SCHAKOWSKY: BUSH ADMINISTRATIONS MISSTATEMENT OF THE DAY THREAT OF TERRORISM

MARCH 30, 2004

SCHAKOWSKY: BUSH ADMINISTRATION'S MISSTATEMENT OF THE DAY -
THREAT OF TERRORISM

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) issued today's "Bush Administration's Misstatement of the Day" on the threat of terrorism.

For weeks, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice had refused to testify before the 9/11 Commission in public and under oath. The White House finally caved to public pressure today and Dr. Rice is expected to testify soon before the Commission.

Dr. Rice has appeared on numerous television programs, including 60 Minutes, where she said, for example: "The administration took seriously the threat" of terrorism before 9/11."

The analysis released by the Center for American Progress of Dr. Rice's 3/28/04 appearance on 60 Minutes, however, rebuts claims made by her about the national security failures of the Administration.

RICE CLAIM: "The administration took seriously the threat" of terrorism before 9/11.

FACTS: President Bush himself acknowledges that, despite repeated warnings of an imminent Al Qaeda attack, before 9/11 "I didn't feel the sense of urgency" about terrorism. Similarly, Newsweek reports that Bush's attitude was reflected throughout an Administration that was trying to "de-emphasize terrorism" as an overall priority. As proof, just two of the hundred national security meetings the Administration held during this period addressed the terrorist threat, and the White House refused to hold even one meeting of its highly-touted counterterrorism task force. Meanwhile, the Administration was actively trying to cut funding for counterterrorism, and "vetoed a request to divert $800 million from missile defense into counterterrorism" despite a serious increase in terrorist chatter in the summer of 2001.