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As a National Security Advisor and Secretary of State, Ms. Rice has been strikingly feckless, passive and incompetent. And I would have to add immoral.
As the incoming NSA only months after the bombing of the Cole, and receiving a number of briefings on the imminent threat of terrorist activities against the U.S. (the most notable being the August 6, 2001 "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in the U.S." and the urgent "hair on fire" meeting on July 10 called by then-CIA Director George J. Tenet and counterterrorism chief, J. Cofer Black,), Ms. Rice's response was total passivity. This was in line with the rest of the Bush-cheney team. As Secretary of State she has been no better.
She has never responded truthfully to questions about her actions or lack of actions. Her appearance before the 9/11 Commission was a primer in the art of obfuscation and deceit, as have any prior appearances before Congress. With the new congress she is especially wary that she might inadvertently tell a bit of the truth under aggressive questioning.
