9/11 Chair: Attack Was Preventable

CBS ^ | 17 December 2003

[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.

[sinkspur]

Kean's showboating.

Bush should stonewall on the records now, more than ever.

And fire Kean.

[don'tbedenied]

CBS goes for the juglar quickly after the capture of Saddam.
They deftly change from the pre-report to the accusations of the bereaved w/o missing a beat conflating the two concepts. Good hit job by Dan's boys.

[jimbo123]

I wonder how Mrs. Breitweiser feels about Bill Clinton's refusal to accept Bin Laden's extradition from the Sudan?

[BurbankKarl]

that article implies Bush could have prevented the attacks...

sounds more like Dean..."i heard somewhere, somehow, Bush knew they were coming"

[glock rocks]

... and your opinion would be?

[Schatze]

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.

Want answers, ladies? Read Invasion by Michelle Malkin. She exposes how political correctness and the bleeding hearts put us in such a position.

[DouglasKC]

This is dumb. I would bet there's nobody in the world except a couple of rappers and a few dozen terrorists would even have considered the possiblity that people would coordinate an attack by hijacking 4 (5? 6? 7?) planes at the same time and flying them into prominent buildings. That's just nuts and nobody can predict nutty behavior.

[Papabear47]

Open all records now or else we will have another Watergate or worse.

[Lancey Howard]

Yeah, I wonder how Mrs. Breitweiser feels about the Clinton administration doing NOTHING after Islamic terrorists exploded a 30' crater in the basement of the World Trade Center. NOTHING.

It's a small miracle the whole place didn't come down then.

[Peach]

Ditto

[mondonico]

The DUmmies are having multiple orgasms over this.

[wizardoz]

Interesting timing.

[Peach]

"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.

What does this mean? Does he mean they wouldn't still be in the job? He does not say that.

It's the poorly constructed sentence of an otherwise bright man who has misspoken because he is lying.

[Tempest]

I'm wondering how much the press will leave out. I mean the part where Clinton had several opportunities to capture Osama Bin Laden but never did.

[mondonico]

Welcome to FreeRepublic.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

What about the counterpoint?

[Dog]

I heard this on the way home from work.....top of the news broadcast.......this will lead all news stories tomorrow......the media now has someone on record blaming Bush and Company.....and they will run with it.

[telebob]

I didn't see anything in this article that hasn't already been public for the last two years. What's the point of CBS packaging it up like this? It's old news...

[CFC__VRWC]

Yeah, I wonder how Mrs. Breitweiser feels about the Clinton administration doing NOTHING after Islamic terrorists exploded a 30' crater in the basement of the World Trade Center. NOTHING.

I've read some of the things this woman's had to say. As far as her feelings about Clinton, I'd say that she's still hanging onto her kneepads, just in case she ever gets the chance to "dialogue" with him.