Posted on 04/20/2004 6:40:46 AM PDT by areafiftyone
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The chairman of the Sept. 11 commission denies panel members are grandstanding or showing partisanship but says they plan a more low-key approach as they put together recommendations for a final report.
"There will be a lower profile," Republican chairman Thomas Kean, a former New Jersey governor, said in an interview. "Trying to do anything in Washington is very, very difficult because the atmosphere is so poisonous and there are rockets coming from the right and the left.
"But I believe we'll steer through the distractions and write a fair and balanced report."
Five Democrats and five Republicans are on the commission. Claims of partisanship intensified after recent public hearings that featured some of the foremost members of the Clinton and Bush administrations, including the highly anticipated testimony of National security adviser Condoleezza Rice. Critics on both sides of the political aisle contended commission members were engaging in "gotcha"-style questioning and seeking to promote their own agendas.
"In some respects, it's definitely a new low," said Max Holland, a former fellow at the University of Virginia who is writing a narrative history of the Warren Commission. That independent panel investigated the assassination of President Kennedy in the 1960's.
"This is a commission charged with establishing facts, and the truth, rather than posturing for political gain," he said. "But some of the hearings amounted to lecturing and posturing."
Holland cited instances in which Democratic commissioners Bob Kerrey and Richard Ben-Veniste used time for questioning to voice personal opinions about potential military action prior to Sept. 11 or comment on the significance of an Aug. 6, 2001, intelligence memo read by President Bush.
Kean has said some of the commissioners' disagreements with witnesses were a natural result of open debate and no more jarring than a typical congressional hearing.
Republicans, led by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, are starting a campaign to get Democratic commissioner Jamie Gorelick removed from the panel, alleging conflicts stemming from her service as a top deputy to Clinton administration Attorney General Janet Reno.
Current Attorney General John Ashcroft used his appearance before the panel last week to rebut claims that he was lax on terrorism before the Sept. 11 attacks and to go on the offensive against Gorelick.
Ashcroft released a previously classified 1995 memo written by Gorelick which had instructions to "more clearly separate" counterintelligence from criminal investigations. Ashcroft said this "wall" was a major barrier to terrorism probes.
Kean defended Gorelick, calling her one of the hardest working panel members. He noted she recused herself from parts of the probe involving her tenure.
The Family Steering Committee, a group representing relatives of Sept. 11 victims, said in a statement Monday that removing Gorelick would be harmful and called on DeLay "to respect its crucial mission by not distracting it from its important work."
"The commission's public hearings - with high-ranking officials under oath - while not perfect, prove that democracy can, indeed, work and ultimately prevail," the statement said. "We believe that the commission's final report will serve as an excellent way to honor the 3,000 lives lost on 9/11, by proving that we can admit to, examine, and learn from our mistakes and failures of the past."
Commission members also face criticism for their frequent appearances on TV and in newspaper columns.
Juliette Kayyem, a Harvard Kennedy School of Government professor who served on a congressional terrorism panel to investigate the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Africa, questioned why 9/11 panel members have granted so many interviews.
"They've become too public," she said. "It tempts commissioners into making assessments and conclusions prematurely."
Democratic commissioner Timothy Roemer, a former representative from Indiana, said he and other panel members see the public debate as critical to pushing reforms of the nation's counterterrorism efforts. The commission's recommendations in the final report, due out July 26, still must be passed by Congress and signed into law by Bush, he noted.
"While the American people have not been engaged in the commission's work in the past, they are now. And they are the force of change in government," Roemer said.
Stephen Wayne, a government professor at Georgetown University, said some partisanship is to be expected since the hearings involved politically charged allegations from former White House counterterror chief Richard Clarke about the Bush administration's failure to do more to prevent the attacks.
He warned, though: "The final report can't be seen as partisan if they want to be credible. If they don't voice their disagreements in the public arena and unanimously agree in the final report, that's what they can do to keep the commission out of partisan politics."
BTW, I sure would like to know where Oswald bought his ammo. As I'd love to have magic bullets like his that defied the laws of physics, could penetrate two people, a car seat and NOT loose more than one grain of the bullet's weight OR suffer any deformity! Dam good ammo if you ask me!
A famous inaccuracy hyped by the conspiracy nuts. The photo often shown of the bullet is from an angle which makes it looks pristine. But there are other photos which show a great deal of damage to the bullet.
I was was referring to the 'pristine' bullet that mysteriously appeared on JFK's gurney in the Parkland Hospital corridor. That's the magical bullet that the Warren Commission subsequently declared killed Kennedy.
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