Live 9/11 Commission Thread

April 14, 2004 | Vanity

[Peach]

George Tenet, CIA Director, is due to testify to the 9/11 Commission.

Later today the FBI Director, Meuller, will testify.

[OldFriend]

gore-lick defanged.......bent peniste so convoluted he's not making any point. Ditto Roemer whose trying not to be obvious......

Today they're all clear as mud. Guess the emails and phone calls to the commission have made a dent in their demeanor......or they have some polling data that makes THEIR hair on fire.

[mabelkitty]

She reminds me of Carol Channing.

[Miss Marple]

While reading last night's threads this morning, I was struck by your comment about how she is driving herself insane. It has made me more patient about her, but I am NOT patient with people like Matthews who are aiding her descent into insanity.

I also think Matthews is using some sort of drugs.

[Howlin]

Do you realize that EACH of the members of that "commission" have been on TV no less than SIX TIMES each, some more than that -- and a lot of them have written OP-ED pieces for major newspapers.

What the heck kind of "objectivity" is that?

[BlessedByLiberty]

Thanks for the ping - just got here, trying to catch up.

...Remember yesterday, Cofer Black even said Clarke wasn't in those meetings and ended with "I don't know why George Tenet didn't want him in those meetings."...

I'm beginning to think that Clarke was the WH leaker and when he was 'demoted' most leaks stopped. Someone (another thread) posited that it was Clarke who revealed Plame's name. It fits that Clarke, an embittered bureaucrat wanting to cause mischief for this administration, would do it.

[OldFriend]

Tom Kean is playing to the NJ 9/11 victim families. He believes this will help his son, who aspires to higher office in NJ. Tom Kean, Jr. is currently a NJ legislator in the state senate.

As a conservative republican, I would vote for McGreevy before I would ever vote for Tom Kean's son.

[Miss Marple]

I also think Clarke was the leaker.

[OldFriend]

When is estrich not squawking. Her voice is so grating! UGH

[kabar]

He has done a good job.

Anyone who does an objective review of the CIA's performance over the past several decades, will not be very laudatory of the Agency's performance. Tenet has been in charge of the Agency longer than most of his predecessors. He lacks vision and was selected for the job by virture of his political connections and his bureaucratic skills. He is the classic Washington bureaucrat and insider. Tenet is not the person capable of reforming the Agency. He has done a poor job.

[Howlin]

I still stand by what I said: she is so out of control, that when these hearings are over, her reason for existing will be gone and she may have a complete and total breakdown from which she may never recover.

She needs psychological help big time.

[Quilla]

Oh, what a bombshell that would be - Clarke leaking ol' hollywood Val's name to Novak. I'm sure all the major networks would cover it 24/7. /not

[Howlin]

I think it was him, too.

[cajungirl]

LOL,,,she is the scullery maid if you ask me.

[cyncooper]

Let me just put a few things in order here:

February 2002 Joe Wilson is sent by a sub-group, on their own initiative (per Tenet's July 2003 statement) to Niger.

May 2002 someone leaks the existence of the August 6 2001 PDB to the press

Condi Rice does a press conference acknowledging the PDB and characterizing it (accurately and correctly--confirmed by the declassification last Saturday)

Ari Fleischer give the title of the PDB the next day

WaPo frontpages a story May 19, 2002 giving title and characterizion.

The same "questions" about the meaning and hints the president was derelict in not "acting" on the information in the PDB are raised. Issue dies until the commission where BenVenist asks C. Rice about it and asks her the title. She gives it and BV states (falsely) that the title heretofor had been kept secret from the public.

Somebody leaked the PDB's existance in the first place, on the heels of Wilson's Niger visit.

Of course the public didn't learn of the Niger business until the next year, but it points to machinations emanating from the CIA.

**I will say, I don't perceive a problem per se with the content of the PDB, though it was stated by freepers that Tenet said he has some problems. I don't think it was *created* to be used against the president. That makes no sense. But I do think that after the fact someone saw spin potential in it and started the ball rolling. And the most likely suspect is the authoress (since I'm pretty sure I heard BV referring to "she wrote" but nobody else has confirmed that, so I'll need to see a transcript to make sure I didn't misunderstand him).

[Howlin]

Nobody said he was going to be the one who reformed it.

[OldFriend]

Kristinn deserved the Congressional Medal of Honor, the Presidential Award, and any other accolade availabe that honors those who defend America.

[Mannaggia l'America]

Chairman Kean was on CSPAN very early this morning and he defended having her on the panel as a person of 'experience' in the matter to be investigated.

Well, if he thinks that, then what's Ben Peniste's excuse for being on the commission? NONE - he's just a partisan hack.

[petitfour]

Is Clarke chummy with Novak? Has Clarke been used as a source for Novak before? (I mean was he a named source.) I don't understand why Clarke would leak Plame's identity unless he was just trying to show how much he knows to a reporter. (possible) Clarke seems to have felt the same way about the Iraq war as Joe Wilson and some disgruntled CIA folks who believed terrorism would/will increase as a result of invading Iraq.

[OldFriend]

Alan Colmes is also becoming more and more deranged and demneted.

We ought to send him some Preparation H to relieve him of his obvious misery.

[Carolinamom]

Is Kristen the one reputed to have plans to run for the senate?