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9/11 Panel Suspected Deception by Pentagon
Washington Post ^ | August 2, 2006 | Dan Eggen

Posted on 08/01/2006 11:20:41 PM PDT by woofie

Allegations Brought to Inspectors General

Some staff members and commissioners of the Sept. 11 panel concluded that the Pentagon's initial story of how it reacted to the 2001 terrorist attacks may have been part of a deliberate effort to mislead the commission and the public rather than a reflection of the fog of events on that day, according to sources involved in the debate.

Suspicion of wrongdoing ran so deep that the 10-member commission, in a secret meeting at the end of its tenure in summer 2004, debated referring the matter to the Justice Department for criminal investigation, according to several commission sources. Staff members and some commissioners thought that e-mails and other evidence provided enough probable cause to believe that military and aviation officials violated the law by making false statements to Congress and to the commission, hoping to hide the bungled response to the hijackings, these sources said.

In the end, the panel agreed to a compromise, turning over the allegations to the inspectors general for the Defense and Transportation departments, who can make criminal referrals if they believe they are warranted, officials said.

"We to this day don't know why NORAD [the North American Aerospace Command] told us what they told us," said Thomas H. Kean, the former New Jersey Republican governor who led the commission. "It was just so far from the truth. . . . It's one of those loose ends that never got tied."

Although the commission's landmark report made it clear that the Defense Department's early versions of events on the day of the attacks were inaccurate, the revelation that it considered criminal referrals reveals how skeptically those reports were viewed by the panel and provides a glimpse of the tension between it and the Bush administration.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 911; 911commission; pentagaon; sept11
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1 posted on 08/01/2006 11:20:43 PM PDT by woofie
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To: woofie
John F. Lehman, a Republican commission member and former Navy secretary, said in a recent interview that he believed the panel may have been lied to but that he did not believe the evidence was sufficient to support a criminal referral.

"My view of that was that whether it was willful or just the fog of stupid bureaucracy, I don't know," Lehman said. "But in the order of magnitude of things, going after bureaucrats because they misled the commission didn't seem to make sense to me."

2 posted on 08/01/2006 11:25:19 PM PDT by woofie
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To: woofie
the credibility of this commission is laughable. The spineless rinos did not call for gorelicks removal. this is even after it was shown she was responsible for the non communication between the FBI and CIA
3 posted on 08/01/2006 11:32:45 PM PDT by slapshot (""USAF- when you absolutely, positively need it delivered on target, on time, right away)
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To: woofie

I read the article and certainly wasn't impressed by the "deceptions" referred to. Some were non sequitors.


4 posted on 08/01/2006 11:34:57 PM PDT by Williams
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To: slapshot

I agree.....its interesting that this commission gets to continue to make noise


5 posted on 08/01/2006 11:35:08 PM PDT by woofie
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To: Williams

also they are laying the blame on the Bush administration...they had just taken over in January and few of their guys were in place


6 posted on 08/01/2006 11:38:14 PM PDT by woofie
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To: woofie


Getting more and more desperate on the left. Think they have disasterous polling data about the '06 elections?


7 posted on 08/01/2006 11:39:31 PM PDT by Tzimisce (How Would Mohammed Vote? Hillary for President! www.dndorks.com)
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To: slapshot

Kudos to Kean and Lehman for having allowed their group to become the Jerry Springer of investigative commissions. On second thought, maybe they should take alook at referring themselves to the Justice Dept for felonious self-promotion while pretending to act in the national interest.


8 posted on 08/01/2006 11:43:31 PM PDT by vbmoneyspender
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To: woofie

They are never going away..... Liberals win the House of Representative they already have their "commission" established for their plotted and planned impeachment.


9 posted on 08/01/2006 11:48:25 PM PDT by Just mythoughts
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To: woofie
Some staff members and commissioners of the Sept. 11 panel concluded that the Pentagon's initial story . . . may have been part of a deliberate effort to mislead the commission . . . .

Is it too late to give medals to the patriots who lied to the 9/Forever commission?

10 posted on 08/01/2006 11:49:12 PM PDT by vbmoneyspender
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To: woofie

Meanwhile, the elephant in the living room, Jamie Gorelick, has still never taken a seat at the commission's witness table.

Every time you figure these scumbags are gone and forgotten another story like this one pops up.


11 posted on 08/01/2006 11:50:10 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: woofie

This is what happens when the President of the United States bows to media pressure and special interest groups like the so-called "Jersey Girls", appoints a RINO has-been like Kean to chair a special "commission", which is peppered with questionable members like Gorelick who were in fact instrumental in creating the conditions within the federal government which led to a major breakdown in communications, creating confusion, doubt and delay which was fully manifested on 9/11.

Thanks Bill Clinton, thanks Jamie Gorelick, thanks RINOs one and all, thanks for your dedicated attempts to undermine our national leadership during a time of war.

The 9/11 Commission was, is and shall be a disgraceful footnote when the 9/11 attacks are addressed by future historians and the members of that commission will be written off as nothing but useful idiots to al Qaeda.


12 posted on 08/01/2006 11:51:04 PM PDT by mkjessup (The Shah doesn't look so bad now, eh? But nooo, Jimmah said the Ayatollah was a 'godly' man.)
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To: woofie
John F. Lehman, a Republican commission member and former Navy secretary, said in a recent interview that he believed the panel may have been lied to but that he did not believe the evidence was sufficient to support a criminal referral. "

My view of that was that whether it was willful or just the fog of stupid bureaucracy, I don't know," Lehman said. "But in the order of magnitude of things, going after bureaucrats because they misled the commission didn't seem to make sense to me."

Much better if they had gone after one of their own: gore-LICK!!!

13 posted on 08/01/2006 11:51:37 PM PDT by danamco
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To: slapshot

Perhaps she was also responsible for the lack of communication between the FAA and Defense? That's what I think happened. FAA should have known about the hijackings from the airlines, then, I would think, the Defense Department would be notified.

Perhaps there was even a delay in the airlines notification of the FAA. I always wondered why fighters were not scrambled when it became obvious the hijacked planes were headed for downtown NY.


14 posted on 08/01/2006 11:52:36 PM PDT by singfreedom ("Victory at all costs,.......for without victory there is no survival."--Churchill--that's "Winston")
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To: vbmoneyspender

Actually, Lehman was the only member who exhibited any sense.
He could have been more vocal, however, and maybe even expressed his disgust with the whole laughingstock.


15 posted on 08/01/2006 11:52:43 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: woofie
Wasn't it late in January because algore's claims of victory? I know the President didn't even have his entire Cabinet in place.
16 posted on 08/01/2006 11:54:25 PM PDT by singfreedom ("Victory at all costs,.......for without victory there is no survival."--Churchill--that's "Winston")
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To: Lancey Howard

I listened to him repeatedly on the radio and he was a joke. He went out and vigorously defended Gorelick whose presence on the commission utterly tainted its credibility. If those guys are looking for a coverup, they should look at themselves and their refusal to investigage the central role Gorelick had in preventing our intelligence agencies from functioning effectively


17 posted on 08/01/2006 11:57:05 PM PDT by vbmoneyspender
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To: vbmoneyspender
...for felonious self-promotion

Does not rise to the level.
18 posted on 08/01/2006 11:57:10 PM PDT by carumba (The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made. Groucho)
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To: danamco

Absolutely. She HAS to bear most of the blame. We can talk about the response until we turn purple, but it might have been PREVENTED, entirely, if she, and the ineffectual Clinton, hadn't been in office.


19 posted on 08/02/2006 12:04:32 AM PDT by singfreedom ("Victory at all costs,.......for without victory there is no survival."--Churchill--that's "Winston")
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To: woofie

The commission quickly revealed itself as nothing more than a vehicle to re-write history so as not to besmirch the Hippie Administration. As it was when they were in their 20s, the Clinton Kids were determined that they not take responsibility for the dire results of their own arrrogance and stupidity.


20 posted on 08/02/2006 12:05:21 AM PDT by JennysCool (Roll out the Canarble Wagon!)
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