Commission on 9/11 reconvenes as watchdog

Commission on 9/11 reconvenes as watchdog

By Holly Yeager in Washington
Published: June 6 2005 19:02 | Last updated: June 6 2005 19:02

Members of the federal commission that investigated the September 11 terrorist attacks were back at work on Monday, following through on a pledge to monitor the US government's implementation of their recommendations.

“We wanted to avoid the fate of so many commissions that do good work and create a brief ripple and then find their report and their recommendations slipping beneath the waves,” said Jamie Gorelick, a deputy attorney-general in the Clinton administration, who chaired the session.

The 10-member bipartisan commission, which often met resistance from the Bush administration, issued its formal report nearly a year ago and formally disbanded last August.

Its meeting on Monday, held at a Washington think-tank, was the first of nine sessions scheduled under the guise of the 9/11 Public Discourse Project, a nonprofit group it has formed.

While they no longer have the power to subpoena witnesses, commission members hope their new round of hearings, called “The Unfinished Agenda”, and continued scrutiny from the families of victims of the attacks, will draw attention to what they say have been shortcomings in the execution of suggestions they made to avoid future attacks.

Ms Gorelick said the commission's members were in unanimous agreement that “the most glaring failure” of their recommendations had been the refusal of Congress to reform its oversight of national intelligence efforts. She said the failure to streamline the process for monitoring and funding the many agencies that have intelligence responsibilities would cut in half “the promise of changes” now under way in the executive branch.

Leaders of congressional intelligence committees were not immediately available for comment.

Future hearings are planned on civil liberties, foreign policy and the director of national intelligence, a new post the commission called for in its report. Congress created the intelligence post late last year. Monday's session, which focused on reform at the CIA and the FBI, took place in front of a large reproduction of the cover the commission's 567-page report, which became a national bestseller.

Richard Thornburgh, former US attorney-general, said the FBI “faces a significant challenge in developing productive working relationships” with an emerging network of state and local law enforcement agencies.

Panel members said the FBI also suffered from hiring difficulties and rapid turnover. And, like other agencies with roles in intelligence, “threat assessments are a notorious weak spot”, said Ms Gorelick.

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9/11 TRUTH EUROPEAN TOUR VIDEO & PHOTOS

Spending nearly $4 million in America, Jimmy Walter has launched advertising blitzes in the most prominent newspapers and magazines, including full-page color ads in Business Week, Forbes, Newsweek, the New York Times, Washington Post, Readers Digest, New Yorker, etc., entitled "Are We Safer Now? According to Mr. Walter, The 9/11 Report has been published, but some very troubling questions remain unanswered."

Beginning in May, 2005 Mr. Walter launched a mega tour throughout Europe including Amsterdam, Vienna, Rome, Berlin, Paris, Madrid, London and Manchester, England. Below are links to photos and complete videos of various Press Conferences, Forums, and Video Presentations from the tour. More will be added over coming weeks, so check back often for updates.

TOUR VIDEOS
http://www.reopen911.org/truthtourgallery.htm

9/11 Links Page!
Last updated: 06/01/2005
http://thewebfairy.com/killtown/911links.html

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C-SPAN callers slam 9/11 WarrenCommissioner Hamilton
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2005/06/318576.shtml

Check out this RealVideo of 9/11 Commission Vice Chair Lee Hamilton (D-CFR) appearing on Washington Journal:

Lee Hamilton, Former Vice Chairman of the September 11 Commission and Former
U.S. Representative (D-IN), discusses "government progress in following the
recommendations of the 9-11 Commission".
5/26/2005: WASHINGTON, DC: 45 min.

rtsp://video.c-span.org/project/ter/ter_wj052605_hamilton.rm

Here are some highlights, expanded from notes posted by Nico Haupt to 911TruthAction

* ~13:44 -- Female caller from NYC asks why the Commission gave a free ride to Gen, Myers and Sec. Rumsfeld... regarding the five wargames the morning of 9/11

* ~19:30 -- A caller mentions Hamilton's long history of covering up for the Bush family and points out that when in the House, he fired investigators who were digging in to the October Surprise scandal. The caller cites Robert Parry of consortiumnews.com for his research on the Hamilton-Bush cover-up connections.

* ~ 27:14 -- A female caller asks why the Commission report didn't mention WTC7, considering that WTC leaseholder Larry Silverstein statement admitted they decided to "pull it" on PBS, mentioning the URL http://prisonplanet.com/011904wtc7.html

* ~ 30:58 -- A caller from Columbia asks about Transportation Sec. Mineta's Commission Testimony on Cheney screaming that "the order still stands" as information came in of a plane being 50 miles out, 10 miles out, etc. from DC. Why didn't the Commission look further into what Cheney was doing and where he was in the chain of command at that time?

* ~ 34:16 -- Call about David Ray Griffin's recent lecture on C|Span/Book TV on
"...government engineering 9/11...", supported by "standing ovation"

Hamilton responded, in part, "I'm not familiar with Griffin's work...His claims are extraordinary... I'm very skeptical about this..." (Hamilton did admit to having heard about the Griffin book). Hamilton claims he has seen "no evidence" of an inside job!

* ~ 37:56 -- Caller from Wisconsin asks why was no one in the govt was held accountable for 9/11?

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9/11 panel gathering again to check results
International Herald Tribune, France - Jun 6, 2005
WASHINGTON Members of the Sept. 11 commission are joining together almost a year after completing their final report to press the ...
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