Of course, the _resident wants to distract the
electorate with talk of Mars. There is nowhere in this
country (or in this world) -- not our environment, not
our economy, not our security, not our standing in the
world community, not even our Constitution itself --
that he can point to that does not now in some way
reflect the damage inflicted by his belligerent,
ignorant "leadership" and the greedy cabal he fronts
for...One billion dollars for space exploration, one
and a half billion to promote "marriage," and the "US
mainstream news media" reports these Rove concoctions
as if they were newsworthy initiatives. Not one
propapunditgandist has pointed out how puny those sums
are when contrasted with the 87 billion dollars he
demanded for just a few months in Iraq...But hey, as
the _resident likes to say, "it's your money."
MEANWHILE....
UPI: The panel set up to investigate why the United
States failed to prevent the terrorist attacks of
Sept. 11, 2001, was rocked Thursday by the bizarre
revelation that two of its senior officials were so
closely involved in the events they are investigating
that they have had to be interviewed as part of the
inquiry.
Repudiate the 9/11 Cover-up and the Iraq Deceit, Show
Up for Democracy in 2004: Defeat Bush (again!)
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0115-11.htm
Published on Thursday, January 15, 2004 by UPI
"Whitewash': 9/11 Director Gave Evidence to Own Inquiry
by Shaun Waterman
WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- The panel set up to
investigate why the United States failed to prevent
the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, was rocked
Thursday by the bizarre revelation that two of its
senior officials were so closely involved in the
events they are investigating that they have had to be
interviewed as part of the inquiry.
Philip Zelikow, the commission's executive director,
worked on the Bush-Cheney transition team as the new
administration took power, advising his longtime
associate and former boss, national security adviser
Condoleezza Rice, on the structure of the incoming
National Security Council.
"He came forward in case he might have useful
information," said commission spokesman Al Felzenberg.
Zelikow, who the commission says has withdrawn himself
from those parts of its investigation directly
connected with the transition -- a process known as
recusal -- was also appointed to the President's
Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board in October 2001.
The board provides the White House with advice about
the quality, adequacy and legality of the whole
spectrum of intelligence activities.
Jamie S. Gorelick, one the 10 members of the
commission and the other official who has answered
investigators' questions, was a senior official under
Attorney General Janet Reno in the Clinton
administration.
"(Zelikow) recused himself from those relevant parts
of the inquiry," said Felzenberg. "Frankly, we don't
see what the fuss is about."
But the revelations have been greeted with dismay by
the commission's critics, especially survivors and
relatives of the dead, because they suggest the
investigation will be -- in the words of Kristen
Breitweiser, who lost her husband Ron in tower 2 of
the World Trade Center -- "a whitewash."
The families have said for many months that they are
unhappy with Zelikow's role, and are furious that they
were not told he would be giving evidence.
"Did he interview himself about his own role in the
failures that left us defenseless?" asked Lori Van
Auken, the widow of Kenneth. "This is bizarre.
"We entered a looking glass world on Sept. 11 and
we're still in it."
The news is a particularly sharp blow to the
commission's credibility because Gorelick and Zelikow
are the two officials to whom the White House has
granted the greatest access to the most secret and
sensitive national security documents of all, the
presidential daily briefings.
Last year, officials acknowledged that one such
briefing in August 2001, more than a month prior to
the attacks, warned that al-Qaida was determined to
strike in the United States. Some reports suggested
that hijacking -- and even the use of airplanes as
missiles -- was mentioned as the mode of assault.
The question of the transition is a significant one,
because critics of President Bush say the incoming
administration "dropped the ball" on the fight against
Osama bin Laden, which had been ramping up under
President Clinton after a suicide attack by the
al-Qaida network nearly destroyed the USS Cole in
Yemen in October 2000.
Bush's supporters counter it was Clinton's failure to
capture or kill bin Laden after his network destroyed
two U.S. embassies in east Africa in 1998 that
emboldened the extremists to attack the United States
on Sept. 11.
The families planned a meeting on the issue Thursday
evening with commission members and staff, which one
predicted would be a "slugfest."
Copyright © 2001-2004 United Press International
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