Last week, Tom Kean, the former Republican governor of New Jersey and current chairman of the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, suggested that he may be prepared to place some blame for the attacks inside the Bush administration.
“There are people that, if I was doing the job, would certainly not be in the position they were in at that time because they failed. They simply failed,” Kean said.
Kean’s remarks fueled speculation that the commission may have some harsh words for National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. Apparently feeling a little heat, Rice appears inclined to avoid speaking to the commission altogether.
Time is reporting this week that Rice is “arguing over ground rules for her appearance in part because she does not want to testify under oath or, according to one source, in public.”
Rice could face tough questioning. One Republican commissioner says a comment by Rice last year — that no one “could have predicted that they would try to use a…hijacked airplane as a missile” — was “an unfortunate comment…that was, of course, a wrong-footed statement on its face,” given that there was years of intelligence about Al Qaeda’s interest in airplane attacks.
Whether she signs up willingly to testify now is still an open question. But the commission wants to hear from her.
Just imagine, for a moment, how politically explosive it would be if the independent commission investigating 9/11 had to subpoena Condoleezza Rice to testify under oath. It’d probably never get to that, but the longer Rice drags this out, the more people will wonder what she has to hide.
It’s also encouraging, by the way, to see the commission willing to throw its weight around a bit in its drive for the truth.