9/11 panel hears from Berger, Tenet
Wednesday, March 24, 2004 Posted: 9:31 PM EST (0231 GMT)

Richard Clarke: CIA warnings were not heeded by the administration.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush's former counterterrorism chief testified Wednesday that the administration did not consider terrorism an urgent priority before the September 11, 2001 attacks, despite his repeated warnings about Osama bin Laden's terror network.

"I believe the Bush administration in the first eight months considered terrorism an important issue, but not an urgent issue," Richard Clarke told a commission investigating the September 11 attacks.

Clarke has ignited a firestorm with his assertions that the Bush administration failed to recognize pending terror attacks against the United States and that the president focused too much on Iraq after September 11 -- charges the White House has vigorously disputed.

Vigorously Disputed? Vigorously Dispute the OBVIOUS?!?

By the Way, Where Was National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice?

...Absence of Rice noted
Several members of the commission voiced their displeasure that Rice, who's appeared on numerous TV talk shows, didn't appear before the panel.

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