Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- George Tenet, then director of the Central Intelligence Agency, warned Condoleezza Rice of a mounting threat by al-Qaeda two months before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to Bob Woodward's new book.

In a July 10, 2001, meeting with then national security adviser Rice and J. Cofer Black, the State Department's coordinator for counterterrorism, Tenet warned that intercepted messages among al-Qaeda operatives and a mass of other intelligence pointed to an imminent threat, according to the book. Tenet and Black hoped Rice would convey the urgency of the situation to President George W. Bush.

``Rice could have gotten through to Bush on the threat, Tenet thought, but she just didn't get it in time,'' says the book, titled ``State of Denial,'' which went on sale yesterday. ``He felt she was not organized and did not push people, as he tried to do at the CIA.''

Former President Bill Clinton last week accused the Bush administration of largely ignoring the threat from al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden until it was too late and defended his record on counterterrorism.

``No, I didn't get him but at least I tried,'' Clinton said in an interview broadcast Sept. 24 on the ``Fox News Sunday'' program. ``That's the difference between me and some, including all the right-wingers who are attacking me now.''

`Myth/Fact'

Bush spokesman Tony Snow's office issued a statement entitled ``Myth/Fact'' disputing the assertion that Tenet made any such warning and also denied other allegations in Woodward's book.

The White House statement cited State Department spokesman Sean McCormack as saying that Tenet's own testimony before the commission investigating the events leading up to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks didn't mention a meeting with Rice on July 10.

Yesterday, the administration also denied other passages in the book including an alleged 2005 statement by General John P. Abizaid, the American military commander for the Middle East, that ``Rumsfeld doesn't have the credibility anymore'' to act as an advocate or spokesman for U.S. military policy in the region.

The White house also denied Woodward's assertion that former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card twice tried to persuade Bush to fire Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The second time, supposedly with Laura Bush's backing.

``Mrs. Bush's office has said not true,'' the statement quoted Snow as saying in a press briefing yesterday. ``Flatly, not true.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Carlos Torres in Washington ctorres2@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 30, 2006 18:03 EDT