Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

U.S. Report on 9/11 to be 'explosive', Government errors, Saudi ties to terrorists among highlights
Miami Herald ^ | 7/10/03 | Frank Davies

Posted on 07/10/2003 8:21:13 AM PDT by Freedom of Speech Wins

Posted on Thu, Jul. 10, 2003

U.S. report on 9/11 to be 'explosive' Government errors, Saudi ties to terrorists among highlights

BY FRANK DAVIES fdavies@herald.com

WASHINGTON - A long-awaited final report on the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks will be released in the next two weeks, containing new information about U.S. government mistakes and Saudi financing of terrorists.

Former Rep. Tim Roemer, who served on the House Intelligence Committee and who has read the report, said it will be ''highly explosive'' when it becomes public.

The staff director for the congressional investigation that produced the 800-page report, Eleanor Hill, said Wednesday that several lengthy battles with the Bush administration over how much secret data to declassify have been resolved.

She expects the document to go to the Government Printing Office late this week and then be made public about a week later.

''It's compelling and galvanizing and will refocus the public's attention on Sept. 11,'' predicted Roemer, an Indiana Democrat. ``Certain mistakes, errors and gaps in the system will be made clear.''

Roemer, who is also a member of the independent commission on Sept. 11, would not discuss details of the report. He said he expects the public report to be a compromise between intelligence officials who wanted to hold back data and congressional leaders and staffers who pressed for more disclosure.

A source familiar with the investigation, speaking on condition of anonymity, cited two ''sensitive areas'' of the report that will command public attention:

• More information on ties between the Saudi royal family, government officials and terrorists. The FBI may have mishandled an investigation into how two of the Sept. 11 hijackers received aid from Saudi groups and individuals.

John Lehman, a member of the independent commission, said at a hearing Wednesday: ``There's little doubt that much of the funding of terrorist groups -- whether intentional or unintentional -- is coming from Saudi sources.''

• A coherent narrative of intelligence warnings, some of them ignored or not shared with other agencies, before the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

WARNING IN 2001

The report will show that top Bush administration officials were warned in the summer of 2001 that the al Qaeda terrorist network had plans to hijack aircraft and launch a ``spectacular attack.''

Hill would not discuss details of the report, but said it will contain ''new information'' about revelations made last year, when the joint House-Senate investigation held nine public hearings and 13 closed sessions.

The final report was completed in December. Since then a working group of Bush administration intelligence officials has ''scrubbed'' the report, objecting to additional public disclosures.

PUSH FOR DISCLOSURE

The two chairmen from Florida who oversaw the investigation, Sen. Bob Graham and Rep. Porter Goss of Sanibel, have pushed for months for more disclosure.

Graham, a Democrat running for president, has said the administration was using the excuse of national security to block ''embarrassments'' by the government.

Goss blamed the declassification battle on traditional resistance from intelligence officials.

The report will contain chunks of missing type or ''redactions'' to show where information was withheld, Hill said.

Roemer called the report a ``well-written narrative that will be summer reading for adults the way Harry Potter is for kids.''

WIDER PROBE

The 10 members of the independent National Commission on Terrorist Attacks and its staff have had the report for several months and are using it in their more wide-ranging investigation.

The congressional investigation focused on intelligence before and after Sept. 11, while the independent commission's broad mandate includes immigration, airline safety and congressional oversight of counterterrorism.

The commission's two leaders, Tom Kean and Lee Hamilton, complained this week that federal departments were slow in turning over documents needed for their investigation.


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 911commission; 911report; alqaedasaudiarabia; prequel
linked from Drudge here
1 posted on 07/10/2003 8:21:13 AM PDT by Freedom of Speech Wins
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: All
Is Someone Else Carrying Your Water?

Donate Here By Secure Server

Or mail checks to
FreeRepublic , LLC
PO BOX 9771
FRESNO, CA 93794

or you can use

PayPal at Jimrob@psnw.com

STOP BY AND BUMP THE FUNDRAISER THREAD-
It is in the breaking news sidebar!


2 posted on 07/10/2003 8:23:43 AM PDT by Support Free Republic (Your support keeps Free Republic going strong!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Freedom of Speech Wins
Our friends, the Saudis...
3 posted on 07/10/2003 8:24:17 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Freedom of Speech Wins
Dem strategy to attack Bush should be the headline of this article.
4 posted on 07/10/2003 8:27:46 AM PDT by tallhappy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: tallhappy
exactly right, it is amazing to me that the Republicans who participate in these things don't understand what is going on, does Karl Rove talk to them? are they just stupid? Here we have Clinton, who stewardship of the nation led directly to 9/11 seven months after he walked out of office, but none of that is mentioned, just another "Bush knew" will come out of this. What a total waste of time.
5 posted on 07/10/2003 8:34:45 AM PDT by oceanview
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Freedom of Speech Wins
The Saudis were complicit in 9/11.

They are our mortal enemies.

What are we doing about it?

We are F**king Israel.

Don't believe me?

What is this Road Map that Bush is forcing on Israel.

Why don't we find out from a Saudi sycophant in a Saudi forum.

The Road Map proposed by President Bush parallels Crown Prince Abdullah's peace plan presented at the Arab League meeting in Beirut, Lebanon in March 2002

http://www.saudi-american-forum.org/Newsletters/SAF_Item_Of_Interest_2003_07_09.htm

Is Screwing Israel for the Saudis OK with you?

6 posted on 07/10/2003 8:37:19 AM PDT by Courier (Quick: Name one good thing about the Saudis.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: oceanview
This is related to 9/11 sent to me by my nephew, a Navy Commander currently assigned to the Central Air Force Command in the ME titled, Why We Are Here.

http://64.177.83.63/liberty/email.htm
7 posted on 07/10/2003 8:38:23 AM PDT by dalereed
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Freedom of Speech Wins
bump
8 posted on 07/10/2003 8:46:36 AM PDT by Delmarksman (Keep the Criminals in Prison and leave my Guns alone. NNGL, No new gun laws.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Freedom of Speech Wins
I'm certain that Graham will "leak" the most embarrassing details of this report regardless of National and intelligence security concerns in order to make President Bush look guilty and knowledgeable about the exact plans of the 9/11 terrorists...

Heck, Graham and his Dem slimeballs could make-up stuff or purposely leave out context that will make the Bush Administration look like they wanted 9/11 to happen. There will be a receptive and eager liberal media salivating at the prospect.

And there still is no outrage (or even a sense of embarrassment) from the Dems and liberal media that Clintoon ignored 3 chances at getting Osama bin Laden and received faulty intelligence regarding the bombing of that Aspirin factory (on the eve of the Lewinsky testimony) that was supposed to be manufacturing bio-weapons! Those facts, IMHO, are far more damning to the events that led up to 9/11!!!
9 posted on 07/10/2003 8:51:37 AM PDT by demnomo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: oceanview
Well what I've found is that it's better to out your own warts proactively and with your own spin, in parallel with demonstration of vigorous corrective action, then to wait for others to point them out. Why are the Yale Rowing Team doing so many cover ups? How idiotic. They must want to feed the Left's agenda.
10 posted on 07/10/2003 8:53:30 AM PDT by GOP_1900AD (Un-PC even to "Conservatives!" - Right makes right)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Freedom of Speech Wins
"...U.S. government mistakes and Saudi financing of terrorists."

Nothing new here except that we may get specifics.

11 posted on 07/10/2003 9:07:44 AM PDT by Donna Lee Nardo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Freedom of Speech Wins
The report will show that top Bush administration officials were warned in the summer of 2001 that the al Qaeda terrorist network had plans to hijack aircraft and launch a ``spectacular attack.''

I returned from a London to New York cruise, disembarking in New York on September 10, 2001. Disembarkation was unusual in that all passengers were cleared on ship in a changed procedure, delaying everyone by an hour. We were bussed to Newark airport for a mid afternoon flight that was delayed 3 hours AS WERE ALL FLIGHTS. My wife and I commented on the unusual activity of security and airport personnel and that "Something is going on."

Yes, something was going on and everyone WAS on alert, unfortunately we missed it.

As we flew back to San Diego, my wife sat with some athletes that were flying back to a training center and they said some of their team mates had to miss the flight but would fly "tomorrow" morning. As near as we have been able to figure, they were on the flight that crashed out of Newark.

12 posted on 07/10/2003 9:17:17 AM PDT by NJJ
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Freedom of Speech Wins
The staff director for the congressional investigation that produced the 800-page report, Eleanor Hill, said Wednesday that several lengthy battles with the Bush administration over how much secret data to declassify have been resolved. [snip]

''It's compelling and galvanizing and will refocus the public's attention on Sept. 11,'' predicted Roemer, an Indiana Democrat. ``Certain mistakes, errors and gaps in the system will be made clear.'' Roemer, who is also a member of the independent commission on Sept. 11, would not discuss details of the report. He said he expects the public report to be a compromise between intelligence officials who wanted to hold back data and congressional leaders and staffers who pressed for more disclosure.

Well, which is it? A "battle" or a "compromise"?

13 posted on 07/10/2003 9:34:56 AM PDT by upchuck (Contribute to "Republicans for Al Sharpton for President in 2004." Dial 1-800-SLAPTHADONKEY :)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Freedom of Speech Wins
No surprise that "Bush knew" in 2001. It was 1995 that Ramzi Usef was busted in the Phillipines with a laptop containing details of how to train pilots in the USA and have them fly into landmark buildings (Project Bojinka). Ramzi was handed over to the US FBI in 1996 after his overseas trial.

Bush should have done something about it back then, since he was not busy being president.

Ramzi was one of the masterminds of the first WTC attack in 1993.
14 posted on 07/10/2003 9:57:00 AM PDT by DBrow
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Eric in the Ozarks
Our friends, the Saudis...

Hey don't blame the Saudi's blame Boeing. After all it was their aircraft that hit the buildings isn't it?

Oop's wrong thread. That only applies to hand guns and fast foods!! Sorry :)

15 posted on 07/10/2003 10:12:50 AM PDT by EGPWS
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Freedom of Speech Wins
Former Rep. Tim Roemer, who served on the House Intelligence Committee and who has read the report, said it will be ''highly explosive'' when it becomes public.

How, exactly, does a Former Rep. read an Intelligence Report being finished at least six months after he’s left office?

16 posted on 07/10/2003 1:12:16 PM PDT by dead
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dead
The House Intelligence Committee's work on 9/11 was completed in the previous Congress; the delay has involved this battle over what materials may get declassified.
17 posted on 07/10/2003 2:29:48 PM PDT by AntiGuv (™)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson