9/11 Panel Blames 'Institutional Failings'

Yahoo! News ^ | 7/21/2004 | Hope Yen, AP Writer

[vrwc1]

WASHINGTON - The Sept. 11 commission's final report concludes the hijackers exploited "deep institutional failings within our government" over a long period but does not blame President Bush (news - web sites) or former President Clinton (news - web sites) for the mistakes, according to administration officials familiar with the findings.

The report, being released Thursday, describes the patience and determination of the hijackers and said they explored weaknesses in airline and border procedures, even taking test flights to see when cockpit doors were open.

White House officials and congressional leaders were briefed on the report's findings, and Bush is to receive a copy of the 575-page report on Thursday.

"It does not place blame on particular individuals or particular incidents, but in fact it identifies institutional failings that have grown up over time about the way our government is organized," one official said.

It concludes that Bush and Clinton took the threat of al-Qaida seriously and were "genuinely concerned about the danger posed by al-Qaida," the official said. It finds that neither president was to blame for failing to stop the attacks, which were the culmination of years of planning.

Less than four months before the presidential election, the commission's work already has ignited partisan debate over whether Bush took sufficient steps to deal with terrorism in the first year of his administration.

As expected, the report will call for creating a Cabinet-level national director of intelligence with authority over the CIA, FBI and other agencies. The White House administration is reserving judgment on that recommendation, and officials doubt it could be approved by Congress this year.

Four administration officials briefed reporters on the content of the report on condition of anonymity because it has not been publicly released.

"Rather than finding that there was a failure at the presidential level, what they find though is that there are failings and that there were deep institutional failings within our government," an official said. "And that's what they really examine at some length over a long period of time — that there were a variety of factors spanning many years and many administrations that contributed to a failure to share information amongst agencies for both legal and policy reasons."

In particular, the official said, the commission found the FBI was not set up to collect intelligence domestically, in part because of civil liberties concerns.

[vrwc1]

So much for McAuliffe's claim today that the Bush administration leaked details of the Berger investigation because the 9/11 commitee report was about to be released, and it would be damaging to the administration. Ha - his lies have been exposed! (Of course, his lips were moving, so he must have been lying!)

[Diogenesis]

THE REAL DEAL:

THE OBSTRUCTION OF THE OKLAHOMA BOMBING GRAND JURY INVESTIGATION,
The Mysterious Jamie Gorelick Phone Call
By David Hoffman,Sun Sep 14 12:10:57 1997

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On Aug. 22, 1996, just before the Democratic National Convention,
Ms. Gorelick oversaw a critical Justice Department meeting with the FBI.
mmediately after this meeting, as it happened,
all serious inquiry into the fate of TWA 800 came to an end.

Gorelick was instrumental in the corruption of TWA Flight 800 terrorism investigation
Did Clinton appointee corrupt Flight 800 probe?

---

MORE?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1117579/posts
GORELICK GATE - various FR links

---

---

Sandy Berger was a key beneficiary of "Gorelick’s Wall"
TIME, "The Ubiquitous Mr. Fix-It", Adam Cohen

---

John Kerry was a key beneficiary of Berger's Burglaries
Rescued: Data the Kerry/Edwards Campaign Tried to DELETE from its site! (grandpa dave found cache)

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Berger purloined all draft revisions of a key critique of the government's response
to the millennium terrorism threat, a document that detailed Administration knowledge
– and inaction – regarding al Qaeda presence in the U.S. in 1999
and 2000. Stolen were crucial notes in the margins of these drafts
which reveal the thinking and agendas of the
Clinton Administration relating to the mounting terrorist threat.
Washington Post, "Berger Quits as Advisor to Kerry", Susan Schmidt

---

Berger was not qualified as NSA.
He was a millionaire lawyer and lobbyist with a career centered on expanding trade with China.
Tom Laughlin, http://www.billyjack.com/jung/08_politics/articles/990515_spy.html

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Former FBI Director Louis Freeh opined that
Burger “was a public-relations hack, interested in how something would play in the press” .
The New Yorker, per http://www.nationalreview.com/lowry/lowry200311030753.asp

---

Dick Morris noted Berger “seemed to work overtime
at opposing tough measures against terror”,
advising vetoes of legislation aimed at crippling Iranian terror funding
and working to block antiterror sanctions.
Wall Street Journal, "While Clinton Fiddled", Dick Morris, http://www.opinionjournal.com/forms/printThis.html?id=95001824

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Berger repeatedly rebuffed Sudanese offers to hand Osama bin Laden
to the United States in a deal brokered by a $900,000 contributor to Democrat campaigns.
Source 1 - National Review, "Clinton & Khobar", Rich Lowry


Source 2 - Washington Times, "Miniter Responds", Richard Miniter

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Berger allowed bin Laden and his top lieutenants to escape to Afghanistan.
NewsMax, "Aide: Clinton Unleashed bin Laden", Chuck Noe

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Berger was singled-out by UN Inspector Scott Ritter for the collapse of UN inspections efforts in Iraq].
"Endgame: Solving the Iraq Problem - Once and for All" by Scott Ritter

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Berger admitted that the Clinton Administration failed to develop a war plan to fight al Qaeda
National Review, "Warning B.S.", Rich Lowry

---

Berger was the "go-to" man regarding China policy
when Communist Chinese money was being funneled into Democrat Party coffers
in exchange for policy concessions, strategic nuclear technology,
and all pending patent applications at the US Patent Office.
The Hill, "Fundraiser resurfaces from 1996", Sam Dealey

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Berger stonewalled the Energy Department about Chinese spying in Los Alamos for three years.

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It was Berger whose calls Bill Clinton ducked in 1998 when bin Laden was briefly vulnerable to missile attack.
US News & World Report, Paul Bedard, 15 Mar 2003

"Mr. Berger, please this is urgent.
We can take out Osama, now. Please answer!!! We have him in our sight."

Berger-Burglar: "Nope. Forgetaboutit. No big deal. I am watching the West Wing."

---

"I was summoned to the office of National Security adviser Sandy Berger,
who chewed me out for not having a national security adviser (on the West Wing).
So I opened the next season with Anna Deavere Smith as the national security adviser" -
Aaron Sorkin

---

Lucky-to-have-only-been-Impeached before the 911 Commission
with his Document-Procurer-on-Loan-to-Kerry Sandy (the) NSA Burglar:
[quietly, fuming, out of the side of his mouth]
"Sandy, are you absolutely d@amn positively certain you took
each and every one of the important classified documents?
Sandy, if you f&ck up, she will put us both into Fort Marcy Park."

---

Sandy Burglar: "You dont understand.
Why did I throw them away and give xeroxes to my client Kerry, you ask? Well, because I could!!!
I finally got my own copy of Gorelick's book "Destruction of Evidence"."

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Consider: If Gorelick, Clarke and Clinton had been completely HONEST
to the American public about the Islamic-crashed airplanes, like TWA800, in the 90's
or the other Islamic terror attacks, then Americans WOULD have been on alert on 911
and would have had the opportunity to prevent the 911 Atrocities.

[we_will_prevail]

"It concludes that Bush and Clinton took the threat of al-Qaida seriously and were "genuinely concerned about the danger posed by al-Qaida," the official said. It finds that neither president was to blame for failing to stop the attacks, which were the culmination of years of planning."

This is bullsh!t.

Why was al-Qaeda -- which was a virtually unknown terror organization in 1994 -- allowed to build up and grow substantially during the mid 90s, which, ummmmm... let me think -- was right smab dab in the middle of the Clinton administration?

During what years was 9/11 planned/executed?

1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 (early stages)

2000, 2001 (final stages)

Clinton was in charge during 5 of those 6 years.

C'mon -- to say that Clinton could not have done anything during those 6 years is blatantly non-truthful.

[vrwc1]

Agreed - the Millenium report is the smoking gun that proves the Clinton administration didn't take al-Qaeda seriously since they didn't implement the report's recommendations. Plus, Ashcroft was not briefed on the report's conclusions when the Bush administration took office.

Clinton and company get off easy, when they should have been seriously smacked by the report.

[Hank Rearden]

Thousands died.
Nobody gets blamed.
Nobody gets fired.

F the government.

[vrwc1]

Typical "bi-partisan" committee report. CYA all around.

[Petronski]

We knew they wouldn't blame Clinton. The bonus is, they're not blaming Bush.



I hope the no-good un-American leftist bastards at DU choke on their cold pizza breakfasts when they hear this--they've been expecting some kid of karmic friggin' apocalypse for the Bush Administration.


PS: Are we to believe the administration leaked the Sandy Burglary to cover up this? BWA HA HA HA HA HA!

[Petronski]

I don't know if anyone is aware of this 'glimpse' of the 911 report. Perhaps you could do some ping magic? Thanks.

[Howlin]

I'll be glad to.


PINGY!

[Petronski]

Thanky thanky.

[prairiebreeze]

This report isn't worth the paper it's printed on. I demand my money back.

Prairie

[prairiebreeze]

Less than four months before the presidential election, the commission's work already has ignited partisan debate over whether Bush took sufficient steps to deal with terrorism in the first year of his administration.

Ms. Yen managed to work that in but left out any mention of the eight YEARS of Clinton fecklessness and perfidy.

Prairie

[MJY1288]

[Common Tator]

This report isn't worth the paper it's printed on. I demand my money back.

The question is , "Is there a minority report from this committee whose main theme is bashing Bush?"

I would not be surprised if the Democrats made a deal to not trash Bush or Clinton in the main report. But have the Denocrats done a minority report that Blames Bush first and last and in the middle for good measure?.

[deport]

Well it's just politics.... or so it has been claimed....

Let's see if I understand this right.............

Clinton awards Halliburton no-bid contract in Yugoslavia - good...
Bush awards Halliburton no-bid contract in Iraq - bad...

Clinton spends 77 billion on war in Serbia - good...
Bush spends 87 billion in Iraq - bad...

Clinton imposes regime change in Serbia - good...
Bush imposes regime change in Iraq - bad...

Clinton bombs Christian Serbs on behalf of Muslim Albanian terrorists - good...
Bush liberates 25 million from a genocidal dictator - bad...

Clinton bombs Chinese embassy - good...
Bush bombs terrorist camps - bad...

Clinton commits felonies while in office - good...
Bush lands on aircraft carrier in jumpsuit - bad...

Clinton says mass graves in Serbia - good...
Entire world says WMD in Iraq - bad...

No mass graves found in Serbia - good...
No WMD found Iraq - bad...

Stock market crashes in 2000 under Clinton - good...
Recession under Bush - bad...

Clinton refuses to take custody of Bin Laden - good...
World Trade Centers fall under Bush - bad...

Clinton says Saddam has nukes - good...
Bush says Saddam has nukes - bad...

Clinton calls for regime change in Iraq - good...
Bush imposes regime change in Iraq - bad...

Terrorist training in Afghanistan under Clinton - good...
Bush destroys training camps in Afghanistan - bad...

Milosevic not yet convicted - good...
Saddam in custody - bad...

Ah, it's so confusing!

[eddie willers]

No way this result wasn't leaked earlier to the White House.

Since it's so "kissing your sister" namby pamby stuff, it kinda takes the starch out of the Dems reasoning for the Berger leak.

[VRWC For Truth]

The DemocRATs caused the institutional failures. Flippen traitors.

[Southack]

"I hope the no-good un-American leftist bastards at DU choke on their cold pizza breakfasts when they hear this--they've been expecting some kid of karmic friggin' apocalypse for the Bush Administration."

That's the Hail Mary approach to politics. Devoid of any issues of their own newer than 1973, the Democrats are left (pun intended) to merely hope that some miraculous anti-Bush scandal occurs that puts Senator Kerry into the white House.

Won't happen, but it's the only hope that they have. It's not as though they can win based on the merit of their ideas (oh yeah, raise taxes, gay marriages, gay adoptions, don't drill for oil, don't cut trees even if you need to build firebreaks to save forests from fires, ban guns, outsource foreign policy to the UN, and nationalize healthcare, etc...).

7 Legislative Days Left Until The AWB Expires

[The KG9 Kid]

The elites will never screw each other.

[jwalsh07]

How about the "instituion" of Congress which failed to act after war had been declared on this country three times by Al Qa'ida?