Gore 1996 Airline Commission brought to the attention of the 9/11 family members (DC Chapter Report)

Kristinn | April 14, 2004 | Kristinn

[tgslTakoma]

This morning before the start of the 9/11 Commission hearings, Kristinn went to the hearing room to meet with some of the 9/11 family members about the 1996 Gore Airline Safety Commission.

He went down there this morning because the 9/11 Commission had not talked about the Gore Airline Safety Commission in public, and it needed to be brought to the attention of the families.

He got down there about 8:30am. The hearing room only had a few dozen people in it, a far cry from the crowds that had been there last week for White House National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice's testimony.

Kristinn spoke with Commission Chairman Thomas Kean as he entered the room surrounded by reporters. The reporters wanted to know when President Bush and Vice President Cheney would give their joint testimony before the Commission. Kean said that he could not tell them.

Kristinn asked Kean if the Commission had covered the 1996 Airline Safety Commission, chaired by Vice President Gore. Kean said that they had. He said that it had been brought up with Vice President Gore during his testimony and that it would be covered during the FAA hearings, later.

Kristinn gave a copy of a report on the Gore Commission, with two attachments, to Kean. The report was co-written several years ago by a DC Chapter member. Of the two attachments to the report, one was the decision by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, ordering the Gore Commission to allow Victoria Cummock access to Commission documents that they denied her when she served on the Commission. The second attachment was a World Net Daily article from October 2001 reporting that Mrs. Cummock was still being denied access to classified material, in violation of the court order.

Kristinn went to the front of the hearing room and met with three of the 9/11 families. They asked for copies of the documents Kristinn had, and they commented that 9/11 would probably have been prevented if the Gore Commission's recommendations had been acted on. They knew who Victoria Cummock was, but were not well-versed in the story of her travails in the Gore Commission.

One of the family members suggested that he also speak with the Family Liason with the Commission, Ellie Hartz. Kristinn went outside the hearing room and spoke with Ms. Hartz. She accepted a copy of the documents, and they talked for a few minutes.

Kristinn explained to Ms. Hartz that while the DC Chapter of Free Republic is a partisan group and has no love for Clinton or Gore, they are also a "let the chips fall where they may" group. He said that he understood, after eight years of trying to hold Clinton and Gore accountable, how difficult it is to get the government to open itself up to accountability to the public.

They also talked about how the 9/11 family members have been conducting themselves during the hearings. Ms. Hartz acknowledged that it was becoming a problem, but that the family members were very emotionally involved. Kristinn told her that the family members are losing support from the American public because of how they have been acting during the hearings and because of what they have been saying to the media in interviews. Kristinn was trying to be as diplomatic as possible while making the point.

Another family member came up and interrupted the conversation because the hearing was about to start. Kristinn had to head off to work so he started making his way out of the building.

But on his way out he saw Michael Isikoff and gave him a copy of the Gore Commission documents.

:-)

[ravingnutter]

More:

Yes, Clinton and Gore did abandon airport security planning for sake of campaign cash. But worse, they concealed the real cause of the crash, in no small part to justify that abandonment.

In fact, on the same day in September of 1996 that Al Gore sent the airline's lobbyist a letter signaling his intent to roll over, the National Transportation Safety Board reversed its spin and all but ruled out a bomb or missile strike [on TWA 800].

WND

[ravingnutter]

Check out posts #59 & 61...Gorelick and Gore in collusion on Flight TWA 800 cover-up.

[Fedora]

Nice work!

[Incorrigible]

Thanks for everything you guys do!

[ravingnutter]

The third culprit:

How Richard Clarke concocted the TWA 800 'exit strategy' ... and why

[SZonian]

It's maddening to think that the proposed budget of "$429.4 million" for all of these recommendations could have possibly prevented the 9-11 attacks and the subsequent costs in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other hotspots, not forgetting the economic costs of post 9-11.

This country has lost thousands of lives, and billions of dollars for the paltry sum of ~$500K to be given to the DNC all for the sake of political partisanship.

Bastards oughta be tried as traitors and then have a public hanging.

[Amelia]

Good work! I've been wondering for DAYS now why no one was bringing that up in the hearings...seems very pertinent to me.

[MamaLucci]

So, according to your post, Gorelick has already been interviewed by the 911
committee as part of the inquiry investigating 911....
all the more conflict of interest, and reason for her to resign (OR be thrown off of) the commission!

[Fedora]

The third culprit:

How Richard Clarke concocted the TWA 800 'exit strategy' ... and why

Wow! Pieces fall into place! Hmm--besides those already named, who else in the Clinton administration would've been involved in the TWA 800 cover-up, and have any of them showed up at the 9-11 Commission either as commissioners or as witnesses?

[Fedora]

So, according to your post, Gorelick has already been interviewed by the 911 committee as part of the inquiry investigating 911....

You've heard of "judge, jury, and executioner"--well, Gorelick does one better: she's judge, jury, and defendant! :)

[SJackson]

It's maddening to think that the proposed budget of "$429.4 million" for all of these recommendations could have possibly prevented the 9-11 attacks and the subsequent costs in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other hotspots, not forgetting the economic costs of post 9-11.

Well, the money should have been spent, security should have been tightened. At the same time, the hijackers were talented. IMO, our only chance to stop them would have been at the border, or disrupting a cell, a partial fix. I doubt tightened security wouldn't have kept them off the planes, there's lots of potential weapons, and in any case in Sept, 2001 the cabin wouldn't have resisted.

[BushisTheMan]

I wrote the President and thanked him for his leadership.

I also recommended that his next "speech to the nation" be attended by 1) citizens instead of the MSM, 2) radio talk show hosts or 3) smaller hometown newspapers.

I'm sick of reports like Gregory, and the rest of the MSM. Let's hear from middle America for a change!

[newzjunkey]

God bless the DC Chapter of FR! You folks do a yeoman's job from weekly White House freeping in the Clinton Era to "Get Out Of Cheney's House" in the 2000 election mess... Glad you're there.

[harpo11]

9-11: Gore Authorized by Clinton to tighten security; Dashcle's wife works as a lobbyist for FAA; Gore writes up stricter security code; Daschle's wife gets big campaign donation for Clinton/Gore Re-Electioon Campaign; Tough new code for airline security scrubbed.

Case closed.

[Huber]

Nice work guys! As long as we have the DC Chapter, America will remain free!

[TaxRelief]

Bump for an awesome, "One-man FReep"!

[TaxRelief]

Spikey? LOL.

[sport]

Bump

[sport]

I also am tired of hearing about these "9-11 families".

There were over 3 thousand people who lost their lives on that day at the WTC, Pentagon, and air liner crash.

That means that there are over 3 thousand families who lost members on that day.

Yet the media focuses on these four.

Why? Because these families continually blame President Bush for the attack.

They and everyone defending them say that they want answers as to why it it happened and how future attacks can be prevented. In their case this is a lie. They only wish to do political harm and cause the defeat of President Bush.


Anyone outside the grave except a democrat knows why the attacks happened. They happened because there was no retaliation from the earlier attacks.

[marty60]

This stupid commission is a huge joke. These people are putting the rest of us in grave danger. Anyone that thinks the terrorists aren't listening to the alphabet soup agencies and taking notes on their mo is pathetically ignorant. Maybe if the CIA and FBI analyse what has come out in the hearings about thier NEW tactics, they will be able to pinpoint the next attack.