Posted on 09/15/2005 11:34:36 AM PDT by bw17
Sept. 11 commission rejects Atta claim
DEVLIN BARRETT Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Former members of the Sept. 11 commission on Wednesday dismissed assertions that a Pentagon intelligence unit identified lead hijacker Mohamed Atta as an member of al-Qaida long before the 2001 attacks.
The ex-commissioners also criticized the government for not putting in place changes recommended last year in homeland security and emergency response. They pointed most notably to the failure to improve communication systems, which they said might have saved lives after Hurricane Katrina.
Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., had accused the commission of ignoring intelligence about Atta while it investigated the attacks. The commission's former chairman, Thomas Kean, said there was no evidence anyone in the government knew about Atta before Sept. 11, 2001.
Two military officers, Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer and Navy Capt. Scott Phillpott, claimed a classified military intelligence unit, known as "Able Danger," identified Atta before the attacks. Shaffer has said three other hijackers were identified, too.
Kean said the recollections of the intelligence officers cannot be verified by any document.
"Bluntly, it just didn't happen and that's the conclusion of all 10 of us," said a former commissioner, ex-Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash.
Pentagon officials said this month that they could find no documents to back up the claims.
According to Weldon, members of "Able Danger" identified Atta and three other hijackers in 1999 as potential members of a terrorist cell in New York City. Weldon said Pentagon lawyers rejected the unit's recommendation that the information be turned over to the FBI in 2000.
Weldon's spokesman, John Tomaszewski, said no commissioners have met with anyone from Able Danger "yet they choose to speak with some form of certainty without firsthand knowledge."
Move along, nothing to see here.
This matter should be investigated through hearing in the House and Senate Armed Forces and Intelligence Committees.
I will ping you to a thread I have on this matter.
Check Sandy Berger's pants.
Now that the Rats have taken the bait its time to spring the trap.
It is time for at least one of these "commissioners" to stop protecting Jamie Gorelick and to come clean about what really happened. I hope Weldon and the Able Danger team really stick it to them.
Especially since Atta took his dry run flights with tickets purchased in his own name, not an alias.
Does this mean that they simply ignore information that doesn't fit their preconceptions? This Commission has squandered whatever credibility it had.
""Bluntly, it just didn't happen and that's the conclusion of all 10 of us," said a former commissioner, ex-Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash."
I feel more comfortable now. Safer. And it was a REPUBLICAN who said this as Well!! I really feel safer... .... really.... I really do.
You expected something else??? Weldon still has a trick or two in his bag of goodies...
Circle the wagons!
Political hacks covering their worthless backsides!? I'm shocked. /sarc
Of course the former commission members would deny it because that would put the responsibility of 911 squarely on the clintoonian administration including the dimwit algore. The 911 commission was a boondoggle to start with since it was created to continue the demoncRATS "BLAME BUSH" mentality but found that it couldn't unless it blamed clintoonian administration, which the commission members weren't going to do.
I expected nothing more than this denial by the commission. I guess the word of a half dozen or more military OFFICERS and civilians isn't good enough for them.
Bull@it
9/11 Commission: Who you gonna believe, a set of deceitful self serving politicians and their hacks or actual serving intelligence officers who have placed their jobs at risk???
The older I get the more I think political leaders should just be randomly drafted out of the population with a minimum set of qualification like being over 35 years old, able to read and write English, etc. Mark Twain once wrote that the only native criminal class in America is Congress. He was right.
That dadgum "Commission" is gettin' me angry!
Really? Two military officers, Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer and Navy Capt. Scott Phillpott, claimed a classified military intelligence unit, known as "Able Danger," identified Atta before the attacks. Both these men are military professionals of high integrity, with no ax to grind ... impugning their integrity this way by sleazy pols and 'suck up' inside the beltway types is reprehensible.
I think they are trying to regain their credibility by blaming anyone they think they can and dismissing evidence as if it were beneath their dignity to look.
In the first place it looks and smells like sour grapes to the casual observer. Also, it will not work, as long as Congress takes up the investigation of both Able Danger and Katrina.
In a campaign/election year it will be the ones running for office who'll triumph as the fearless investigators with real answers... ahem
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