Read the stories that TV news networks forget to report!
Celcius 9/11DVD The International Citizens’ Inquiry into the events of 9/11 on Video.
Alarming facts are presented during the International Citizens' Inquiry into the events of 9/11. You will learn how the official 9/11 Commission report was little more than a white wash! - Click here to get this DVD!
The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions and Distortions A Critique of the Kean-Zelikow Report
September 11 (9/11) Hearings and Investigation News The Bush administration has tried to prevent a real investigation from taking place. They finally gave in to pressure and set up an investigation. They originally selected one of the most corrupt politicians the US has ever seen to run the investigation (Henry Kissinger.) Then they underfunded the investigation and set up an unreasonable time table. Then they continually held back pertinent information from the investigating committee. Here are some of the stories related to the investigation.
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Why so Secret? - Are they afraid that we will discover something?
Can These Point ALL be coincidence - Statement of Mindy Kleinberg to the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, March 31, 2003 - You Must Read This!
Classified: Censoring the Report About 9-11? - Bush officials are refusing to permit the release of matters already in the public domain—including the existence of intelligence documents referred to on the CIA Web site.
The Failure to Defend the Skies on 9/11- On May 21 and 22, 2003, the 9/11 Independent Commission held its second set of public hearings, focusing on the issue of air defense. It's not surprising if you haven't heard about this, because the hearings were poorly covered by the media, with major papers such as the New York Times and Los Angeles Times failing to write any articles on them.
Graham Wants Sept. 11 Report More Public - The intelligence agencies late Thursday returned a copy of the nearly 900-page report with proposed deletions and editing. Previously, the agencies returned a copy that would have removed as much as two-thirds from public view.
Showdown Looms Over 9/11 Reports - The former Senate intelligence chairman set the stage Friday for a confrontation with the White House over the withholding of sensitive information about intelligence failures related to the Sept. 11 attacks.
Bush trying to hide 9/11 information, Graham says - Citing proposed changes in several sections of the report -- which was based on the congressional investigation he helped oversee as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee -- the Florida senator said on CNN's Late Edition that the administration was trying to hide information submitted in open session and, in some cases, reported in the media.
Rift Exposed in Sept. 11 Terror Panel - Tim Roemer, a member of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, criticized the panel's leaders for not demanding immediate and total access to documents compiled during a congressional inquiry of the terror attacks.
Tensions rise over Sept. 11 report - Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., the former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has charged that the delay is nothing short of a government "cover-up."
Quizzing Them on 9/11 - Bush and Clinton may be asked to meet with the independent commission investigating the terrorist attacks
9/11 Panel Complains Some Agencies Are Slowing Inquiry - Mr. Kean said that commission members were unhappy that some agencies — they cited the Justice Department in particular — had insisted on having monitors present at all commission interviews with their respective officials. That can foster a chilling sense of "intimidation" among witnesses, Mr. Kean said.
Help the Commission - The deadline itself is foolish. A task of this magnitude -- studying the vulnerabilities and failures that allowed the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to happen -- should not be cut short by arbitrary dates. Culling and analyzing volumes of information may take time, and the commission should be granted enough time to do its job right. A fixed deadline creates a perverse incentive for agencies to stall.
Lack of Pre-9/11 Sources to Be Cited as Intelligence Failure - Congressional officials had hoped that the report would provide the first authoritative assessment of whether Saudi Arabia played any role, even unwittingly. But the intelligence agencies were aggressive in their efforts to limit how much the report would disclose about the issue. Senator Bob Graham, a Florida Democrat who was chairman of the Senate intelligence committee during the inquiry, has said that the question of the role of Saudi Arabia and other countries will remain secret.
The 9-11 Report: Slamming the FBI - The FBI blew repeated chances to uncover the 9-11 plot because it failed to aggressively investigate evidence of Al Qaeda’s presence in the United States, especially in the San Diego area, where two of the hijackers were living with one of the bureau’s own informants, according to the congressional report set for release this week. - TVNL comment: This may be why.
Report: FBI Informant Knew 9/11 Hijackers - An FBI informant knew two of the Sept. 11 hijackers but never suspected they were terrorists, according to a congressional report that nonetheless concludes no single piece of information could have prevented the attacks.
White House, CIA Kept Key Portions of Report Classified - President Bush was warned in a more specific way than previously known about intelligence suggesting that al Qaeda terrorists were seeking to attack the United States
Report: Sept. 11 attacks stoppable - Possible links between high-ranking Saudis and terrorist groups, including the hijackers, were the most sensitive, politically explosive portion of the report, and the Bush administration blocked the release of almost the entire section.
Classified Section of Sept. 11 Report Faults Saudi Rulers - Behind the immediate issue of whether Saudi Arabia played any role in terrorism are a complex web of political, military and economic connections between the two countries. Successive Republican and Democratic administrations have aggressively sought to maintain the relationship with a huge producer of oil and an ally in the Arab world.
‘9/11 Attacks Plotted in Manila’ - The third highest ranking official of Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda terrorist network has admitted to US authorities that he plotted in Manila the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States
The 9/11 Investigation - The attacks of September 11 might have been prevented had the US intelligence community been more competent. And the Bush Administration is refusing to tell the public what intelligence the President saw before 9/11 about the threat posed by Al Qaeda.
The 9/11 Report Raises More Serious Questions About The White House Statements On Intelligence - John Dean - Is Rice claiming this information in the 9/11 Report was not given to the White House? Or could it be that the White House was given this information, and failed to recognize the problem and take action? Is the White House covering up what the President knew, and when he knew it?
Saudi Government Provided Aid to 9/11 Hijackers - One U.S. official who has read the classified section said it describes "very direct, very specific links" between Saudi officials, two of the San Diego-based hijackers and other potential co-conspirators "that cannot be passed off as rogue, isolated or coincidental."
Pieces of the Puzzle - A top-secret conference call on September 11 could shed new light on the terrorist attacks - Pentagon sources say Bush communicated the order to Cheney almost immediately after Flight 77 hit the Pentagon and the FAA, for the first time ever, ordered all domestic flights grounded. "There are unanswered questions," says Richard Ben-Veniste, a commission member and former federal prosecutor, as to whether the shoot-down order "had been rehearsed for, whether it had been prepared for, and what measures were in place to protect the Capitol," believed to be the hijackers' original target for Flight 77.
Senate Won't Reveal Part of 9/11 Report - Rejecting a request from other senators and the Saudi government, leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee said they would not seek to declassify a secret section of a report dealing with foreign support for the Sept. 11 hijackers.- Saudi officials had called for the declassification, saying the documents were being used to spread false information about the kingdom. Saudi Arabia strongly denies providing support for terrorists. - TVNL Asks: Could they be protecting Israel or even the US? Why would they deny the Saudi’s request? It appears that the Saudi’s may not be hiding anything. It is also possible that the the Saudi request to relase the informaion was a scam to make us think that they have nothing to hide; all the while knowing that we would not realease it but the fact that they made the request makes them look innocent! Confusing and scary!
No profiteering on terror attacks - Somewhere out there are hedge funds or individual investors who profited from the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. But they had no foreknowledge of the catastrophes, an FBI spokesman said - After the attacks, in which terrorists commandeered planes owned by the two biggest airlines, United and American, traders in the Chicago options market noticed suspicious pre-Sept. 11 spikes in volume. Put options for stocks in the airlines' parent companies, UAL Corp. and AMR Corp., registered huge trading increases in the week before the attacks. - On Sept. 10, 2001, put options on AMR were 17 times their average volume of 269 contracts. On Sept. 6, 2001, UAL put options were traded at more than four times their average volume of 711 contracts.
Sept. 11 widow sues the President - The wrongful death lawsuit by Ellen Mariani, whose husband, Louis Neil Mariani, was a passenger in the plane that hit the south tower, was described by her lawyer as part of her campaign to "get to the truth of what happened on Sept. 11."
9/11 Panel Seeks More Documents From White House - After months of negotiations and public complaints from the commission, the administration has provided the panel access to more than 2 million pages of documents and has helped arrange nearly 300 interviews and briefings with government officials. - But the bipartisan commission's leaders, former New Jersey governor Thomas Kean (R) and former representative Lee Hamilton (D-Ind.), said in an interim report released yesterday that many documents were released only recently, and some remain the subject of negotiations with the White House. - "We're setting down a marker here," Hamilton said. "We need this information in two weeks' time."
White House Not to Declassify More of 9/11 Report - he White House has said it will not declassify further parts of a congressional report on intelligence failures related to the Sept. 11 attacks, including details of possible foreign involvement in the plot.
Is the 9/11 commission too soft? - Family members of those who died on Sept. 11 are beginning to worry about the gentle treatment the outside commission is giving the White House.
9/11 Investigation Panel Subpoenas FAA Documents - The commission said in a statement that it voted to issue a subpoena after discovering through its own investigation that the FAA had not turned over dozens of boxes of material, including "various tapes, statements, interview reports and agency self-assessments."
9-11 Probe Continues To Bypass Executive Branch Testimony - Commission Has Not Compelled Three Individuals Having Most Power To Affect Immediate Action On 9-11 To Explain Their Failure To Defend America. All Three Remained In Offices And An Elementary Classroom While Four Planes Crashed. This, Despite Having 25 Minutes Advance Notice From Secret Service, Pentagon, And Air Traffic Controllers Prior To First Crash--But Also A Full Summer Of Frantic But Now Classified Briefings About “Planes Used As Weapons To Crash Into Buildings,” Thus Permitting White House To Shield Its Prior-Knowledge.
Saudi princes seek immunity against 9/11 lawsuits - Victims' families say they knew donations went to al Qaeda - Lawyers representing two Saudi princes argued Friday that their clients have immunity from lawsuits relating to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, because they are diplomatic officials.
9/11 Commission Could Subpoena Oval Office Files - The chairman of the federal commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks says that the White House is continuing to withhold several highly classified intelligence documents from the panel and that he is prepared to subpoena the documents if they are not turned over within weeks.The chairman, Thomas H. Kean, the former Republican governor of New Jersey, also said in an interview on Friday that he believed the bipartisan 10-member commission would soon be forced to issue subpoenas to other executive branch agencies because of continuing delays by the Bush administration in providing documents and other evidence needed by the panel.
Secret 9/11 case before high court - It's the case that doesn't exist. Even though two different federal courts have conducted hearings and issued rulings, there has been no public record of any action. No documents are available. No files. No lawyer is allowed to speak about it. Period. - From the perspective of news reporters and government watchdogs, the case marks a potential turning point away from a long-held presumption that judicial proceedings in the US are open to public scrutiny.
9/11 White House Subpoena Omits Classified Briefings - Bush Administration Has Resisted Granting The Sensitive Documents - An independent commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks announced yesterday that it will issue a second subpoena for documents from the Bush administration, but the legal demand does not include classified intelligence briefings that have been the focus of an ongoing dispute with the White House. - TVNL Asks: What’s the point? All you have to do is classify any documents that may incriminate anyone. Isn’t the point of an investigation to examine this kind of information?
White House, 9-11 Panel OK Documents Deal 0 The independent commission on the Sept. 11 attacks announced an agreement Wednesday with the White House that would allow the review of classified intelligence documents previously withheld by the Bush administration.
Relatives of Sept. 11 Victims Criticize Agreement Between White House and Commission - The Family Steering Committee, a group of victims' relatives who are monitoring the work of the independent commission, criticized the agreement announced late Wednesday. Under the deal, only some of the 10 commissioners will be allowed to examine classified intelligence documents, and their notes will be subject to White House review.
Deal on 9/11 Briefings Lets White House Edit Papers - The commission investigating the Sept. 11 terror attacks said on Thursday that its deal with the White House for access to highly classified Oval Office intelligence reports would let the White House edit the documents before they were released to the commission's representatives. - TVNL Asks: Is this a joke?
9/11 Commission to Order New York City to Submit Documents - The national commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks said on Thursday it would issue a subpoena to New York City for materials that include tapes and transcripts of emergency calls made on the day of the hijacked plane strikes.
NYC to Challenge 9/11 Commission Subpoena - Citing privacy of Sept. 11 victims, the mayor's office vowed to fight a federal commission's subpoena seeking documents that detail the city's response at the World Trade Center. - "The city's failure to produce these important documents has significantly impeded the commission's investigation," the panel said a statement. - TVNL Comment: Notice that the White House and the local governments envoke executive privilage and privacy to protect themselves but the citizens of American can not do this at all, especially since the Patriot Act was established.
9/11 Panel Pledged Secrecy to New York - According to a Sept. 23 letter sent to the New York legal office by commission general counsel Daniel Marcus, "we acknowledge the privacy interests of individual victims, their families, and first responders, and we will not disclose their names or personal information . . . in our public report without further consultation and agreement with the city or the individual in question."
New job takes Cleland off 9/11 panel - Former Sen. Max Cleland, a Democrat, has been nominated by President Bush to serve on the board of the Export-Import Bank. - As a result he will have to leave the commission investigating the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
9/11 Panel May Seek Extension - Pressure Mounts as Investigation of Attacks Bogs Down - "Unfortunately, the production of a timely report no longer seems to be possible, in large part because of the delays caused by the administration and the agencies that report to it," the group's statement said.
Norad's 9/11 response under scrutiny - A U.S. congressional commission has subpoenaed key records from the North American Aerospace Defence Command because the joint Canada-U.S. agency has not adequately responded to requests for information about the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.
Mayor Agrees to Allow Panel to Examine Sept. 11 Records - In an abrupt reversal, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York City announced on Wednesday that he had agreed to release records of emergency 911 calls and other materials sought by the federal commission investigating the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Ex-Sen. Kerrey Joins Sept. 11 Commission - Former Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., who served as vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, was named Tuesday to fill a vacancy on the independent commission studying the Sept. 11 attacks. - Kerrey replaces former Sen. Max Cleland, D-Ga., who left to become a director of the Export-Import Bank. The appointment was made by Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D.
9/11 widow wants Bush in court - A September 11 widow has filed a Federal Court complaint against US President George Bush and his cabinet members for concealing the truth about the World Trade Centre attacks. - Berg claims he is able to prove not only the well-documented relationship between the Bush and Bin Ladin families in the 70s and early 80s, but also during the current presidency. - “We are going to show that members of the Bin Ladin family were flown out of the US shortly after the 9/11 attacks with presidential permission.” - “Just today, a former FBI agent handed in a sworn affidavit that there was intelligence of the attacks as early as March 2001.”
Iraqi Agent Denies He Met 9/11 Hijacker in Prague Before Attacks on the U.S - .A former Iraqi intelligence officer who was said to have met with the suspected leader of the Sept. 11 attacks has told American interrogators the meeting never happened, according to United States officials familiar with classified intelligence reports on the matter.
9-11 Widow Requests Writ to Depose Saddam in RICO Suit - Philip J. Berg, Esquire, attorney for Ellen Mariani, wife of Louis Neil Mariani, who died when United Air Lines flight 175 was flown into the South Tower of the World Trade Center on 911 announced today, in the wake of the capture of Saddam Hussein, she will seek an extraordinary writ by the Honorable Court to immediately depose Saddam Hussein, a critical witness to support the merits of her RICO Act cause of action against Defendant George W. Bush, et. al. - Ellen’s complaint seeks the “truth” as to why “911” occurred and is designed to protect and defend the United States Constitution and bring an end to the illegal international war on terror initiated by Defendant George W. Bush, et al.
9/11 Chair: Attack Was Preventable - 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. - "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." - "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,"
High-Ranking Officials Admit 9/11 Could've Been Prevented - So if anyone gives you a hard time for believing that the government knew enough to have prevented the attacks, just tell them that you're in powerful company. The Secretary of Defense, the Director of the FBI, the Assistant Attorney General, one Democratic Senator, two Republican Senators, one Republican Representative, and the Vice President feel that way, too.
9/11 Commission Hints at Revelations in Upcoming Report - "I think that there are materials that we've found that will change some of the story that the public now knows about 9/11, in some important ways," Thomas H. Kean, chairman of the 10-member National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, told ABCNEWS' Nightline in an interview airing tonight.
Condi and the 9/11 Commission - National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice is apparently not keen on going under oath for the Kean 9/11 commission. - One Republican commissioner says a comment by Rice last year—that no one “could have predicted that they would try to use a…hijacked airplane as a missile”—was "an unfortunate comment . . . that was, of course, a wrong-footed statement on its face," given that there was years of intelligence about Al Qaeda's interest in airplane attacks.
Families sue U.S., reject 9/11 `bribe' - Ignore deadline for compensation - Payouts average $1.8 million - To receive the federal money, recipients must sign a waiver giving up their right to sue anyone involved in the worst terrorist attacks in U.S. history.
Final Set of WTC Transcripts Released - The Port Authority on Monday released the final set of transcripts from emergency communications during the Sept. 11 terror attack. The disclosure came four months after the agency released 2,000 pages of documents detailing what was said in thousands of other emergency calls that day.
QUESTIONS FOR TOM KEAN - Want to Know a Secret? - Did anyone in the Bush administration have any idea that an attack was being planned?
9/11 Inquiry Panel, Citing Access Hurdles, Seeks More Time - Members of the commission said delays in obtaining materials from numerous agencies and constraints on access to sensitive White House documents were among the factors that had made them skeptical that the panel could produce a comprehensive report by its May 27 deadline.
2 on 9/11 Panel Are Questioned on Earlier Security Roles - The unusual dual roles of the director, Philip D. Zelikow, and the commissioner, Jamie S. Gorelick, have raised fresh questions about potential conflicts of interest in the commission, which has been dogged by concerns about its independence since it was created in 2002.
9/11 Panel Unlikely to Get Later Deadline - Hearings Being Scaled Back to Finish Work by May; Top Officials Expected to Testify - A growing number of commission members had concluded that the panel needs more time to prepare a thorough and credible accounting of missteps leading to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. But the White House and leading Republicans have informed the panel that they oppose any delay, which raises the possibility that Sept. 11-related controversies could emerge during the heat of the presidential campaign, sources said. - TVNL Comment: Time and money were not an issue for Republicans when it came to investigating the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
Under Oath, German Agent Says US Warned About 9/11 - The United States was warned of impending September 11 terrorist attacks by an Iranian spy, but ignored him, German secret service agents testified yesterday in the trial of an alleged al-Qaida terrorist.
Suicide hijack threat 'neglected' - US aviation officials should have done more to protect passengers from suicide attacks, an independent commission probing the 11 September attacks says - The preliminary report found that aviation security officials had looked at the possibility of suicide hijackings as far back as March 1998 - nearly six years ago. - TVNL Comment: Do you remember the comments made by Condoleza Rice after the attacks saying that they had no way of knowing that anyone would use a plane as a bomb? She was either lying or she is incompetent as a National Security Advisor if the did not know this.
9/11 Hijackers Used Mace And Knives, Panel Reports - The hijackers of Sept. 11, 2001, blasted Mace or pepper spray at flight crew members and passengers to keep them away from the cockpits and wielded knives in their orchestrated takeovers of the aircraft, according to a report issued yesterday by the commission investigating the attacks.
Defector: Bin Laden Son 'Forewarned Iran of 9/11' - An Iranian defector, preparing to testify in Germany's second major Sept. 11 trial, said on Tuesday that a son of Osama bin Laden had personally told Iranian leaders of the planned attacks on U.S. cities in 2001.
German Court Delays Verdict in 9 / 11 Trial - Zakeri said he agreed to work for the CIA in 1992 and had attended alleged meetings in July 2001 between senior al-Qaida figures and Iranian leaders. He said a few days before the Sept. 11 attack, he had tried to warn U.S. authorities that something was planned against the United States or Israel, but was not taken seriously.
White House Holding Notes Taken by 9/11 Commission - Panel May Subpoena Its Summaries of Bush Briefings - The White House, already embroiled in a public fight over the deadline for an independent commission's investigation of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, is refusing to give the panel notes on presidential briefing papers taken by some of its own members, officials said this week.
Bob Kerrey Says 9/11 Group Meets With Condoleezza - "Given the administration’s current behavior, which is an unwillingness to allow witnesses to come forward and a reluctance to allow documents to be seen, other narratives will prevail, and the final report is apt to be a more negative story for them," he said.
The White House: A New Fight Over Secret 9/11 Docs - Commission sources tell NEWSWEEK that panel members are fed up with what one calls "maddening" restrictions by White House lawyers on their access to key documents. Unless the panel gets to see the docs, the report "will not withstand the laugh test," a commission official says. The panel is threatening to force a showdown soon—by voting to subpoena the White House.
Extraordinary Measures - A recalcitrant Bush administration forces the 9/11 Commission to poke into Bob Woodward's notebook - Faced with presidential resistance to turning over highly sensitive intelligence briefs, the commission investigating the September 11 terror attacks tried to learn the details in the documents by obtaining access to White House transcripts of interviews that senior officials gave to a prominent journalist, NEWSWEEK has learned.
9/11 Panel to Hear Tenet, Rumsfeld Testify Publicly - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and CIA Director George J. Tenet will testify publicly next month in a federal commission inquiry into the Sept. 11 attacks.
9/11 Panel: Rice won't appear at public hearing - The commission investigating the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks said Wednesday that National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice had declined their request to testify at a public hearing next month.
Hastert Tells W.House He Won't Extend 9/11 Panel - In a blow to the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives has told the White House and fellow Republicans that he will not bring up legislation to extend its May 27 deadline, officials said on Wednesday. - President Bush's chief of staff, Andrew Card, personally had appealed to Speaker Dennis Hastert to reconsider, and the Illinois Republican met on Wednesday with Bush at the White House. - Bush and Cheney have only agreed to meet privately with commission chairman Thomas Kean and vice chairman Lee Hamilton, rather than with the full, 10-member panel. - In contrast, former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore have agreed to meet privately with all members of the commission, the panel said.
9/11 panelist may quit over Bush secrecy - Ex-Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.), now president of New York's New School University, told the Daily News that resigning is "on my list of possibilities" because the administration continues to block the full panel's access to top intelligence officials and materials.
White House's limits upset 9/11 panel - Length of interviews, access restricted - President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have placed strict limits on the private interviews they will grant to the federal commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, saying they will meet only with the panel's top two officials and that Bush will submit to only a single hour of questioning, panel members said Wednesday.
9/11 panel considers Rice subpoena - Bush security adviser rejected request for public testimony - The federal panel reviewing the Sept. 11 attacks has scheduled interviews with former President Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore this month but is struggling to get similar cooperation from President Bush and other administration officials.
9/11 Panel Rejects White House Limits on Interviews - The independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks is refusing to accept strict conditions from the White House for interviews with President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney and is renewing its request that Mr. Bush's national security adviser testify in public, commission members said Tuesday. - The panel members, interviewed after a private meeting on Tuesday, said the commission had decided for now to reject a White House request that the interview with Mr. Bush be limited to one hour and that the questioners be only the panel's chairman and vice chairman.
Powell defends US terror strategy - Mr Powell was the second of several top officials testifying before a commission looking into the 11 September 2001 attacks on America.
DOJ Asked FBI Translator To Change Pre 9-11 Intercepts - FBI translator, Sibel Edmonds, was offered a substantial raise and a full time job in order to not go public that she had been asked by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to retranslate and adjust the translations of [terrorist] subject intercepts that had been received before September 11, 2001 by the FBI and CIA.
Former US terror chief slams Bush - A former White House security expert has charged the Bush government did not consider terrorism to be an urgent threat before 11 September 2001. - Richard Clarke said that in the first eight months of office, the government considered terrorism "an important issue, but not an urgent issue". - And he said the invasion of Iraq had "undermined" the US-led war on terror. - Clarke thanked the members for holding the hearings, saying they finally provided him "a forum where I can apologize" to the victims of 9/11 and their loved ones. He continued, addressing those relatives, many of whom were sitting in the hearing room: - Your government failed you … and I failed you. We tried hard, but that doesn'tmatter because we failed. And for that failure, I would ask … for your understanding and for your forgiveness.
Panel Hasn't Heard From Official It Wants Most - As she prepares to leave her job at the end of the year, Ms. Rice, the president's national security adviser, now finds herself at the center of a political storm, furiously defending both the White House and her own reputation.
A public Clarke stuns colleagues - ''This really isn't Dick,'' said Steven Simon, who worked with Clarke at the White House and at the State Department. ''It strikes me as a pretty clear indicator of the magnitude of his outrage.''
President Asked Aide to Explore Iraq Link to 9/11 - The White House acknowledged Sunday that on the day after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, President Bush asked his top counterterrorism adviser, Richard A. Clarke, to find out whether Iraq was involved. - TVNL Comment: Did the White House ask for links to Saudi Arabia, Pakistan or Israel to be checked? Why Iraq? Why not Iran or Libya or the Sudan? These are the questions the media should be asking!
Clarke challenges Rice to reveal secret emails - In a riveting television performance, Mr Clarke called on his principal critic and former employer, the national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, to release the entire record of their emails in the months up to the September 11 terror attacks to prove his contention that the White House did not then take the threat of al-Qaida seriously.
Tag-Team Testimony from Bush, Cheney Will Limit Divergent Answers - President Bush's plan to appear before the Sept. 11 commission with Vice President Dick Cheney at his side violates a fundamental rule of investigations, but the panel accepted the unusual arrangement to get the president's cooperation.
Bush Counsel Called 9/11 Panelist Before Clarke Testified - White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales called commissioner Fred F. Fielding, one of five GOP members of the body, and, according to one observer, also called Republican commission member James R. Thompson. Rep. Henry A. Waxman, the ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee, wrote to Gonzales yesterday asking him to confirm and describe the conversations.
9/11 kin: W butting in - WASHINGTON - Families of 9/11 victims were critical yesterday of what appeared to be White House efforts to coach members of a panel questioning a Bush-bashing whistleblower.
Point Proved? - Clarke Says Rice’s Testimony Bolstered His Claims - And frankly, I think that Dr. Rice's testimony today, and she did a very good job, basically corroborates what I said. She said that the president received 40 warnings face to face from the director of central intelligence that a major al Qaeda attack was going to take place and she admitted that the president did not have a meeting on the subject, did not convene the Cabinet.
Rice Defends Bush Efforts to Combat Terrorism - National Security Adviser Acknowledges Preparations Were Insufficient - National security adviser Condoleezza Rice, appearing for the first time publicly before the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, today defended the Bush administration's approach to the threat in testy exchanges with Democratic commissioners, insisting that there was "no silver bullet" that would have prevented the attacks.
Panel Says Bush Saw Repeated Warnings - Reports Preceded August 2001 Memo - By the time a CIA briefer gave President Bush the Aug. 6, 2001, President's Daily Brief headlined "Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US," the president had seen a stream of alarming reports on al Qaeda's intentions. So had Vice President Cheney and Bush's top national security team, according to newly declassified information released yesterday by the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
9/11 Panel Is Said to Offer Harsh Review of Ashcroft - Draft reports by the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks portray Attorney General John Ashcroft as largely uninterested in counterterrorism issues before Sept. 11 despite intelligence warnings that summer that Al Qaeda was planning a large, perhaps catastrophic, terrorist attack, panel officials and others with access to the reports have said. - TVNL Comment: Ashcroft was hard at work destroying the Constitution and covering up statues that depicted the human body.
Bush, Cheney's joint appearance unprecedented - Chairman Thomas Kean's requirement that President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney appear together before his commission on the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, quipped: ``Well, we recognize that Mr. Bush may help Mr. Cheney with some of the answers.'' - While Bush has declined to explain the rationale for the joint meeting, Democrats charge that Cheney is a ``ventriloquist,'' and even a number of independent observers say it appears that the two men are trying to keep their stories straight.
Bush, Cheney meet with 9/11 panel - "The commission found the president and the vice president forthcoming and candid," the statement said. "The information they provided will be of great assistance to the commission as it completes its final report."
9/11 panel focuses on rescue efforts - Communication troubles cited in response to New York attacks - Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani will testify on the second of two days of public hearings at Manhattan's New School University looking at how the emergency services performed on September 11, 2001.
9/11 Panel Scolds Ex-Police, Fire Chiefs - he 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."
Giuliani testifies at stormy 9/11 panel hearing - Hecklers disrupt session, call on commission to ask ‘real questions’ - Warnings of a possible terrorist attack on New York City contained in an August 2001 White House briefing paper never reached City Hall, but likely would not have changed local security precautions, former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said Wednesday. - Giuliani's testimony before the Sept. 11 commission was interrupted several times by angry outbursts by victims' families. Among other things the audience members yelled "one-sided!" "Put us on the panel!" One man, a longtime Giuliani adversary, was tossed out of the hearing after shouting at the panel to “ask some real questions!”
9/11 panel member says too easy on Giuliani - Democrat Gorelick says she and her colleagues let 9/11 families down by failing to grill Giuliani - Commissioner Jamie Gorelick said she was "disappointed in us in a way that I haven't been in the past" after the hearing Wednesday. Many relatives of people killed in the World Trade Center criticized and in some cases jeered the commission for not asking Giuliani about problems they say may have led to the deaths of hundreds of civilians and firefighters.
Original Plan for 9/11 Attacks Involved 10 Planes, Panel Says - As horrendous as they were, the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, were only a small part of terrorist visions that foresaw using 10 hijacked airplanes to attack targets on both the East and West Coasts, including the United States Capitol and the White House, the staff of the independent commission investigating 9/11 reported today. - The staff also said in a companion report that it had found "no credible evidence" that Iraq and Al Qaeda terrorists cooperated in the attacks, a conclusion likely to fuel the debate over President Bush's decision to go to war to topple Saddam Hussein. Indeed, the commission staff said, Iraq apparently rejected Osama bin Laden's requests to provide space for training camps and help Al Qaeda acquire weapons.
Who Was Really In Charge? - Did Bush know Cheney had given orders to down airliners on September 11? The commission staff wonders—and remains at odds with both men over alleged Saddam-Al Qaeda ties. - But the question of Cheney's behavior that day is one of many new issues raised in the remarkably detailed, chilling account laid out in dramatic presentations by the 9-11 Commission. NEWSWEEK has learned that some on the commission staff were, in fact, highly skeptical of the vice president's account and made their views clearer in an earlier draft of their staff report. According to one knowledgeable source, some staffers "flat out didn't believe the call ever took place”.
Did Ashcroft brush off terror warnings? - NBC exclusive: 9/11 commission interviews FBI officials who contradict Ashcroft testimony - The 9/11 commission is busy writing its final report, but is still investigating critical facts, including the conduct of U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft. NBC News has learned that the commission has interviewed two FBI officials who contradict sworn testimony by Ashcroft, about whether he brushed off terrorism warnings in the summer of 2001.
