In the wake of Condoleezza Rice's testimony before the 9/11 committee, when we learned by about the memo that caused her to stonewall for weeks and allow herself to be thrown to the wolves by the White House, destroying her reputation forever, I have found my new hero - and strangely enough, I found her on the occasionally annoying "Hardball with Chris Matthews." My new hero is Kristen Breitweiser.
Kristen Breitwieser's husband, Ronald, was killed in the World Trade Center, and Mrs. Breitweiser has represented victims' families who are monitoring the work of the commission. She is brilliant, well-spoken, and tough. She argues that this administration and its agencies - particularly the FBI and CIA - ignored the warning signs. But what is most painful to Kristen Breitwieser and the other 9/11 widows who have gone public is the Bush Administration's refusal to take any responsibility and to stop spinning.
Her reaction today to Rice's performance was swift and cutting: it was Rice's job to "fuse that information" and present it to the President, and "you know what, she didn't do it." Rice's answer: "I can't remember if I told the President about al Qaeda cells operating here in the United States."
And now, of course, we know that it's a fact what Breitwieser and the other 9/11 widows - dismissed as hysterical by Bush officials - have long argued about the title of a daily Presidential security briefing. As the nation now knows, it was entitled:
Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States
I'm not convinced the U.S. could have prevented the 9/11 attacks - possibly, with more effective Presidential oversight, but in my view unlikely. What's offensive is the poltically-motivated coverup of what went on during the national crisis. And that's why we owe the widows of 9/11 like Kristen Breitweiser a debt of gratitude, because more than any other Americans, they've refused to be cowed by the Administration. And they're shining a light on our recent national tragedy.
UPDATE: The full Presidential Daily Briefing from August 6, 2001 has been released on a Saturday night by the White House. It is not, as Dr. Rice claimed under questioning, historical in nature. It deals with what were then current and ongoing threats and U.S. field operations. The revelations in it are not great for the President - but the Administration is just making things worse by trying the old political sidestep. Take responsibility and move on - voters, I think, would be forgiving.
