From the Washington Post (registration required), Dr. Condoleeza Rice:
In response to my request for a presidential initiative, the counterterrorism team, which we had held over from the Clinton administration, suggested several ideas, some of which had been around since 1998 but had not been adopted. No al Qaeda plan was turned over to the new administration. [Bold mine]Well. There's one of my questions answered.
Let us be clear. Even their most ardent advocates did not contend that these ideas, even taken together, would have destroyed al Qaeda. We judged that the collection of ideas presented to us were insufficient for the strategy President Bush sought. The president wanted more than a laundry list of ideas simply to contain al Qaeda or "roll back" the threat. Once in office, we quickly began crafting a comprehensive new strategy to "eliminate" the al Qaeda network. The president wanted more than occasional, retaliatory cruise missile strikes. He told me he was "tired of swatting flies."
OUCH! So I guess the Doc had heard of Al Qaeda after all. Maybe Richard Clarke misinterpreted the look she gave
him. ;-)
(Thanks to Jeff Goldstein)
