Posted on 12/17/2003 5:23:34 PM PST by Hal1950
For the first time, the chairman of the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks is saying publicly that 9/11 could have and should have been prevented, reports CBS News Correspondent Randall Pinkston.
"This is a very, very important part of history and we've got to tell it right," said Thomas Kean.
"As you read the report, you're going to have a pretty clear idea what wasn't done and what should have been done," he said. "This was not something that had to happen."
Appointed by the Bush administration, Kean, a former Republican governor of New Jersey, is now pointing fingers inside the administration and laying blame.
"There are people that, if I was doing the job, would certainly not be in the position they were in at that time because they failed. They simply failed," Kean said.
To find out who failed and why, the commission has navigated a political landmine, threatening a subpoena to gain access to the president's top-secret daily briefs. Those documents may shed light on one of the most controversial assertions of the Bush administration – that there was never any thought given to the idea that terrorists might fly an airplane into a building.
"I don't think anybody could have predicted that they would try to use an airplane as a missile, a hijacked airplane as a missile," said national security adviser Condoleeza Rice on May 16, 2002.
"How is it possible we have a national security advisor coming out and saying we had no idea they could use planes as weapons when we had FBI records from 1991 stating that this is a possibility," said Kristen Breitweiser, one of four New Jersey widows who lobbied Congress and the president to appoint the commission.
The widows want to know why various government agencies didn't connect the dots before Sept. 11, such as warnings from FBI offices in Minnesota and Arizona about suspicious student pilots.
"If you were to tell me that two years after the murder of my husband that we wouldn't have one question answered, I wouldn't believe it," Breitweiser said.
Kean admits the commission also has more questions than answers.
Asked whether we should at least know if people sitting in the decision-making spots on that critical day are still in those positions, Kean said, "Yes, the answer is yes. And we will."
Kean promises major revelations in public testimony beginning next month from top officials in the FBI, CIA, Defense Department, National Security Agency and, maybe, President Bush and former President Clinton.
I was surprised they could even function at all with all the lawsuits going on and the Florida chad checker idiots.
Actually when we captured Ramsey Yousef in the Philiphines (an Iraqi agent operating with Al Qaeda?!?!?{GASP!}) in 1995, he had files on him of the possibility of using Airplanes as airborne missiles, and his target was the CIA building. By 1996, an intelligence memo was put on Clinton's Desk stating that suicide bombings was a possibility, and that security should be set up to prevent it. I believe it was turned down because this would mean shutting off the cockpit, and cutting off the possibility of negotiating with the hijackers.
Overtime, it was largely forgotten about until 9/11 and everyone started retracing their steps. Unbelievably, this often used as a smear on President Bush. He probably didn't even know about this Intelligence memo before 9/11 while Clinton deliberatly ignored it.
I tried to find a source for this info but all i got was conspiracy sites. At one time i saw this documented legitamately but i dont know where.
Maybe some do, but Ms. Kristen Britweiser has an agenda to get George W. Bush!
She's a relatively attractive blonde, and she'll bat her eyes as long as it takes to bring him down.
She won't do it, of course, but she's got a whole bunch of saps following her around as if she knows what she's talking about.
By January 2001, it was lost in millions of documents. But in 1996 that document sat alone on Clinton's Desk and he ignored it! WHY?
Did we know terrorist might attack us? ......Absolutely
Did we know that terrorist have hijacked planes in the past? ............ Absolutely
Did we know that Al-Qaeda was plotting acts of terrorism? ......Absolutely
Did we know before hand that 19 terrorist were gonna simultaneous hijack 4 Passenger Jets and crash them into the Twin Towers? ....... Hell Know
Half the hijackers didn't even know what their mission was. If blame must be placed on anyone, it should be congress for gutting our Intel gathering capabilities.
President Bush's Nomination to head the FBI was sworn in one week before 9/11 and over half of his nominations to key positions in his administration wasn't confirmed yet because some goof ball named Al Gore refused to accept his defeat and slowed the transition by 6 weeks.
What happened on 9/11 was a culmination of years of empty threats in response to terrorist kidnapping and killing our people. It all started when Jimmy Carter refused to stand up to the Mullah's in Iran back in 1979. For over a year we were held hostage and after 20 more years of our leaders not going after these terrorist, they became very confident that the USA was soft and would never go after them like George W. Bush has.
All the finger pointing now is a waste of time. Unfortunately, it takes an event like 9/11 before we get serious, and I think this administration has gotten real serious, and I thank God often that we do.
"I don't think anybody could have predicted that they would try to use an airplane as a missile, a hijacked airplane as a missile," said national security adviser Condoleeza Rice on May 16, 2002.
"How is it possible we have a national security advisor coming out and saying we had no idea they could use planes as weapons when we had FBI records from 1991 stating that this is a possibility," said Kristen Breitweiser, one of four New Jersey widows who lobbied Congress and the president to appoint the commission.
What a clever segue. From the "report" to an out of context quote to a litigant. Nice try Commie Bovine Scatology.
With all the firewalls between information put in place by the "reforms" instituted by the Church committee, it should be little wonder that the national security advisor didn't know about the FBI reports. The Clinton administration should have been on alert after Ramzi Yousef's apartment was discovered in Manila. After an accident hanling explosives caused a fire in the apartment, police discovered plans for placing bomss in American airplanes flying overseas and even to hijack and crash multiple planes into buildings. Also, the foiled attempt by the terrorists fly an Air France jet into the Eiffel Tower in 1994 should have been taken as a warning of potential attacks on the US using hijacked airliners.
Also, the Clinton administration treated terrorism as criminal acts rather than acts of war. Terrorists who were caught were put on trial in civilian courts exposing jurors, prosecutors and judes to intimidation from terrorist organizations. We had to make sensitive information about sources and methods of intelligence gathering public in order to convict terrorists tried in civilian courts. Prosecutors disclosed that the CIA was listening to Osama bin Lauden's encrypted satellite telephone conversations. After that, Osama stopped using his satellite phone. It was disclosed in the first WTC bombing trial that the WTC towers had been designed to take a hit from a 707 and remain standing. The CIA and FBI were prohibited from sharing information about potential terrorists. Airoport security was prohibited from profiling male Muslim Arabs (they still are).
House "Republicans"? More proof of what her true agenda is.
And while they're at it, take a look at the IMMIGRATION & NATURALIZATION SERVICE policies that were in place prior to 9/11/01. (INS is now USCIS---the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services)
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