Tomorrow's big story?
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Could have foiled 9/11, Kean says
By JAMES GORDON MEEK in Washington
and DAVE GOLDINER in New York
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
nydailynews.com
The World Trade Center attack could have been prevented, but officials in Washington "simply failed" in their vigilance, the Republican head of the Sept. 11 commission said yesterday.
"This was not something that had to happen," said Thomas Kean, the former New Jersey governor whom President Bush put in charge of the bipartisan panel investigating the worst terror attacks in American history.
Kean said he was flabbergasted that unnamed officials who should have done more still have their jobs.
"There are people that, if I was doing the job, would certainly not be in the position they were in at that time, because they failed," Kean told CBS News. "They simply failed."
Kean vowed major revelations next month when his committee starts hearing public testimony from top officials - possibly even President Bush and former President Bill Clinton.
A commission spokesman insisted Kean isn't trying to finger anyone in either administration - yet.
"We are going to have some disturbing conclusions," spokesman Alvin Felzenberg said. The White House refused last night to comment directly on the CBS interview. "The President wants to learn everything possible about what happened," said deputy spokeswoman Claire Buchan.
The commission already has skirmished with the Bush administration over briefings the White House resisted handing over. A compromise will allow selected members to see most of the documents.
Victims' relatives welcomed Kean's frank talk and said hearing the attacks should have been prevented is not news to them.
"I realized that two years ago," said Stephen Push, whose wife, Lisa Raines, died in the plane that crashed into the Pentagon.
Kristen Breitweiser blasted national security chief Condoleezza Rice for saying the U.S. never dreamed planes could be used as suicide weapons when FBI agents had testified earlier about such a plan.
"We had tons of warnings. Apparently it all went unnoticed," said Breitweiser, 32, of Monmouth County, N.J., whose husband, Ronald, died in the World Trade Center. |
