http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=584&ncid=584&e=9&u=/nm... White House Refuses Panel Request for Rice Speech
By Adam Entous
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House has refused to provide the panel investigating the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks with a speech national security adviser Condoleezza Rice was to deliver on that day touting missile defense as a priority rather than al Qaeda, sources said on Tuesday. <snip>
The White House said it was cooperating with the investigation. "The White House is working with the commission to ensure that it has access to what it needs to do its job," White House spokesman Trent Duffy said. <snip>
The Washington Post, citing former U.S. officials, reported last week that the speech was designed to promote missile defense as the cornerstone of a new national security strategy (reflecting "the intellectual underpinnings for the administration's pre-9/11 neglect of counterterrorism") , and contained no mention of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, or Islamic extremist groups. <snip>
Under pressure, the White House let commission staff review the Clinton papers at the National Archives. A commission official said on Tuesday that staff members had completed their review and that the panel may request some of the documents.