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9/11 Panel Chiefs Reiterate Position on Qaeda-Iraq Ties By CHRISTINE HAUSER Published: June 20, 2004 The leaders of the Sept. 11 commission reiterated today that they did not see any evidence of a collaborative relationship between Al Qaeda and Iraq's Saddam Hussein, and that this position did not differ from the view of the Bush administration. The commission's chairman, Thomas H. Kean, and its vice chairman, Lee H. Hamilton, appeared on the ABC News program "This Week" as two other commission members were interviewed on the NBC News program "Meet the Press" about initial findings of the commission. Its final...

The commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks has been told "a very prominent member" of al Qaeda served as an officer in Saddam Hussein's militia, a panel member said on Sunday. Republican commissioner John Lehman told NBC's "Meet the Press" program that the new intelligence, if proven true, buttresses claims by the Bush administration of ties between Iraq and the militant network believed responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America. "We are now in the process of getting this latest intelligence," Lehman said. Commission Chairman Thomas Kean urged the administration to make any such information available to the...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks has been told "a very prominent member" of al Qaeda served as an officer in Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s militia, a panel member said on Sunday. Republican commissioner John Lehman told NBC's "Meet the Press" program that the new intelligence, if proven true, buttresses claims by the Bush administration of ties between Iraq (news - web sites) and the militant network believed responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America. "We are now in the process of getting this latest intelligence," Lehman said. Commission Chairman Thomas Kean...

He's sorry - sort of. A week after saying that communication failures between the Police and Fire departments on 9/11 were "not worthy of the boy scouts," 9/11 commission member John Lehman apologized in person to former Mayor Rudy Giuliani this week. At least, that's the version offered yesterday by Giuliani, who said Lehman came to his Giuliani Partners office on Wednesday to meet with him and two top aides, former Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen and former Office of Emergency Management Chief Richard Sheirer. "He said, 'I am sorry if it was looked at as a criticism of the...

Former Navy Secretary John Lehman, now a 9/11 Commission member and media darling, didn’t get even close to the facts this morning on Fox and Friends. Speaking on the non-issue of supposedly preventable communications problems when the two planes hit the WTC, Lehman didn’t get within hand grenade range of the facts. For example, (and this is just one very short segment) “They (NYPD and FDNY) should have had better communications, from satellite to UHF to VHF” (why anyone would take a limited amount of satellite frequencies, designed to span continents, and use them in a 30 mile wide city...

The independent commission investigating the 9/11 attacks has examined a secret videotape of ex-President Clinton discussing an offer from Sudan to have Osama bin Laden arrested five years before the 9/11 attacks, former Navy Secretary and 9/11 Commissioner John Lehman revealed on Tuesday.Asked if the never-before-seen video confirms that Clinton admitted turning the offer down, Lehman told radio host Sean Hannity, " Well, that is what he said."While the video of Clinton's bombshell remarks, delivered to the Long Island Association in Feb. 2002, had never been released prior to a request from the 9/11 Commission, NewsMax.com's exclusive audiotape shows...

NEW YORK - The former police and fire chiefs who were lionized after the World Trade Center attack came under harsh criticism Tuesday from the Sept. 11 commission, with one member saying the departments' lack of cooperation was scandalous and "not worthy of the Boy Scouts." Former fire commissioner Thomas Von Essen and former police chief Bernard Kerik shot back with infuriated responses to John Lehman's questions, the strongest of a series of pointed statements from the panel. "I couldn't disagree with you more strongly," Von Essen replied. "I think it's outrageous that you make a statement like that." Outside...

<p>May 10, 2004 -- PART of the reason we suffered such a horrific attack is that we were not prepared. We were not prepared intellectually. Those of us in the national-security field still carried the baggage of the Cold War. When we thought of terrorism, we thought only of state-sponsored terrorism, which is why the immediate reaction of many in our government agencies after 9/11 was: Which state did it? Saddam, it must have been Saddam.</p>

The U.S. Naval Institute 130th Annual Meeting and Annapolis Naval History Symposium (2004) Address by Former Secretary of the Navy John Lehman, U.S. Naval Reserve Proceedings, May 2004 'Our Enemy Is Not Terrorism' The former Secretary of the Navy and current member of the Kean Commission investigating the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States addressed the U.S. Naval Institute 130th Annual Meeting and Annapolis Naval History Symposium on 31 March. Following is an edited version of his remarks. The subject here is naval history and the naval history to come. This is particularly relevant, given the subjects...

How come the paperwork on Kerry's Bronze Star Award is signed by John Lehman, Sec. of the Navy???? In addition, the date Lehman (supposedly) signed it is not on the document. Did Kerry not get the award when Chaffee was Secretary of the Navy? If not, why not? Did Kerry get the award 15 years late? Or is the paperwork a "sham" and somebody made a big booboo? I'll post the document as soon as I find it again. Maybe somebody here has it bookmarked? And, if there's already been a thread on this that I missed....please direct me to...

The press attention is on the wrong commissioners. Richard Ben-Veniste and Bob Kerrey received the lion's share of media attention paid to last week's 9/11 Commission hearing with Condoleezza Rice, thanks to their generally intemperate questioning style. But while Ben-Veniste and Kerrey played to the cameras, it was their colleague, John Lehman, who was breaking new ground with the national-security adviser, but few noticed. Lehman's focus was the transition between the Clinton and Bush administrations. He told Rice that he was "struck by the continuity of the policies rather than the differences," and then he proceeded to ask Rice a...

The Talk Shows Sunday, April 18th, 2004 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): National security adviser Condoleezza Rice; outgoing Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Sen. John Kerry, Democratic presidential candidate. FACE THE NATION (CBS): National security adviser Condoleezza Rice. THIS WEEK (ABC): British Prime Minister Tony Blair; national security adviser Condoleezza Rice; Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. LATE EDITION (CNN) : Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Sens. John Warner, R-Va., and Joe Lieberman, D-Conn.; independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader; Sept. 11 commission...

Last week, 9/11 commissioner John Lehman revealed that "it was the policy (before 9/11) and I believe remains the policy today to fine airlines if they have more than two young Arab males in secondary questioning because that's discriminatory." Hmmm ... Is 19 more than two? Why, yes, I believe it is. So if two Jordanian cab drivers are searched before boarding a flight out of Newark, Osama bin Laden could then board that plane without being questioned. I'm no security expert, but I'm pretty sure this gives terrorists an opening for an attack. In a sane world, Lehman's statement...

I know a lot of people are praising Ms. Rice, and I think she did well (although I though she settled for a double when she needed to hit it out of the park.) However, in this bastion of partisanship, there are only a few people who stand out as seriously looking for reasons AND solutions - pointing out continuing problems without pandering or shooting for any partisan brownie points. John Lehman. (Other than the fact he's probably making money hand over fist in equities,) how the hell is this guy not serving in a position of power? It's not...

<p>The commission looking into the September 11 terror attacks met yesterday with former President Bill Clinton in a 31/2-hour, closed-door session during which, panel members said, he expressed doubts about his administration's response to terrorism.</p> <p>"He was very frank. He gave us a lot of very helpful insight into things that happened [and his] policy approaches," said Reagan-era Navy Secretary John Lehman, a member of the panel.</p>

9/11 Commissioner, former Navy Secretary John Lehman said Monday that President Bill Clinton's decision not to accept Sudan's offer to extradite Osama bin Laden to the U.S. in 1996 was probably the biggest blunder of the war on terrorism. Reacting to NewsMax.com's audiotape of Mr. Clinton admitting he turned down the Sudanese, Sec. Lehman told radio host Sean Hannity, "[Clinton's comments offer] a very good insight into the overall policy during the Clinton administration, which was essentially dominated by lawyers [who treated bin Laden] as a law enforcement, not a foreign policy or a prevention issue." Asked if it was...

9/11 Commission member, former Navy Secretary John Lehman ripped ex-terrorism czar Richard Clarke Wednesday afternoon for cashing in on this week's public hearings into America's worst disaster by using the forum to peddle his book. "When you and I first served together [in the Reagan administration] I had been a fan of yours," Lehman began when his turn to question Clarke came. "When you agreed to spend this much time with us, as you say, 15 hours, I was very hopeful." Of Clarke's private testimony before the Commission, Lehman said, "I thought you let the chips fall where they may...

Growing Evidence of a Saddam - al-Qaeda LinkBy Stephen F. Hayes The Weekly Standard | July 15, 2003 THE INDISPENSABLE Glenn Reynolds has linked to an article in the Nashville Tennessean written by a Tennessee judge who believes he is in possession of documents linking Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. The judge is Gilbert S. Merritt, a federal appeals court judge invited to help Iraqis construct a legal system in postwar Iraq. He is, according to Reynolds, "a lifelong Democrat and a man of unimpeachable integrity." Here is an excerpt of his account: The document shows that an Iraqi...

WASHINGTON - A long-awaited final report on the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks will be released in the next two weeks, containing new information about U.S. government mistakes and Saudi financing of terrorists. Former Rep. Tim Roemer, who served on the House Intelligence Committee and who has read the report, said it will be ''highly explosive'' when it becomes public.The staff director for the congressional investigation that produced the 800-page report, Eleanor Hill, said Wednesday that several lengthy battles with the Bush administration over how much secret data to declassify have been resolved.She expects the document to go to the Government...