Tom Mooney
Why does 9/11 inquiry scare Bush?
Sat Jul 12 15:59:12 2003
208.152.73.61

Why does 9/11 inquiry scare Bush?

Friday, July 11, 2003 -
The Bush administration has never wanted an inquiry into the intelligence and law-enforcement failures that led up to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and it is doing its best to make sure we never get one. Even the tame commission of Washington insiders, led by men of the president's own party, is now complaining that its work is being hampered by foot-dragging from the Pentagon and Justice Department in producing documents and witnesses, in an effort to run the clock out on it before it can complete its work.

The commission's leaders have taken the extraordinary step of accusing the White House of witness "intimidation," insisting that sensitive witnesses testify only in the presence of a "monitor" from their agency. The parallel to Saddam Hussein's refusal to let Iraqi scientists talk to U.N. weapons inspectors without a similar monitor is too glaring to miss and begs the obvious question: What has Mr. Bush got to hide?

The crudeness of his tactics suggests that whatever it is, it must be pretty bad. The Internet is full of wild theories -- that Mr. Bush knew in advance of 9/11 and allowed it to happen so he could exploit it to get his way in domestic and international politics is the most notable -- and while cyberspace is the natural home of the improbable and the far-fetched, the administration's stonewalling only lends credence to those who believe a cover-up of something is going on.

September 11 was the most traumatic incident in recent American history. Three thousand people died in New York, billions in property was destroyed, the national economy tanked and Americans' sense of security was shattered. The men responsible for the attacks are still at large and openly threaten to attack us again. Yet the commission's budget is only $3 million, a pittance compared to the $100 million that was wasted getting to the bottom of Bill Clinton's Whitewater investment and his extramarital affairs. The hearings in the Republican-dominated Congress were a perfunctory affair that attracted even less attention from a sensation-oriented media than is being paid to this commission.

The American people deserve a thorough investigation. They want to know why the fighter jets weren't scrambled after the first plane hit the tower, what the Clinton and Bush administrations knew about threats from al-Qaida and what they were doing about them, what citizens of our allies Saudi Arabia and Pakistan financed Osama bin Laden and his hijackers, how the FBI and CIA missed obvious clues and let suspects they were following slip away, why airline security was so lax, what is the meaning of a suspicious pattern of stock transactions that occurred before the attacks, whether law enforcement efforts were subordinated to diplomatic priorities and the needs and desires of American oil companies.

Americans want the answers to two basic questions: What went wrong? And what is being done to make sure it never happens again? They should be satisfied with nothing less than an honest effort to get those answers, no matter who they embarrass, and the White House should not stand in the way.

http://www.berkshireeagle.com/Stories/0,1413,101~6267~1506312,00.html#

FROM MY HOMETOWN PAPER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

peace,

Tom
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US Government Final Report On 911 Said 'Explosive'
Address: http://www.rense.com/general38/usgiv.htm  Changed:4:48 PM on
Thursday, July 10, 2003


US Government Final
Report On 911 Said 'Explosive'
By Frank Davies
Miami Herald
7-10-3
WASHINGTON -- A long-awaited final report on the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks
will be released in the next two weeks, containing new information about
U.S. government mistakes and Saudi financing of terrorists.

Former Rep. Tim Roemer, who served on the House Intelligence Committee
and who has read the report, said it will be ''highly explosive'' when
it becomes public.

The staff director for the congressional investigation that produced the
800-page report, Eleanor Hill, said Wednesday that several lengthy
battles with the Bush administration over how much secret data to
declassify have been resolved.

She expects the document to go to the Government Printing Office late
this week and then be made public about a week later.

''It's compelling and galvanizing and will refocus the public's
attention on Sept. 11,'' predicted Roemer, an Indiana Democrat.
``Certain mistakes, errors and gaps in the system will be made
clear.´´

Roemer, who is also a member of the independent commission on Sept. 11,
would not discuss details of the report. He said he expects the public
report to be a compromise between intelligence officials who wanted to
hold back data and congressional leaders and staffers who pressed for
more disclosure.

A source familiar with the investigation, speaking on condition of
anonymity, cited two ''sensitive areas'' of the report that will command
public attention:
--------- read closely here---------------
* More information on ties between the Saudi royal family, government
officials and terrorists. The FBI may have mishandled an investigation
into how two of the Sept. 11 hijackers received aid from Saudi groups
and individuals.
-----------------------------------------------------------
John Lehman, a member of the independent commission, said at a hearing
Wednesday: ``There´s little doubt that much of the funding of
terrorist groups -- whether intentional or unintentional -- is coming
from Saudi sources.´´

* A coherent narrative of intelligence warnings, some of them ignored or
not shared with other agencies, before the Sept. 11 attacks on the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon.

WARNING IN 2001

The report will show that top Bush administration officials were warned
in the summer of 2001 that the al Qaeda terrorist network had plans to
hijack aircraft and launch a ``spectacular attack.´´

Hill would not discuss details of the report, but said it will contain
''new information'' about revelations made last year, when the joint
House-Senate investigation held nine public hearings and 13 closed
sessions.

The final report was completed in December. Since then a working group
of Bush administration intelligence officials has ''scrubbed'' the
report, objecting to additional public disclosures.

PUSH FOR DISCLOSURE

The two chairmen from Florida who oversaw the investigation, Sen. Bob
Graham and Rep. Porter Goss of Sanibel, have pushed for months for more
disclosure.

Graham, a Democrat running for president, has said the administration
was using the excuse of national security to block ''embarrassments'' by
the government.

Goss blamed the declassification battle on traditional resistance from
intelligence officials.

The report will contain chunks of missing type or ''redactions'' to show
where information was withheld, Hill said.

Roemer called the report a ``well-written narrative that will be summer
reading for adults the way Harry Potter is for kids.´´

WIDER PROBE

The 10 members of the independent National Commission on Terrorist
Attacks and its staff have had the report for several months and are
using it in their more wide-ranging investigation.

The congressional investigation focused on intelligence before and after
Sept. 11, while the independent commission's broad mandate includes
immigration, airline safety and congressional oversight of
counterterrorism.

The commission's two leaders, Tom Kean and Lee Hamilton, complained this
week that federal departments were slow in turning over documents needed
for their investigation.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/nation/6269252.htm