Bush's pre-9/11 focus was on missiles, not terrorism

The White House's national security policy before the September 11 attacks focused on the threat of long-range missiles, not on terrorism, The Washington Post said Thursday.
National security advisor Condoleezza Rice was to give a speech on September 11, 2001, designed to promote missile defence as the cornerstone of a new national security strategy, said the daily citing former US officials who read the text.
Rice's speech, which the White House declined to release and was never delivered, criticised the administration of former US President Bill Clinton for not doing enough about the real threat of long-range missiles, the daily said.
"We need to worry about the suitcase bomb, the car bomb and the vial of sarin released in the subway," according to excerpts of the speech provided to the daily. "(But) why put deadbolt locks on your doors and stock up on cans of mace and then decide to leave your windows open?"
The daily said the White House also refused to confirm the accuracy of the excerpts.
The administration of US President George W. Bush is under investigation for its anti-terrorism policies before and after 9/11. Rice is due to testify under oath to an independent panel which last week heard from former counter-terrorism expert Richard Clarke, who slammed the Bush government for not taking terrorist groups like al Qaeda seriously and for focusing too much on Iraq in the aftermath of 9/11.
Rice's speech also mentioned terrorism, said the Post, but only as one of the dangers from rogue nations, such as Iraq, rather than from extremist groups.
The White House's deputy national security adviser for communications James Wilkinson told the Post that Bush's "commitment to fighting terrorism isn't measured by the number of speeches, but by the concrete actions taken to fight the threat."
"The first major foreign policy directive of this administration was the new strategy to eliminate al Qaeda that the White House ordered soon after taking office. It was eliminating al Qaeda, not missile defence, not Iraq, and not the (Anti-Ballistic Missile) Treaty," he said when asked by the daily about Rice's speech.
The Washington Post also said Thursday that Bush's top lawyer Alberto Gonzalez telephoned at least one Republican member of the 9/11 independent commission when the panel convened on March 24 to hear Clarke's testimony.
While the sources with direct knowledge of the calls did not provide their content, Democratic lawmaker Henry Waxman told the daily he wrote Gonzalez asking him to confirm and describe his conversations.
The member of the House of Representatives did not allege there was anything illegal in the calls, but suggested such contacts would be improper because "the conduct of the White House is one of the key issues being investigated by the commission."