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Saturday, August 05, 2006

Then why the hell did they not speak up at the time?
Posted by Jill | 8:01 AM
Just how much dirt do the Bushistas have on EVERYONE anyway?

How else can you explain this:

The Sept. 11 commission was so frustrated with repeated misstatements by the Pentagon and FAA about their response to the 2001 terror attacks that it considered an investigation into possible deception, the panel's chairmen say in a new book.

Republican Thomas Kean and Democrat Lee Hamilton also say in "Without Precedent" that their panel was too soft in questioning former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani — and that the 20-month investigation may have suffered for it.

The book, a behind-the-scenes look at the investigation, recounts obstacles the authors say were thrown up by the Bush administration, internal disputes over President Bush's use of the attacks as a reason for invading Iraq, and the way the final report avoided questioning whether U.S. policy in the Middle East may have contributed to the attacks.

Kean and Hamilton said the commission found it mind-boggling that authorities had asserted during hearings that their air defenses had reacted quickly and were prepared to shoot down United Airlines Flight 93, which appeared headed toward Washington.

In fact, the commission determined — after it subpoenaed audiotapes and e-mails of the sequence of events — that the shootdown order did not reach North American Aerospace Command pilots until after all of the hijacked planes had crashed.

The book states that commission staff, "exceedingly frustrated" by what they thought could be deception, proposed a full review into why the FAA and the Pentagon's NORAD had presented inaccurate information. That ultimately could have led to sanctions.

Due to a lack of time, the panel ultimately referred the matter to the inspectors general at the Pentagon and Transportation Department. Both are preparing reports, spokesmen said this week.

"Fog of war could explain why some people were confused on the day of 9/11, but it could not explain why all of the after-action reports, accident investigations and public testimony by FAA and NORAD officials advanced an account of 9/11 that was untrue," the book states.


"Due to a lack of time"??? So they just kept quiet, issued their report that exonerated everyone and said, in essence, "Shit happens"?

Something stinks royally here. If Kean and Hamilton really felt that they were being deceived, it was their OBLIGATION to the American people to speak up then, not wait till there's so much water under the bridge and they can do it in a context that will get them royalty dollars.

We are now seeing the fruits of just about everyone's utter refusal to hold this administration to account for anything. Everyone now knows that the president is the inept, dangerous sociopath that some of us always knew he was. And now they think that by publishing books appearing on talk shows, and raking in the royalty cash, they can somehow ease their consciences?

Predictably, the Pentagon denies Kean and Hamilton's charges:

There is no evidence that senior Pentagon commanders intentionally provided false testimony to about the military's actions on the morning of the September 11 attacks, according to a report by the Defense Department's watchdog agency cited in the New York Times on Saturday.

The Pentagon's office of inspector general said the Defense Department's initial inaccurate accounts could be attributed largely to poor record-keeping, the newspaper said in an article on its Web site, citing the newly released report.

In a report dated May 27, 2005, but not released until Friday, the inspector general's office found that ``the inaccuracies, in part, resulted because of inadequate forensic capabilities,'' including poor log-keeping at military air traffic control centers, the newspaper said.

The report was initially classified secret but was released under a freedom-of-information request by the Times. What amounted to several pages' worth were blacked out on national security grounds, the newspaper said.

The Pentagon had initially suggested that the North American Aerospace Defense Command had reacted quickly to reports of the hijackings and been prepared to intercept and possibly shoot down one of the hijacked planes, United Flight 93. But investigations determined that the Pentagon was not aware of Flight 93 until after the aircraft had crashed into a Pennsylvania field.

The September 11 commission then requested that the inspector general investigate why senior military officials made so many inaccurate statements to the commission.

A spokesman for the inspector general's office, William Goehring, told the Times that the question of whether military commanders intentionally withheld the truth from the commission would be addressed in a separate report, but he suggested it would exonerate them. ``We haven't found any information to indicate that testimony was knowingly false,'' the newspaper quoted Goehring as saying.

The report said commanders had found it difficult to create an accurate timeline of the events of September 11 because of the lack of a well-coordinated system in logging information about air-defense operations, the Times said.

And, newly disclosed audio tapes provided to the commission by Norad demonstrated widespread confusion within the military on September 11, with many commanders uncertain whether the reported hijackings were part of an unannounced military exercise.


And this is supposed to reassure us? This is how we're supposed to believe this Administration is keeping us safe? Just how disorganized IS the military apparatus, anyway? Think about it -- these guys are choosing to appear incompetent as a better alternative to appearing corrupt.

Because of the cowardice of the 9/11 Commission, the placing of party loyalty above the good of the nation by Congressional Republicans, and the ineptitude of the Democratic Party, here are the crimes George W. Bush has been able to get away with (as set forth in the report Rep. John Conyers, one of the few House Democrats doing his job, released yesterday:

  • Deception of Congress and the American Public
    • Committing a Fraud Against the United States (18 U.S.C. § 371)
    • Making False Statements Against the United States (18 U.S.C. § 1001)
    • War Powers Resolution (Public Law 93-148)
    • Misuse of Government Funds (31 U.S.C. § 1301)
  • Improper Detention, Torture, and Other Inhumane Treatment
    • Anti-Torture Statute (18 U.S.C. § 2340-40A)
    • The War Crimes Act (18 U.S.C. § 2441)
    • The Geneva Conventions and Hague Convention: International Laws Governing the Treatment of Detainees
    • United Nations Convention Against Torture, and Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment: International Laws Governing the Treatment of Detainees
    • Command Responsibility (for known illegal acts of subordinates in the military)
    • Detainment of Material Witnesses (18 U.S.C. § 3144)
  • Retaliating against Witnesses and Other Individuals
    • Obstruction Congress (18 U.S.C. § 1505)
    • Whistleblower Protection (5 U.S.C. § 2302)
    • The Lloyd-LaFollette Act, or "anti-gag rule" (5 U.S.C. § 7211)
    • Retaliating against Witnesses (18 U.S.C. § 1513)
  • Leaking and other Misuse of Intelligence and other Government Information
    • Revealing Classified Information in Contravention of Federal Regulations (Executive Order 12958/Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement)
    • Statutory Prohibitions on Leaking Information (18 U.S.C. § 641, etc.)
  • Laws Governing Electronic Surveillance
    • Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (50 U.S.C. § 1801, et seq.)
    • National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. chapter 15)
    • Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. § 222)
    • Stored Communications Act of 1986 (18 U.S.C. § 2702)
    • Pen Registers or Trap and Trace Devices (18 U.S.C. § 3121)
  • Laws and Guidelines Prohibiting Conflicts of Interest (28 U.S.C. § 528, etc.)


The very same Senate and House Republicans who thought a president should be removed from office for lying under oath in a civil case that had nothing to do with his vow to uphold the Constitution have been applauding this president's crimes.

As far as I'm concerned, EVERYONE -- Republican or Democrat -- who has enabled this president should be booted from office with all due haste. If they're running for re-election this year, boot 'em out. 2008? Boot 'em out.

It's time for some serious electoral housecleaning.

Provided the Bushistas allow that to happen.
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