What Condi Rice knew
OK, this is perhaps one of the smaller points in the whole controversy about Richard Clarke.
Did Condi Rice somehow indicate that she was not aware of the existence of Al Qaeda early in 2001?
Instapundit links to Henry Hanks, who quotes from an earlier interview to show that Rice was plenty aware of Osama Bin Laden. But this doesn't really answer the question.
Clarke: "As I briefed Rice on Al Qaeda, her facial expression gave me the impression that she had never heard of the term before, so I added, 'Most people think of it as Osama bin Laden's group, but it's much more than that. It's a network of affiliated terrorist organizations with cells in over 50 countries, including the U.S.'"
Unfortunately, Clarke doesn't do himself much good by talking about her facial expression, but he says he was concerned that some people, even very influential people, might be worried about Bin Laden, while not being aware of the extent to which he was part of a multi-national, somewhat loosely organized organization, Al Quaeda.
The earlier Rice interview (October 2000; Hanks says a year earlier, but surely it was just three months or so) shows she was aware of Bin Laden, and his roots in a couple of countries--even that he might strike the U.S.; she doesn't mention Al Qaeda, and for all we can tell it might be true that she had no awareness that Bin Laden might be part of an organization that was active in 50 countries.
Lots of people now matter-of-factly go on as if Clarke has been refuted on this point; as far as I can see, he hasn't. I don't mean to disparage Dr. Rice--she has had a very distinguished career in a number of fields. I believe she has admitted her academic background was in the Communist/ex-communist countries, not the Middle East. It does seem possible that she had precisely the gap in her awareness that Clarke points to.
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