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The Associated Press Updated: 8:51 a.m. ET June 17, 2004 WASHINGTON - Plagued by miscommunication and confusion, the Pentagon’s air-defense command missed an opportunity to possibly intercept at least one of the hijacked planes on Sept. 11, the federal panel reviewing the attacks said Thursday in a report released ahead of its last public hearing before it wraps up its work. The report details missteps by aviation and military officials that squandered precious moments between the time air traffic controllers became aware of the first hijacking and the crash of United Airlines Flight 93 into a Pennsylvania field more than...

Sept. 11 could have been prevented only by having a principled foreign policy. The 900-page Congressional report criticizing the operations of the FBI and CIA in the months prior to the September 11 attacks misses the fundamental point. Whatever incompetence on the intelligence agencies' part, what made September 11 possible was a failure, not by our intelligence agencies—but by the accommodating, range-of-the-moment, unprincipled foreign policy that has shaped our government's decisions for decades. September 11 was not the first time America was attacked by Islamic fundamentalists engaged in "holy war" against us. In 1979 theocratic Iran—which has spearheaded the "Islamic...

<p>Thanks to a new Congressional report on 9/11, we now know much more about the terror network behind that attack -- and the intelligence shortcomings that failed to stop it. But even with the benefit of hindsight and an exhaustive, yearlong investigation, huge pieces of the 9/11 puzzle remain missing. Which ought to remind us that Presidents responsible for protecting American life and liberty must often act on imprecise information.</p>

9/11 could have been prevented WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. congressional report due out later today will detail September 11 intelligence failures by the FBI and CIA, but will not pinpoint a "smoking gun" that could have prevented the hijacked plane attacks. But Senator Bob Graham, who chaired the intelligence committee during last year's inquiry, said without the problems and with some luck, the attacks could have been prevented. "There were enough gaffes, turf protections, and lack of the standard of professionalism that we would expect of intelligence agencies," the Florida Democrat said on CNN's "Larry King Live" on...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top U.S. senator involved in the inquiry into possible intelligence failures ahead of Sept. 11 said on Wednesday he believed the attacks could have been prevented. Sen. Bob Graham, a Florida Democrat who chaired the Senate Intelligence Committee last year, is the first top lawmaker involved in the joint inquiry with the House Intelligence Committee to say he believed the evidence showed the hijacked plane attacks could have been avoided. The inquiry will issue its final report on Thursday. "The question that started much of these inquiries was the question, could Sept. 11 have been avoided?"...