Mendacity Becomes Treasonous

“Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she cannot recall then-CIA chief George Tenet warning her of an impending al-Qaida attack in the United States, as a new book claims he did two months before the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

" ‘What I am quite certain of is that I would remember if I was told, as this account apparently says, that there was about to be an attack in the United States, and the idea that I would somehow have ignored that I find incomprehensible,’ Rice said.”

Yes, Miss Rice, I also find that incomprehensible. And yet, the two people who made that report to you – Tenet and the CIA’s top counter-terrorist official Cofer Black -- are both quite sure that they not only made the report but that you seemed to brush them off. In other words, the report was in fact made to you, my dear, and for some reason you are now claiming that it wasn’t. Let me suggest a reason.

Not only did you hear the report, but you were sufficiently convinced of its credibility that you reported it to the current occupant of the White House. Long discussions ensued with, not only the CO and his political advisor, but with VP Cheney as well. The conclusion of the meeting was that, if true, the attack would finally provide the “another Pearl Harbor” the administration had been longing for so that it could open hostilities with Iraq.

Yes, dear lady, it is absolutely inconceivable that you would not have recalled the report, or that you would not have reported it to the White House. More inconceivable to me – but obviously not to you – is that the report would have been considered good news, but that is the only conclusion I have been able to reach given the inconceivability of your not remembering.