On Day of Crucial Pre-9/11 Memo, Bush Had 45-Minute Workday

by Jeff Elliott

Condoleezza Rice's testimony on Thursday provided few surprises, but 9/11 Commission member Richard Ben-Veniste pressed the National Security Advisor to reveal details of a Presidential Daily Briefing that was presented to President Bush a month before the attack.

Ben-Veniste asked, "Isn't it a fact, Dr. Rice, that the August 6th PDB warned against possible attacks in this country? And I ask you whether you recall the title of that PDB?"

"I believe the title was, 'Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States,'" Rice answered.

What the still-classified memo actually contained was a topic of much dispute during the rest of Rice's testimony. She claimed that it was only "historical information based on old reporting... that there was nothing in this memo that suggested that an attack was coming on New York or Washington, D.C."

Questions by Commission members Ben-Veniste and Bob Kerry indicated that the memo warned explicitly that the FBI had uncovered suspicious activity that looked like a hijacking within the United States was being planned by al Qaeda.

Whether or not the briefing is a smoking gun won't be known until it is declassified and released to the public -- although if it ever is released, it will likely be heavily redacted to always leave doubt as to its true importance.

But there is no doubt about what President Bush was doing that day: Enjoying the start of a month-long vacation on his ranch. NBC White House correspondent David Gregory reported there was "not a whole lot beyond R&R" going on that day in Crawford, Texas:

"[President Bush] got up early this morning to take a four-mile run before the temperature climbed over 100 degrees. Then he enlisted some ranch hands to help them clear a path to where he wants to build a nature trail. That is outside of public view. The White House is sensitive to criticism that the President may be kicking back a little too much. They released these photographs today with the President looking casual. A 45-minute meeting this morning. He gets intelligence briefings from his staff and talks to senior staff back in Washington. Today that included a conversation with Condoleezza Rice on Macedonia."

Earlier that day, 10 soldiers were ambushed and killed in northern Macedonia by ethnic Albanians, who had been fighting the government for months.

What President Bush was doing that August has renewed importance because of the emphasis in Rice's testimony on the lack of time for the new administration to prepare. No fewer than five times did she point out that "We were in office 233 days" when the Sept. 11 attack occurred. What she neglected to say was that Bush had spent nearly half of his presidency on vacation up to that time, and was heavily criticized for it.

The Washington Post reported August 6 that "By the time President Bush returns to Washington on Labor Day after the longest presidential vacation in 32 years, he will have spent all or part of 54 days since the inauguration at his parched but beloved ranch. That's almost a quarter of his presidency. Throw in four days last month at his parents' seaside estate in Kennebunkport, Maine, and 38 full or partial days at the presidential retreat at Camp David, and Bush will have spent 42 percent of his presidency at vacation spots or en route."

The Post article said administration officials were "acting like they may be worried about the perception that he is loafing," and had "piled on so many activities for this month-long vacation that the president is likely to feel he is marooned at an overly ambitious summer camp." For August 6, the Post repeated the White House press report that Bush "held a 45-minute meeting with four senior officials here and talked by telephone with national security adviser Condoleezza Rice about Macedonia."

A USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll released the same day found 55 percent of the public thought he was taking too much vacation time. Before teeing off for a round of golf August 7, a defensive Bush said all his time is not spent relaxing. He told reporters that he spoke with Rice and White House Chief of Staff Andy Card every day. "I'm working on a lot of issues -- national security matters," Bush was quoted in the Houston Chronicle.

It is unknown how much of his 45-minute workday Bush spent discussing the "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States" memo. Besides Macedonia, the only topics mentioned publicly for August 6 and 7 were federal funding for stem cell research, an upcoming visit with Mexico President Fox, a diplomatic letter to the President of Egypt, and an Aug. 7 minor skirmish with Iraq. U.S. planes patrolling the no-fly zones were fired upon from the ground, and the U.S. retaliated by striking a Iraqi air defense site in northern Iraq. Such events were so routine at the time that Bush's daily golf game was not interrupted to inform him.

After finishing his round of golf, Bush commented, "Saddam Hussein is a menace. He's still a menace, and we need to keep him in check -- and will. He's been a menace forever, and we will do -- he needs to open his country up for inspection -- so we can see whether or not he's developing weapons of mass destruction," the LA Times reported.