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?
This brings a tear to my eye, its so wonderful.
Thanks Stellar
I think you may have something.
If Berger was concealing Able Danger then he is 10000% more despicable.
Does anyone know if it was Golick's staffers who are at the National Archive?
We all thought he was given special treatment and the powerful protect their own.
It is too strange that they had him dead to rights and they deal..
Most common reason for cutting an easy deal is testimony.
700,000$ house .
pinging
He did a plea bargain which means if he lied, it goes out the window -- looks to me like it is going out the window.
Speaking of Tony Snow, I remember him saying on his show a couple of weeks ago that he knew of some really big news about Clinton that would be made public soon. I bet this is it. If not, what else?
Oil for Food or direct bribe from Saddam.
Christopher Kojm
Deputy Executive Director
Christopher Kojm served from 1998 until February, 2003 as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intelligence Policy and Coordination in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research. He served previously in the Congress on the staff of the House International Relations Committee, under Ranking Member Lee Hamilton as Deputy Director of the Democratic staff (1997-98), as Coordinator for Regional Issues (1993-1997) and under Chairman Hamilton on the Europe and Middle East subcommittee staff (1984-92). From 1979-1984, he was a writer and editor with the Foreign Policy Association in New York City. He has a Masters in Public Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University (1979) and an A.B. from Harvard College (1977).
The staffers won't find anything on Able Danger, the Afghanistan meetings and the intelligence at the National Archives because Bergler DESTROYED those documents.
Okay, now is this really something that is going to make it above the blog level or am I going to be hearing of this on GMA, the nightly news, Nightline, etc.?
"Because the Mohammed Atta timeline established by the Commission pointedly insisted Atta did not meet with an Iraqi intelligence agent in Prague."
How could they establish he wasn't there? What was their evidence? Particularly since the Czech government insists he was in Prague. There's little chance of mistaking a face like Atta's.
This debate concerning whether Atta was in Prague has gone on for a long time, and I'm tired of it. Either show me that Atta was somewhere else, or except the possibility that he was in Prague on that date.
The whole goal of the 9/11 Commission was to blame Bush, preserve Clinton's legacy and preserve the electability of Hillary.
just one correction that is bob kerrey.
I think you just may be right.
Mewzilla has some information that may tie Gorelick to the Oil for Food scandal as well.
Bingo! Anyone seen Burger around recently? Thought it was so strange when they moved his sentencing to September -- not any more. Wonder if he is singing like a canary?
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??"
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