Conason: 9/11 Panel Becomes Cheney’s Nightmare

[kskiska]

With the prescience that often accompanies a queasy conscience, Vice President Dick Cheney opposed an independent investigation of the Sept. 11 attacks from the very beginning. In the spring of 2002, Mr. Cheney sought to intimidate Senator Tom Daschle, then the Senate Majority Leader, from undertaking or authorizing such an investigation. Any probe of the events leading up to the catastrophe might somehow damage the "war on terrorism," he warned.

The Bush administration lost that fight when Congress authorized the creation of the 9/11 commission, officially known as the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks on the United States, and the President reluctantly signed that legislation.

Now we know what lay behind the Vice President’s troubled premonitions. The commission’s activities haven’t hampered American action against terrorism. But its hearings and reports have brought considerable discredit upon the Bush administration—not only for the administration’s handling of the terror threat before 9/11, but most recently for White House propagandizing about alleged links between Al Qaeda and Iraq.

(snip)

Before the 9/11 commission completes its work and issues its final report this summer, Mr. Cheney should be asked to explain why, despite all the warnings about Al Qaeda, he did so little.

more…
http://www.nyobserver.com/pages/conason.asp

[myopic4141]

1. I love video tape.

Last week on CNBC's Capital report, Cheney outright stated that there was no proof either way that an Al Qaeda agent met with a high level Iraqi in Prague. When pushed about earlier stating that he had corroboration of the meeting, Cheney flatly denied that he never made such an assertion; however, his "Meet the Press" interview shows otherwise. The problem with lying is that the story cannot be kept straight over time, especially when nuisance items like facts come out forcing revisions to the story. Dueling video tapes help keep statements straight. Oh, how I love video tape.

[clonebot]

2. they nailed rumsfield like that too..

i really liked the look on donald's face when they read his contradicting quotes back at him.

[dand]

3. Nothing makes my day like seeing a war criminal squirm,

we have deer caught in the headlights all around us.

[Disturbed]

4. Credibility

BushCo only have it with the Bush Cult and the extremely ignorant &/or stupid, which comprises a majority fo the Bush Cult.

I believe that the 911 Commission will be a white wash and that they were weak when they allowed Bush/Cheney to testify together and not even under oath. It seems that most politicans have fear of BushCo. Why?

BushCo has no fear or is so arrogant that they backstabbed the CIA and have angered many career Military top brass. I don't understand that. Are BushCo so powerful that they can go up against the CIA & the Military or are they just plain stupid?

[HysteryDiagnosis]

5. Conason: 9/11 Panel Becomes Cheney’s Nightmare

Before the 9/11 commission completes its work and issues its final report this summer, Mr. Cheney should be asked to explain why, despite all the warnings about Al Qaeda, he did so little.<<

Mebbe it goes something like this.... click on Platform Text for the expanded version... I mean... they did need a reason to launch all this activity...

www.brusselstribunal.org

In September 2000, before George W. Bush won the presidential election, PNAC published the crucial report ‘Rebuilding America's Defenses:Strategies, Forces And Resources For A New Century’, in which they clearly stated that to attack Saddam was but an alibi for American supremacy: “The United States has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein.” (p. 14). The report argued for a large-scale upgrade of the army and estimated that a yearly budgetary increase of 15 to 20 billion dollars would be required to transform the army into something like an 'imperial super-force’ taking the lead in “the revolution in military affairs”.

However, PNAC was well aware that this objective would not be easy to achieve: “The process of transformation is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event—like a new Pearl Harbor” (p. 51). Thomas Donnelly, main author of the report is currently working for Lockheed Martin.<<

[Manix]

6. ...brilliant review

[struggle4progress]

7. "Although President George W. Bush has since admitted ...

... there is no evidence that the deposed dictator was behind the 9/11 attacks, he sent a letter to Congress in 2002 indicating he knew otherwise: 'I have also determined that the use of armed force against Iraq is consistent with taking necessary action against those nations who planned, authorized, committed or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11.' In his 'Mission Accomplished' speech aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003, the President boasted, 'We have removed an ally of Al Qaeda.'"