Posted on 04/16/2004 8:55:05 PM PDT by Indy Pendance
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two leading congressional Republicans on Friday accused the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks of descending into partisan finger-pointing instead of examining problems that made the hijackings possible.
"Partisan mudslinging, circus-atmosphere pyrotechnics, and gotcha-style questioning do not get us closer to the truth. They serve as dangerous distractions from the global war on terror," House of Representatives' Majority leader Tom DeLay said in a letter to the commission.
DeLay of Texas and Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, a member of the House Republican leadership, said in separate letters the commission had lost credibility, with some members more focused on stating opinions than getting information.
But Thomas Kean, the Republican chairman of the panel, defended its work and denied politics played any role.
"None of our votes have been cast on partisan lines," he wrote in a letter of his own. "All of us are striving to achieve a set of recommendations that can win the support of all commissioners," Kean added.
"We are committed as well to the integrity of our work. The commission has clear written guidelines on conflicts of interest," he said.
DeLay and Cantor made their charges after the Republican Bush administration came under tough questioning in hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday for what some commission members called a complete intelligence failure ahead of the attacks that killed about 3,000 people.
The bipartisan 9/11 commission, which is due to report to the nation in July, has issued a series of highly critical reports on what it sees as a succession of failures leading up to the attacks.
But Cantor said commissioners appeared more focused on blaming individuals than finding flaws in how the government functioned, and its "myopic approach is too concentrated on pointing a finger at a single action or an individual rather than examining the long-term, systemic problems that led us to 9/11."
Another Republican, House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, on Wednesday called on a Democratic panel member to step down because of a conflict of interest.
Kean dismissed the request as "silly," noting that panel member Jamie Gorelick had recused herself from everything related to her previous role as deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration.
DeLay echoed Sensenbrenner's complaints, saying if Gorelick "enhanced and helped formalize the very policies that may have created barriers to preventing the 9-11 attacks, a profound conflict of interest would appear to exist."
he New York Times reported on Friday that the White House was considering getting a jump on a potential commission recommendation by adopting a plan to create a new post of national intelligence director, centralizing authority now in several departments and agencies.
Asked about the Times report, White House spokesman Scott McClellan disputed any suggestion that the administration might try to "preempt" the 9/11 commission's findings.
But he sidestepped questions about whether the administration was focusing on the idea of a national intelligence director.
"We never rule out when steps might be taken, if they're related to protecting the American people," he told reporters.
A similar statement was made by the Iraq U.N. inspectors.
The commission has clear written guidelines on conflicts of interest," he said.
Sensenbrenner has already pointed out that Gorelick has (obviously) already violated those guidelines.
WTF. I didn't know the committee was "voting."
Former governor of New Jersey. And a definite RINO.
My question is how in the world did he get appointed head of the commission?
Republicans Clash Over 9/11 Panel
... and then that statement is clarified in the first sentence by...
"Two leading congressional Republicans on Friday accused the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks of descending into partisan finger-pointing..."
It isn't really the Republicans clashing, now is it? More like the Republicans pointing out that the 9/11 commission is hopelessly partisan.
This headline is hopelessly partisan, but seeing as how it's from Reuters, it can't possibly be intentional...
rotflmao. Stop it Tom you're killing me!
Let's see, it's an election year, and we have a bunch of politicians getting LOTS of media coverage and Kean says there's no politics! Riiiight.
I may have been born at night..but it wasn't last night.
This commission is a farce. If Kean can't see that he and this "commission" have no credibility whatsoever, then he is a fool. Personally, I think he and the rest of the has-beens on the "committee" just like to grandstand and get their names in the paper. Why else would they even bother to continue with this pathetic joke? Nobody cares anymore. It's clearly a political witch-hunt, and most people have laughed it off by now.
I am now more concerned with how much of my tax money is being wasted every day on this ongoing idiocy?
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