Rice, Rice, Cheney*
*sung to the tune of "Ice, Ice, Baby"

Sounds like the White House finally figured out people could see through their horsesh*t According to NBC News: "In a reversal, the White House has agreed to allow national security adviser Condoleezza Rice testify in public and under oath before the Sept. 11, 2001 commission, NBC News has learned. In addition, President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have agreed to testify before the entire commission, not just the two co-chairmen. Their testimony will, however, remain private."

That's fine with me. In fact, I would have been fine with Condi testifying privately as long as she was under oath, that way, when she tried to lie, there would be legal consequences. Apparently, the press stink got so bad that this deal was made. The former Provost of Stanford also released this letter to the press as well. I wonder if the CIA is still going to declassify misleading segments of Clarke's 2002 testimony in classic Republican style (patented Selective Quoting, TM) or if the White House will drop that stunt too.

On Meet the Press two days ago, Clarke (whose 60 Minutes appearance is being used in a new MoveOn ad) asked for everything to be declassified: his 2002 testimony (the complete testimony), his memos and e-mails to Condi, all of it. Something tells me there is more there.

Plus, just on a basic gut level, it seems like more shoes could fall. After all, if you were in charge of intelligence during the the worst intelligence failure in US history, one would think you would lose your job. Yet George Tenet is still there, why? Does he have lots of fun memos lying in a vault where he told Bush what was coming and Bush said, "We need to go get Saddam" or "Nah, they couldn't hit us." before 9/11? Does he have stuff that has Bush begging him to find an Iraq connection after 9/11, despite overwhelming evidence that it was Al-Qaeda?

When I turned on CNN that fateful Tuesday morning, my first thought was, "Bush will try to blame this on Saddam and go after him." I was sick to my stomach for thinking that, and for all those people who were dying before my eyes, and their families. Turns out, my gut instinct was right.

I knew it wasn't Saddam, and I was just a International Relations major in my senior year of college, just imagine what George Tenet must have thought when he was asked to look harder and find an Iraq connection.

This is why elections matter; this is why I care about politics and public policy: People's lives (and well-being) are at stake.