Now I'm no lawyer, just a political hack...no wait, I'M BOTH. And so as to the question, was Condi merely spinning, or did she overreach and commit perjury? Based on the evidence so far, that she explained what a classified document said, and upon declassification it appears she was in error, IF her mischaracterization was intentional then it was not just minimalization, but a misrepresentation of a material fact (which it was), it also was BOTH -- spin and perjury.

I know spin and I know perjury when I see them. Shame on you Condi. Covering your ass is always how the conspiracy is exposed.

Here's the evidence:

BEN-VENISTE: Isn't it a fact, Dr. Rice, that the August 6th PDB warned against possible attacks in this country? And I ask you whether you recall the title of that PDB?
RICE: I believe the title was, "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States."

Now here is where she overreached and fell into perjury. Ironically, Ben-Veniste tried to cut her off and that would have saved her, but she couldn't help herself.

* * *
RICE: You said, did it not warn of attacks. It did not warn of attacks inside the United States. ***

But it clearly did. Maybe not in a specific or actionable form to save the towers from being hit, but this was nothing if not a warning. Read it for yourself in the preceding post.

This was no mere "historical" curiosity, but a synopsis of what was the current state of intelligence regarding UBL and AQ, with some background notes to put it in context so the seriousness of the report could be made clear.

To be fair, the portions of the Rice/Ben-Veniste colloquy which I previously deleted are reproduced below.

BEN-VENISTE: Good morning, Dr. Rice.

RICE: Good morning.

BEN-VENISTE: Nice to see you again.

::Lie number 1: (couldn't resist, but she knew what was coming)::

RICE: Nice to see you.

BEN-VENISTE: I want to ask you some questions about the August 6, 2001, PDB. We had been advised in writing by CIA on March 19, 2004, that the August 6th PDB was prepared and self-generated by a CIA employee. Following Director Tenet's testimony on March 26th before us, the CIA clarified its version of events, saying that questions by the president prompted them to prepare the August 6th PDB.

Now, you have said to us in our meeting together earlier in February, that the president directed the CIA to prepare the August 6th PDB.

The extraordinary high terrorist attack threat level in the summer of 2001 is well-documented. And Richard Clarke's testimony about the possibility of an attack against the United States homeland was repeatedly discussed from May to August within the intelligence community, and that is well-documented.

You acknowledged to us in your interview of February 7, 2004, that Richard Clarke told you that al Qaeda cells were in the United States.

Did you tell the president, at any time prior to August 6th, of the existence of al Qaeda cells in the United States?

RICE: First, let me just make certain...

BEN-VENISTE: If you could just answer that question, because I only have a very limited...

RICE: I understand, Commissioner, but it's important...

BEN-VENISTE: Did you tell the president...

RICE: ... that I also address...

(APPLAUSE)

::An obfuscation::

It's also important that, Commissioner, that I address the other issues that you have raised. So I will do it quickly, but if you'll just give me a moment.

BEN-VENISTE: Well, my only question to you is whether you...

RICE: I understand, Commissioner, but I will...

BEN-VENISTE: ... told the president.

RICE: If you'll just give me a moment, I will address fully the questions that you've asked.

First of all, yes, the August 6th PDB was in response to questions of the president -- and that since he asked that this be done. It was not a particular threat report. And there was historical information in there about various aspects of al Qaeda's operations.

::Another obfuscation, meant to distract, not explain or enlighten::

Dick Clarke had told me, I think in a memorandum -- I remember it as being only a line or two -- that there were al Qaeda cells in the United States.

::A deliberate prevarication, the subject of the entire memo was about UBL's consistent attempts to enter and injure the US, and that there were 70 active investigations by our internal security apparatus (unless the FBI was operating inside foreign countries prior to 9/11, ok, maybe in Yeman, but the Cole retribution was shelved.)::

Now, the question is, what did we need to do about that?

::No, the question was, Did YOU tell POTUS::

And I also understood that that was what the FBI was doing, that the FBI was pursuing these al Qaeda cells. I believe in the August 6th memorandum it says that there were 70 full field investigations under way of these cells. And so there was no recommendation that we do something about this; the FBI was pursuing it.

I really don't remember, Commissioner, whether I discussed this with the president.

::Um...that would be a "no", keep digging girl::

BEN-VENISTE: Thank you.

RICE: I remember very well that the president was aware that there were issues inside the United States. He talked to people about this. But I don't remember the al Qaeda cells as being something that we were told we needed to do something about.

::Condi, honey, did you really read the PDB, you can tell us if you just skimmed it, it's ok::

BEN-VENISTE: Isn't it a fact, Dr. Rice, that the August 6th PDB warned against possible attacks in this country? And I ask you whether you recall the title of that PDB?

RICE: I believe the title was, "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States."

::STOP, say not more, plead the 5th, just shut the hell up, right there and then!::

Now, the...

BEN-VENISTE: Thank you.

RICE: No, Mr. Ben-Veniste...

BEN-VENISTE: I will get into the...

RICE: I would like to finish my point here.

::Girlfirend, I'm telling you, enough already::

BEN-VENISTE: I didn't know there was a point.

RICE: Given that -- you asked me whether or not it warned of attacks.

BEN-VENISTE: I asked you what the title was.

RICE: You said, did it not warn of attacks. It did not warn of attacks inside the United States. It was historical information based on old reporting. There was no new threat information. And it did not, in fact, warn of any coming attacks inside the United States.

::Ack!, the whopper, game over::

Reference:
Transcript: Rice's Testimony on 9/11 (washingtonpost.com)