A Tough Question for Condoleezza Rice

A few weeks ago, President Bill Clinton was grilled by Fox News host Chris Wallace about what his administration did to eliminate Osama bin Laden. President Clinton forcefully defended his record and took Wallace to task for not asking the same tough questions of senior Bush administration officials.

This Sunday, Wallace will interview Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. With your help, we can get him to confront Rice with the tough questions he has so far refused to ask.

Tell Chris Wallace to ask Secretary Rice the hard questions about their efforts to eliminate Osama bin Laden prior to 9/11.

Here's the question we think Chris Wallace should ask:

Prior to 9/11, you had eight months to respond to the Al Qaeda attack on the U.S.S. Cole. Why didn't the Bush administration take action and put Al Qaeda out of business?

Wallace told President Clinton that he asked about his administration’s response to the U.S.S. Cole attack because he “got a lot of e-mail from viewers.” Now it’s our turn to send Wallace a message.
Tell Chris Wallace to ask Condi the tough questions.

During the past five years, Vice President Cheney, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Rice, and National Security Advisor Hadley have appeared on Fox News Sunday 42 times, and he hasn’t asked them a single question about their failure to retaliate for the Cole bombings.
This imbalance is reminiscent of recent attempts by conservative ideologues to rewrite the facts of September 11 for political gain, as exemplified by ABC's recent “docudrama” The Path to 9/11. September 11 is too important to play politics with the facts.

Tell Chris Wallace to ask Condi the tough questions.

We will be watching Chris Wallace this weekend and will report back on what he asks. We hope Secretary Rice answers questions about the briefing she received from CIA Director George Tenet on July 10, 2001 about a looming Al Qaeda attack inside the United States. We also hope that she levels with the american people about what the Bush administration did and did not do in the lead-up to 9/11.

Thanks for your help,

Judd Legum and the entire Center for American Progress Action Fund team