Max Cleland: "The White House Has Played Cover-Up"

[chelaque liberal]

Amy Goodman interviewed former 9/11 Commission Member Max Cleland yesterday.

www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/03/23/1546256

Cleland said, "As each day goes by, we learn that this government knew a whole lot more about these terrorists before Sept. 11 than it has ever admitted."

Says flat out that cover up is Bush's fault.

I would love to know the real reason he quit the commission......

[FloridaPat]

1. Another Democrat finds a backbone! Yipee!!!

[KharmaTrain]

2. Max quit too soon

He saw, as many did, the stonewalling of this regime to get documents and then to testify. Credit Kean (damn I hate giving a GOOP some credit) for creating media pressure when needed to keep this inquiry alive...as well as the 9/11 families.

While I love Max, he wasn't the right person for the commission as he would serve as a political lightning rod for the right wing. The Democrats on the commission are virtually bullet-proof from that charge...especially Bob Kerry...and take the focus off this regime's ineptness and irresponsibility.

Right now I'd love for Max just to tour VFWs and bases...spread the word to the military that REAL help is on the way.

[skeptic9]

3. Cleland sounds like a man who's had ENOUGH. He's ...

... pulling no punches with his one good arm in that Democracy Now interview:

"We now know from secretary O'Neill ... that within 10 days of the inauguration of President Bush, he was talking about invading Iraq. ... Bush, has used 9-11 and the tragedy to this country and to the families in this country, the over 3,000 people who were lost, used that as an excuse to go after Saddam Hussein.... they created a war that they were already predisposed to do and 9-11 gave them the excuse. That is why Osama bin Laden is still on the loose. That is why Osama bin Laden and his terrorist cadre are still blowing up people by the hundreds most recently in Spain ...

I mean, we have a killer and killer organization on the loose and this President has chosen another course to pursue because of his own predilections to I guess avenge his father or follow the Neocon path that Saddam Hussein was the real enemy. The real enemy is Al Qaeda and that's what the 9-11 commission will increasingly find in testimony and they will increasingly find that this government had more information about Al Qaeda from the FBI, dating back to 1994 that planes were planned to be used to hit major targets like big buildings. And if you follow the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Al Qaeda in many ways was behind that and why -- why -- they didn't take their eye off the ball. But this administration took its eye off the ball and, with a war in Iraq, has got our cream of American forces now bogged down there. We're losing two soldiers a day and I think it is a disaster."

[klook]

4. Cleland is a great guy

I heard that interview, and I thought he made his points very well, although for DN listeners none of it was earthshattering news.

I'm proud to say Cleland was my Senator for a while. As you probably know, he was defeated by a slimy Republican smear campaign, as described in an article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in June 2003:

The lowest moment for Cleland came when Chambliss aired a TV spot that attacked his voting record on homeland security issues and featured photos of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein.

Cleland said at the time he was personally hurt by the ad, and during the interview this week he remained bitter.

"The charge that somehow I was unpatriotic, when really I had helped write the law on the homeland security legislation, all those lies that occurred in the campaign -- that was a trauma that was unexpected for me," he said. "I thought I had done a good job for the people of Georgia. I thought they knew me as someone who had served and sacrificed for the country, as someone who was willing to defend the country 35 years ago. . . . But the White House and the media image makers turned me into some kind of villain."

Now in Georgia we're stuck with two right-wing Senators: Chambliss and the "Democratic" traitor Zell Miller.

[AlCzervik]

5. Max Cleland

I like Max Cleland but i wish he stayed on the 911 panel. the one thing that irks me about him was his taking an appt from Bush on the banking panel/commitee whatever it's called, i think that was a bod move.

[pansypoo53219]

6. yes

and i think we can see why george appointed him elsewhere.

[gulfcoastliberal]

7. Don't Think he had a Choice

Daschle was very complicit in nominating him for the import/export gig, at the behest of the pugs. This is Daschle's fault, not Cleleland's. He did not resign voluntarily, but by mandate.

[SoCalDem]

8. Of course they are.. BUT..this is the FIRST white house

in a long time that has complete "coverage" in congress (where the investigations start)...

Would Watergate have ever happened if the repubs had been able to do "damage control and coverage..early on..??

I know that repubs finally were the ones to tell him to leave, but that was AFTER the congress aired all the dirty laundry..

Remember too, that during Watergate there was no "echochamber" of rightwing 24/7 radio /tv..Think tanks did not exist yet.. there was no c-span.. There were only CBS NBC ABC and newspapers (Time Newsweek etc too)..

There is an apparatus in place now to combat "dangerous information".. They learned their lesson with watergate.. Liberals have a built-in sense of fairplay and decency, so we just expect that good will win over evil, but the repubes take no chances.. They have put in place a "spin factory" to combat ANY bad news about them (true or not)..We are 30 years behind them, and it shows..