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9/11 Commissioner Pressured to Resign Over Conflict of Interest
Talon News ^ | 4/15/2004 | Jeff Gannon

Posted on 04/15/2004 6:04:00 AM PDT by ConservativeMajority

WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-WI) called on 9/11 Commissioner Jamie Gorelick to resign Wednesday over what he says is a conflict of interest he revealed during Attorney General John Ashcroft's testimony before the panel. Ashcroft pointed to a 1995 memo written by the former deputy attorney general that heightened the 'wall' prohibiting the sharing of intelligence information and criminal information.

In a press release, Sensenbrenner said, "Scrutiny of this policy lies at the heart of the commission's work. Ms. Gorelick has an inherent conflict of interest as the author of this memo and as a government official at the center of the events in question."

He cited the commission's own guidelines on recusals that states, "commissioners and staff will recuse themselves from investigating work they performed in prior government service."

Sensenbrenner said, "Commissioner Gorelick's memo directing a policy that '[goes] beyond what is legally required' indicates that her judgment and actions as the Deputy Attorney General in the Reno Justice Department are very much in question before the commission."

In his testimony, Attorney General Ashcroft called Gorelick's DOJ policy "the single greatest structural cause for September 11" and said that the policy "embraced flawed legal reasoning."

Sensenbrenner believes that Gorelick is in the "unfair position of trying to address the key issue before the commission when her own actions are central to the events at issue."

He added, "The public cannot help but ask legitimate questions about her motives."

Ashcroft told the commission in his opening statement that in 1995, the Justice Department imposed a series of draconian restrictions on the FBI. He said the wall created was a barrier between law enforcement and the intelligence community.

"In 1995, the Justice Department designed a system destined to fail," Ashcroft said.

The Attorney General testified that that wall specifically impeded the investigation into Zaccarias Moussaoui, Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi. He pointed out that after the FBI arrested Moussaoui shortly before 9/11, agents became suspicious of his interest in commercial aircraft and sought approval for a criminal warrant to search his computer. The warrant was rejected because FBI officials feared breaching the wall.

He also said that when the CIA finally told the FBI that al-Midhar and al-Hazmi were in the country in late August, agents in New York searched for the suspects. But because of the wall, FBI headquarters refused to allow criminal investigators who knew the most about the most recent al Qaeda attack to join the hunt for the suspected terrorists. It was al-Midhar and al-Hamzi that were among the hijackers of the plane that crashed into the Pentagon.

Ashcroft quoted a chillingly prescient FBI investigator who wrote headquarters about his frustration over the incident.

The memo said, "Whatever has happened to this -- someday someone will die -- and wall or not -- the public will not understand why we were not more effective and throwing every resource we had at certain 'problems.' Let's hope the national security law unit will stand behind their decision then, especially since the biggest threat to us, UBL, is getting the most protection."

He also noted the FBI headquarters response, which was, "We are all frustrated with this issue. ... These are the rules. NSLU does not make them up."

Ashcroft said, "But somebody did make these rules. Someone built this wall."

He then read from the memo that he declassified only days earlier and said, "Full disclosure compels me to inform you that its author is a member of this commission."

He was speaking about Gorelick, who was clearly stung by the revelation. Her subsequent questioning of Ashcroft was not as contentious as some had expected, based on the harsh partisan treatment of other members of the Bush administration.

Gorelick appeared on CNN Wednesday and told Wolf Blitzer that the alleged conflict of interest was "a bogus factual issue."

She pointed out that neither chairmen Thomas Kean nor Lee Hamilton thought she should resign. The former deputy attorney general did confirm the she was the author of the memo, but said that it was "a creature of statute that existed from the mid 1980s."

Gorelick continued to maintain that no conflict of interest existed.

She said, "We're just going to move on from this. ... I'm not going to give any credit to this. ... I'm not going to talk about this, it's not worth it."

Blitzer did not ask her why she did not disclose the memo to the commission during the months prior to Ashcroft's testimony.

Sensenbrenner said, "While it is regrettable that this conflict had not come to light sooner, this commission's work and forthcoming recommendations are too important to be questioned in this way, and may be devalued by Ms. Gorelick's continued participation as a commissioner."

He indicated that Gorelick's work as the deputy attorney general under Janet Reno could be quite valuable to the commission's work preparing 'a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.' He said, "However, that contribution should come as a witness before the commission - not as a member."

The House Judiciary chairman said, "Key figures like former FBI Director Freeh, Director Mueller, Attorney General Ashcroft, former presidential adviser Richard Clarke, and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice have all testified before the commission and would have rightly sparked indignation about a conflict of interest had these individuals also been members of the commission."

He added, "Testifying before the commission is Ms. Gorelick's proper role, not sitting as a member of this independent commission."

Copyright © 2004 Talon News -- All rights reserved.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 911commission; bush; gorelick

1 posted on 04/15/2004 6:04:01 AM PDT by ConservativeMajority
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To: ConservativeMajority
Gorelick continued to maintain that no conflict of interest existed.

In her mind anyway, what little of it there is.

2 posted on 04/15/2004 6:12:16 AM PDT by facedown (Armed in the Heartland)
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To: ConservativeMajority
Lehman was on Fox and said she was NOT partisan in closed session and he didn't think she should resign.

I don't give a fig about her behavior behind closed doors. In public, she became partisan for the express purpose of using the public testimony to attack the President.

And the fact that she did not disclose the memo is damning in and of itself. I wonder how many other memos there are.

I am to the point that I think that somewhere in the Clinton papers in Little Rock is a memo that says: "Let those terrorists in...they gave me a big fat check. Signed, BC"

3 posted on 04/15/2004 6:13:12 AM PDT by Miss Marple
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To: Miss Marple

The Utterly Absolutely Disgraced 911 Commission [by their own choice]



"Do you really think you are gonna get to ask me why I dared refuse repeat DOJ requests for investigations of dangerous illegal aliens.
Do you really think you are gonna get to ask me why I arranged to stovepipe intelligence to make intraagency effective communication useless.
Do you really think you are gonna get to ask me why illegal aliens who were felons became voters for our Democratic party.
Do you really think you are gonna get to ask me why I OK'd the use of stolen FBI files on DNC computers.
Not a chance. Following LBJ, your gonads are in my fist and your FBI files are in my computer.
Now go away.
"



"Some wonder whether [Clinton] was distracted by the legal and
political quagmire of the Monica Lewinsky case.
And even former Clinton aides now regret that the
battle with bin Laden and his Al-Qaida organization was never fully joined.
'Clearly, not enough was done,' said Jamie Gorelick,
a former deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration.
'We should have caught this. Why this happened, I don't know.
Responsibilities were given out. Resources were given. Authorities existed.
We should have prevented this.
'




FREEP and DEMAND THAT GORELICK BE REMOVED!:
Congressman Tom DeLay
Majority Leader Office
H-107 The Capitol
Washington, DC 20515
p. (202)225-4000
f. (202)225-5117

Congressional Office
242 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC 20515
p. (202)225-5951
f. (202)225-5241


FREEP and DEMAND THAT GORELICK BE REMOVED!:
Phone Commission at 202-331-4060
Email Commission at info@9-11commission.gov
put Thomas Kean in the subject line.

DEMAND THAT GORELICK BE REMOVED! FOR EITHER REASON #1 or #2 or both or other reasons suggested above or below.

info@9-11commission.gov

DONT FORGET - PUT THOMAS KEAN IN THE SUBJECT LINE



FREEP and DEMAND THAT GORELICK BE REMOVED!:
Call the President. Leave a meassage at the White House. Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
E-Mail President George W. Bush: president@whitehouse.gov
Vice President Richard Cheney: vice.president@whitehouse.gov

BREAKING: Gorelick (put on the Committee by Daschle)
not only created the background for the 911 Atrocities but now is covering it up
for the terrorists. Gorelick is a litigation partner of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering.
which represents Prince Mohammed al-Faisal al-Saud, the House of Saud,
against a lawsuit filed by a coalition of 600 Sept. 11 families.


Jamie S Gorelick
Vice Chair
Fannie Mae
$2,000 John Kerry
XXXX Williams Ln
Chevy Chase, MD 20815


Jamie Gorelick
Partner
Wilmer Cutler and Pickering
$2,000 Dick Gephardt
XXXXWilliams Ln
Chevy Chase, MD 20815


Jamie Gorelick
Attorney
Wilmer Cutler & Pickering
$1,000 Wesley Clark
XXXX Williams Ln
Chevy Chase, MD 20815


CONCLUSION:


"That criminal, Gorelick, and her supporters are trying to use 'plausible deniability'.
Book her and the rest of them under RICOH, Dano.
"


4 posted on 04/15/2004 6:16:01 AM PDT by Diogenesis (If you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us)
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To: Diogenesis
What's with Dan-o? Looks like he's put on a few.

(steely)

5 posted on 04/15/2004 6:23:53 AM PDT by Steely Tom
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To: facedown
John Aschroft just revealed the "smoking gun" that the democrats have been seeking, and it was in their own hands.

This memo, written by Gorelick, is the single biggest reason for the intelligence failure that enabled 9/11. That, along with restricted funding during the Clinton years kept all of us in the dark.

How is this commission going to reach a unanimous agreement on a report detailing what went wrong and how to change things, if the primary culprit is a member of the commission?
6 posted on 04/15/2004 6:24:55 AM PDT by LOC1
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To: ConservativeMajority
In terms of credibility, the panel should vote Jamie Gorelick off the island. But they won't. The panel was created to be a propaganda mill, and thus far, they have performed their function well. Simply because the propaganda has not been uniformly successful, does not mean it should be given up. The Democrat base was energized, even though they have little to work with. The major objective was to demonstrate that Bush was at least as much in the wrong and to blame as the "Former Occupant of the Oval Office, 1993-2001". They have been almost successful to the degree that Democrats in the media were given a wedge to whack Bush at the press conference on Tuesday evening, calling for Bush to admit to "mistakes" he had made. Bush did not take the bait, so the media was reduced to criticizing his syntax and demeanor in their polemics of the following day. But they did not get the headlines they were fishing for, "BUSH ADMITS MISTAKES!"

If people think 9/11 was a huge disaster for the US, just see what would happen if a President John Kerry is in office, perhaps for just a few months. Something so big, so devastating, will occur that will make 9/11 look like a picnic in the park on a Sunday afternoon. The surrender of the Spaniards will seem trivial compared to the capitulation that will be offered by a Kerry administration.
7 posted on 04/15/2004 6:32:45 AM PDT by alloysteel
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To: LOC1
"How is this commission going to reach a unanimous agreement on a report detailing what went wrong and how to change things, if the primary culprit is a member of the commission?"

Is this why she is on the commision, you think?
8 posted on 04/15/2004 6:35:10 AM PDT by snooker
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To: Steely Tom
Tincture of time.
Dano must be doing better than Jack Lord.
9 posted on 04/15/2004 6:51:42 AM PDT by Diogenesis (If you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us)
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