Terrorism Not a Main Concern -- Doo Dah Doo Dah Well, well, well. Now that the Bush Administration with the desperate assistance of its wingnut allies has tried their damnedest to take the eye off the substance of Richard Clarke's charges and tried to disparage him 80,000 ways, comes this. Top Focus Before 9/11 Wasn't on Terrorism Rice Speech Cited Missile Defense On Sept. 11, 2001, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice was scheduled to outline a Bush administration policy that would address "the threats and problems of today and the day after, not the world of yesterday" -- but the focus was largely on missile defense, not terrorism from Islamic radicals. ... The text also implicitly challenged the Clinton administration's policy, saying it did not do enough about the real threat -- long-range missiles... During the summer of 2001, as al Qaeda operatives were in flight training and finalizing plans for the attacks, the administration's public focus was on other matters. After his first meeting with NATO heads of state in Brussels in June 2001, Bush outlined the five top defense issues discussed with the closest U.S. allies. Missile defense was at the top of the list, followed by developing a NATO relationship with Russia, working in common purpose with Europe, increased defense spending in NATO countries, and enlarging the alliance to include former East European countries. The only reference to extremists was in Macedonia, where Bush said regional forces were seeking to subvert a new democracy. And there it is. I guess the White House better go out and claim Clarke likes to wear women's panties or something. Karl get Wolfe Blitzer on the phone! The fact is the Bush Administration continues this foolish "missile defense" aka STAR WARS canard. They also continue to push, as evidenced by Iraq, the State-Sponsored Terrorism line. You'd think 9/11 would be good evidence that it is collections of individuals who can get weapons through cold hard cash or invention -- or as 9/11 showed EVEN LESS -- that can cause terrorist disasters. [John Belushi mode enabled] ....But noooooooooooooooooooo! They are unable to alter this Reagan era thinking into this century.