9-11: THE STONEWALLS and the U-TURNS

HE NEVER WANTED ANY OF IT.
BUSH NEVER WANTED US TO THINK ABOUT 9-11 ONCE IT HAPPENED.
*UNLESS HE USED IT IN A CAMPAIGN AD.*

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January 2002- Before the Commission

Bush and Cheney ask Sen. Tom Daschle to limit 9-11 Congressional probe

President Bush personally asked Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle to limit the congressional investigation into the events of September 11, congressional and White House sources told CNN.

“The vice president expressed the concern that a review of what happened on September 11 would take resources and personnel away from the effort in the war on terrorism," Daschle told reporters.


Senate Leader Tom Daschle said "I can tell you on January 24th, first, and on January 28th second, and on other dates following, that request [by Cheney and Bush not to conduct any Sept. 11 inquiry whatsoever] was made.

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May 2002-

Stonewall- NO Special Commission!

President Bush took a few minutes during a trip to Europe to voice his opposition to establishing a special commission to probe how the government dealt with terror warnings before Sept. 11

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October 2002-

Bush and Cheney Block 9-11 Investigation

The press asks why? Democrats keep pressing for a full hearing into the massive failures which left the U.S. open to terrorist attacks. Why were Bush and Cheney still blocking a public 9-11 investigation?

VP Dick Cheney actually threatened Democrats to keep quiet. "Press the issue," Cheney implied, "and you risk being accused of interfering with the war on terrorism."

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November 2002-

Democrats criticize Bush Administration for thwarting Commission creation

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle criticized the Bush administration .. for thwarting creation of a commission to investigate last year’s terrorist attacks, saying an independent probe would help the country deal with future threats.

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December 2002-

A well thought-out and self-protective U-Turn for Bush

By December, "George W. Bush has tapped Thomas Kean to chair the independent investigation into the attacks of September 11th. This nomination comes in the wake of the choice of Henry Kissinger for that post, and his sudden departure. Kissinger, considered a master of secrets and a war criminal to boot."

Kean's Chairmanship is questioned within the scope of "his association with Hess Oil that has drawn concern from 9/11 victims groups, because Hess has business agreements with Saudi Arabia and oil exploration facilities in Indonesia and Malaysia."

In many ways, it is thought "this was a non-nomination. Kean has much to lose and little to gain from chairing this investigation. In the final analysis, it appears that Bush has nominated someone who will be easily controlled by the administration."

It is vital, at this point, to "remember that the Bush administration thwarted this independent investigation for the past 18 months, until they got the two things they wanted. What they wanted was a requirement that any subpoenas would be issued only after six of the ten people on the commission voted for it. The commission is comprised of five Democrats and five Republicans. If a particular subpoena seems to cut too close to the political bone, the Republicans on the committee need only stand shoulder to shoulder to stop it."

*words in quotations attributed to William Rivers Pitt.

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March 2003-

The Shortchange Form of Stonewalling--Underfunding the Investigation

Many ask: Is the Bush White House trying to put the brakes on the congressional panel created last fall to investigate 9-11 attacks? Sources told TIME that "the White House brushed off a request quietly made in March, 2003, "by the 9-11 Commission Chairman Tom Kean, the Republican former governor of New Jersey, to boost his budget by $11 million. Kean had sought the funding as part of the $75 billion supplemental spending bill that the president just requested to pay for war with Iraq. Bush's recent move has miffed some members of the 9-11 panel. The money was to pay for a staff of about sixty and their resources. The White House sidestepped the issue of why the request wasn't granted in the Iraq spending bill. "We've just recently received the letter and we're reviewing it and we look forward to talking about it with Gov. Kean," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said."

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April, 2003-

The stonewalling continues

As White House political aides planned their 2004 campaign plan designed to capitalize on the emotions and issues raised by the September 11 terror attacks, administration officials were waging a behind-the-scenes battle to restrict public disclosure of key events relating to the attacks. Sen. Bob Graham was “increasingly frustrated” by the administration’s “unwillingness to release what he regarded as important information the public should have about 9-11. In Graham’s view, the Bush administration wasn’t protecting legitimate issues of national security but information that could be a political “embarrassment”.

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May, 2003-

Rense.com creates an analysis of White House Stonewalling

"The Bush administration, the CIA, and the FBI are all refusing to cooperate with Congress as the latter tries to release for publication its 900-page report on the 9/11 terror attack on the WTC. The report contains numerous critical comments about administration and intelligence agency mishandling of forewarnings received by agents in the field-including a warning from an FBI agent that al-Qaeda supporters might be training in US flight schools."

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July, 2003-

Some are disturbed to think that President Bush might be actively suppressing evidence of the Saudi kingdom's guilt.

Bush Under Pressure to Reveal Saudi Role' in 11 September- The Independent (UK) Jul 26, 2003

The Bush administration is under pressure to allow publication of a secret part of a congressional report on the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, which is said to point to large-scale financial backing for the hijackers from Saudi Arabia. The 28-page section, dealing with the role foreign governments may have played in the attacks, was kept out of the 900-page document issued last week by a joint House and Senate intelligence committee. But it is said to dwell almost exclusively on Saudi Arabia, 15 of whose citizens were among the 19 men who carried out the suicide strikes. According to The New York Times, it suggests that senior officials from the kingdom channelled hundreds of millions of dollars to Islamic charities and other front organisations.

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October, 2003-

The White House refuses to willingly hand over top-level papers that may be subpoenaed

References: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/11/13/terror/main583425.shtml

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30B1EFE3B550C758EDDA90994DB404482

9-11 Commission Chairman Thomas Kean told the New York Times that he was prepared to subpoena the documents from the White House if they were not turned over within weeks.

Kean also told the Times that he believed the panel would soon be forced to issue subpoenas to other executive branch agencies because of continuing delays by the Bush administration in handing over documents and other evidence.

Members of both parties are accusing the White House of stonewalling the federal commission investigating the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, by blocking its demands for documents despite threats of a subpoena.

Sounds Of Silence - Surely the White House realizes that the perception of a cover-up is more politically damaging than turning over a few intelligence reports. (??!!?)

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January, 2004-

After months of stonewalling the panel's requests for information about the terror attacks, the White House is signaling that it opposes extra time to complete the probe.

For months, the Bush administration and the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 terror attacks have been locked in low-intensity warfare. The White House opposed creation of the commission, and after it reluctantly yielded, it sought to bar the commission from seeing reams of documents pertaining to the attacks. The stonewalling went on so long that some commissioners say they're months behind in their work -- and yet, the White House is insisting that the May 27 deadline for the commission's final report shouldn't be extended.

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February, 2004-

Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert Is Still Dead-Set Against Giving the 9/11 Commission Panel More (Needed) Time

From WP: House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) has hardened his opposition to extending the deadline for the independent commission studying the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, even as the panel's leaders pleaded yesterday for more time to complete their work. Hastert told Republican lawmakers in a meeting yesterday that he will not bring up any legislation to grant the commission extra time.

*BUSH HAD U-TURNED ALREADY BY THIS TIME:

After opposing the idea, President Bush reversed himself earlier this month and agreed to support an extension.


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March, 2004-

Three thousand died, yet President Bush and National Security Advisor Rice have little or no time for the commission investigating the national tragedy.


In her rush to defend the White House, Rice trips over her own words


March 14, 2004-- Meet The Press

MR. RUSSERT: Will you testify under oath in public about September 11?

DR. RICE: Tim, this is not a matter of preference; this is a matter of principle.

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In March, 2004, the chairman of Bush's reelection campaign actually said the White House had been "entirely cooperative" with the independent commission conducting the probe.

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White House U-turn on 9/11 inquiry

The White House bowed to pressure to allow National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice to testify in public and under oath to the 9/11 commission.

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April, 2004-

U-Turns and limitations reveal weaknesses in leadership

By his insistence that Cheney appear with him before the 9-11 Commission, Bush has stripped away any doubt from those who wondered about who is running the White House.