Only 3~ articles saying it's gonna be a SHOCK
U.S. Report on 9/11 to be 'Explosive'
Government errors, Saudi ties to terrorists among highlights
By Frank Davies
The MIami Herald
Thursday 10 July 2003
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:
. 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.
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Expert: U.S. Knew al-Qaida Might Attack
The Associated Press
Wednesday 09 July 2003
WASHINGTON - The United States and the international community sat by for a decade as Afghanistan became "a terrorist Disneyland" where attackers were trained and assaults were planned, a terrorism expert testified Wednesday.
Rohan Gunaratna, head of terrorism research at the Institute for Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore, told an independent terrorism investigative commission here that U.S. leaders had to know their homeland would eventually be targeted.
"You knew the intention of al-Qaida was to kill American people where they could be found, but still you did not act, and you paid a very heavy price for it," said Gunaratna, the lead-off witness at a full-day hearing on terrorism, al-Qaida and the Muslim world.
The 10-member National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States has held previous hearings focusing on the events of Sept. 11, including how hijackers took control of four airplanes and why U.S. air defenses did not react more quickly.
The commission's chairman, Thomas H. Kean, said the commission must also take a broader look at the rise of terrorist groups.
"To defeat and destroy our enemy, we must understand more than the crimes it already committed," said Kean, a former governor of New Jersey. "We must understand what drives and motivates it, the source of its power, the resources at its command, its internal strengths and weaknesses."
The White House and Congress formed the commission last year following a congressional inquiry into intelligence failures. The panel has a May, 2004 deadline to issue a report on topics including aviation security, immigration and diplomacy.
Kean and the panel's vice chairman, former Indiana Rep. Lee Hamilton, said Tuesday that not all agencies of government have been cooperating fully, which could hamper the independent inquiry.
"The task in front of us is monumental, and time is slipping by," Kean said. "Every day lost complicates our work."
Kean and Hamilton singled out government departments including Defense and Justice that they said were not cooperating fully. They said they took the unusual step because the administration's level of cooperation during the next few weeks will determine whether the panel can meet write a thorough report by its deadline.
Kean said Wednesday, however, that he wasn't yet ready to accuse the administration of trying to thwart the probe.
"Ask me about this two months later. I may change my mind, but I don't think it's intentional foot-dragging," he said on NBC's "Today" program.
Kean said Bush and his aides have tried to help, but "it is also clear that the administration underestimated the scale of the commission's work." The commission has requested 26 briefings and made 44 requests for documents, which cover millions of pages, from 16 government agencies.
In their interim report, Kean and Hamilton said the degree of cooperation has varied by office and agency:
-The commission is receiving access to "a wide range of sensitive documents" from Bush's office and from the National Security Council, but "conditions have been imposed, in some cases, with respect to our access to and usage of materials."
-The CIA assembled a team of analysts to review events leading up to Sept. 11, 2001, and their work has been invaluable. But the CIA has not responded as quickly to the commission's requests for internal documents on management and resources.
-Records requested from the Justice Department are overdue, and the department has yet to resolve how to help the commission review the case of Sept. 11 conspiracy suspect Zacarias Moussaoui, who is awaiting trial.
-Problems with the Defense Department "are becoming particularly serious." The commission has received no responses to requests related to national air defenses among other topics.
-Within the Homeland Security Department , elements of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service "have been slow in providing briefings, although there are recent signs of improvement."
The FBI, State Department and Transportation Department received generally positive reviews.
White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said Bush is committed to helping the commission. "We have already provided thousands of pages of documents, as well as numerous individuals for interviews, and we intend to continue to do so," she said.
Editor's Note | This story is in many ways redundant, given the data provided above. It is included here specifically because of Kean's stated concerns about the Bush administration's use of "government minders" to track interviews pertaining to September 11. - wrp
Go to Original
9-11 Commission Criticizes Bush Administration
VOA News
Wednesday 09 July 2003
The head of a commission probing the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks says a lack of cooperation from several federal agencies is hampering its work.
The chairman, Thomas Kean, a Republican former governor of New Jersey, criticized the Defense and Justice Departments - among others - for not providing critical documents in a timely manner. Mr. Kean said it is clear that the Bush administration underestimated the scale of the independent commission's work. He said he also is particularly troubled by the Bush administration's insistence on always having what he called a government "minder" present when representatives of the commission interview federal employees. He said the commission feels it is intimidating to have someone present who works for the same agency.
The White House and Congress created the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks last year following a congressional inquiry into intelligence failures leading up to the terrorist attacks.
The commission is to examine U.S. preparedness at the time of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and review how the nation responded. The commission has until May, 2004 to report its findings. |
