Bush had al-Qaida plan before 9/11, claims Rice

The Bush Administration had plans in place to destroy al-Qaida before the September 11 terrorist attacks, United States National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice claimed today.

Defending herself from stinging attacks from former White House counter-terror aide Richard Clarke, Dr Rice insisted that the al-Qaida threat was not ignored in the months leading up to September 11.

Mr Clarke claimed last week that President Bush was obsessed with Iraq and ignored the dangers posed by Osama bin Laden’s terror network.

He suggested that the September 11 attacks on the twin towers, in New York, and the Pentagon, in Washington, could have been prevented.

He said Mr Bush did a “terrible job” in tackling terrorism and accused Dr Rice of incompetence.

Appearing on US television, Dr Rice called the accusations “scurrilous”.

She said: “I know that shortly after we came into office I asked the counter-terrorism team, which we kept in place from the Clinton administration in order to provide continuity and experience, we asked them what policy initiatives should we take,” she said.

She denied that plans to attack Iraq led to the terrorist threat being sidelined.

Rather, she said, officials had already formulated and committed to a plan which would aim to eliminate al-Qaida.

Dr Rice denied Mr Clarke’s claims that Mr Bush tried to intimidate him the day after September 11 into finding a link between them and Iraq.

“I have never seen the president say anything to people in an intimidating way to try to get a particular answer out of them,” she said.

She defended her decision not to give evidence in public before a congressional commission investigating the September 11 attacks.

Appearing on the CBS “60 Minutes” television show, Dr Rice said she had “nothing to hide”.

She has come in for fierce criticism for refusing to go before an open hearing of the commission.

She said it was a “long-standing principle that sitting national security advisers do not testify before the Congress”.

She has already spoken to the panel behind closed doors.

Last week, Secretary of State Colin Powell and the Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld gave evidence in public.

The controversy over the Bush Administration’s attitude towards al-Qaida, before September 11, exploded last week when Mr Clarke, former counter-terrorism adviser to presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton released a book, “Against All Enemies“, about his experiences.

It was quickly followed by an appearance before the September 11 commission where he said the US government had “failed” by allowing the September 11 attacks to happen.

He said the administration failed to act on his warnings that a terror attack was imminent.

For the Bush White House, the terror threat was an “important” issue, but not an “urgent” one, he said.

He also told the commission that Mr Bush “greatly undermined the war on terrorism” by ordering the invasion of Iraq.

That provoked a backlash in Washington, with attempts to portray the former adviser as a disgruntled ex-employee.

Meanwhile, a group of bereaved relatives of September 11 victims said in an open letter that Mr Clarke was “profiteering” from the tragedy.

“The notion of (Mr Clarke) profiteering from anything associated with 9-11 is particularly offensive to all of us,” the families said.