9/11 commissioner chides Clinton, Bush

AP | 3/25/04 | ELIZABETH WOLFE

[kattracks]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Impassioned and incredulous, Bob Kerrey held little back in criticizing both the Clinton and Bush administration for the way they dealt with Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida before Sept. 11.

It was a big mistake, said the commissioner on the federal panel investigating the attacks, not to use military force against a terrorist organization already suspected in attacks against U.S. interests since the early 1990s.

The former Democratic senator from Nebraska did not spare high-ranking officials from either administration who testified over two days of public hearings on Capitol Hill.

"I just want to say for the record that I'm personally frustrated," he said Wednesday during CIA Director George Tenet's testimony.

In the Senate in the 1990s, Kerrey advocated a more aggressive military role to deal with the Taliban in Afghanistan that was sheltering bin Laden.

During the hearings, Kerrey routinely dismissed witnesses' explanations that military action before Sept. 11 would have been difficult, unpopular and without allied or congressional support.

"Better have tried and failed than not to try at all," Kerrey told former Defense Secretary William Cohen on Tuesday.

To another Clinton Cabinet member, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Kerrey said: "I keep hearing the excuse we didn't have actionable intelligence. Well, what the hell does that say to al-Qaida?"

Kerrey, who left the Senate in 2000 after two terms and now is president of New School University in New York, complained to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld about the months before Sept. 11 that the Bush administration spent developing a plan against al-Qaida and bin Laden:

"I mean, we're dealing with an individual who's led a military effort against the United States for 10 years and has serially killed a significant number of Americans over that period of time. Why in God's name have I got to wait eight months to get a plan?" Kerrey asked.

Kerrey's pointed remarks sometimes drew applause from an audience that included family members of those killed on Sept. 11, 2001.

[kattracks]

"I mean, we're dealing with an individual who's led a military effort against the United States for 10 years and has serially killed a significant number of Americans over that period of time. Why in God's name have I got to wait eight months to get a plan?" Kerrey asked.

Because the clinton administration's games, and then their mishandling of the entire terrorist issue, left the Bush administration having to start from scratch.

[BigSkyFreeper]

As Rummy basically said yesterday, and I'm paraphrasing, "We had to start over from scratch, because the plan inherited to us from the previous administration, from Richard Clarke who put the plan together in the previous administration, just wasn't good enough, and didn't go far enough."

[sixmil]

Instead of all the finger pointing, it would be nice to see someone take some blame. Clark is the only one I have heard so far, yet the talking heads went after him on the radio today. A glimmer of hope is the relative silence on this forum from what I was expecting to see.

[Brandon]

I thought Tenet was very professional, and avoided pointing fingers throughout his testimony.

[Travelgirl]

I thought Tenet was very professional, and avoided pointing fingers throughout his testimony.

I think somebody ought to point fingers at the quilty ones.

[kattracks]

Clarke's mea culpa was just more grandstanding. His message was that the "higher ups" wouldn't listen to him, although he tried his best, and that they were really to blame.

If Clarke was so very concerned and felt guilty, why wait until three years later, when he has a new book coming out, to "tell all"?

I think the message he was trying to get across was that he too, was a victim.

[Diddle E. Squat]

I guess he's taking advantage of the one moment that he can 'play' President, since he couldn't win the actual nomination.

[Fledermaus]

Poor Bob Kerrey, he's afraid of being forgotten and he's still bitter he didn't win in the nomination in 1992.

[Lancey Howard]

"Why in God's name have I got to wait eight months to get a plan?" Kerrey asked.

This scumbag really said this?? Is he implying that he voted for Bush because he finally wanted action after eight friggin' YEARS of inaction by the previous (Clinton) administration, and now he's disappointed?

Is that what this pathetic little mouse is saying?

[Travelgirl]

Clinton had eight years. Bush had eight months and had to rebuild the military and intelligence that the democrats had torn down.

[oreolady]

I TOTALLY agree with you that just that fact alone, that Clarke waited until his book came out to say anything about such a critical matter REALLY begs answering (truthfully) HAH!!!!! (That won't happen, the truth, I mean)

[Lancey Howard]

Incredibly, I thought Sandy Berger came off well.

[alnick]

Why in God's name have I got to wait eight months to get a plan?" Kerrey asked.

Well, I guess he thinks Bush should have ordered a nuclear strike on Afghanistan on January 21, 2001.

[Tall_Texan]

Kerrey is wrong. Republicans *cannot* just go off to war without the wailing and gnashing of teeth from the Democrats, their syncophant media, college liberals and the U.N. Bush would have been labeled a "warmongering cowboy" if he had tried a military assault on terrorists before 9-11.

Democrats can get away with this, but they won't do it unless they see how it helps them politically and usually only when our national interests have nothing to be gained (Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Haiti...).

[Lancey Howard]

By the way, does anybody know why that sick scumbag Clintonite Jamie Gorelich keeps popping up? What is SHE doing on this "commission"? I mean, who else is on it? Roberta Achtenberg?

[sixmil]

I think the message he was trying to get across was that he too, was a victim.

Maybe so. Even if more people take responsibility, which is easy to do since apparently there will be no repercussions, they still all believe that taking out Bin Laden would not have stopped 9/11. This I agree with, but they conveniently stop short of addressing how in hell 19 terrorists were let into this country and trained to highjack airliners for 2 years. In my opinion this is the inevitable result of lax immigration, which continues today at our southern border and within our cities, and is subsidized by the taxpayer to the benefit of some corporate interest out there.

[alnick]

Kerrey is wrong. Republicans *cannot* just go off to war without the wailing and gnashing of teeth from the Democrats, their syncophant media, college liberals and the U.N. Bush would have been labeled a "warmongering cowboy" if he had tried a military assault on terrorists before 9-11.

Right, and since the AQ war plan hit the president's desk on 9/10/01, it would have taken at least another year or two of persuasion before we could have actually made the first strike against AQ, and even then with the same kind of reaction, or worse, than we're seeing over the decision to go after Saddam.

[squidly]

Kerrey is wrong. Republicans *cannot* just go off to war without the wailing and gnashing of teeth from the Democrats, their syncophant media, college liberals and the U.N.

Current events prove you right and Kerrey wrong. Imagine the uproar if we'd embarked on these missions in Afghanistan and Iraq pre-9/11. Kerrey is in fantasy land if he refuses to acknowledge that.

[Lancey Howard]

One of the funniest parts about Kerrey's whining about the Fox News scoop (the tapes which exposed Clarke as a liar and a fraud) was the similarity to the whining over the Kennedy judicial memos - - it's not the damaging information in the memos that matters, it's that the scumbag Democrats got CAUGHT with their pants down again and it's just not fair the way those wascally Wepublicans keep coming up with the EVIDENCE. LOL!! Kerrey and the Democrats are such scumbags....

[kattracks]

This I agree with, but they conveniently stop short of addressing how in hell 19 terrorists were let into this country and trained to highjack airliners for 2 years.

And if they did address this, if today's "show" is any indication, the answer would be that President Bush is to blame.