Bush and Clinton may testify before the 9/11 Commission

Time Magazine ^ | July 6, 2003 | Timothy J. Burger and Mathew Cooper

[Bob Eimiller]

N O T E B O O K Quizzing Them on 9/11 Bush and Clinton may be asked to meet with the independent commission investigating the terrorist attacks By TIMOTHY J. BURGER AND MATTHEW COOPER

Sunday, Jul. 06, 2003 Will President Bush be summoned before the independent commission investigating 9/11? It now appears very likely. John Lehman, Ronald Reagan's Navy Secretary and one of five Republicans on the 10-member panel, told TIME that he wants both President Bush and former President Clinton to meet with the commission and discuss matters that could include what their Administrations knew about the al-Qaeda terrorist plots—and what was done to combat them—before the 9/11 attacks.

With the commission evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, Lehman's position makes it all but certain that a majority will support a request to interview Bush and Clinton. "I don't think any commission should ever formally call a President to testify," Lehman said, "but I think it is very much in the country's interest—and in both President Clinton's and President Bush's interest—to meet directly with the commissioners." Responded White House press secretary Ari Fleischer: "The White House has been and will continue to cooperate with the commission."

Investigation fever is building on Capitol Hill. Richard Shelby, former top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, who complained that federal agencies like the cia and countries like Saudi Arabia hampered the congressional probe into the Sept. 11 attacks, has a new angle. Term limits forced the Alabama Republican off the intelligence panel this year, but as new chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, he is setting up hearings aimed at terrorist funding. A Shelby aide says the hearings will have "the Executive Branch telling the committee what they've done with the Patriot Act," the post-9/11 law that expanded the government's antiterror capabilities. The aide says the hearings' focus will include the CIA and the governments of Saudi Arabia and Yemen—and what they're doing to stanch the flow of terrorists' funds.

From the Jul. 14, 2003 issue of TIME magazine

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[Bob Eimiller]

What do you expect Clinton to testify to... I expect an attempt at legacy building, buck passing and massive lies.

[Calpernia]

Ping!

[onyx]

Didn't see a date or even a proposed date for the hearing.

That said, I think Clinton will require a mini-committee of his own to fabricate his testimony. But hey, he's supposed to be a 'quick study' so the hearing date is likely irrelevant!

[Mark]

What about Algore? He could testify to drinking too much iced-tea and having to leave the room just as the discussions turned "series".

[Calpernia]

First Question to Clinton Excerpted...Long: http://www.iraqwatch.org/perspectives/cfsp-00-f-6.htm NIX

TO BLIX: MAN WHO CERTIFIED IRAQ AS NON-NUCLEAR IS UNLIKELY TO FIND -- OR EVEN TO SEEK -- SADDAM'S HIDDEN WEAPONS

Security Council's Choice is Sure Sign of End of 'Containment' Center for Security Policy

SECURITY FORUM No. 00-F 6 27 January 2000 ...The second has been the failure to implement Congress's Iraq Liberation Act - which was supposed to fund the overthrow of the dictator by native opposition groups. President Bill Clinton signed the 1998 act which was supposed to invest $97 million in this project. Apparently only $20,000 has been disbursed to the opposition groups - enough to buy some basic office supplies. The London office of the Iraqi National Congress, the main democratic opposition group, shut down at the end of last year. All this dithering and incompetence has enabled Saddam to replace his bombast after the Gulf War with a credible claim to have rolled back allied achievements then. If anyone still thinks Saddam will be content just with that, they will be deluding themselves

Where did that money go?

[ido_now]

"What do you expect Clinton to testify to... I expect an attempt at legacy building, buck passing and massive lies."

Or Bush for that matter, what is the difference?

And the cow jumped over the moon!

Emmmm, tasty osyters, no?

[Bob Eimiller]

What's the difference...? Time for you to get beyond reading children's fairytales.. You might be too fixated on Tinkerbelle and the possibility of the dish running away with the spoon

But...then again... you might have voted for AlGore...

I think I will only respond the posts that seem to reach beyond the imbecilic threshold from now on.

[sarcasm]

Will we learn why the bin Laden family was allowed to flee the country?

[TheSpottedOwl]

Oh jeez, I can't wait.

[TommyDale]

Let's see...who will testify truthfully? Never mind, we all know the answer to that question.

[EGPWS]

What do you expect Clinton to testify to...

No matter what it is the answer will be "I don't recall" or "Let me make it clear, I NEVER had relations with THAT TERRORIST.....Osama!

[rvoitier]

"Kennedy/Johnson/Carter/Clinton...what a shameful legacy for America"

You forgot FDR/Truman...Communist sympathizers and employers.

[CyberAnt]

x42 doesn't need to testify - all the committee needs to do is read "Dereliction of Duty", "Off With Their Heads", and assorted and sundry other books which give all the details they'll ever need to fill in what x42 did about terrorism - NOTHING - HE DID NOTHING!!

[Lady In Blue]

It's because it's been reported that the bin Laden family,at least,the ones who were in school here haven't spoken to Osama in years. They've been on the outs with him for years. I'm surprised that you didn't know that.And as far as I know,the only members of bin Laden's family here were young people going to the university.

[speedy]

What happens for his second perjury conviction? He's getting close to three strikes territory. Careful, Slick.

[Go Gordon]

And as far as I know,the only members of bin Laden's family here were young people going to the university.

There were also some older members that owned a lot of real estate and businesses. They caught a flight out of the US shortly after 9/11.

[jd777]

Of course, there was an article on the BBC website that said FBI officials were complaining that Bush "spiked" their investigation into Bin laden relatives in the U.S. Like Abdullah Bin Laden, brother of OBL, who is affiliated with the World Assembly of Muslim Youth. I believe he was living down in Virginia. Do you know if he got off on that plane at Logan?

[dr_who_2]

Kiss the ring, Mr. President. Why? Because Belgium wants you next.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Who investigates the committee members?

---

DoD News Briefing, Thursday, August 20, 1998  

Q: Did any other country take part in these raids?

Secretary Cohen: No, this was simply the United States.

Q: Mr. Secretary, could you tell us again what the linkage was between the chemical plant in Khartoum and Bin Ladin... What actually was there?

Secretary Cohen: We do know that he had contributed to this particular facility. We do know he has had an interest in acquiring chemical weapons. We do know that this facility produces the precursors that can result in the production of VX. That was a sufficient connection for us.

~~~

*Spies, damned lies and information - The Independent, 5-6-99, very leftist Brit. paper's version of the aspirin factory bombing, Vernon Jordan's firm representing the owner.
*White House Press Briefing - Aug. 24, 98,  Martha's Vineyard.
*Arabia in the Media, scroll down half way, detailed WP story of Sudan bombing and those who defended the factory owner/potential bin Laden supporter.
*Transcript: Dateline NBC Probe Into 'Wag The Dog' Sudan Bombing Points to Cover-Up

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The Boston Globe, on the 25^{th (July,'99)}, said, “The 6-year-old boy watched intently as his father dusted off his favorite possession, a leather-bound scrapbook of Osama bin Laden, pausing at a photo of the Saudi dissident with a semiautomatic rifle tucked in the folds of his trademark white robe. ''Osama!'' his son squealed excitedly. ''That's me!'' The boy, whose name was changed to Osama last year, is one of hundreds of Pakistani children named for bin Laden since Aug. 20, 1998 - the day the United States launched missile strikes against alleged terrorist camps run by the Saudi millionaire in eastern Afghanistan. The attack sparked outrage throughout the Muslim world. But the response was particularly heated in Pakistan, which sends thousands of Islamic guerrillas to similar training camps in Afghanistan. ''I love his bravery and gallantry,'' the boy's father, Niaz Ali Salar, said of bin Laden. ''He boosted the morale of Muslims throughout the world.'' The local leader of the radical Barelvi sect of Muslims, Salar said he hoped his son would ''live up to his name'' and lead the war against ''the enemies of Islam.'' In Mardan, a crumbling tobacco center 75 miles east of the Afghan border, Islamic priests deliver diatribes against ''evil America'' during Friday afternoon prayers.

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In Pakistan, few buy Washington's vilification of bin Laden, whom it accuses of masterminding the Aug. 7, 1998, bombings of two US embassies in east Africa and several other terrorist attacks. ''He's a man on the run, whose only friends are the Taliban. How can he be a threat to the world's most powerful nation?'' said Sahib Zada Khalid Jan Binuri, head of Pakistan's most influential Islamic seminary. ''It's all spin control. If America tells me, `You are a terrorist,' what can I say?''  Link - July 1999

~~~  

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And just last year, the National Commission on Terrorism — chaired by former Reagan counterterrorism head Paul Bremer — issued a report with the eerily foreboding image of the Twin Towers on its cover. A bipartisan effort — led by Jon Kyl and Dianne Feinstein — was made to attach the recommendations of the panel to an intelligence authorization bill. But Sen. Patrick Leahy feared a threat to "civil liberties" and torpedoed the effort. After the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole, Kyl and Feinstein tried yet again. This time, Leahy was content with emaciating the proposals instead of defeating them outright. The weakened proposals died as the House realized "it wasn't worth taking up." President Clinton certainly could have encouraged Sen. Leahy to drop his opposition, but he didn't.Link, Nov. 2001, National Review.

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