Reps. Waxman & Maloney call for Reform Cmty hearing into 9/11 rpt. delay

[paineinthearse]

http://democrats.reform.house.gov/

Members Ask for Hearings on Withheld 9/11 Information

Reps. Waxman and Maloney ask for hearings on whether political considerations caused the Administration to delay release of findings by the 9/11 Commission about pre-attack warnings.

Letter to Chairman Davis - http://democrats.reform.house.gov/Documents/20050210150416-61081.pdf

9/11 Commission Report - http://democrats.reform.house.gov/Documents/20050210162128-39627.pdf

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/11/politics/11terror.html?

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RELATED NYT STORY:

Critics Want Full Report of 9/11 Panel

By Eric Lichtblau / New York Times

The Bush administration came under pressure on Thursday to make public the full classified version of a report from the 9/11 commission that is critical of the government's failure to heed aviation threats before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Former members of the commission, victims' families, open-government advocates and a leading Democrat called on the administration to release the entire report on aviation problems surrounding the attacks.

The commission completed the report in August, and commission members said the administration blocked their efforts to release the report.
The administration delivered a declassified version of the report to the National Archives two weeks ago with numerous deletions of material it considered too sensitive for the public to see.
Commissioners from the 9/11 panel said they believed that the entire report should be public.

"We want this report declassified, and we hope the government will work to get it out as soon as possible," Al Felzenberg, who was the spokesman for the commission, said. Administration officials said declassifying the report had been slowed by the fact that the commission no longer existed and that it was unclear who was authorized to work on the declassification. The commission said several members and staff members who maintained security clearances were in a position to work on the declassification.

In a letter on Thursday, Representative Henry A. Waxman of California, ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee, and Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, Democrat of New York, asked that the report be made public and called for a Congressional hearing into whether the administration had "misused the classification process" to withhold it. The letter, responding to an article on Thursday in The New York Times reporting the existence of the commission report, questioned whether the administration had kept the report secret for political reasons "until after the November elections." Administration officials denied that.

[Cocoa]

1. Condi's not going to like this

it sounds like Waxman is "impugning her integrity," which she hates.

http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0210-12.htm

<snip>

One possibility raised by these facts is that Ms. Rice was unaware of the FAA warnings when she appeared before the press and testified before the 9/11 Commission. This would raise serious questions about her preparation and competency. Another possibility is that Ms. Rice knew about the FAA warnings but provided misleading information to the public and the Commission. Neither of these possibilities would reflect well on Ms. Rice. Perhaps there are other more innocent explanations for these seeming inconsistencies.

Given the gravity of these questions and significance of the new disclosures, the Committee should investigate what Ms. Rice knew, when she knew it, and why she testified as she did. The public has the right to expect that senior Administration officials will be candid on matters of national security, especially when they involve the tragic events of September 11. An investigation is needed to determine whether this standard was met in this instance.

[Nothing Without Hope]

2. So what happens if they DO show it was withheld for political reasons?

We all know it was, but is there any consequence for it?

[paineinthearse]

3. Is there such a thing as "contept of the citizens of the USA"?

If not, there should be. We have "comtempt of court" and contempt of Congress", why not "contept of the citizens of the USA"?

[blondeatlast]

6. So very true. This is the meme we should use.

"Contempt of Citizenry."

I like this A LOT. I'll use it when I write my Senators (a worthless endeavor, as I live in AZ, but I fight the good fight).

[paineinthearse]

13. Don't discount McCain

Although I discount his cozying with * during the campaign, I see him as biding his time for 2008. He's felt their rath and knows * ilk are slime.

What I would do if I were you would be to visit an Arizona office or attend a political social where you can establish a relationship with a staffer.

good luck

[blm]

10. Contempt of Citizenry....and it should be IMPEACHABLE!

.

[FreedomAngel82]

4. Of course it was

This information came out shortly before the election but they said how it would be released after the election. Now we know why. Ugh! We definietly need all the information documents with NO blurbs marked out names and things like that like they love to do.

[flyarm]

16. SURE AND THEY WAITED TILL THAT LYING BITCH WAS CONFIRMED

AND WISKED THAT LYING MURDERING BITCH OUT OF THE COUNTRY BEFORE RELEASING THIS DOCUMENT...THIS DOCUMENT WHICH HAS BEEN SITTING COMPLETED SINCE LAST JUNE!

I WANT A HEARING AND I WANT IT NOW AND I WILL SPEND EVERY MOMENT OF THIS WEEK ON THE PHONE SCREAMING AT EWVERY REPUG IN WASHINGTON...I WANT A DAMN HEARING !!

FROM A 33YR AMERICAN AIRLINES FLIGHT ATTENDANT NY BASE, JUST RETIRED

FLY

[satya]

11. Consequence? What a quaint concept for this regime. nt

[sickinohio]

19. In a word - NO

[atommom]

5. This could get interesting. Someone does need to make noise to

wake up the rest of the American people to the Bushies' lies.

[GetTheRightVote]

7. So finally the truth is coming out to us in the public

Time to impeach *, Rice Bowl, Red Rummym, the entire admin, dreaming again but oh what a wonderful dream it is.

:kick:

[AlCzervik]

8. there's a nice article in The Nation about the oft overlooked

Waxman, i love this guy.
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050214&s=corn

The Democrats Elliott Ness.

[satya]

9. Better late than never, I guess.Of course the entire report s.b. released.

After all, didn't we pay for this with our tax dollars? Where are all those fiscal conservatives--shouldn't they be expecting to get their money's worth?

[rodeodance]

12. what a sorry excuse!! see below

.......Administration officials said declassifying the report had been slowed by the fact that the commission no longer existed and that it was unclear who was authorized to work on the declassification

[paineinthearse]

14. .

[oasis]

15. kick

[paineinthearse]

17. 9/11 panel: FAA was warned

http://www.bergen.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkyNCZmZ2JlbDdmN3ZxZWVFRXl5NjY1MjQ2OCZ5cmlyeTdmNzE3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTI=

9/11 panel: FAA was warned

Friday, February 11, 2005

By LESLIE MILLER
ASSOCIATED PRESS


WASHINGTON - The Federal Aviation Administration received repeated warnings in the months prior to Sept. 11, 2001, about al-Qaida and its desire to attack airlines, according to a previously undisclosed report by the commission that investigated the terror attacks. The report by the Sept. 11 commission detailed 52 such warnings given to FAA leaders from April to Sept. 10, 2001, about the radical Islamic terrorist group and its leader, Osama bin Laden.

The commission report, written last August, said five security warnings mentioned al-Qaida's training for hijackings and two reports concerned suicide operations not connected to aviation. However, none of the warnings pinpointed what would happen on Sept. 11. FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown on Thursday said the agency received intelligence from other agencies, which it passed on to airlines and airports. But, she said, "We had no specific information about means or methods that would have enabled us to tailor any countermeasures."
Brown also said the FAA was in the process of tightening security at the time of the attacks. "We were spending $100 million a year to deploy explosive detection equipment at the airports," she said. The agency was also close to issuing a regulation that would have set higher standards for screeners and, for the first time, give it direct control over the screening workforce.

Al Felzenberg, former spokesman for the Sept. 11 commission, which ended its business last summer, said the government had not completed a review of the 120-page report for declassification purposes until recently. California Rep. Henry Waxman, ranking Democrat on the Government Reform Committee, asked for a hearing on whether the Bush administration played politics with the report's release. The letter, also signed by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., said the committee should probe whether the report was delayed until after the November elections and the confirmation of Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state . The unclassified version, first reported by The New York Times, was made available by the National Archives on Thursday.

According to the report:

* Aviation officials were "lulled into a false sense of security" and "intelligence that indicated a real and growing threat leading up to 9/11 did not stimulate significant increases in security procedures."

* Of the FAA's 105 daily intelligence summaries between April 1, 2001, and Sept. 10, 2001, 52 mentioned Bin Laden, al-Qaida, or both, "mostly in regard to overseas threats."

* It notes that the FAA did not expand the use of in-flight air marshals or tighten airport screening for weapons. It said FAA officials were more concerned with reducing airline congestion, lessening delays and easing air carriers' financial problems than thwarting a terrorist attack.

* A proposed rule to improve passenger screening and other security measures ordered by Congress in 1996 had been held up by the Office of Management and Budget and was still not in effect when the attacks occurred, according to the FAA.

* Information in this report was available to members of the 9/11 commission when they issued their public report last summer. That report contained criticisms of FAA operations.

[satya]

18. A kick for those who speak truth to power.

:kick:

[troubleinwinter]

20. STILL! Where is the other report? The CIA-IG 9-11 report

WHY is no one asking for this one???!!! It is NOT classified, but has not been released.

From Truthout 10/14/2004:

It is shocking: The Bush administration is suppressing a CIA report on 9/11 until after the election, and this one names names. Although the report by the inspector general's office of the CIA was completed in June, it has not been made available to the congressional intelligence committees that mandated the study almost two years ago.

"It is infuriating that a report which shows that high-level people were not doing their jobs in a satisfactory manner before 9/11 is being suppressed," an intelligence official who has read the report told me, adding that "the report is potentially very embarrassing for the administration, because it makes it look like they weren't interested in terrorism before 9/11, or in holding people in the government responsible afterward."

When I asked about the report, Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice), ranking Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee, said she and committee Chairman Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.) sent a letter 14 days ago asking for it to be delivered. "We believe that the CIA has been told not to distribute the report," she said. "We are very concerned."

According to the intelligence official, who spoke to me on condition of anonymity, release of the report, which represents an exhaustive 17-month investigation by an 11-member team within the agency, has been "stalled." First by acting CIA Director John McLaughlin and now by Porter J. Goss, the former Republican House member (and chairman of the Intelligence Committee) who recently was appointed CIA chief by President Bush.

The official stressed that the report was more blunt and more specific than the earlier bipartisan reports produced by the Bush-appointed Sept. 11 commission and Congress.

"What all the other reports on 9/11 did not do is point the finger at individuals, and give the how and what of their responsibility. This report does that," said the intelligence official. "The report found very senior-level officials responsible."
......

The failure to furnish the report to Congress, said Harman, "fuels the perception that no one is being held accountable. It is unacceptable that we don't have ; it not only disrespects Congress but it disrespects the American people."

The stonewalling by the Bush administration and the failure of Congress to gain release of the report have, said the intelligence source, "led the management of the CIA to believe it can engage in a cover-up with impunity. Unless the public demands an accounting, the administration and CIA's leadership will have won and the nation will have lost."

more....

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/102004V.shtml

WTF ARE THEY HIDING???!!!!! WTF ARE THEY HIDING???!!!!! WTF ARE THEY HIDING???!!!!!

[paineinthearse]

21. Thanks, I had missed that. nt

[troubleinwinter]

22. Yeah, seems everybody does. Seems that most are unaware of it.

We need to see it!!!!!