But Bush omitted any mention of tensions between Gulf State officials and the administration over responsibility for the botched response to the storm. "There was nothing in terms of new money," said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.). Perhaps Bush's most controversial language came as he defended the surveillance program.
The president echoed earlier administration assertions that the domestic surveillance program would have been useful before the Sept. 11 attacks. Bush said two Sept. 11 hijackers living in San Diego made telephone calls to Al Qaeda associates overseas, but that "we did not know about their plans until it was too late."
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday February 23, 2006 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 66 words Type of Material: Correction
U.S. oil imports -- An article in the Feb. 1 Section A about President Bush's State of the Union address and his justification for conducting a domestic surveillance program said that "experts point out that the U.S. gets only a fraction -- about 10% -- of its oil imports from the Middle East." In fact, nearly 20% of U.S. oil imports come from the Middle East.
However, The Times has previously reported that some U.S. counterterrorism officials knowledgeable about the case blame an interagency communications breakdown, not a surveillance failure or shortcomings of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
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\o7Times staff writers Richard B. Schmitt, Josh Meyer, Janet Hook, Nicole Gaouette, Joel Havemann, Paul Richter and researcher Robin Cochran in Washington contributed to this report.
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