restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations
An Open Letter to Dr. Condoleezza Rice
Dear Dr. Rice:
Your role as National Security Adviser is a critical one. It has become even more crucial since 9/11. Youve had a hand in the war effort abroad and the security effort at home. On Iraq, you have been a key advocate of just-war doctrine. As early as August 2002, you told the BBC about a very powerful moral case for regime change in Iraq.
And now President Bush has tapped you to defend his administration against charges of failing to act on intelligence data that your critics say could have prevented 9/11. Mr. Richard Clarke, who worked for you, has called you to release the record of your emails in the months up to the attacks to prove his contention that the White House did not take the threat of Al Qaeda seriously.
The 9/11 Commissions chairman, Thomas Kean, has also called for you to testify in public. Even leading Republicans are criticizing your refusal to appear, saying it looks as if you have something to hide. You will not speak under oath to the American people, yet you can take time out of the middle of the day to address a secretive gathering that included global media mogul Rupert Murdoch and top executives from television networks, newspapers, and other media properties owned by Murdochs News Corp.
You say the principle of executive privilege is at stake. The presidents reasoning seems a twisted interpretation of separation of powers. It certainly isnt backed up by recent history. Many presidential advisors have testified before congressional committees. Besides, the 9/11 Commission isnt even a congressional committee. It is the product of law produced by Congress and agreed to by Bush.
Dr. Rice, your predecessors have gone before Congress in the past. Even President Ford testified about his pardon of Richard Nixon. Executive privilege is a flexible concept. The administration made the same argument in 2002 when it said Tom Ridge, then director of the White House Office of Homeland Security, would not testify under oath before Congress. Under pressure from Congress, the White House backed down, and Ridge testified. Why, then, cant you go to the president and ask to testify?
After September 11 you claimed that the White House had no prior knowledge that Al Qaeda was planning to hijack planes in a terrorist attack. That assertion now appears to be false. In the months before the Iraq War you repeatedly reassured the public that the U.S. was seeking a peaceful resolution and that war was not a foregone conclusion. However, it now appears that while you were saying this you were telling State Department officials that the decision to go to war had already been made, well before diplomatic efforts even began. It appears, Dr. Rice, that you have either been misleading the public about your role in the decision to go to war, or you have been grossly negligent in not reading the governments most important intelligence documents.
9/11 Commissioner John Lehman, a Republican, has said [the administration] has nothing to hide, and yet this is creating the impression for honest Americans all over the country and people all over the world that the White House has something to hide, that Condi Rice has something to hide. Lehman told ABCs This Week, There are no smoking guns. Thats what makes this so absurd. Its a political blunder of the first order.
Dr. Rice, with all due respect, I think a lot of people are saying, If you can appear on 60 Minutes, you can appear before the commission under oath. We are learning from the commission that you knew a lot more than youve admitted. Its beginning to look like you simply dont want to be embarrassed. If thats true, youre putting your own interests ahead of the national interest.
Your White House ally Richard Perle said, I think she would be wise to testify. I agree. Its not only the wise thing to do; its the right thing to do.
March 30, 2004
David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com. His latest book, Why I Stopped Listening to Rush: Confessions of a Recovering Neocon, will be released this year.