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THE 9/11 COMMISSION IN MORTAL DANGER
The Corner on National Review Online ^ | 08/11/05 | John Podhoretz

Posted on 08/11/2005 5:57:46 PM PDT by TonyInOhio

It behaved disgracefully and in a nakedly partisan fashion, with former officials of the Clinton administration attempting to use the platform to damage the president's reelection chances. Then, after months of ludicrous conduct, out of nowhere came the brilliantly conceived and written report that set a new standard of eloquence and coherence for government documents, became a major bestseller and redeemed the commission's reputation.

Well, that didn't last long.

In a story filed at 7:10 PM, the Associated Press is now confirming all the particulars of what will now forever be called the Able Danger disaster. The 9/11 Commission staff did hear about intelligence-gathering efforts that hit pay dirt on the whereabouts of Mohammed Atta -- in 1999 -- and deliberately chose to omit word of those efforts.

And why? Because to do so might upset the timeline the Commission had established on Atta.

And why is that significant? Because the Mohammed Atta timeline established by the Commission pointedly insisted Atta did not meet with an Iraqi intelligence agent in Prague.

And why is that significant? Because debunking the Atta-Iraq connection was of vital importance to Democrats, who had become focused almost obsessively on the preposterous notion that there was no relation whatever between Al Qaeda and Iraq -- that Al Qaeda and Iraq might even have been enemies.

I was very skeptical of this Able Danger stuff about Atta, thought it was just sme way Rep. Curt Weldon was trying to sell a book. No longer. This is clearly becoming the biggest story of the summer -- the fact that, as Andy McCarthy alluded to, the "intelligence wall" set up by 9/11 Commissioner Jamie Gorelick when she was in the Justice Department did, in fact, cause the linchpin of the 9/11 attacks to evade capture by American law enforcement.

So was the staff a) protecting the Atta timeline or b) Jamie Gorelick or c) the Clinton administration or d) itself, because it got hold of the information relatively late and the staff was lazy?

More important, what will co-chairmen Tom (pound his fist on the table) Kean and Lee (look sorrowful) Hamilton do and say in the next 36 hours about this calamity?


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 911commission; abledanger; atta; attagate; berger; clarke; clintonlegacy; coverup; gorelick; podhoretz; rockefellermemo; sandyberger; treason
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To: LS
See PhiKappaMom's comment just above.

But they wanted to preen about what a great job they did and make serious recommendations about changes in our national security processes based on all of their deep knowledge. Not very reassuring.

121 posted on 08/11/2005 6:36:48 PM PDT by Bahbah (Air America: kids-for-kilowatts)
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To: NormalGuy
...He exchanges withholding the information in exchange for a consulting fee....

In other words... (wink, wink, nod, nod) ...extortion.

122 posted on 08/11/2005 6:37:20 PM PDT by GoldCountryRedneck (Politicians can be voted out of office...it's unelected bureaucrats that are impossible to remove)
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To: Chi-townChief
The AP story was linked at the website for the posted article.

9/11 Panel Decided to Omit a Reference to Atta
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
N.Y. Times AP online
August 11, 2005
Filed at 8:55 p.m. ET
http://nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Sept-11-Hijackers.html?ei=5094&en=75c8bf9eafed684c&hp=&ex=1123819200&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Sept. 11 commission knew military intelligence officials had identified lead hijacker Mohamed Atta as a member of al-Qaida who might be part of U.S.-based terror cell more than a year before the terror attacks but decided not to include that in its final report, a spokesman acknowledged Thursday.

Al Felzenberg, spokesman for the commission's follow-up project called the 9/11 Public Discourse Project, had said earlier this week that the panel was unaware of intelligence specifically naming Atta. But he said subsequent information provided Wednesday confirmed that the commission had been aware of the intelligence.

snip

123 posted on 08/11/2005 6:37:29 PM PDT by DumpsterDiver
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To: concerned about politics

Bingo! The pieces to the puzzle are beginning to fit! :)


124 posted on 08/11/2005 6:37:30 PM PDT by PhiKapMom (AOII Mom -- J.C. for OK Governor in '06; Allen/Watts in 2008)
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To: Txsleuth

Right on Txsleuth we need to stay vigilant.


125 posted on 08/11/2005 6:37:56 PM PDT by rodguy911 (Time to get rid of the UN and the ACLU and all Mosques in the US,UK.)
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To: JediForce
Deportation, brought in for questioning, or surveillance of Atta may have disrupted their plans to the point of stopping the attacks.

Absolutely. On just continuing to surveille, for example, what would have been the conclussion when Atta and his group all enrolled in flight schools?

126 posted on 08/11/2005 6:38:00 PM PDT by Alas Babylon!
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To: TonyInOhio

I am no longer willing to give anyone involved in this the benefit of the doubt. I think they were liars covering their ass.

Hey, imagine that! Liars in the Clinton Administration!


127 posted on 08/11/2005 6:38:02 PM PDT by popdonnelly
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To: All

9/11 committee staffers went to the archive to "review" the notes.

DOES ANYONE BELIEVE THIS?

THEY WERE REMOVING AND INSERTING NOTES!

Whose staffers went there?

Who went there?

This is Sandy Berger part II.


128 posted on 08/11/2005 6:38:08 PM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE!)
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To: thoughtomator

HillaryGate


129 posted on 08/11/2005 6:38:24 PM PDT by Paladin2 (Don't Tread on Me; Live Free or Die)
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity

His plea bargain was never heard in Court -- it was delayed until September. There was a link on another thread about the delay in sentencing until September and it was on a newsbreak here this morning.


130 posted on 08/11/2005 6:39:31 PM PDT by PhiKapMom (AOII Mom -- J.C. for OK Governor in '06; Allen/Watts in 2008)
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To: TonyInOhio

You bet this is big! They need to get to the bottom of this fast because we need to know that it was just a domestic politics type thing and not downright collusion with the enemy.


131 posted on 08/11/2005 6:39:37 PM PDT by McGavin999 ("You must call evil by it's name" GW Bush ......... It's name is Terror)
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To: concerned about politics

Please see my post #101 on this thread:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1461683/posts?q=1&&page=101

We can now see that, in addition to Gorelick's outrageous conflict-of-interest, at least THREE of the most senior staff members of the 9/11 Commission also had blatant conflicts-of-interest, as they had all served in key related roles under the Clinton administration; these backgrounds would not be conducive to helping with embarrassing exposures of Clinton-era malfeasance.....THE FIX WAS IN, from the start.


132 posted on 08/11/2005 6:39:51 PM PDT by Enchante (Kerry's mere nuisances: Marine Barracks '83, WTC '93, Khobar Towers, Embassy Bombs '98, USS Cole!!!)
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To: TonyInOhio

Oops!


133 posted on 08/11/2005 6:40:16 PM PDT by Tennessean4Bush (An optimist believes we live in the best of all possible worlds, a pessimist fears this is true.)
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To: jimbo123
From the referenced AP article:

Staff members now are searching documents in the National Archives to look for notes from the meeting in Afghanistan and any other possible references to Atta and Able Danger, Felzenberg said.

Yes, those National Archives.

134 posted on 08/11/2005 6:40:17 PM PDT by Phsstpok (There are lies, damned lies, statistics and presentation graphics, in descending order of truth)
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To: longtermmemmory

Sandy Bergler's mission was to destroy all references to Able Danger and Muhammed Atta and the reports still made it to the commission. So Jamie Gorelick's job was to keep the information inside the commission.


135 posted on 08/11/2005 6:40:30 PM PDT by jimbo123
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To: LS

I was livid at them until Weldon talked about how livid they were when they found out this information and that they had never been briefed. Says a lot about the lack of integrity of the Staff and certain members of the 9/11 Commission.

Thanks to Weldon for not giving up!


136 posted on 08/11/2005 6:40:46 PM PDT by PhiKapMom (AOII Mom -- J.C. for OK Governor in '06; Allen/Watts in 2008)
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To: TonyInOhio
Possibly some more CYA Intelligence Screwer-Uppers subverting the 9-11 Commission: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1461535/posts
137 posted on 08/11/2005 6:40:52 PM PDT by atomicpossum (Replies should be as pedantic as possible. I love that so much.)
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To: prairiebreeze

hmmmm. Now there's a thought. She reminds me of a puppet and could be easily led.


138 posted on 08/11/2005 6:41:38 PM PDT by Peach
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To: Republican Wildcat

This is getting more interesting by the hour today as more information comes out. Timing is perfect!


139 posted on 08/11/2005 6:41:54 PM PDT by PhiKapMom (AOII Mom -- J.C. for OK Governor in '06; Allen/Watts in 2008)
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To: Enchante
NOW GET THIS: this very same Daniel Marcus, Bill Clinton's very own "Senior Counsel" to the WH Counsel's Office and then Associate Attorney General, is the man signing off on whether Sandy Burglar withheld any documents from the 9/11 Commission!!!!!!!!! (see below) Can you say "THE FIX IS IN??"

Okay. That clinches it. I will NOT sleep tonight. This is so incestuous.

140 posted on 08/11/2005 6:42:55 PM PDT by Peach
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