Posted on 03/14/2002 5:59:57 AM PST by LibFreeUSA
March 13 — Saying he was “stunned and not happy,” President Bush ordered an investigation Wednesday into the “embarrassing disclosure” that two of the Sept. 11 hijackers were granted visas shortly before the attacks even though they were known to law enforcement agencies and one had an outstanding arrest warrant. Bush said the “interesting wake-up call” demonstrated the need for reform at the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
BUSH CALLED the mailing of the visa approvals “inexcusable” at a news conference Wednesday afternoon, saying it was further evidence that the INS’s “information systems are antiquated.”
“It got my attention this morning. ... Let me put it another way: I was hot, and I made that clear to people in my administration,” the president said.
Bush said he had particularly made his displeasure plain to Attorney General John Ashcroft, head of the Justice Department, the INS’s parent agency. “He got the message,” the president said, “and so should the INS.”
Ashcroft issued a statement saying he had directed the department’s inspector general to investigate. “Individuals will be held responsible for any professional incompetence that led to this failure,” he said, “and inferior INS quality-control mechanisms will be reformed.”
Bush’s swift reaction reflected outrage that spread through Washington like wildfire after MSNBC.com and WBBH-TV, the NBC affiliate in Fort Myers, Fla., reported Tuesday afternoon that the head of a Florida aviation school received notices that the INS had approved requests by the two terrorist pilots....
OK! How FAR BACK are we going to go here?
Remember! This is the same bunch at INS (then headed by Meissner / Reno / Clinton) that sent 'storm troopers' into an American home at 5 AM at GUN POINT to take a 6 year old kid back to a criminal dictatorship!
BUT THEY COULDN'T (WOULDN'T) PROTECT US FROM THESE TERRORISTS WALKING THE STREETS AND "APPROVING THEM" FOR FLYING LESSONS, WHILE THEY WERE TAKING A KID A GUN POINT!
Originally written on 10/18/00
Link source:http://www.usvisanews.com/memo1118.html
WASHINGTON -- Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) Commissioner Doris Meissner today announced her plans to depart the Service in mid-November to return to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She joined INS in October of 1993, after being nominated by President Clinton to serve as Commissioner of the INS.
"Commissioner Meissner has consistently upheld the principles that have allowed this country to continue welcoming immigrants into our society," President Clinton stated. "We are a nation of immigrants, and their contributions to America's diverse culture are invaluable. We are also a nation of laws. Commissioner Meissner's balanced approach to deterring illegal immigration while facilitating legal migration has enabled our nation to continue the great American tradition of welcoming immigrants to our shores."
When Commissioner Meissner joined INS, she took the helm of an agency that had been ignored for decades and was considered a backwater bureaucracy. In the last seven years, Commissioner Meissner has presided over a period of unprecedented growth in employees, resources and mandates for the agency. As Commissioner, she has managed this growth, providing guidance and leadership through a tumultuous period in which immigration has been on the social and political forefront of the nation's agenda as never before.
"I believe Commissioner Meissner has proven herself to be one of the most respected and accomplished Commissioners in INS' history," said Attorney General Janet Reno. "Her knowledge and expertise of immigration issues, coupled with her humanity, fairness, dedication and compassion, have enabled her to steer the agency towards a more balanced program of judicious enforcement and improved customer service. She has served the American people well."
Commissioner Meissner will return to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace where she previously worked and was the founder of its distinguished International Migration Policy Program. Building on her government experience as an immigration policymaker, she will develop and direct a new project that examines the broader issues and challenges facing the United States as it implements global policy agendas.
Commissioner Meissner's seven-year tenure at the INS caps her distinguished career at the Department of Justice,...
His statements regarding nuclear weapons being used for tactical purposes in the war against terrorism just encouraged the US to be targeted for its own nuclear injury.
Public staements are getting a little far-out in this administration. Rationalizing weapons of mass destruction just legitimizes the terrorists opposed against us as being rational when they consider their use.
Legitimizes the terrorists? How so? Do you mean that us even discussing the use of nuclear weapons against them somehow will somehow give them the go-ahead to use them against us (if they have them)?
I want OUR 'american representatives' (that we have elected) to ENSURE that these bureaucrats (INS) do THEIR JOB in prohibiting/tracking/KICKING OUT the BAD APPLES!!!
ESPECIALLY, the ones with the already BAD RECORDS / ARREST WARRANTS, ETC....
Regardless of the administration's wisdom in making these statements, do you really think that the terrorists are evaluating what weapons to use based on our official position?
I think that they have adequately demonstrated that they will act utterly irrationally (from our point of view) and use any weapon at their disposal in the most devastating way that they can.
This is pathetic. Everyone in Washington know the INS is self-destructing and is routinely called "the worst agency in the federal government." John Ashcroft is boss of the INS. Does he not yet know how screwed up it is? Does he not know that the INS "information systems" are antiquated and non-functional? Does he not report any of this to GWB?
And if GWB realized only this week that the INS is in a meltdown, then he has no business whatsoever adding one million 245(i) scofflaws to the INS rolls. Actually, it is unbelievable that he never asked Ascroft "what is the state of the INS."
Now the conclusion has to be reached that both sides are insane or rational. Which is it? Escalating the use of WMD by public statements does not help. I imagine that if FDR had pronounced that we would use poison gas against Germany during WW II if we had to, the Germans would have used it.
Why encourage more violence instead of less by public statements? We have had enough problems in the world trying to contain nuclear weapons without now advocating their use.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.