Bush to let Rice testify before panel

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- President Bush agreed Tuesday to do what he had insisted for weeks he would not: allow National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice to testify publicly and under oath before an independent panel investigating the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.\nThe White House also agreed that Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney would answer questions -- together, in private -- before the entire commission.\nThe turnabout reflected administration concern that the president's strongest point with voters -- his leadership in the War on Terror -- could be eroded if the high-publicity dispute over Rice's testimony lingered.\n"I've ordered this level of cooperation because I consider it necessary to gaining a complete picture of the months and years that preceded the murder of our fellow citizens on Sept. 11, 2001," Bush said.\nThe nation "must never forget the loss or the lessons of Sept. 11, and we must not assume the danger has passed," Bush said in short remarks in the White House briefing room. He took no questions.\nThe commission's Republican chairman, former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean, welcomed the decision and said the White House shouldn't be concerned that the testimony would violate the principles of executive privilege or separation of powers.\n"We recognize the fact that this is an extraordinary event," Kean said. "This does not set a precedent." He said there was still no time set -- either for Rice's public testimony or for Bush and Cheney's private appearance.\nBush is staking much of his re-election bid on his performance as president after the 2001 attacks.\nBut former Bush counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke, in a best-selling book and testimony before the Sept. 11 commission last week, contended the president had been slow to act against al Qaeda before the attacks and compromised the anti-terror battle afterward by going to war with Iraq.\nOpinion polls suggest support for Bush's handling of the war on terror has declined. Two surveys out this week show the president's approval ratings concerning that issue are now in the high 50 percent range after being in the mid-60s for months.\nAlthough the erosion has not hurt Bush in one-on-one polling against Democratic rival John Kerry, the White House saw a brewing problem.\nIt waged a vigorous counterattack on Clarke's credibility. But the many hours Rice spent rebutting Clarke in the news media only raised anew the criticism of the White House refusal to let her testify publicly.\nEven Republicans began saying the administration's argument on separation of powers should be tossed aside.\nCommissioner Slade Gorton, a former Republican senator from Washington state, said he was delighted at Bush's change of heart, but he added: "I think the White House would have been better off if it had made the agreements sooner."\nThe administration had wanted to restrict any access to the president by the commission to just one hour. That limit was relaxed earlier this month, even as the White House continued to insist Bush and Vice President Cheney would meet only privately and only with the commission chairman and vice chairman.\nIt was the president himself who decided over the weekend the criticism needed to be muted with an agreement, McClellan said.\nThe agreement set several conditions.\nWhite House counsel Alberto Gonzales, in a letter to the panel, stipulated that the commission must agree to seek no more public testimony from any White House official and that Rice's appearance would not be viewed as a precedent.\nRice previously appeared before the panel in February in a private meeting, of which no transcript was made.\nAs for Bush, he and Cheney will appear before all 10 commissioners in a single, joint session, with one commission staff member present to take notes, Gonzales wrote.\nThe commission accepted the White House conditions.\nCommissioner Bob Kerrey, a former Democratic senator from Nebraska, said the president and vice president will not be under oath. And Gorton confirmed there would be no time constraints on their appearance.\nCommissioner Tim Roemer, a former Democratic congressman from Indiana, said Rice should address Clarke's charges, including that the Bush administration took too long to develop its anti-terrorism strategy.\n"There are some key questions to try and answer: Was there an urgent priority in the Bush administration in fighting terrorism? How quickly was the decision made?" Roemer said.\nA group of relatives of Sept. 11 victims said they were pleased the commission would be able to question Rice in public but lamented the commission would not do so with other White House officials.