Rice on 9/11: I Take Responsibility, But System Failed

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accepted some responsibility for 2001 terror attacks that happened under her watch, but she added that both the Clinton and Bush administrations failed to see them coming.

Rice, in an interview on CNN, acknowledged that the worst national security breach occurred when she was President Bush’s national security adviser in September 2001.

“I do take responsibility,” she said. “But this was a systemic failure. The United States of America had experienced terrorist attacks in 1993, in 1998, in our embassies abroad, in 2000 against the Cole, and then, finally, in September of 2001.

“But the fact of the matter is that we had not thought of this. We, the administrations before us, had not thought of this as a war against the terrorists that we were going to have to wage.”

Rice didn’t answer whether she considered resigning her post after the 9/11 attacks.

Rice also wouldn’t say whether she voted for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) or Barack Obama in this year’s presidential election.

“I know you’re dying to know. But the fact is that I didn’t get involved in partisan politics,” Rice said. “I think I’ve made clear that I thought that both Sen. McCain — John McCain and Barack Obama, the now president-elect, conducted themselves in a way that made the country proud. It’s why people, I think, abroad were so focused on this election. That’s true.”