For original article click here - Cached/copied 060707 - mpg Articles & Essays: Bush Obstructs Investigation Into 9-11 Attack Articles & Essays Withholding funding and documentation, the Bush Administration is the major roadblock for the 9-11 Commission. Why? By Frederick Sweet President George W. Bush is obstructing the investigation of the 9-11 terrorist attack against the United States. Ever since the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also called the 9-11 Commission, had been set up to investigate the biggest crime of the twenty-first century, Bush and his administration have kept getting in its way. The commission, established in November 2002, has the power to subpoena witnesses and has been granted all the necessary security clearances to review the documents requested by it. Officials said in early July that it may request interviews with President Bush and former president Bill Clinton, among other top officials. When Bush signed the legislation creating the panel, he declared ''hope that the commission will act quickly and issue its report prior to the 18-month deadline.'' The White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan insisted that the president ''is dedicated to cooperation with the 9-11 Commission and has directed that the administration cooperate.'' But New York Democratic Senator Charles Schumer recently accused the Bush administration of intentionally impeding the probe for political reasons. The Senator called for an independent investigation of the matter, including whether witnesses have been intimidated. The Bush administration dismisses Schumer's charges. White House denies funding to Commission Bush's obstruction of the investigation began coming into focus last March when Time Magazine reported that the White House brushed off a request made by the 9-11 Commission Chairman Tom Kean, the Republican former governor of New Jersey, to boost his budget by $11 million. Kean had sought the funding as part of the $75 billion supplemental spending bill that the president had just requested to pay for the war with Iraq. Bush's refusal to increase the commission's budget frustrated and angered a number of the members on the 9-11 panel. The White House had chosen Kean to lead the investigation, but only after its first choice, Henry A. Kissinger, the former secretary of state, resigned from the post rather than release a list of clients of his consulting firm. Former congressman Lee Hamilton, the panel's top Democrat, was named vice chairman of the commission by Congressional Democrats. Kean and Hamilton had requested additional funding in a letter to the Bush administration in March 2003. The money was to pay for a staff of about sixty and their expenses. Kean had plannned to field a separate task force for each of nine areas that the Commission is required to investigate according to the law that had established it. The 9-11 Commission has a May 2004 deadline to complete its work. But it will spend the $3 million it was originally allocated around August 2003 -- if it doesn't get the requested supplement. "We hope that this request will be included in the supplemental appropriations proposal now being prepared by the administration," wrote Kean and Hamilton in a March 19 letter to a CIA official who is in charge of intelligence community budgeting. The request has been endorsed by the entire bipartisan 9-11 Commission at a recent meeting. In denying the request, the White House perplexed members of the commission. "This is very counterproductive if the White House's intention is to prevent the commission from being politicized, because it will look like they have something to hide," said a Republican member of the commission. Bush's roadblocks thwart 9-11 Commission, angers victims' families In the first week of July, the Boston Globe reported that the 9-11 Commission expressed concern that the congressionally mandated panel is at risk of missing its final report deadline of May 2004 unless the Bush administration acts swiftly to expand its level of cooperation. Without greater cooperation, Kean said, ''we cannot do the job we are supposed to do.'' The panel provided a report card on the 16 federal agencies covered by its inquiry, describing only the State Department as being fully cooperative, and the FBI as having improved its performance. Keane and Hamilton told reporters that only recently had the administration shown any willingness to provide the necessary information, including transcripts of interrogations of Al Qaeda detainees and some internal National Security Council documents. But much more is required, they said, for the commission's staff of 60 people to accomplish their job on time. The Commission complained that the Bush administration had failed to turn over key documents and information it needed to complete a report on its findings. But June and July were not the first time their investigation had been thwarted by the Bush government. The commission cited other, similar roadblocks to their investigation which must meet a 2004 deadline. The White House has placed conditions on access to and usage of some documents, and such disagreements have yet to be resolved. The CIA, which failed to effectively predict the Al Qaeda threat, has been slow to provide documents on management and budget issues from before the Sept. 11 attacks. Problems with the Department of Defense were ''particularly serious.'' The commission's six-month progress report noted that requests relating to the North American Air Defense Command and the Joint Chiefs of Staff have been met with considerable delays. No doubt, if the 9-11 Commission's report -- addressing what led to the attacks with airliners that killed more than 3,000 people and how to prevent future acts of terror -- is not finished by mid 2004, its delay will become a presidential election issue. One 9-11 Commissioner complained, ''The Department of Homeland Security has been unhelpful. If we don't get these issues resolved, the public is not going to have the report it deserves.'' Attorney Genreral John Ashcroft's Justice Department has also been a source of frustration for the commission. The Commission objects to the department's insistence that an official accompany employees being interviewed by the commission. ''It's some intimidation . . . to have someone sitting behind you,'' Kean said. Kean and Hamilton charged the Justice Department was behind a directive barring intelligence officials from being interviewed by the panel without the presence of agency colleagues. At a recent news conference, described the presence of "minders" at the interviews as a form of intimidation. "I think the commission feels unanimously that it's some intimidation to have somebody sitting behind you all the time who you either work for or works for your agency," he said. "You might get less testimony than you would [otherwise]." Relatives of those killed in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon expressed outrage at Bush hindering the investigation. ''I am going to assume the White House is stonewalling the investigation,'' said Stephen Push, director of Families of September 11. ''How do you not question the government?'' asked Mindy Kleinberg of September 11 Advocates, whose husband, Allan, perished in the World Trade Center. The 9-11 Commission's requests for documents related to the pending case against Zacarias Moussaoui, the alleged ''20th hijacker'' who was arrested in Minneapolis before the attacks, have so far been ignored. Kean said discussions were underway to determine how the commission could access what are considered some of the most important clues to what the government may have known before the terrorist attacks without jeopardizing any trial. Kleinberg said she believes that the Moussaoui dossier is important and that the 9-11 Commission must have access to it to do a sufficient job -- even if it means risking the government's case. ''I would rather see the safety of the nation put forth rather than prosecuting one potential terrorist,'' she said. Note: Frederick Sweet is Professor of Reproductive Biology in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Posted Wednesday, July 16, 2003 |