Clinton, Gore Set to Face 9/11 Commission

WINS News ^ | 3/2/04

[areafiftyone]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The federal panel reviewing the Sept. 11 attacks has scheduled interviews with former President Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore this month but is struggling to get similar cooperation from President Bush and administration officials.

Members of the bipartisan commission said they were considering a subpoena to force the public testimony of national security adviser Condoleezza Rice. She has declined to appear at the panel's two-day hearing later this month.

"The commission wants to go back in the court of public opinion and appeal to the administration for them to reconsider their first stand," said commissioner Timothy Roemer, a former Democratic congressman from Indiana. "If we don't get that kind of cooperation, compelling Dr. Rice to come before us is an option."

The White House said Tuesday that Rice's testimony was a constitutional issue of separation of powers. "As a matter of law and practice, White House staff have not testified before legislative bodies," National Security Council spokesman Sean McCormack said. "This is not a matter of Dr. Rice's preferences."

The 10-member commission also requested private meetings with Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney about what the administration knew before the attacks, potentially a sensitive subject in an election year.

While Clinton and Gore have consented to public questioning without a time constraint, Bush and Cheney have agreed only to private, separate, one-hour meetings with the commission's chairman and vice chairman, instead of the full panel.

The commission was meeting Tuesday to discuss options as it seeks to hold private interviews with the four officials before its next hearing. The interviews with Clinton and Gore were scheduled for "the next couple of weeks," the commission said.

The latest dispute also comes as the panel seeks additional time from Congress to complete its work. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., agreed Friday to support extending the panel's deadline to July 26, clearing the way for Congress to formally approve legislation this week. The panel was scheduled to finish its work on May 27.

The commission and its supporters wanted a two-month extension of both dates, but met resistance among House GOP leaders, partly because of concern that a final report would get entangled with presidential election politics.

Hastert's proposal would not give the commission any time to wind down its business, a period during which commissioners lobby for implementation of their recommendations on how to prevent future terror attacks and declassify information for public release.

A congressional inquiry into the Sept. 11 attacks took seven months to declassify information, a process that involves White House approval. Under the current deadline, the commission has a 60-day period to wind down. The Senate bill would give it just 30 days.

The chairman and vice chairman of the commission, former New Jersey Republican Gov. Thomas H. Kean and former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., planned to meet separately with Hastert on Tuesday to push for a longer wind-down period.

"We're very hopeful that we can find a way with the House bill and the Senate bill to come together," said commission spokesman Al Felzenberg.

At the panel's next hearing on counterterrorism policy, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell are to testify, as well as their counterparts in the Clinton administration, William Cohen and Madeleine Albright.

Clinton's national security adviser, Sandy Berger, also is to appear at that open session, which commission officials say will be unprecedented in its review of high-level officials in Clinton and Bush administrations.

Rice met with the panel for four hours at the White House on Feb. 7. After the session, at least two commissioners, Roemer and Richard Ben-Venister, another Democrat, said it would be useful to have Rice testify in public.

Relatives of Sept. 11 victims say they are especially interested in Rice's testimony. They cited her May 2002 comments that the administration had no prior indication that terrorists were considering suicide hijackings. Reports later showed that intelligence officials had considered the possibility.

Congress established the Sept. 11 panel - officially known as the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States - to study the nation's preparedness before the attacks and its response afterward, and to make recommendations for guarding against similar disasters.

[Spotsy]

One more clarification - should I vote for John Kerry?

[Bella]

The Mariani woman wants to know the truth. The transcript was posted on the forum. She said she didn't want the money that was offered her to be considered a payoff, I forget the actual terms she used.
You said you had proof about Soros being involved, I'm sure the forum would like to see that proof so we can all work together on this because with election time around the corner, I don't suppose you'd like Kerry in the WH neither.

[Spotsy]

I'll confess, I was pulling your leg about having evidence about Soros' involvement. If I was a Democrat, however, I would put the burden on you to prove that Soros isn't funding this.

Don't let emotion carry away reason. You seem to easily believe in the altruism of these people, while you are so quick to condemn President Bush.

You are quick to believe that Bush has weird motives, but conspiracy theorists and White House hopefuls don't.

To believe these conspiracies, you have to believe that Bush has been pulling the strings of world events for the past 25 years.

Best of luck to you.

[Spotsy]

I bet you believed Clinton when he shook his finger at the media and denied, well you know the rest.

[petitfour]

There are numerous prophecies in the Bible of the high and mighty being "asleep" when the enemy overtakes them. In our case, the most sophisticated equipment in the world could not help us because we were sleeping. I do not believe George W. Bush is/was responsible for what happened on 9/11. I truly believe he is a God-fearing man in place to pick up the pieces of a nation shocked into the realization that we were caught with our pants down. Our shock is apparently short lived as we have judges legalizing abominable behavior and outlawing written acknowledgements of God in public places.

Wake up, America!

I am certain that there have been years and years of warning that a radical element of Islam was infiltrating this country and would strike at whatever opportune moment. I am certain that our "leaders" have been informed of such, and they either ignored it or were blinded to the truth that was right in front of them. At some point, the ones sounding the alarm became quiet because their warnings were being wasted on deaf ears.

[Bella]

Whoa, I didn't say Bush has/had weird motives, you did. All I'm interested in is the truth and not conspiracies. As we all know in this forum, a lot has been hidden and way too many why's, how's, etc. I also feel that everyone should testify under oath since 3000 people had an untimely death. And the other fact, is this war that many of us here do not agree with.

[Phsstpok]

The issue is that they are going to have to defend this decision and it is not easy to defend to the public.

I don't understand your point. Defend WHAT decision? Signing the legislation that set up the commision? Or are you talking about the 1 hour limitation?

I think it's real simple. Bush was in office less than 9 months when 9/11 happened. His FBI director had only been confirmed by Congress a few days before the event.

There were NO precursors, such as warnings, threats or similar attacks since Bush took office that would lead anyone to think that a specific act was immenent.

There was no hand off from the previous administration of intelligence indicating that Islamic terrorists were a specific threat against the continental US, just general information, and that almost entirely pointed to attacks overseas. In fact, the Clintonistas (and Kerry now) view terrorism as a law enforcement issue, not a military or intelligence issue. The Clinton Justice Department, and Clinton himself, made it very clear that they viewed "right wing Christians" and "right wing anti-Castro forces" and "gun nuts" as the real terrorist threats to the US.

Given all of this it is apparent that the press or the dims asking for more than an hour of this President's time is because they are grandstanding and trying to make partisan points.

If they want to know why 9/11 happened they need to spend their time with Clinton, Gore, Reno and mad Maddy Albright and find out what went on the 8 years they were in charge. They need to rake Church Commission members and their cheering section over the coals and demand they justify their actions and the blood on their hands. They need to confront Jimmy Carter and ask why he signed the laws that made it illegal for the CIA and the FBI to share information.

Anyone who wants to spend more than an hour with Bush or Cheney and hasn't already spent years digging into these things isn't interested in the truth.

[mewzilla]

Commission Members
Thomas H. Kean
Chair
Lee H. Hamilton
Vice Chair

Richard Ben-Veniste

Fred F. Fielding

Jamie S. Gorelick
Slade Gorton

Bob Kerrey

John F. Lehman

Timothy J. Roemer

James R. Thompson

[mewzilla]

The fix is in.

[Wait4Truth]

Let's just say President Bush had an inkling of what was to come...no dates or times...just some info..nothing specific..which is the truth...there is never anything specific from the terrorists. What should he have done? Shut down the country for a month? Shut down the airlines? What?

[Spotsy]

Okay, I believe that you have the best intentions.

Please consider for a moment that this struggle between the various commissions and the Bush WHite House has less to do with "stonewalling" to hide wrongdoing than it does with protecting the power and privilege of the executive branch.

The terms power and privilege may rub you the wrong way, but they are absolutely essential for a strong executive branch, which is vital to our political system.

Throughout our history, many have wanted to erode these powers and various presidents have expanded these powers.

Everyone has their motives. My point from the beginning has been, I don't need a commission to tell me that there was a major screw up that led to 9/11 - it includes years of bad policy decisions. And the blame is way too far and wide to point fingers (we all share the blame - as evidenced in many people's desire to be lulled back to sleep even now!)

[PhiKapMom]

Why are you on Free Republic posting your nonsense -- your theories are right out of RATs.com which I didn't think we were allowed to post.

Do you work for Hillary? Sounds like her and What did Bush know and when did he know it?

You are just another person on here that excuses all the Clinton attacks on our military force structure, weapons, and intelligence for their social programs. All Clinton could do was fire off Cruise Missles and refused Bin Laden and you have the audacity to say that 9/11 is the fault of Pres Bush and that he knew it.

You can rest assured that if Pres Bush had any idea this was going to happen he would not have been flying on AF One and his wife would not have been testifying to the Senate.

What kind of monster do you think this President is? Your comments thoroughly disgust me. Go ahead and report me because I would love to have Jim read the garbage you are posting about the President on this thread.

[Spotsy]

Let's just say President Bush had an inkling of what was to come...no dates or times...just some info..nothing specific..which is the truth...there is never anything specific from the terrorists. What should he have done? Shut down the country for a month? Shut down the airlines? What?

Thank you!

[Spotsy]

You tell 'em PhiKapMom! I'm with you.