Malone LaVeigh
Member
Not much I can add to this. Funny it comes from the NYT, however. They've been some of Bush's biggest supporters.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0128-02.htm
Published on Wednesday, January 28, 2004 by the New York Times
9/11 Commission Says It Needs More Time to Complete Inquiry
by Philip Shenon
WASHINGTON — The independent commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks announced on Tuesday that it was seeking an extension of its deadline to complete the investigation until at least July, raising the prospect of a public fight with the White House and a final report delivered in the heat of the presidential campaign.
The White House and Republican Congressional leaders have said they see no need to extend the congressionally mandated deadline, now set for May 27, and a spokesman for Speaker J. Dennis Hastert said Tuesday that Mr. Hastert would oppose any legislation to grant the extension.
But commission officials said there was no way to finish their work on time, a situation they attribute in part to delays by the Bush administration in turning over documents and other evidence.
The commission said Tuesday that it had not yet received a commitment from the administration for public testimony from prominent White House officials, including Condoleezza Rice, the president's national security adviser. The panel said it was still in negotiations over the possibility of testimony from President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
"We are telling the Congress and the president what we need to do the best possible job," said the panel's chairman, Thomas H. Kean, a Republican who was formerly governor of New Jersey, in announcing the panel's decision to seek an extension of at least two months. "Much work remains, and some hard work in finalizing our report."
The commission's vice chairman, Lee H. Hamilton, a former Democratic House member from Indiana, said the panel was "mindful of the politics" of an extension, "but if we do not have the extra time, we would not have as many hearings as we would like."
The request for an extension came after a day of public hearings in which the panel listened to parts of a taped telephone conversation from the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, in which an American Airlines flight attendant aboard one of the hijacked planes calmly relayed information to the airline about the chaos on board, including the stabbings of two of her colleagues and a passenger.
Although the contents of the tape have been previously disclosed, it was the first time it had been played publicly. The flight attendant, Betty Ann Ong, is heard describing how hijackers had forced passengers to the back of the plane and locked themselves in the cockpit.
"Our first-class galley attendant and our purser are stabbed," Ms. Ong quickly but calmly told an agent at the airline's reservation office in North Carolina. "We can't get into the cockpit. The door won't open."
At the hearing, the panel also sharply questioned former officials of the Federal Aviation Administration over why they had not merged terrorism watch lists that might have alerted airlines to block some of the hijackers from boarding the planes on Sept. 11.
The agency's former security chief acknowledged in testimony that he had not known until this week that the State Department maintained a special terrorist watch list, known as Tipoff, that had thousands of names.
The administration initially opposed creation of the 10-member independent commission, known formally as the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.
Administration officials have acknowledged concern that Democrats, particularly the Democratic nominee for president, will try to make use of the report's findings to embarrass Mr. Bush, especially if the report contains any suggestion that the White House failed to act before Sept. 11 on intelligence suggesting that a catastrophic attack might be imminent.
The White House confirmed news reports last year that an Oval Office intelligence summary presented to Mr. Bush shortly before the attacks suggested that terrorists might be planning an attack using passenger planes.
"It smacks of politics to put out a report like this in the middle of a presidential campaign," said a senior Republican Congressional aide, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The Democrats will spin and spin."
An extension of the commission's deadline would need to be approved in Congress in the next few weeks, and the Senate authors of the bill that created the panel last year, John McCain, Republican of Arizona, and Joseph I. Lieberman, Democrat of Connecticut, have already said that they are willing to try to shepherd an extension bill through Congress, although both have said they expect a fight with Republican Congressional leaders.
"I fully support an extension to ensure that the commission's work is not compromised by the Bush administration's delaying tactics, secrecy and stonewalling," Mr. Lieberman said Tuesday from New Hampshire, where he was campaigning in that day's Democratic presidential primary. "Clearly the president is not interested in a complete and thorough investigation."
Prospects for legislation to extend the deadline were uncertain.
The White House, which in previous statements had suggested that it strongly opposed an extension, said Tuesday that the final decision would be left to Congress.
"Congress is the one who set that deadline when they set up the commission," said Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman. "But we think it's important they move forward as quickly as possible to complete their work," Mr. McClellan said of the commission.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0128-02.htm
Published on Wednesday, January 28, 2004 by the New York Times
9/11 Commission Says It Needs More Time to Complete Inquiry
by Philip Shenon
WASHINGTON — The independent commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks announced on Tuesday that it was seeking an extension of its deadline to complete the investigation until at least July, raising the prospect of a public fight with the White House and a final report delivered in the heat of the presidential campaign.
The White House and Republican Congressional leaders have said they see no need to extend the congressionally mandated deadline, now set for May 27, and a spokesman for Speaker J. Dennis Hastert said Tuesday that Mr. Hastert would oppose any legislation to grant the extension.
But commission officials said there was no way to finish their work on time, a situation they attribute in part to delays by the Bush administration in turning over documents and other evidence.
The commission said Tuesday that it had not yet received a commitment from the administration for public testimony from prominent White House officials, including Condoleezza Rice, the president's national security adviser. The panel said it was still in negotiations over the possibility of testimony from President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
"We are telling the Congress and the president what we need to do the best possible job," said the panel's chairman, Thomas H. Kean, a Republican who was formerly governor of New Jersey, in announcing the panel's decision to seek an extension of at least two months. "Much work remains, and some hard work in finalizing our report."
The commission's vice chairman, Lee H. Hamilton, a former Democratic House member from Indiana, said the panel was "mindful of the politics" of an extension, "but if we do not have the extra time, we would not have as many hearings as we would like."
The request for an extension came after a day of public hearings in which the panel listened to parts of a taped telephone conversation from the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, in which an American Airlines flight attendant aboard one of the hijacked planes calmly relayed information to the airline about the chaos on board, including the stabbings of two of her colleagues and a passenger.
Although the contents of the tape have been previously disclosed, it was the first time it had been played publicly. The flight attendant, Betty Ann Ong, is heard describing how hijackers had forced passengers to the back of the plane and locked themselves in the cockpit.
"Our first-class galley attendant and our purser are stabbed," Ms. Ong quickly but calmly told an agent at the airline's reservation office in North Carolina. "We can't get into the cockpit. The door won't open."
At the hearing, the panel also sharply questioned former officials of the Federal Aviation Administration over why they had not merged terrorism watch lists that might have alerted airlines to block some of the hijackers from boarding the planes on Sept. 11.
The agency's former security chief acknowledged in testimony that he had not known until this week that the State Department maintained a special terrorist watch list, known as Tipoff, that had thousands of names.
The administration initially opposed creation of the 10-member independent commission, known formally as the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.
Administration officials have acknowledged concern that Democrats, particularly the Democratic nominee for president, will try to make use of the report's findings to embarrass Mr. Bush, especially if the report contains any suggestion that the White House failed to act before Sept. 11 on intelligence suggesting that a catastrophic attack might be imminent.
The White House confirmed news reports last year that an Oval Office intelligence summary presented to Mr. Bush shortly before the attacks suggested that terrorists might be planning an attack using passenger planes.
"It smacks of politics to put out a report like this in the middle of a presidential campaign," said a senior Republican Congressional aide, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The Democrats will spin and spin."
An extension of the commission's deadline would need to be approved in Congress in the next few weeks, and the Senate authors of the bill that created the panel last year, John McCain, Republican of Arizona, and Joseph I. Lieberman, Democrat of Connecticut, have already said that they are willing to try to shepherd an extension bill through Congress, although both have said they expect a fight with Republican Congressional leaders.
"I fully support an extension to ensure that the commission's work is not compromised by the Bush administration's delaying tactics, secrecy and stonewalling," Mr. Lieberman said Tuesday from New Hampshire, where he was campaigning in that day's Democratic presidential primary. "Clearly the president is not interested in a complete and thorough investigation."
Prospects for legislation to extend the deadline were uncertain.
The White House, which in previous statements had suggested that it strongly opposed an extension, said Tuesday that the final decision would be left to Congress.
"Congress is the one who set that deadline when they set up the commission," said Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman. "But we think it's important they move forward as quickly as possible to complete their work," Mr. McClellan said of the commission.
