New York Times
9/11 Panel to Seek Testimony From Bush
Sat Feb 14 01:16:47 2004
64.140.158.107

9/11 Panel to Seek Testimony From Bush
By Philip Shenon
The New York Times Friday 13 February 2004
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/021404A.shtml

WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 — The independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 terror attacks said Thursday that it would seek public testimony from President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney about intelligence agency warnings they might have received before the attacks, a move that could provoke a new showdown between the panel and the White House.

The panel said a similar request for public testimony was being made to former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore, as well as to senior Bush administration officials including Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser; George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence; Attorney General John Ashcroft; Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld; and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell.

The White House declined to say whether Mr. Bush or Mr. Cheney would submit to questioning before the commission — either at public hearings or in private.

In a television interview broadcast on Sunday, Mr. Bush promised to cooperate with the 10-member bipartisan commission. But when asked if he would submit to questioning, he said, "Perhaps, perhaps."

After the commission's announcement that it would seek Mr. Bush's testimony, the White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, told reporters that the request was among the "issues that we'll continue to discuss with the commission."

The request leaves Mr. Bush with an uncomfortable choice: either testify before the commission and answer a host of potentially embarrassing questions about intelligence and law enforcement in the months before the Sept. 11 attacks, or refuse to testify, providing Democrats with election-year ammunition to argue that the White House is stonewalling the inquiry.

Mr. Bush could expect to be questioned closely about an Oval Office intelligence briefing that he received in August 2001, which suggested that Al Qaeda might be planning terrorist strikes using commercial airplanes. The White House has refused to make the briefing papers public but has confirmed news reports of their existence.

The commission's vice chairman, Lee H. Hamilton, a former Democratic House member from Indiana, said testimony from Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney, as well as from Mr. Clinton and Mr. Gore, was "important to us in trying to assess the flow of information relating to terrorist activity going into the highest levels of both administrations."

"We're interested in knowing their recollection of events," Mr. Hamilton said in a telephone interview, adding that the commission had already "initiated contacts or was in the process of initiating contacts with the two presidents and the two vice presidents, and I believe we are making progress in setting up meetings with them."

A spokesman for Mr. Clinton declined to say whether he would testify before the panel.

The former president's office in New York said in a statement: "President Clinton supports the work of the 9/11 commission and has been cooperating with it. However, any questions regarding specific requests should be directed to the commission."

Mr. Gore said in a statement issued in Washington that he was willing to answer questions from the panel, although it was not clear whether he was willing to testify in public.

"The commission has invited me to meet with them in private," Mr. Gore said, "and I look forward to being of assistance."

Mr. Hamilton would not predict what the commission would do if Mr. Bush, Mr. Cheney or their immediate predecessors refused to answer its questions — specifically, whether the commission would consider subpoenas to try to compel testimony from any of the four.

"We're a little too early in the process," he said. "I certainly don't want to speculate about what the options would be. I guess historically that would break new ground."

This week, the commission, known formally as the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, debated whether to use its subpoena power to gain access to the daily intelligence digests presented to Mr. Bush in the months before the attacks. It decided against the subpoena after the White House agreed to allow all 10 members of the commission to review a summary of the documents.

There is ample precedent for presidents to provide testimony while in office — but almost always in criminal investigations. President Clinton provided sworn testimony to the independent counsel investigating the Whitewater matter, and he was questioned under oath in 1998 in a sexual misconduct lawsuit.

The commission, led by Thomas H. Kean, a former Republican governor of New Jersey, has had a strained relationship with the White House since its creation, which was initially opposed by Mr. Bush. The White House tried for months to block the panel from any access to the Oval Office intelligence briefings, known as the President's Daily Brief, before allowing the commission to review edited parts of the documents.

-------

=============
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/021404A.shtml

White House Papers No Help, Says Member of 9/11 Panel
By Robert Cohen
The Star-Ledger

Friday 13 February 2004

WASHINGTON -- A Democratic member of the national commission investigating the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks said yesterday that restricted access to White House intelligence documents will make it difficult for the panel to give a full accounting of the tragedy.

In comments contradicting Commission Chairman Thomas Kean, Bob Kerrey, a former senator from Nebraska, said a summary of the classified presidential daily briefing papers made available this week to the bipartisan panel is inadequate.

"What we got was a summary that had been modified substantially with many things taken out," said Kerrey. "I have not seen everything I need. The summary was confusing and limited, and does not inform anyone reading it what was going on in the White House from February 1998 to September 11 (2001)."

The summary was put together by three of the panel's members and its executive director, who were allowed to review the classified documents and report back to the other members. The commission on Tuesday voted to accept their summary, which had been edited by the White House.

With Kerrey and two other Democratic members dissenting, the commission also voted against issuing a subpoena to obtain access to the original White House documents for all 10 commissioners.

Kerrey said it is central to the inquiry to know exactly what Presidents Clinton and Bush and their top policy-makers were told about a possible terrorist attack on U.S. soil, and "what the primary national security people were doing to prepare themselves."

He said the White House promised to provide this information and "broke its word to give our reviewers wide latitude" in taking notes and making complete information available to all 10 commissioners.

"Those who read the full reports are better prepared to give a full accounting than those of us who did not have complete access," said Kerrey, a former Senate Intelligence Committee member. "I wasn't able to bring my knowledge and experience to evaluate the presidential briefing papers."

Kean, the former Republican governor of New Jersey, said this week he is confident the panel has obtained all the information it needs from the documents relating to the al Qaeda threat and the events of Sept. 11, 2001, when terrorists hijacked four airliners and killed nearly 3,000 people.

"A majority of the commission felt our review team saw every document, that nothing was hidden and the summary report gave us enough to do our work and issue a report with integrity," said Kean.

One of the other dissenters, former Democratic Indiana Rep. Tim Roemer, said there was new information in the summary report but he, too, complained the material was insufficient.

"It seems inconsistent to me for the White House to say we were not warned prior to 9/11, but you can't see all the documents that might help you understand this," said Roemer. "If they want to make the claim, let us see the documents so that we may or may not validate that."

Neither Kerrey nor Roemer would discuss the contents of the documents.

The commission continues to struggle with other issues, including a request to Congress to extend its deadline for completing its work from May 27 until July 27.

The panel also is still trying to work out arrangements to take testimony from Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, as well as former Clinton and Vice President Al Gore. Kean has said for months that the panel will want to hear from them, as well as key Cabinet and intelligence officials from both administrations, preferably in public hearings.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan declined to say yesterday whether Bush would testify. He said it is an issue that "we will continue to discuss with the commission in a spirit of cooperation."

Asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday about testifying, Bush said "perhaps."