Posted on 08/11/2005 5:57:46 PM PDT by TonyInOhio
It behaved disgracefully and in a nakedly partisan fashion, with former officials of the Clinton administration attempting to use the platform to damage the president's reelection chances. Then, after months of ludicrous conduct, out of nowhere came the brilliantly conceived and written report that set a new standard of eloquence and coherence for government documents, became a major bestseller and redeemed the commission's reputation.
Well, that didn't last long.
In a story filed at 7:10 PM, the Associated Press is now confirming all the particulars of what will now forever be called the Able Danger disaster. The 9/11 Commission staff did hear about intelligence-gathering efforts that hit pay dirt on the whereabouts of Mohammed Atta -- in 1999 -- and deliberately chose to omit word of those efforts.
And why? Because to do so might upset the timeline the Commission had established on Atta.
And why is that significant? Because the Mohammed Atta timeline established by the Commission pointedly insisted Atta did not meet with an Iraqi intelligence agent in Prague.
And why is that significant? Because debunking the Atta-Iraq connection was of vital importance to Democrats, who had become focused almost obsessively on the preposterous notion that there was no relation whatever between Al Qaeda and Iraq -- that Al Qaeda and Iraq might even have been enemies.
I was very skeptical of this Able Danger stuff about Atta, thought it was just sme way Rep. Curt Weldon was trying to sell a book. No longer. This is clearly becoming the biggest story of the summer -- the fact that, as Andy McCarthy alluded to, the "intelligence wall" set up by 9/11 Commissioner Jamie Gorelick when she was in the Justice Department did, in fact, cause the linchpin of the 9/11 attacks to evade capture by American law enforcement.
So was the staff a) protecting the Atta timeline or b) Jamie Gorelick or c) the Clinton administration or d) itself, because it got hold of the information relatively late and the staff was lazy?
More important, what will co-chairmen Tom (pound his fist on the table) Kean and Lee (look sorrowful) Hamilton do and say in the next 36 hours about this calamity?
PING
Yes, Let's hear all about how Sandy Berger ties into this whole mess and DELIBERATELY STOLE NATIONAL ARCHIVE FILES...He and Jamie Gorelick ought to both be hauled into court and sued by Joe American!
Clinton screwed up BAD!!! I really, really hope the right wing pundits spend a lot of time on this. It explains a lot!
"And why is that significant? Because debunking the Atta-Iraq connection was of vital importance to Democrats, who had become focused almost obsessively on the preposterous notion that there was no relation whatever between Al Qaeda and Iraq -- that Al Qaeda and Iraq might even have been enemies."
This is explosive! Can we get the media off Natalie and all the other BS?v This is important!
Got a link to the AP story? I can't find it.
Why did this hit so big now? We were discussing it here during the commission hearings. Did some MSM have a slow news day?
Send Gorelick to Gitmo!!!!!!
How much coverage is this getting with most of the media, or need I even ask?!
Thanks for the ping. I'd been skeptical of the Weldon info a few months ago too, but seeing him discuss this in person on FNC has changed my mind.
CAN YOU SAY CHINA GATE??
If I had a nickel, hell, even a penny, for those of us who thought of Sandy Berger immediately, I would never have to work the rest of my life.
Couldn't have said it better myself, SD!!!!
The "multiple choice" that Podhoretz had in the article?
I choose ALL OF THE ABOVE!!!
Abledangergate?
FR Archives Search Results.. Sandy Berger and SoxGate
Well...we could e-mail news orgs. and ask them to "explain it" to the American people.
The manner in which the left is trying to play down and write off the AD story tells me there is really something here. Someting very bad for the Clinton administration.
Whoooaaah
????....stay out of Ft. ______ Park?
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