ARAB-US RELATIONS - May 17 - Bush Defends Himself Over Terror Attack Intelligence.

Pres. Bush defends himself publicly against claims that the White House ignored early clues of possible terror attacks. He says at a Rose Garden ceremony honouring Air Force cadets: "Washington is unfortunately the kind of place where second-guessing has become second nature. Had I known that the enemy was going to use airplanes to kill on that fateful morning, I would have done everything in my power to protect the American people. I'll do whatever it takes, and I know you'll join me in doing whatever it takes, to prevent the enemy from attacking America again like they did and causing thousands to suffer and to mourn and to grieve". But democrats continued to criticise the administration's handling of the intelligence data and vowed to press ahead with congressional inquiries.

Democratic leader Richard Gephardt said: "This is not about blame-placing. This is not about trying to assign motives to people. This is about trying to do better in the future". White House spokesman Ari Fleischer hit back at the Democrats, warning critics not to "play politics" with the issue. Senate's Democratic majority leader Tom Daschle called on Bush to turn over to the Senate intelligence committee classified security briefing materials he received before the terrorist attacks. Referring to the report by the FBI agent in Arizona warning of a terror threat, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on NBC television that he was unaware of the FBI agent's memo "until it showed up in the press very recently". National Security Adviser Rice said Bush received some information from the CIA on Aug. 6, but it did not mention a July memorandum from the FBI agent. She added: "He doesn't recall seeing anything; I don't recall seeing anything of this kind". Vice President Dick Cheney also came to Bush's defence, calling "incendiary" any suggestion that the White House had advance knowledge of the attacks. He added: "Such commentary is thoroughly irresponsible and totally unworthy of national leaders in time of war".