• Time for candor Time for candor President George W. Bush has relented under pressure and will allow National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice to testify under oath before the independent commission investigating the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The president’s
• Time for candor
Time for candor
President George W. Bush has relented under pressure and will allow National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice to testify under oath before the independent commission investigating the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The president’s claim of executive privilege had become ludicrous as Ms. Rice circulated among the talk shows trying to undermine Richard Clarke’s indictment of the president’s handling of the terrorism threat.
In another belated step in the right direction, Mr. Bush agreed to give the commission more than an hour of his time. Previously, the president had said he would submit to one hour of questioning from the two senior commission members. Now Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney will meet privately with all members of the commission and the time will not be limited to one hour.
For a president who seeks to showcase his handling of the war on terrorism, Mr. Bush has been awfully reticent in his approach to the commission.
First, Mr. Bush opposed creation of the independent panel. Then he delayed for months turning over crucial information about what he was told in his morning intelligence briefings. Then he balked at giving the commission more time to complete its job. Then he wanted to keep Ms. Rice from testifying in public and under oath.
At first, Mr. Bush’s assertion of executive privilege seemed sensible. National security advisers are just what their title suggests: confidential advisers to the president on matters of national security. They are not subject to confirmation by the Senate or to congressional oversight. For that reason, no sitting national security adviser has testified in public about policy to a congressional panel since the position was created half a century ago.
But the White House and Ms. Rice undermined this claim of executive privilege by making Ms. Rice widely available to the media in response to Mr. Clarke’s damaging claim that Mr. Bush mishandled the issue of terrorism before 9-11 and has mishandled the war on terror since then. In essence, Mr. Bush waived his claim of executive privilege by using Ms. Rice as one element of his shabby campaign of character assassination directed at his former top terrorism official.
Mr. Bush and the commission agreed that Ms. Rice’s testimony would not establish a precedent, that the events of Sept. 11 were unique. In announcing his decision to let Ms. Rice testify, the president said the nation “must never forget the loss or the lessons of Sept. 11.” All Americans agree with him, but achieving that goal will require the Bush administration’s full cooperation.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
