Is Fix in at 9/11 Commission?

[Alex88]

by Paul Sperry

In finally accepting the 9/11 Commission's request for public testimony under oath from National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, the White House was not the one that flinched. It was the 9/11 Commission.

The fine print of the deal takes the chance of the commission taking sworn public testimony from any other White House official – including Rice's deputy Stephen Hadley, Bush's political adviser Karl Rove, President Bush himself or Vice President Dick Cheney – completely off the table. It also precludes the panel from having the option of calling Rice, who's made media statements contradicting evidence and sworn statements by other officials, back to testify.

It's a one-shot deal. And it stinks.

Even under oath, Rice can dodge tough questions by claiming her answers would jeopardize national security or the war on terror. "I'm sorry, Mr. Chairman, but again, that's a classified area, and I just can't get into it," she could say. Or she could come down with Washington amnesia – "I have no recollection of that." And she and everyone else in the White House could skate. The commission has no recourse at that point.

Other compromises are curious. Why did the panel, which has subpoena power and could compel Rice to testify, originally bow to White House demands not to even tape-record the statements they were "allowed" to take from her in private? Why will it let Bush tag-team with Cheney in a joint Q&A in the White House without oaths or even tape recorders? Why has it agreed to let just four panel officials lay eyes on a key intelligence briefing Bush got a month before the 9/11 attacks?

Why is the commission bending over backwards to please the White House when it's supposed to be fiercely independent and bipartisan, made up of five Republicans and five Democrats?

The answer may lie in the little-known fact that the White House has a friend on the inside. And not just any friend, either.

-more-

http://antiwar.com/sperry/?articleid=2209

[sweettater]

1. Simple answer, really

The republicans AND democrats are complicit in the knowledge and coverup.

[Jivenwail]

2. The truth is out there

But we'll never hear it. Anyone in their right mind should suspect that this misadministration is hiding something, that's obvious. And it stinks.

[aquart]

3. If Condi pulls any of that, Bush loses.

If she appears to be hiding ANYTHING, Bush loses.

So I don't mind a bit if she stonewalls. On television. Under oath. It would make me smile for days.

Image is everything. And all Bush has is image.

Go Condi! Do it!

[phantom power]

8. If they can force Rice to take the 5th

or develop amnesia, or hide behind "security", that would definitely be a win. But only if her performance is widely televised. Clips of her on the evening news, stonewalling, would be terrible PR for the administration.

The worrisome scenario is if they ask her all softball questions. Then she, and the rest of the adminstration, get off without looking bad.

If she gets soft-balled, then I would say the fix is genuinely in.

[MSgt213]

4. Is the fix in? Yes.

[DavidDvorkin]

5. Is there any doubt?

The fix was in before the hearings began.

Unfortunately, I don't think that stonewalling by Rice will be a problem for Bush. Most people won't watch the hearings and will get their impressions from the media, and we know the media will spin it all for Bush. Even those who do watch will, in many cases, have their perceptions changed by later reporting; that's what happened with the Gore-Bush debates during the 2000 election.

[BadGimp]

6. no one cares

It's amazing to me how little people in this country care about this.

Game, Set and Match. The GOP Machine wins in a rout.

[Miss Authoritiva]

7. The 9-11 Commission is just another asymmetrical low-intensity conflict

The power is all on the side of the White House. The first and only concession was to let the 9-11 Commission come into existence (just to correct those pesky negative image problems). This is not to say that "information" will not be forthcoming; there has to be something to print up, slap a cover on, and distribute. But will there be a "resolution?" Not unless every scrap of paper in the Bush Administration -- including Barney's vet records -- eventually is declassified, and that's not going to happen.

[Disturbed]

9. White Wash

They will toss her nerf balls. In no way would any thow a hard ball question to her because that would be seen as an attack on a black woman. She will come out unscathed. I think that the Admin. resisted just so that they could be seen as now fully co-operating and the compromise of Bush/Cheney interview was part of the plan all along.
This commission will not have anything to say that will upset Bushco or in any way cast a negative on the Admin.

[indigobusiness]

10. Condi's Twin?

Seperated at birth?

http://sludgereport.blogspot.com/

[teryang]

11. WH sets the rules of procedure

...appoints the members, and controls the what info the commission is allowed to see. Er, what do you think the outcome will be?