GORELICK GATE: Gorelick Memo Exposes 'Feckless' Clinton Policy

Insight On The News ^ | April 13, 2004 | By Kenneth R. Timmerman

[joinedafterattack]

In a dramatic moment of his testimony before the 9/11 commission this afternoon, Attorney General John Ashcroft released a previously classified memo from 1995 that instructed the FBI and U.S. Attorneys around the country to ensure they had "walled off" overseas intelligence information from domestic crime-fighters. The separation between overseas intelligence gathering and domestic criminal prosecution has been widely criticized by both Democrats and Republicans on the committee for having helped make the 9/11 attacks possible.

"[T]he simple fact of Sept. 11 is this," Ashcroft testified: "We did not know an attack was coming because for nearly a decade our government had blinded itself to its enemies. Our agents were isolated by government-imposed walls, handcuffed by government-imposed restrictions, and starved for basic information technology. The old national intelligence system in place on Sept. 11 was destined to fail."

Ashcroft went on to explain the "wall" that had been erected between criminal investigators and intelligence agents was "the single greatest structural cause for Sept. 11 [successes by al-Qaeda]." He said, "Government erected this wall. Government buttressed this wall. And before Sept. 11, government was blinded by this wall."

Ashcroft then described the 1995 memo that initially established the wall, which later impeded the investigations of the 9/11 hijackers and their accomplices. When frustrated field agents complained to headquarters about it in August 2001, Justice replied: "'These are the rules.' ... But somebody did make these rules," Ashcroft said. "Someone built this wall."

Then the attorney general dropped his bombshell: "Although you understand the debilitating impact of the wall, I cannot imagine that the commission knew about this memorandum, so I have declassified it for you and the public to review. Full disclosure compels me to inform you that its author is a member of this commission."

The 1995 memo by then Deputy Attorney General Jamie S. Gorelick - now a member of the 9/11 commission - explains that the new rules dictated by the Clinton administration to separate criminal investigations from intelligence gathering "go beyond what is legally required." The Gorelick rules were meant to ensure that "no 'proactive' investigative efforts or technical coverages" of terrorist suspects be carried out on U.S. soil.

The result of the 1995 Gorelick rules, Ashcroft said, were devastating, and hampered the ability of U.S. intelligence agencies to communicate the identify of two of the 9/11 hijackers to law-enforcement agencies, even after they had entered the United States. That failure specifically contributed to 9/11.

[Gritty]

Here is my letter:

Dear Commission Members,

It is obvious to all, and it should be obvious to every one of you, that Jamie Gorelick is hopelessly compromised in her role as a Commission member. She and her policies are is a strategic piece of the mysterious puzzle you are obliged to investigate.

Mrs. Gorelick needs to be brought under oath to testify if you want to get to the bottom of the "who, what, when, where, why and how" of 9/11. The key words here are "if you want to get to the bottom". Otherwise, continue on as a thoroughly discredited body, whitewash this entire sordid mess and fade into the ignominious oblivion you will then deserve.

You have the key to this entire mystery right in your hands, indeed, right within your own company of deliberations. The American People demand a thorough accounting and airing.

I propose six questions for Mrs. Gorelick you can ask, if you can't think of any;

1. Why did you institute the "wall" memorandum?

2. Did you do this on your own initiative, or were you ordered to do so by a superior or superiors?

3. If you were so directed, who ordered it done, what reasons did they give, and did they indicate they were acting on their own or on other direction?

4. If you did this on your own initiative, why?

5. What advice and from whom did you gather it before instituting the final policy?

6. Why did you not take steps to rescind this memorandum when you saw it was inhibiting crucial intelligence collection efforts and terrorist prosecutions?

If you need more questions, I will be happy to oblige.

Get to the bottom of this, and now. Your duty demands it!

A Very Concerned Citizen,

(My Name)
(My city)

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[dmzTahoe]

"These procedures, which go beyond what is legally required, will prevent any risk of creating an unwarranted appearance that FISA is being used to avoid procedural safeguards which would apply in a criminal investigation."

The key here is "criminal investigation"".

Clinton created the "wall" and Gorelick strengthened it. The real reason was to impede any investigation into Clinton scandals and crimes (Chinagate, Koreagate, illegal campaign financing...)

Clinton and Gorelick never imagined the problems it would impose with terrorism. It is coming back to bite them in the ass in a way they never imagined.

Now we need an aggressive journalist to investigate, bring down the Clinton machine, and win a Pullitzer.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Now we need an aggressive journalist to investigate, bring down the Clinton machine, and win a Pullitzer get expelled from the community of "objective journalists."

[dmzTahoe]

"Now we need an aggressive journalist to investigate, bring down the Clinton machine, and... get expelled from the community of "objective journalists."

LOL

[Arrowhead1952]

Cy, Check this link to see the memo. This is one of the better threads, but I'll find more.

[jmstein7]

Write a Letter to the Editor DEMANDING Jamie Gorelick's Resignation from the 9/11 Commission

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

LOL

You have a better sense of humor than I . . .