UQ Wire: 911 Watchdog Questions For Condi Rice

Washington, D.C. -- April 6: 9/11 CitizensWatch, a watchdog network based in D.C. and New York plans to issue a formal statement with questions for Condoleezza Rice outside the hearing room where she is due to provide sworn testimony to the Commission investigating the September 11th attacks.

The group maintains that Dr. Rice lied to the American people when she said on May 16, 2002 that no one could have imagined the use of planes as weapons; this conclusion is drawn from facts now established in the historical record of the Joint Inquiry Report. CitizensWatch says Rice recently re-iterated this deception in written statements since. The watchdog organization cites FBI translator and whistleblower Sibel Edmonds who made a similar accusation in response based on intelligence she gleaned but can’t speak about due to a Department of Justice claim of "State’s Secrets Privilege."

Questions for Dr. Rice:

1) WAR PLAN FOR AFGHANISTAN: Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage says that there was no pre-9/11 war plan for Afghanistan; you and others have said there was a plan in place prior to 9/11? When did this plan originate and why?

2) AUGUST 6TH BRIEFING: Who initiated the process that led to the August 6th briefing? The President or the CIA? Have you provided the Commission with hard documentation for your claim?

3) WARNINGS FROM FBI FIELD AGENTS: Were you made aware of any of the FBI field agent reports regarding the possible threat posed by potential terrorists training at U.S. flight schools in the Spring and Summer of 2001? After learning about the presence of Al-Qaeda cells in the U.S. and the potential threat of hijackings on August 6, did you initiate heightened defensive measures or issue an advisory of any kind to any of the appropriate agencies?

4) ISI CHIEF REFERENCE DROPPED FROM WHITE HOUSE TRANSCRIPT: Did you hear reference to the ISI Chief (Mahmoud Ahmad) in a press question to you on May 16, 2002? The reference was ‘inaudible’ to the White House transcribers but perfectly audible to the Federal News Service.

5) ISI CHIEF APPROVES $100,000 WIRE TRANSFER: Did you meet personally with ISI Chief Mahmoud Ahmad during his visit to D.C. before 9/11? Did other members of the NSC meet with him? If so what was the purpose of their meetings? Were you later informed of his approval of a $100,000 wire transfer to Mohamed? Was it investigated? Did you have any contact with the ISI chief after 9/11?

6) PLANES AS WEAPONS: When did you first learn of the threat posed by terrorist use of planes as weapons? Were you aware of defensive preparations for such an attack on the President at the G-8 Summit in Genoa, Italy in July of 2001?

7) DEFENDING THE PENTAGON: At the last hearings Secretary Rumsfeld and General Myers could not or would not confirm if intercept pilots received orders for flight 77 on the morning of September 11th? Norman Mineta’s testimony suggests the order was contested in the Situation Room. What were the specifics of the order? Are you satisfied with the explanations provided you by NORAD and the Department of Defense for the failure to defend the Pentagon?

8) SEPT 11 TELE-CONFERENCE: Did you join the multi-agency tele-conference at 8:24AM (some accounts place it at 8:46AM) as initiated by the FAA on the morning of September 11th? If not, why not? And if so, what defensive measures were taken and under whose orders?

9) WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM: How did it happen that the Situation Room director was in Florida the morning of 9/11? Did you take over responsibility there on the morning of 9/11?

"Several of our questions we expect the Commission to ask and Dr. Rice to answer. However, we are betting the Commission will not ask most of these which, if answered, may prove the most illuminating in the search for the truth," insisted the group’s co-founder Kyle F. Hence.

9/11 CitizensWatch calls upon the Fourth Estate will responsibly undertake investigative reporting to answer these questions to the satisfaction of 9/11 victims’ family members and other Americans who are not satisfied with the conduct of either the White House or the compromised government investigation.

CitizensWatch is running a D.C. wide advertising campaign calling for full sworn public testimony from both Presidents Bush and Clinton and Vice-Presidents Cheney and Gore. They are planning a more extensive press conference on Monday, April 12th at the National Press Club; the day before the next 9/11 Commission hearings. Their last press event there, attended by 9/11 victims’ family members, was covered live by C-SPAN, and later streamed as one of the most requested videos on their web site for 8 days.

The groups founders are available for radio and television interviews.

STANDARD DISCLAIMER FROM UQ.ORG: UnansweredQuestions.org does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in the above article. We present this in the interests of research -for the relevant information we believe it contains. We hope that the reader finds in it inspiration to work with us further, in helping to build bridges between our various investigative communities, towards a greater, common understanding of the unanswered questions which now lie before us.