Gorelick's conflict

townhall.com ^ | 4/14/04 | Linda Chavez

[kattracks]

Attorney General John Ashcroft came out swinging in testimony before the 9-11 Commission on Tuesday. "In 1995, the Justice Department embraced flawed legal reasoning, imposing a series of restrictions on the FBI that went beyond what the law required," he said. "The 1995 Guidelines and the procedures developed around them imposed draconian barriers to communications between the law enforcement and intelligence communities. The wall left intelligence agents afraid to talk with criminal prosecutors or agents. In 1995, the Justice Department designed a system destined to fail."

 But Ashcroft's bombshell wasn't his description of the Clinton Administration's policies, which have been discussed by previous witnesses. "Somebody built this wall," Ashcroft told the commissioners, and then went on to accuse one of the commission's own.

 "The basic architecture for the wall . . . was contained in a classified memorandum entitled 'Instructions on Separation of Certain Foreign Counterintelligence and Criminal Investigations,'" said Ashcroft. "Full disclosure compels me to inform you that its author is a member of this Commission." Ashcroft was referring to Jamie Gorelick, who served as Deputy Attorney General in the Clinton Administration.

 From the beginning, Gorelick's appointment to the 9/11 Commission was problematic. She served not only as Attorney General Janet Reno's deputy but also as general counsel at the Department of Defense, jobs which put her at the heart of the Clinton Administration's anti-terrorism efforts. Her actions, as well as those of her superiors, are among the subjects this commission is tasked to review. How can she be expected to be impartial when it comes to evaluating her superiors, much less herself?

 The memo Gorelick wrote has now been declassified and offers a window into the role she played in obstructing effective intelligence gathering and sharing during the Clinton Administration. The memo grew out of the Justice Department's prosecution of the 1993 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center -- the act that apparently gave Osama bin Laden the idea to try again in 2001.

 "During the course of those investigations," wrote Gorelick in 1995, "significant counterintelligence information has been developed related to the activities and plans of agents of foreign powers operating in this country and overseas, including previously unknown connections between separate terrorist groups." But Gorelick wanted to make sure that the left hand didn't know what the right was doing. "(W)e believe that it is prudent to establish a set of instructions that will clearly separate the counterintelligence investigation from the more limited, but continued, criminal investigations. These procedures, which go beyond what is legally required, will prevent any risk of creating an unwarranted appearance that FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) is being used to avoid procedural safeguards which would apply in a criminal investigation."

 The problem, of course, is that the inability to share information is precisely what hampered federal agents in tracking down the 9-11 hijackers. As Attorney General Ashcroft testified, this artificial wall impeded the investigation into Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called 20th hijacker, who was arrested prior to the 9-11 attack, as well as Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi, both of whom were identified by the CIA as suspected terrorists possibly in the United States prior to their participation in those terrible attacks. "Because of the wall, FBI Headquarters refused to allow criminal investigators who knew the most about the most recent al Qaeda attack to join in the hunt for the suspected terrorists," Ashcroft told the commission.

 "At the time, a frustrated FBI investigator wrote Headquarters," said Ashcroft, "quote, 'Whatever has happened to this -- someday someone will die -- and wall or not -- the public will not understand why . . .'"
 
Jamie Gorelick should step down from the commission at once. If she fails to do so on her own, her fellow commissioners should ask her to step aside. Her role as the architect of a policy that hampered the work of federal agents to track down suspected terrorists makes her unfit to pass judgment on the alleged failures of others.

Linda Chavez is President of the Center for Equal Opportunity, a Townhall.com member organization.

©2004 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

Contact Linda Chavez | Read Chavez's biography

[Shery]

 "During the course of those investigations," wrote Gorelick in 1995, "significant counterintelligence information has been developed related to the activities and plans of agents of foreign powers operating in this country and overseas, including previously unknown connections between separate terrorist groups." But Gorelick wanted to make sure that the left hand didn't know what the right was doing. "(W)e believe that it is prudent to establish a set of instructions that will clearly separate the counterintelligence investigation from the more limited, but continued, criminal investigations. These procedures, which go beyond what is legally required, will prevent any risk of creating an unwarranted appearance that FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) is being used to avoid procedural safeguards which would apply in a criminal investigation."

How arrogant! How dim-ocratic! How to sell your country out and look like a compassionate idiot at the same time!

[spodefly]

TO: info@9-11commission.gov

Having trusted that something as important as the 9-11 Commission would result in a panel free of partisan agenda, I watched with surprise the very partisan attacks of Kerrey and Ben-Veniste on Dr. Rice. Still, I believed that the partisan grilling was the result of exuberance in trying to get to answers. But with the revelation that Jamie Gorlick authored a memo that is most likely the cause of the 'wall' of seperation between intelligence agencies, the 'wall' which likely resulted in intelligence data dropping between the cracks of various federal agencies, I now know the truth -- this commission is a sham. Its credibility is ZERO. You have, at the core of your commission, a very likely direct participant in the mishandling of information that could have prevented 9-11.

Gorelick's continued place on the commission negates any possibility that directives issued by this commission will have any credibility.

[spodefly]

From : Info
Sent : Wednesday, April 14, 2004 8:59 AM
To : "spodefly"
Subject : Out of Office AutoReply: Credibility = 0

Thank you for your email to the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. Due to the volume of correspondence and our available resources, we regret that it is not possible to respond to each piece individually and personally. Please be assured that your correspondence will be forwarded to the appropriate staff members for further study. We appreciate your taking the time to share information with the Commission as well as your thoughts, concerns, and opinions and encourage you to continue to follow its work. Information about past and future Commission activities is available on our website at www.9-11commission.gov.

[BlueAngel]

I think she agreed to be on the commission so that she could protect Clinton's/Hitlery's interests. She knows everything the commission has and is able to pass it on.

[Future Useless Eater]

From FoxNews Channel - Hannity and Colmes 4-14-2004

Dick Morris: This woman [Gorelick] is bad news. She RAN the Justice Department for three years. Reno was a FIGUREHEAD during that period. And it was her invention to setup this WALL separating investigators from intelligence gatherers. So when Zacharias Moussaui was arrested in Minneapolis for taking flight lessons, I write about this in "Off with Their Heads", the prosecutors were going after him on an immigration violation. And they couldn't let the intelligence types look at his computer, which had the NAMES and the FLIGHT SCHOOLS of the 9/11 hijackers, listed there.

And then the Supreme Court ruled that Gorelick's rule, was unnecessary. They overturned it. So THIS woman is MORE responsible than ANYBODY for 9/11 going undetected.

Alan Colmes: ...[but] she DID recuse herself from cross-examining some of the law enforcement and intelligence officials...

Morris: I want to repeat what I just said. Of ALL of the public officials in the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, the ONE who is MOST directly responsible, in my judgement, for 9/11 happening, is Jamie Gorelick.

Colmes: You like pointing fingers, huh.

Sean Hannity: We ought to put HER under oath. THAT'S what ought to happen!

Morris: That WALL of separation was SO DESTRUCTIVE.

[GeronL]

Colmes: You like pointing fingers, huh

Oh isn't that the pot calling the kettle black.

[Future Useless Eater]

>>I think she agreed to be on the commission so that she could protect Clinton's/Hitlery's interests. She knows everything the commission has and is able to pass it on.

You're right. I'd bet there are ZERO Bush administration
employees on the commission. I wonder HOW MANY OTHER former
Clinton administration employees are ON THE COMMISSION?

How can those a-holes pretend to put out an unbiased report?

[MEG33]

The strong personalities on that panel are very partisan Dems.Ben the Nasty has the President in his sights.They will be very critical of his lack of action,I'm sure.

It is important we correct our systemic FBI and other intelligence problems.I am hoping at least that can be acted on.

[Mo1]

It is important we correct our systemic FBI and other intelligence problems.I am hoping at least that can be acted on.

No .. they want to rip apart our intel along with President Bush

Gorton & Gorlick insinuated as much about the intel departments on Gretta's show last night

[syriacus]

Thanks for the ping! I appreciate having this opportunity to read the transcript. I regretted missing the Morris segment.