Bush pinpointed Iraq after 9/11, says Rice
Ms Rice said the administration discussed "doing something against Iraq" after the September 11 attacks and drew up contingency plans, but decided against taking action and to stay focused on Afghanistan.
"There was a discussion of Iraq," Ms Rice told the commission investigating the September 11 attacks.
"Given our exceedingly hostile relationship with Iraq at the time ... it was a reasonable question to ask whether indeed Iraq might have been behind this."
She said President George W Bush asked for "contingency plans" for Iraq in case it was found to be responsible for September 11 or tried to take advantage of US vulnerability in its immediate aftermath.
Ms Rice said the issue of Iraq was raised by Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and pressed by his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, architect of the later invasion of Iraq.
"Given that this was a global war on terror, should we look not just at Afghanistan but should we look at doing something against Iraq? There was a discussion of that," Ms Rice said.
Her comments coming as Iraq descended into bloody chaos not seen since Saddam Hussein's fall a year ago appeared to confirm allegations by Mr Clarke and Mr O'Neill that the administration was fixated on Iraq.
"The president listened to all his advisers. I can tell you that when he went around the table and asked his advisers what he should do, not a single one of his principal advisers advised doing anything against Iraq. It was all to Afghanistan," Ms Rice said.
Last month, Mr Clarke said the administration, immediately after the September 11 attacks, searched for a way to blame Saddam.
He said Mr Bush took him aside and ordered him to "see if Saddam did this. See if he's linked in any way".
Mr Clarke said he responded that al-Qaida was responsible and that Iraq was not linked to the attacks. However, he agreed to look into Mr Bush's request and again found no co-operation between Saddam and al-Qaida.
Ms Rice sought to play down the priority the president placed on Iraq after the September 11 attacks.
"It's not surprising that the president would say, 'What about Iraq', given our hostile relationship with Iraq," she said.
"And I'm quite certain that the president never pushed anybody to twist the facts."
She said Mr Bush, in a conversation with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, had even wondered whether Iran was involved because of the attack's level of sophistication.
Ms Rice recounted a meeting at the White House in which Mr Bush "laid out for me what he wanted to do. And one of the points, after a long list of things about Afghanistan, a long list of things about protecting the homeland, the president said that he wanted contingency plans against Iraq should Iraq act against our interests.
"There was a kind of concern that they might try to take advantage of us in that period," Ms Rice said.
Mr Bush also told her that he wanted contingency plans drawn up "in case we find that they were behind 9/11", Ms Rice said.
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