9/11 Chair: Attack Was Preventable

CBS ^ | 17 December 2003

[Hal1950]

For the first time, the chairman of the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks is saying publicly that 9/11 could have and should have been prevented, reports CBS News Correspondent Randall Pinkston.

"This is a very, very important part of history and we've got to tell it right," said Thomas Kean.

"As you read the report, you're going to have a pretty clear idea what wasn't done and what should have been done," he said. "This was not something that had to happen."

Appointed by the Bush administration, Kean, a former Republican governor of New Jersey, is now pointing fingers inside the administration and laying blame.

"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. They simply failed," Kean said.

To find out who failed and why, the commission has navigated a political landmine, threatening a subpoena to gain access to the president's top-secret daily briefs. Those documents may shed light on one of the most controversial assertions of the Bush administration – that there was never any thought given to the idea that terrorists might fly an airplane into a building.

"I don't think anybody could have predicted that they would try to use an airplane as a missile, a hijacked airplane as a missile," said national security adviser Condoleeza Rice on May 16, 2002.

"How is it possible we have a national security advisor coming out and saying we had no idea they could use planes as weapons when we had FBI records from 1991 stating that this is a possibility," said Kristen Breitweiser, one of four New Jersey widows who lobbied Congress and the president to appoint the commission.

The widows want to know why various government agencies didn't connect the dots before Sept. 11, such as warnings from FBI offices in Minnesota and Arizona about suspicious student pilots.

"If you were to tell me that two years after the murder of my husband that we wouldn't have one question answered, I wouldn't believe it," Breitweiser said.

Kean admits the commission also has more questions than answers.

Asked whether we should at least know if people sitting in the decision-making spots on that critical day are still in those positions, Kean said, "Yes, the answer is yes. And we will."

Kean promises major revelations in public testimony beginning next month from top officials in the FBI, CIA, Defense Department, National Security Agency and, maybe, President Bush and former President Clinton.

[Fred Mertz]

BF? Please tell me what the acronym means. Thanks.

[Fledermaus]

Monday morning quaterbacking to the max.

[gatorbait]

It's a toady thing.


Ribbiting.....

[Fred Mertz]

I hope that MY Posted are being CCPed.

Some of your idiotic posts are in the humor column. Thanks for the laughs. LOL :)

[Proud Legions]

Good grief! I do not know you, and so no insult intended...but are you an anarchist?

I like to think I am a realist as to the good points and bad of Repubs and the Bush Admin, but I hardly think they are all incompetent and derilect in their duties. I actually think this admistration has done an incredible amount to protect American citizens from terrorists...even if we still have a long-way to go. How you can compare them with the previous administraion is amazing.

In defense the last three administrations though...the argument that in 1991 we had heard of the possibility of using an airplane as a weapon doesn't mean much. I suppose we could have shut down the literally millions of flights that occured after that, but somehow I do not think that is realistic. Better security at airports? I suppose, though the truth is it is impossible to make every flight perfectly safe from terrorists.

It is one thing to be aware of a possible terrorist activity (at a place and time unknown); it is quite another to actually put in place a fail-safe system to prevent terrorism...especially as you are just coming into office.

[nopardons]

My posts are filled, to the brim, with facts, rational, and well thought out prose. If anyone laughs at them, they have fewer than three brain cells working/ are drunk ou of their puny minds/ and/or stoned on some from of dope...perhaps all of these. :-)

And, while you're at it, do tell Toddy that he's lost far more than his mind. Thanks. :-)

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Well, I thought it appropriate since it so reminds me of Scott Farkas and Grover Dill in A Christmas Story.

[gatorbait]

I may be brilliant, but I may be dead!
A possiblity, yes,,,

[FreeReign]

We have met the enemy and it is our government and its incompetents.

Besides the nasty aspect of people dieing when government fails to protect, there is actually something comforting about seeing government fail at something.

If government was able to more often succeed at things, I think we would be in a bit more trouble...know what I mean?

Or do you want the nanny state to protect you in all cases at all costs to liberty?

[Fred Mertz]

Toddler doesn't have time for your penny ante stuff.

[gatorbait]

Clinton gutted not only the military, but also the CIA and FBI, which he not only politicized, but hamstrung and tied their collective handsa. So much for your " brilliance ". Your "intelligence " wouldn't fill a doll's thimble.

He also gutted the FAA.

[Rainmist]

They're gonna have to go back to January, 1992 ......

[nopardons]

Because my posts are worth far more than that and he can't afford them.

And YOU have far too much time on your hands. LOL

[nopardons]

That too. There's almost NOTHING, which he and his horde didn't completely mess up.

[onyx]

What do you think he's doing with his other hand? LOL!

[nopardons]

Three guess and the first two don't count! LOL

[Map Kernow]

Let me clue you in on something: Newsmax takes other people's articles and puts the worst possible spin on them. Especially if they will smear Bush, who Limacher depises.

That may be so. But from the tenor of the piece (and I didn't post it all), it sounded like Limbacher might be taking Bush's side against Kean on this one. My concern is that Carl has heard from other sources what this news story implies: that Kean is trying in his report to hang responsibility for 9/11 around Bush's neck, and to exculpate Clintigula and his crew. Remember, Kean released his comments to CBS News. However much you think Limbacher despises Bush, he doesn't despise Bush as much as even a single office boy working at CBS News does.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Okay, who's got a brillo pad I can use to scrub the images of that out of my brain???

[onyx]

LMAO! Probably views porn in another window. LOL. Cretin deluxe.

[Betty Jo]

Clinton and Bush failed America.

What is so hard to understand about that?

Both political parties care only about themselves.

Bin Ladens plans had been known to both Clinton and Bush admins for years.

$$$$$$$$,re-election and unknown other reasons corrupt our government.

FR is supposed to be against that.Its even on the front home page.

To be against Bush is not the same as being for Clinton.

Silly Betty Jo dislikes them all.