One of the most enduring moments of the 9/11 Commission hearings came when Condoleezza Rice casually recalled the now infamous August 6, 2001 presidential daily brief (PDB). "I believe," she said, "the title was, 'Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States.'" Now almost exactly seven years later, Secretary of State Rice seems to have missed the warning signs once again. Having sent mixed messages to Tbilisi in July and on vacation as Russian armor poured into the country, Condi Rice ignored the alarm, "Putin determined to strike in Georgia."

The latest failings of George W. Bush's putative Russian expert were detailed by the New York Times this morning. In early July, Condi Rice traveled to Georgia to show support for President Saakashvili in the face of Russian violations of his nation's air space. But while Rice offered "defiant" public support for Georgia amid the growing tensions with Moscow, behind the scenes she was cautioning Saakashvili against precipitous military action in South Ossetia. As the Times described:

During a private dinner on July 9, Ms. Rice's aides say, she warned President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia not to get into a military conflict with Russia that Georgia could not win. "She told him, in no uncertain terms, that he had to put a non-use of force pledge on the table," according to a senior administration official who accompanied Ms. Rice to the Georgian capital.

But publicly, Ms. Rice struck a different tone, one of defiant support for Georgia in the face of Russian pressure. "I'm going to visit a friend and I don't expect much comment about the United States going to visit a friend," she told reporters just before arriving in Tbilisi, even as Russian jets were conducting intimidating maneuvers over South Ossetia.

But when the conflict exploded last week, Rice was missing in action. In a haunting echo of Bush's prolonged August 2001 getaway to his Crawford ranch, Secretary of State Rice was on vacation as Russian forces pounded Georgia. As AFP reported on Monday, days after the start of hostilities:

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has also been noticeably absent on the diplomatic scene, having failed to interrupt her holidays to fly to Tbilisi in support of the Georgian government.

Instead senior State Department official, Matthew Bryza, who oversees the Caucasus region was sent, two days later than planned, to join a joint EU-US mediation effort to win a ceasefire.

Rice's absence did not go unnoticed either in Washington or in the press. Despite claims by the State Department that Rice made more than 90 calls regarding the crisis over the weekend, yesterday the Los Angeles Times simply asked, "where's Condoleezza Rice?" The Wall Street Journal theorized that Rice "seemed so preoccupied with Iraq, Iran and the Arab-Israeli conflict that she didn't have time to fashion an effective response to Russia's muscle-flexing on its borders." For his part, even John McCain highlighted Rice's inaction, stating "the Secretary of State should begin high-level diplomacy, including visiting Europe."

Better late than never, President Bush announced today that he is dispatching Secretary Rice to the region, including visits to France, Russia and Georgia. But as the Bush administration contemplates its response to the ongoing Putin/Medvedev assault on Georgia, in Tbilisi President Saakashvili warned of dire consequences for the United States:

"America is losing the whole region, and this is the region of eastern and central Europe."

That region is supposed to be the area of greatest expertise for the ersatz Soviet guru Condoleezza Rice. But as she showed in assessing the threats posed to U.S. national security by Al Qaeda in 2001, Iraq in 2003 and now Russia in 2008, Condoleezza Rice apparently doesn't know a "grave and gathering danger" when she sees one.

UPDATE: You know things are bad when President Bush postpones his annual Crawford vacation.