9/11 Commission Set to Blame Bush, Clinton Gets a Pass

NewsMax.com ^ | 12/17/03 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

[kattracks]

The chairman of the independent commission investigating the 9/11 attacks is hinting that he's prepared to place blame at the doorstep of the Bush White House for not acting on evidence that could have prevented the catastrophe.

But commission chairman, former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean, has yet to examine key evidence indicating that President Clinton knew Osama bin Laden was planning to attack America, but failed to take appropriate action to stop him as the 9/11 operation was being organized.

"[9/11] was not something that had to happen," Kean told CBS News on Wednesday, adding that officials in the Bush administration had failed to protect America.

"There are people that, if I was doing the job, would certainly not be in the position they were in at that time because they failed. They simply failed," the top 9/11 prober said.

But key recordings of Mr. Clinton admitting that he turned down an offer for bin Laden's extradition to the U.S., "though we knew," in the ex-president words, "that he wanted to commit crimes against America" - have not been sought by the commission.

Clinton's comments were videotaped by the Long Island Association, where he made the stunning admission during the group's annual luncheon on Feb. 15, 2002. However, requests for the video later that year by NBC News, the Fox News Channel and NewsMax.com were refused by the business group.

It's not known whether the ex-president had an agreement with the LIA to prohibit distribution of their recording

NewsMax.com's audiotape of the event is the only publicly available recording of Clinton's remarks.

In July, 9/11 Commission spokesman Al Felzenberg told NewsMax that the ex-president's admission would likely be part of the probe. "Since this is obviously on the public record, I wouldn't be surprised if it came up," he explained.

But five months later, the Kean Commission has yet seek the original audiotape, which shows the ex-president detailing his decision to pass up what turned out to be America's best chance to avoid the 9/11 attacks.

"We'd been hearing that the Sudanese wanted America to start meeting with them again," Clinton told the LIA. "They released [bin Laden]. At the time, 1996, he had committed no crime against America, so I did not bring him here because we had no basis on which to hold him, though we knew he wanted to commit crimes against America."

Still, instead of exploring what turned out to be the worst foreign policy blunder in U.S. history, the Kean Commission now appears to have the Bush White House in the crosshairs.

"As you read the report, you're going to have a pretty clear idea what wasn't done and what should have been done," Kean told CBS. "They simply failed."

Hear the audiotape that was too hot to handle for the 9/11 Commission.

[nopardons]

Read FR's archives and a bunch of books I could reccomend ( if you REALLY want to educate yourself, that is ), because you really do NOT know nearly enough to make that kind of statement.

[CyberAnt]

No .. that was the Rose Lawfirm records on Whitewater.

[MHT]

Guess he hasn't read either Losing Bin Laden or Posner's book, Why America Slept. The last chapter of the Posner book is absolutely chilling. Clinton could have had Bin Laden's head on a silver platter, but didn't accept the gift it would have been for the American people. It was the Saudi's, not W. Bush, who knew in advance and did nothing. No wonder there's a diplomatic warning about Saudi Arabia today.

I just love these commissions--W. could have prevented it and Oswald was the lone gunman. This one more resembles the blind men trying to figure out what an elephant is more than a well-meaning group of public servants.

[backhoe]

I think Bill Clinton was corrupt, but don't necessarily buy in to all of the theories found here and places like NewsMax.

Read these, and follow all the links within the links provided.

Seriously. No joke, no lie.

If you only read one, read "Murder, Inc."-- and note all the names and events that you have heard about before...

---

-The Clinton Files--

Liars-- and Sleaze, Incorporated... ( my files on the clintons and friends )

-Some old strange clinton "stuff"--

-The Atomic Genie- what we know about North Korea's Nuclear program--

Madison Society - Slick Willy
... THE CLINTON TIME LINE. The Etherzone provides, in one location, all the events
of the Clinton Ongoing Corruption from 1977 through 2000. Read more. ...

CLINTON'S ROGUES GALLERY:
... And that gets to my second chart, Mr. Speaker, which is the time line.....Up until
1993, Mr. Speaker, under Democrats and Republican Presidents alike, there ...

The Cost of Life (Clinton/Gore Sellout of Security for Campaign Contributions) **FR EXCLUSIVE** #2

DOWNSIDE LEGACY AT TWO DEGREES OF PRESIDENT CLINTON

CIA Officials Reveal What Went Wrong – Clinton to Blame

Is Bill Clinton Responsible for September 11?

Catastrophic intelligence Failure - Clinton's Bin Laden GATE

-Murder, Inc.--

-The number of "suicides" for people linked to this and other Clinton-related cases--

-ATTENTION BLOODHOUNDS--

-Women in the Clinton Era: Abuse,Intimidation and Smears--

-SEND JUANITA BROADDRICK VIDEO TO THOSE WHO WANT CLINTON TO SPEAK--

Nothing phony about response to Hillary at fete

Hillary's delegates spit on and taunt Police Honor Guard at her Convention

-Sen. Hillary Clinton--NewsMax.com Hot Topics--

Boo Hillary! The Video***

-All Hillary, all the time...--

1. The Clintons are pro-abortion. Our children deserve better.
2. The Clintons are against school vouchers. Our children deserve better.
3. The Clintons are against our ballistic missile defense system. Our children deserve to be protected from rogue North Korean nuclear missiles.
4. The Clintons want Americans to be subjected to the International Criminal Court, which has no Bill of Rights, no right to see your accuser, no jury, and no appeal. Our citizens deserve better.
5. The Clintons want the Kyoto Treaty on Global Warming to become law. That treaty will eventually lead to the prohibition of gasoline-powered automobiles. We deserve better than to return to the pre-industrial age.

[willyboyishere]

Here's the way it works: Bush has to be blamed now so that Clinton can't be blamed then. This is just a few steps from Clinton getting the credit which will inevitably fall to Bush. Somehow I see this perverse equation finally working out that way.

[MattAMiller]

Where's the part were Kean hints he's going to blame Bush?

[kattracks]

How about here:

Still, instead of exploring what turned out to be the worst foreign policy blunder in U.S. history, the Kean Commission now appears to have the Bush White House in the crosshairs.

"As you read the report, you're going to have a pretty clear idea what wasn't done and what should have been done," Kean told CBS. "They simply failed."

[kattracks]

Read this.

[laredo44]

"[9/11] was not something that had to happen," Kean told CBS News on Wednesday, adding that officials in the Bush administration had failed to protect America.

"There are people that, if I was doing the job, would certainly not be in the position they were in at that time because they failed. They simply failed," the top 9/11 prober said.

This should be rich if Kean really intends to suggest it was the Bush Administration's fault. Were the alleged officials holdovers from Clinton?

Plus, his conclusion, "[9/11] was not something that had to happen," does not follow from his premesis, "There are people that, if I was doing the job, would certainly not be in the position they were in at that time because they failed." The replacement of failure is not necessarily competence and competence itself does not guarantee success. His statements as quoted are failures of intellect. It is "Clueless Tom" who is the apparent failure.

I am also curious to see how Clueless takes into account the time available for the Bush Administration to sort all this out so as to prevent the attacks. As we know, the endless Algore court challenges reduced the transition period and the juvenile behavior of the Clinton team left a mess to be cleaned up. Bush had 7 and a half months to identify and prevent 9/11. It has taken us more than that in Iraq just to find and arrest Saddam Hussein (and we still haven't found Osama).

[serurier]

Do not I understand why he does not attack terrorism especially originally ?

[gr8eman]

Because these people are lauded when they criticize Bush or berated when they agree with him by the oh so smart intelligensia. The fact remains that there were a whole lot of people that weren't doing their jobs and the obvious conclusion is the overburdening federal bureaucracy was the reason 9/11 was not stopped. Remember the memos written about the zipperheads taking flight training?

Whether Clinton or Bush are directly to blame is a purposeful oversimplification of the situation and most people in the Beltway do not want the common folk to come to the realization that their federal gubmint is way out of control.

Bush bashing has become a sick sort of game to these people so why would Ex-Gov. Kean blame Bush if the facts remain that he and Clinton untimately share the burden of blame but Clinton acknowledged that he knew of the threat and did nothing?

Is Kean really that stupid as to not realise that there are historical records available that refute his conclusion? What kind of "investigation" is that unless it is totally motivated by politics. Kean is willing to be made out to be a fool for a good reason. After all the slimy and dirty tricks of the left I can only assume that when some politician does irrational things in a matter such as this some commie is pulling the strings! It is called Modus Operandi!!!!

[Mia T]

YOO-HOO! GOV. KEAN: The 2-Headed Grotesquerie in the Room_bump

 

hillary talks:ON TERROR
(reinstalling the clintons in the White House has one advantage over suicide)

(viewing movie requires Flash Player 6, available HERE)

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http://hillarytalks.blogspot.com
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fraudsofhillary.com

[DooDahhhh]

Bill Clinton did the big 0 in dealing with terrorists in his 8 years in office; including not warning the general public that this was a big threat to us. What was reported in the 90s was not touted to be that big of deal in the area of terrorism. I am sure that the Clintons wanted nothing to rock their boat at the time - had enough on their plates with their own short comings - which is why we never need trailor trash back in our White House. Don't know about the rest of you, but I have not been caught having oral sex with a younger person under my hire, or caught commiting perjury in a local court, or lied to the general public - and I am just a local real estate agent. By the way, I would have probably lost my job doing those things. However, we pay billions of dollars to the CIA, FBI to protect us and do I believe that someone should have been investigating Middle Eastern young men taking flight lessons that were not interested in landing the planes but flying them? no doubt - what a tragedy whether it be Clinton or Bush.


















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[laredo44]

Why does everyone mention the FBI files every time a Republican does something that surprises people here, or that they disagree with? Do you just assume that that all Republicans have something to hide in their FBI files and are therefore subject to blackmail?

Does this mean you'd be OK with the "Big Brother" society Orwell described in "1984"? After all, those with nothing to hide had no trouble and seemed free to do those things that were right. If you wouldn't be happy with it, why not?

[Michael.SF.]

Awhile back I blasted Newsmax as being similar to the National Enquirer: sloppy, biased and purposefully misleading.

This article is an example of such tactics being purposefully used to mislead the readers and froth up emotions.

Here is my support (taken from CBS News on this same subject):

Kean admits the commission also has more questions than answers.

Kean promises major revelations in public testimony beginning next month from top officials in the FBI, CIA, Defense Department, National Security Agency and, maybe, President Bush and former President Clinton.

The truth of the matter is Bush is the President and must accept responsibility for what occurs on his watch. The second truth of the matter is, he has too much class to point fingers at the previous administration for failure to address this issue and to allow these terrorists to continually challenge us.

I for one am not fully happy with President Bush's handling of the post 9/11 investigation and reaction to it. What should he have done differently? Three things:

1. Fire George Tenent (Clinton appointee)
2. Fire Norman Penneta.(Clinton appointee)
3. Immediately sealed our borders and tightened our immigration policies against Muslim countries.

Both men should have been made the scape goats and replaced with far stronger people.

[Michael.SF.]

but I don't understand why everyone seems to think Republicans are held captive by what's in their FBI files that the Clintons took.

What makes you assume that only the Republicans fear the information that is contained within the FBI files?

You must remember that the sole aim of Hillary Clinton is to one day be the first female President of the USA. That is her dream and she will let nothing stand in her way to achieve it.

You must also recognize that Terry MacAuliffe, as DNC Chair, pulls a lot of weight and is acting at the direction of the Clinton's. Additionally, why would a "Feminist" humiliate herself by sticking with a man who has a serial propensity to cheat on her?

Answer: Because he served her greater purpose.

As to the files, it is not what is in them that is as important as making others fear what might be in them. Subtle blackmail can be far more effective then an outright hammer over the head.

[Tabi Katz]

Brilliant! I only wish my printer worked :( I'd decorate my apartment (and those of my liberal relatives) with this one!

[firebrand]

Give it another five days on FR, CalKat, and do some reading.