Show AS —The Herald Journal Logan Utah1 Friday April 9 2004 AP photo Terry McGowan from New York City center hokfe a picture of her mother who died in the South Tower of the Wofkj Trade Center dur-in- g testimony by National Security Adviser Condoieezza Rice to the independent commtosioninve8tigatingtheSejrtil attacks Thursday in Washington took up the subject of terrorism and whether she bore responsibility for the failure of FBI offices nationwide to be alerted about increased threats before Sept II Rice Continued ftomAl fumbled opportunities to eliminate Unlike Clarke Rice offered ' no apology for the govern- ment’s failure to prevent the attacks “Accountability ma’am After swearing to testify truthfully Rice sat alone at the witness table her hands laced in front of her on a red table- doth as idle read a prepared da statement Rice said this United States accountability” called out Carie Lemack whose mother died on the fust hijacked plane to hit the World 'Trade Center After three hours in the witness chair Rice shook hands with a few family members and then reached out to embrace a few as far back as the Reagan administration more than 20 years ago mounted an insufficient response to the gathering threat of terrorism “The terrorists were at war with us but we were not yet at war with them” Rice said Historically' democratic societies have been slow to respond to threats she said citing provocations before World Wars I and IL “Tragically for all the Ian- guage of war spoken before Sept 11 this country simply was not on a war footing” more With much at stake for the president Rice appeared composed and unruffled even as members challenged her responses and accused her of filibustering with long answers Rice carried the responsibility of defending Bush’s credibility on the issue he has made the cornerstone of Riceaaid Even so Rice said Bush “understood the threatand he understood its importance” She said Bush came into office determined to develop a “more robust” policy to combat and told his campaign After hearing ' from Rice the commission met withformer President Clinton formorc than three hours and said he was da his national security adviser he was “tired of swatting at flies” Picking up on “forthcoming' and responsive to questions" Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney are to be questioned soon also in private Rice recall- - ' her testimony Keney noted that Bush foiled to order a military -- strike in response to anattack onlhe destroyer USS : Cole that killed 17US sailors v three months' before Bush took office ' “Dt Rice we only swatted a fly once - How the ' hell could he (Bush) be’ tired” Kerrey' asked That wasarefer- - ingarashof y vague warnings over the summer said “One of the problems here was there really was noth- -' ing that looked like it was going tqhappen inside the Uni- ted States” She ' said the threats pointed over- - r seas to possible targets in the : Persian Gulf “One of the problems here was there really was nothing that looked like it was going to happen inside the United States" i — v Israel or per- summit the in Genoa ' V : haps Italy of leaders of industrial-ize- d V nations Former Republican Gov Thomas H Kean of NeW Jer-- " sey the commission’s chairman agreed later that the attacks probably could not " haive been stopped - “There are a number of ‘v things that could have been done and had they been done would have been helpful” he said on PBS’ “NewsHour With Jim Lehrer’’ ‘‘But ini all proba- would havehap-pene-d bility’ $-anyway Mr Clarke said -- v 11 the sajpie thing” ' Former Democratic Rep Lee i Hamilton of Indiana foe vice chairman raid he wasn’t cer-tun “Butfoere isn’t any doubt in thy mind that there was A lot of warning coming to policymakers” Ifomilton $aid " 7- Bush and his wife Laura watched the testimony on television from their vacation : fomre in TMaa-rio'yy Rice was pressed on whether she had talked with the presi- dent about the existence of cells In the United States -- afterbeing alerted by Clarke She said couldn’t recall Rice also was challenged on why Bush’s national security team met 100 times before it & ' encetpal998 missile strike Clinton ordered against suspected terror train-- : 4--- 1 U ' : ‘ y’ ingcamps-- i Former Gov Jim Thompsqii a Republican commission : member from Illinois also expressed unhappiness about Bush’s failure to respond to the Cole “Blowing up our destroyers is an act rif war against us is it not?” he asked Rice said the administration decided not to respond “tit for tat" with an inadequate "y response that that would simply embolden terrorist Rice’s testimony under oath and on live national television came after weeks of White Houseresistartce Bush yield- ed after repeated public requestsfrom members of the as well commission iquiet proddings of Republic in Congress — mat an rebuttal was needed in response to Clarke's ' explosive charges' v' Clarke told foe commission last month dud foe Bush V y ' administration give a lower priority to combatting terrorIsm than had Clinton and foat the decision to invade lraq undermined the war oh terror: Clarke interviewed on ABC Complimented Rice for a “very as' t -- - 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