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WASHINGTON) — A bipartisan group of senators is pushing legislation that would force the CIA to release an inspector general's report on the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The CIA has spent more than 20 months weighing requests under the Freedom of Information Act for its internal investigation of the attacks but has yet to release any portion of it. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and two other intelligence committee leaders — chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and senior Republican Kit Bond of Missouri — are pushing legislation that would require the agency to declassify the executive summary of the review...

"Bin Ladin’s grievance with the United States may have started in reaction to specific U.S. policies" THE 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT EDITION

CIA report on 9/11 is complete Two years after deadline, findings have yet to reach Congress By Walter Pincus Updated: 1:39 a.m. ET Aug. 20, 2005 The CIA inspector general's report on the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks has finally been completed — nearly two years after its congressionally set deadline — but has yet to be sent to Capitol Hill because CIA Director Porter J. Goss is still deciding how to respond to its findings, according to administration and congressional sources. Inspector General John L. Helgerson's voluminous report, triggered in December 2002 by a recommendation of the House-Senate inquiry...

February 10, 2005 9/11 Report Cites Many Warnings About Hijackings By ERIC LICHTBLAU

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 - In the months before the Sept. 11 attacks, federal aviation officials reviewed dozens of intelligence reports that warned about Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, some of which specifically discussed airline hijackings and suicide operations, according to a previously undisclosed report from the 9/11 commission. But aviation officials were "lulled into a false sense of security," and "intelligence that indicated a real and growing threat leading up to 9/11 did not stimulate significant increases in security procedures," the commission report concluded.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 /U.S. Newswire/ -- House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-Wis.) issued the following statement regarding legislation responding to the 9/11 Commission recommendations: "I am pleased that the chain-of-command issues Chairman Duncan Hunter has raised have been resolved so that our war-fighters will not be put at risk. Unfortunately, even with these improvements, the current bill is woefully incomplete and one I cannot support. "Americans deserve a complete bill so that we can prevent another 9/11 from occurring. Border security and immigration reform are vital components of our homeland security efforts, so why are they...

The report by the federal commission investigating the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks was a surprise nominee for one of the most prestigious United States literary prizes, the National Book Award. The lengthy report, which has sold more than 1 million copies since its publication in July, was nominated in the non-fiction category, together with more traditional fare like a Shakespeare biography. While government studies are hardly known for raising readers' pulses, The 9/11 Commission Report has been widely praised for its narrative force and accessibility, as well its comprehensiveness. The report contained a broad indictment of US intelligence and...

CONGRESSDemocrats Press Strategy on 9/11 ReportBy CARL HULSEPublished: August 10, 2004 ASHINGTON, Aug. 9 - Hoping to thwart terrorist attacks, Congress in 2002 undertook a complex reorganization of federal agencies that Republicans used to their political advantage that year. With the nation again facing threats and Congress again looking to revamp the federal response, Democrats are working hard to make sure they do not again pay the political consequences.House Democrats will return to Washington on Tuesday for an unusual August party meeting to consider the recommendations from the Sept. 11 commission as they try to position themselves as embracing the...

Please help me refute the liberals surrounding me at work (and elsewhere) with articles or threads discussing links (possible, probable, and definite) between Iraq and Al Qaeda prior to our going into Iraq. I have heard a few discussed on FOX, but, gee, somehow I missed them on CBSNBCABC. Anyway, your help will be appreciated.

One of the terrorist suspects arrested in Britain this week is the man named in the report by the Sept. 11 commission as the operative al-Qaida sent to the United States to review possible economic and “Jewish” targets a few months before the terrorist attacks in 2001, NBC News reported Thursday. Two years earlier, the man, Abu Eisa al-Hindi, a British citizen of Indian descent, wrote a terrorist training manual describing how to kill enemy soldiers using remote-controlled explosives, grenades and automatic weapons, according to a copy of the manual obtained by NBC News. Referring to al-Hindi by his nom...

CRAWFORD, Texas — President Bush (search) met Monday via videoconference with his task force reviewing the Sept. 11 commission's recommendations, and contemplates acting within days on some of them, White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said. She would not say which of the more than 40 recommendations Bush was likely to adopt or if he would make his own proposals, and it was unclear if he will make any announcements on the matter this week as the Democratic National Convention is under way in Boston. The president said he was reading the report and found it "interesting." "It reads like...

I haven't seen this posted yet. I found an absolutely fantastic search engine for the 9/11 Commission's Final Report. It is speedy and detailed. For example, I typed in Berger and under subheading NSC Memo Paragraph #2565 (on page 482) 46. NSC email, Clarke to Kerrick,“Timeline,”Aug. 19, 1998; Samuel Berger interview (Jan. 14, 2004).We did not find documentation on the after-action review mentioned by Berger . On Vice Chairman Joseph Ralston’s mission in Pakistan, see William Cohen interview (Feb. 5, 2004). For speculation on tipping off the Taliban, see, e.g., Richard Clarke interview (Dec. 18, 2003). Go to my anti-hillary...

The following is the text of an item from the Presidential Daily Brief received by President William J. Clinton on December 4, 1998. Redacted material is indicated in brackets. SUBJECT: Bin Ladin Preparing to Hijack US Aircraft and Other Attacks 1. Reporting [—] suggests Bin Ladin and his allies are preparing for attacks in the US, including an aircraft hijacking to obtain the release of Shaykh ‘Umar ‘Abd al-Rahman, Ramzi Yousef, and Muhammad Sadiq ‘Awda. One source quoted a senior member of the Gama’at al-Islamiyya (IG) saying that, as of late October, the IG had completed planning for an operation...

Begging your indulgence for my only vanity post in nearly 6 years of Freeping. I haven't yet seen anyone suggest this, so thought I'd throw it out for discussion and/or ridicule. The 9-11 Commission, which -- until being partially-defanged by Attorney General John Ashcroft's "outing" of Jamie Gorelick -- looked more like a cast party for Fahrenheit 911 than an objective fact-finding body, has released a report that is surprisingly non-accusatory towards both Presidents Clinton (not surprising) and Bush (absolutely astounding!) At least, that's my general initial take on it. Of course, we mind-numbed robots won't know exactly what to...

DETROIT - Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry (news - web sites) said Thursday that the Sept. 11 commission's report clearly shows President Bush (news - web sites) "rushed to war for a purpose that it now turns out is not supported by the facts." Bush continued to insist Thursday that there was a link between Iraq (news - web sites) and al-Qaida, despite the independent commission's finding that there is no evidence to support a collaborative relationship. Bush said no one in his administration has said the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, were orchestrated between Saddam Hussein (news -...

Bush and 9/11 Report: Into the Frame DEBKAfile Special Analysis June 17, 2004, 3:33 PM (GMT+02:00) The US independent commission’s interim account of the September 11 terror attacks in the United States is full of holes and inconsistencies, according to American and Israeli intelligence experts close to the war against al Qaeda. One of its least plausible claims is that Osama bin Laden had pressed to launch the strikes in the summer of 2000, shortly after Israel’s soon-to-be prime minister Ariel Sharon made a highly controversial visit to a disputed holy site in Jerusalem. Later, he pressured the hijackers to...

The Associated Press Updated: 8:51 a.m. ET June 17, 2004 WASHINGTON - Plagued by miscommunication and confusion, the Pentagon’s air-defense command missed an opportunity to possibly intercept at least one of the hijacked planes on Sept. 11, the federal panel reviewing the attacks said Thursday in a report released ahead of its last public hearing before it wraps up its work. The report details missteps by aviation and military officials that squandered precious moments between the time air traffic controllers became aware of the first hijacking and the crash of United Airlines Flight 93 into a Pennsylvania field more than...

June 17, 2004 -- To hear much of the news reporting yesterday, you'd think a national 9/11 Commission report had blown a giant hole in the Bush administra tion's rationale for toppling Saddam Hussein. The commission did no such thing. But that didn't stop congressional Democrats — led by presumptive presidential nominee John Kerry — from renewing their charges that the administration "misled America" about Saddam Hussein's ties to Osama bin Laden. Again, that's not what the report says. And even if it did, a Saddam-Osama alliance is not why America opened a front in Iraq as part of the...

This is the page where you can download an outline of the 9/11 Commission's report, also known as Staff Statement No. 16. It's a small document, only 20 pages long and details the meetings and various events that led up to the 9/11 attacks. Go to the 9/11 Commission's website and click on the link for Staff Statement No. 16. http://www.9-11commission.gov/ This is a .pdf document and requires a minimum of the Adobe Acrobat Reader to view it. You can get the free Acrobat Reader at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readermain.html

WASHINGTON, April 4 (Reuters) - The White House will vet "line by line" the report of an independent commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks before it is publicly released, the commission chairman said on Sunday. Chairman Thomas Kean, a former Republican governor of New Jersey, said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that he was surprised to learn of the White House review, which he said was required under law to ensure any material that could compromise intelligence was not included. "They go through it line by line," Kean said, referring to the White House review process involving intelligence issues....

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rejecting a request from other senators and the Saudi government, leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee said they would not seek to declassify a secret section of a report dealing with foreign support for the Sept. 11 hijackers. Releasing the information "could adversely affect ongoing counterterrorism efforts," committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said in a letter this week to Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla. Graham asked the committee in July to start procedures to declassify the material. Graham, a presidential candidate, was co-chairman of the Sept. 11 inquiry and a former chairman of...

Teaming Up Again? The U.S and Saudia Arabia are working together to build an antiterrorist task force despite tensions over the 9/11 report At a time when tensions between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia were flaring in public, President Bush was busy behind the scenes building a new antiterrorist task force with the kingdom's rulers. The plan started as Bush was refusing to release 28 pages of the 9/11 congressional report made public in July—pages that allegedly detail how financial networks in Saudi Arabia have funded terrorism. He argued that releasing them would "help the enemy" by revealing how U.S....

US after 9/11: None the wiser By B Raman Friday, 01 August , 2003, 12:33 The US Government and many of its non-governmental experts are not any the wiser about the deficiencies in their intelligence apparatus, physical security infrastructure and policy-making towards rogue states, which led to the catastrophic terrorist strikes by Al Qaeda in US homeland, on September 11, 2001. Mental blocks, which distorted their threat perceptions before 9/11, thereby enabling the jihadi terrorists based in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to spectacularly succeed in their long-stated (at least since 1993,often openly) objective of carrying the jihad to the...

To learn all about the intelligence failures that led to the September 11th terrorist attacks, you can download the Congressional report entitled " Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities before and after the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001. " It's nearly 900 pages long and it was released last month. But I have a better suggestion: go buy a copy of Breakdown , a book published in 2002 which is only a little over 200 pages long and pulls no punches, while arriving at some of the same conclusions that Congress's staff of thousands spent millions of taxpayer dollars...

Sept. 11 could have been prevented only by having a principled foreign policy. The 900-page Congressional report criticizing the operations of the FBI and CIA in the months prior to the September 11 attacks misses the fundamental point. Whatever incompetence on the intelligence agencies' part, what made September 11 possible was a failure, not by our intelligence agencies—but by the accommodating, range-of-the-moment, unprincipled foreign policy that has shaped our government's decisions for decades. September 11 was not the first time America was attacked by Islamic fundamentalists engaged in "holy war" against us. In 1979 theocratic Iran—which has spearheaded the "Islamic...

Compromised by terror, the Saudi regime will have to change or die. THERE COMES A TIME in the history of every oppressive state when the need for change is suddenly and widely understood to be imperative. Inevitably, an incident occurs that illuminates the government's misrule and undermines the legitimacy of the regime. For the government of Saudi Arabia, such an incident occurred on September 11, 2001. Indeed, the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon by 19 terrorists, 15 of them Saudi subjects, did as much to subvert the authority of the Saudi monarchy at home as it...

While most of the attention paid to the recent 9/11 report has focused on the 28 blanked-out pages detailing the actions of the House of Saud, a far more important player has escaped necessary scrutiny: the U.S. State Department. Not because the diplomats at Foggy Bottom did anything overt (aside from issuing visas to the terrorists that never should have been issued under the law), but because they believe “stability”—even stability of tyrants—is always in America’s interests. What that has wrought, though, is a world more amenable to tyranny and terrorism. History shows that the State Department has had an...

U.S. Clamps Secrecy on Warnings Before 9/11 It's not just the Saudi secret that's being kept. The recent report of the joint congressional committee that probed intelligence failures before the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon reveals what the Bush administration doesn't want Americans to know about the American government. You would not know this from media accounts about this report. They have dwelled on what the Bush administration doesn't want us to know about the Saudi government. This is the famous 28-page chapter, a series of blank lines across page after page, that the president...

WASHINGTON - U.S. investigators now believe that a hijacker in the cockpit aboard United Airlines Flight 93 instructed terrorist-pilot Ziad Jarrah to crash the jetliner into a Pennsylvania field because of a passenger uprising in the cabin. This theory, based on the government's analysis of cockpit recordings, discounts the popular perception of insurgent passengers grappling with terrorists to seize the plane's controls. The government's findings — laid out deep within the report on the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that was sent to Congress last month — aim to resolve one of the enduring mysteries of the deadliest terror attacks in...

On July 31, 2003, John S Pistole, Deputy Assistant Director, Counter-terrorism Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation, testified before the US Senate Committee on Government Affairs on 'Terrorism Financing: Origination, Organisation and Prevention'. One of the key findings he referred to was the link between the terrorists involved in the September 11, 2001 attacks and Pakistan. Though Pistole chose not to divulge too many details of the FBI investigations, his conclusions were revealing. "A continuing investigation," said Pistole, "in coordination with the PENTTBOMB Team has traced the origin of the funding of 9/11 back to financial accounts in Pakistan where high-ranking...

'The emperor has no clothes" was the message the US administration sent Saudi Arabia in deciding not to publish 28 pages of a voluminous report on acts of omission and commission by the American intelligence community in the years preceding the 9/11 terrorist attack. The classified pages, leaked in Washington, relate to links between the Saudi Arabians associated with the attack and representatives of the royal House of Saud. Their publication, administration spokesmen explained, was liable to harm not only the continuing amassing of intelligence on Saudi terrorists but also relations between the two countries and the Saudi royal house...

The Saudis Should Shut Up And Enjoy Their "Kingdom", While It Lasts By Lowell Phillips Thursday, August 7, 2003 http://ToogoodReports.com/ I'm a realist when it comes to foreign policy, and as such have developed a certain tolerance for the distasteful deeds and repugnant characters necessary to insure our national security. This doesn't, however, mean that I relish thinking about them or kid myself into believing the tasks are pleasant or that the people are noble. But when they feign morality, spout indignantly and castigate the United States from the gutter in which they dwell, cold rationalizations are a bit difficult...

While most of the attention paid to the recent 9/11 report has focused on the 28 blanked-out pages detailing the actions of the House of Saud, a far more important player has escaped necessary scrutiny: the U.S. State Department. Not because the diplomats at Foggy Bottom did anything overt (aside from issuing visas to the terrorists that never should have been issued under the law), but because they believe “stability”—even stability of tyrants—is always in America’s interests. What that has wrought, though, is a world more amenable to tyranny and terrorism. History shows that the State Department has had an...

Saudi Arabia Blasts 'Deaf' U.S. Congressmen JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia bitterly criticized on Wednesday a U.S. congressional report that implied the kingdom's complicity in the September 11, 2001 attacks. "How can Saudi Arabia be the main country fighting terrorism now and exchanging information that saved lives of people in the United States and at the same time assist terrorism? How is that possible?" Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal asked. "This is illogical and unacceptable," he told a news conference in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah. "We have answered many questions, whether on fighting terrorism or funding...

In his column last week, Los Angeles Times columnist Robert Scheer, who created the myth that the Bush administration gave $43 million to the Taliban after misreading a New York Times story, spreads two more falsehoods now working their way through the media. First, Scheer addresses the report of the Congressional committee set up to investigate the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, focusing on the portion dealing with Saudi Arabia. He writes that while Saudi Arabia has close ties to terror, "The report finds no such connections between Iraq and Al Qaeda terrorists," making it appear that Congressional investigators sought evidence...

<p>The Treasury Department said Monday that it would decline to provide the Senate with a list of Saudi individuals and organizations the federal government has investigated for possibly funding al-Qaida and other terrorist groups.</p> <p>The action was the second in two weeks to set the White House and Congress at odds over the Saudis and federal intelligence-gathering related to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.</p>

<p>The Treasury Department rejected a request from senators Tuesday and refused to release a classified list of Saudi individuals or organizations suspected of financing terrorist groups.</p> <p>A Treasury spokesman, Rob Nichols, said a department official misspoke when he told senators last week the list was unclassified, which would mean it was not restricted information.</p>

Saudi Spy Link To Al Qaeda Or 911? WASHINGTON, August 2, 2003 (CBS/AP) Still-secret sections of Congress' Sept. 11 report examine interactions between Saudi businessmen and the royal family that may have intentionally or unwittingly aided al Qaeda or the suicide hijackers, according to people who have seen the report. It suggests that one, and possibly two, Saudi men who encountered the hijackers or their acquaintances were tied to Saudi intelligence and that a Muslim imam in the United States may have been a facilitator for some hijackers, the sources said, speaking to The Associated Press only on condition of...

A Saudi national, Omar al-Bayoumi, wanted for questioning about his links to the September 11 hijackers, says he is ready to talk to US officials. He agreed to the interview but only in his homeland, and in the presence of officials from his government. Advertisement On Sunday, al-Bayoumi appeared on Dubai-based Al Arabiya television, saying he had written to the Saudi interior minister telling him he was ready for the questioning. His name was raised in a US congressional report that recounted that he had befriended and helped two of the suicide hijackers, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi. Al-Bayoumi said...

RIYADH, Aug 2 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Saudi papers Saturday August 2, have unanimously agreed that there is an Israeli hand behind accusations of financing and supporting terrorism leveled by the U.S. Congress at Saudi Arabia in its report on 9/11 attacks. One paper said that U.S. congressmen have become more concerned about the interests of Israel than their own country's interests. "The Jewish lobby and Israel in particular are undoubtedly behind the planning and implementation of such campaigns," Al-Nadwa newspaper reported under the heading of "The Israeli role in supporting atrocious campaigns". The paper emphasized the kingdom's keenness...

C-SPAN Call-In 9/11 Intelligence Report C-SPAN, Washington Journal Washington, District of Columbia (United States) ID: 177673 - 2 - 08/03/2003 - 1:00 - No Sale Bodansky, Yossef, Director, Congressional Task Force on Terrorism Mr. Bodansky will talk about the pre-September 11th intelligence report, including findings and recommendations.

<p>WASHINGTON - Anyone who believed that the massive congressional report into the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 would be read, discussed for a few days and then forgotten, was gravely mistaken.</p> <p>It was a report put together by Republican and Democrat politicians, so there was plenty of "institutional criticism" cleverly diluted through seven months of censorship. No individual or individuals were blamed. As a result, no one who shirked their duty was fired. And no one is being punished. You could well say that no one is taking responsibility.</p>

<p>WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. officials have talked with their Saudi Arabian counterparts about identifying the Saudis named in the intelligence report on the attacks of September 11, 2001, the White House said Saturday.</p> <p>Portions of the report that were not made public indicated possible links between Saudi government officials and the hijackers, officials have said.</p>

<p>JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia's tradition of charitable giving to Muslim causes may have been exploited by Al Qaeda (search) to raise money for the Sept. 11 attacks, analysts said Saturday as the Saudi government refuted allegations of links to terrorists.</p>

Why Saudi Arabia is outragedBy Hooman Peimani A week after the release of a 900-page United States congressional report regarding the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, President George W Bush rejected on Wednesday a request from Saudi Arabia to declassify part of it that allegedly links the Saudi government to the terrorist act. The refusal has outraged that government, because it stands publicly accused of terrorism while the evidence for the claim remains unavailable, and therefore, unverifiable. Apart from Riyadh being unable to clear its name, the refusal sets a precedent for unsubstantiated accusations to be leveled against the Saudi...

WASHINGTON - Classified sections of Congress' Sept. 11 report lay out a web of connections among Saudi businessmen, royal family, charities and banks that may have aided al-Qaida or the suicide hijackers, according to people who have seen the report. The report raises the possibility that one or more Saudi men who were connected to some of the hijackers or their acquaintances were tied to Saudi intelligence. It also suggests a Muslim imam in the United States may have been a facilitator for some hijackers, the sources said, speaking only on condition of anonymity. U.S. investigators are setting out anew...

The 27 classified pages of a congressional report about Sept. 11 depict a Saudi government that not only provided significant money and aid to the suicide hijackers but also allowed potentially hundreds of millions of dollars to flow to Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups through suspect charities and other fronts, according to sources familiar with the document.One U.S. official who has read the classified section said it describes "very direct, very specific links" between Saudi officials, two of the San Diego-based hijackers and other potential co-conspirators "that cannot be passed off as rogue, isolated or coincidental."Said another official: "It's...

Report on 9/11 Suggests a Role by Saudi Spies By JAMES RISEN and DAVID JOHNSTON ASHINGTON, Aug. 1 — The classified part of a Congressional report on the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, says that two Saudi citizens who had at least indirect links with two hijackers were probably Saudi intelligence agents and may have reported to Saudi government officials, according to people who have seen the report. These findings, according to several people who have read the report, help to explain why the classified part of the report has become so politically charged, causing strains between the United...

Since the joint congressional committee investigating September 11 issued a censored version of its report on July 24, there's been considerable speculation about the 28 pages blanked out from the section entitled "Certain Sensitive National Security Matters." The section cites "specific sources of foreign support for some of the September 11 hijackers," which most commentators have interpreted to mean Saudi contributions to Al Qaeda-linked charities. But an official who has read the report tells The New Republic that the support described in the report goes well beyond that: It involves connections between the hijacking plot and the very top levels...

President George W. Bush, under siege for "misleading" the country into war against Iraq, received some help from an unusual source -- former President Bill Clinton. "When I left office, there was a substantial amount of biological and chemical material unaccounted for . . . it is incontestable that on the day I left office, there were unaccounted for stocks . . . " said Clinton recently on "Larry King Live." Also, Clinton said he never found out whether a U.S.-British bombing campaign he ordered in 1998 ended Saddam's stockpiles of or his capability of producing chemical and biological weapons....