responsibility to prepare a detailed report on the facts," Gonzales added.
New York Democratic Senator Charles Schumer said, "The administration's reversal shows that it was using executive privilege as an excuse to keep Dr. Rice from testifying. . . . The dedication and bull's-eye integrity of the commission has succeeded, and now hopefully we will be a lot closer to the truth."
"The Bush administration has finally come to its senses," said House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California.
Republican leaders focused their praise on Bush. "We applaud the decision of the president to allow the National Security Adviser, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, to testify before the 9/11 Commission," House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, both Republicans, said in a joint statement.
On Sunday, Rice offered a rebuttal to criticism by Clarke that Clinton "did something, and President Bush did nothing" before Sept. 11 and that both "deserve a failing grade."
Rice responded in televised news interviews. "I don't know what a sense of urgency - any greater than the one that we had - would have caused us to do differently," she said.
Clarke testified before the commission last week.
-
Associated Press writer Hope Yen contributed to this report.
