BINGO, II

Last night I commented on the incredible tale that Condi told: that she just couldn't recall a briefing in which then-CIA director George Tenet told her that an al-Qaida attack could come at any time. Well, the story just gets more delicious.

Today, a State Department spokesman admitted that, yes, Condi did meet with Tenet on July 10, 2005, and that yes, he did tell her that an attack was imminent, but that the meeting did not present any new information. According to Sean McCormack, of State, "the information presented in this meeting was not new, rather it was a good summary from the threat reporting from previous weeks."

However, according to The New York Times, "Officials now agree that on July 10, 2001, Mr. Tenet and his counterterrorism deputy, J. Cofer Black, were so alarmed about intelligence pointing to an impending attack by Al Qaida that they demanded an emergency meeting at the White House with Ms. Rice and her National Security Council staff."

So, which is it? Was the briefing a serving of warmed-over mush, or was the CIA genuinely concerned that intelligence pointed to a possible imminent attack in the US? Or could there be elements of truth in both sides of the story: Could it be that the July 10th report was not the first time that the CIA had warned of an al-Qaida threat inside the US? Could it be that Condi, W and the rest of the gang had known the danger even earlier, and decided to ignore the evidence?

At the least, we now know that the administration was warned of possible al-Qaida intentions at least TWO MONTHS before 9/11.

Now, I would be remiss if I did not point you to Richard Clarke's superb piece in Sunday's Times. While I urge you to read the whole article, the heart of it is this: "All the finger-pointing and hunting for scapegoats last week won't rectify those failures, or help us avoid future ones. Fortunately, unlike too many of our political leaders and pundits, most Americans are far more concerned about what we are doing now in the name of fighting terrorism than about petty partisan bickering about the past."

Still, the Bush administration's unwillingness to admit the past (in marked contrast to Bill Clinton's confession of failure in his slugfest with Chris Wallace), indeed it's continued attempt to re-write history (not to mention the ham-fisted way it does so), bode ill for a policy that will really safeguard our national security.