Ashcroft: Blame Bubba for 9/11 - Rips panel member on espionage 'wall'

New York Daily News ^ | 4/14/04 | JAMES GORDON MEEK

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

Three home runs in a row. Their last great hope is Clinton holdover, George Tenet. Prayers are still needed. Tenet's CIA has been a thorn in Bush's side, probably more so than the old leftist media. But if Tenet fails to deliver, I can't foresee anyone who can save their chestnuts.

Savage might think the Bush team is holding on like a loose tooth. I would respectfully disagree and say the analogy fits the left better. On the other hand, most people fight harder when their backs are to the wall. FReegards....

[hershey]

Amazing. Boston's local CBS TV affiliate mentioned the committee hearings yesterday, but nothing about 8 years of Clinton incompetence. Instead, what listeners got was that Ashcroft (probably lied), didn't highlight terrorism in a printed memo (it was in a paragraph under homeland stuff, not bulleted alone), although he 'claimed' terrorism was his top priority. This, in CBS's all knowing eyes, is proof the acting attny. gen.(Pickard), who'd accused Ashcroft of saying he was sick of hearing about terrorism and didn't want to talk about it anymore, was telling the truth. They did show a clip of an angry Ashcroft denying Pickard's statement, but didn't run it long enough to show details of proof that Ashcroft had held meeting after meeting on the subject and given speechs to that effect during that month.

[gracex7]

Guess the FBI was too busy bailing out Yon Horiuchi at Ruby Ridge and the ATF at Waco to pay attention to real terrorists (like OKC, TWA, etc.)

[angkor]

Reno - who was entirely responsible for both the "wall" in the FBI and the ambiguous CYA authorizations to "get" OBL (but don't kill him or it's your own fault) - was pitched a few softballs, then let off the hook because she claimed she didn't know what was or wasn't classified and suitable for discusssion.

Thus, the entire topic of White House dithering and the dashed efforts of the CIA's OBL task force never came to light. Despite being thoroughly outlined in Steve Coll's book Ghost Wars (Coll is Managing Editor for the Washington Post, his book published a few weeks ago).

[hershey]

I didn't get to see Janet waltz around with more lies. Her complaints that the FBI was hampered by ancient bureaucratic red tape, etc., is amazing. Why was she in charge if not to make things better? We all know why she was there and what she was told to do. We have her list of accomplishments, and funny, modernizing the bureau and making America safer doesn't show up. The gall of that idiot. Did anyone on the panel ask why she didn't even make sure the bureau had universal internet capability? Every American household with kids has it. Uh, but not the FBI. Okay. Moving right along....

[rabidralph]

Pickard also said that his appeal for more counterterror funds was rejected by Ashcroft on Sept. 12, 2001.

Previous news accounts say that AG Ashcroft denied the funds on Sept. 10, 2001. Is the Daily News not checking their facts again?

[raybbr]

Who picked the commision members?

[Just mythoughts]

"As Gorelick sat smirking, Ashcroft aides handed out a declassified Justice Department memo authored by Gorelick that Ashcroft said erected a legal wall that thwarted terror probes by forbidding the sharing of information between criminal and intelligence agents at the FBI."


This "The Commission" has in their midst the one who during the Clinton administration that controlled the "Justice Department". The most perverse administration in the history of this nation.

This "The Commission" replicate the old "Soviet" show trials, the only thing they have missing is leading out the Bush administration witnesses and publicly shooting them for the world to see.

[Preachin']

As Gorelick sat smirking, Ashcroft aides handed out a declassified Justice Department memo authored by Gorelick that Ashcroft said erected a legal wall that thwarted terror probes by forbidding the sharing of information between criminal and intelligence agents at the FBI.

That was an in your face testimony. I have to wonder why Gorelick is on the panel, and not in front of it.

[xzins]

there is absolutely no way in the world that Gorelick should be a member of this commission. The conflict of interest is so obvious that it should be publicly challenged by the Administration.

[Right_in_Virginia]

"We did not know an attack was coming because for nearly a decade our government had blinded itself to its enemies," he said

Did this man sleep through the Clinton years?

[samtheman]

I have to wonder why Gorelick is on the panel, and not in front of it.

In other news, Scott Peterson was appointed judge in his own trial.

And in the Michael Jackson case, the Nation of Islam as been assigned the job of supplying the jury pool.

[Dahoser]

Kristen Breitweiser, a 9/11 widow, and Mary Fetchet, whose son Brad was killed, said they were left "speechless" by the spectacle.

Finally, some good comes from the work of the Commission.

[feedback doctor]

Isn't it interesting how the standards for "enough information" change. Bush should have know the details of what was coming based on old info that everybody has known 'Since 1997.' But Bush acts on strong info ( info that Iraqi officials met with one of the hijackers pre-9/11) then Bush is making assumptions.
I have digital cable TV. I am going to call my provider and have msnbc, and all cnn stations blocked. I hope some of you will do the same

[ovrtaxt]

I was stunned in the aftermath of 9/11 when Bush stood by Tenet and declared that he could not only effectively lead the CIA, but that he could walk on water and heal blind people too. I remember the moment when he gave him such strong support, it was a live press conference about the formation of the Homeland Dept.

Tenet is a miserable failure. Bush should have fired him when he took office, long before 9/11.

[bobjam]

Someone in the Bush Administration had to come out swinging- it might as well have been Ashcroft. If there's one man they hate more than Bush and Limbaugh, it's Ashcroft. He wasn't going to gain any ground with them (not that he would want to) by being nice. If Bush wins in November, Ashcroft will probably be fillibustered until Kingdom Come by Senate Rats.

[chainsaw]

And of course when Reno testified she used the old Clinton excuse that she didn't recall. That way they can't get her for lying under oath.

[nuconvert]

"I have to wonder why Gorelick is on the panel, and not in front of it."

You and most every other freeper.

[mathluv]

Trent Lott and Tom Daschle