When Is a Plan Not a Plan?

Evidently, when it's part of the residue of a Democrat administration. This Times article pretty well confirms as a fib Condoleeza Rice's claim in a March 2004 Washington Post Op-Ed piece that "No Al Qaeda plan was turned over to the new administration."

Nice of the Times, by the bye, to remind its readers of Condi's claim in graf 16 of the article, deep in the page 12 continuation. For that matter, nice of the Times to make this article a small headline below the fold on "Take Out the Trash" Saturday.

Further refuting her claim is the Times characterization of the January 2001 Richard Clarke memo in question:

The 13-page proposal presented to Dr. Rice by her top counterterrorism adviser, Richard A. Clarke, laid out ways to step up the fight against Al Qaeda, focusing on Osama bin Laden's headquarters in Afghanistan. The ideas included giving "massive support" to anti-Taliban groups "to keep Islamic extremist fighters tied down;" destroying terrorist training camps "while classes are in session" and then sending in teams to gather intelligence on terrorist cells; deploying armed drone aircraft against known terrorists; more aggressively tracking Qaeda money; and accelerating the F.B.I.'s translation and analysis of material from surveillance of suspected terrorists in American cities.

If this isn't an "al Qaeda plan," what is? Please bear in mind that at 13 pages this plan was about eight pages longer than the President has signaled he is willing to read.