Bush to Limit Interview with 9/11 Panel to an Hour

[leftchick]

<Snip>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The panel investigating the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States will get one hour to ask President Bush (news - web sites) what he knew about events leading up to the suicide airline hijackings, the White House said on Friday.

"They are looking at an hour as you pointed out," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said when asked by a reporter whether he could confirm reports that Bush was limiting the meeting to an hour.


Rather than sitting down with all 10 members of the so-called 9/11 commission, Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) have only agreed to meet privately with its chairman, Thomas Kean, and the vice chairman, Lee Hamilton.

<snip>
Created by the U.S. Congress, the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States is charged with examining lapses in intelligence and national security in the months before the attacks. Strikes by hijacked airplanes on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon (news - web sites) killed about 3,000 people.

The panel has expressed concern that it will not have enough time to gather all the information it needs to meet a May 27 deadline to complete its report.

[packerssuck]

1. If he doesn't do press conferences ...

he sure as hell won't do inquiries.

[Manix]

2. LOL...What a fucking joke!

nt

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Cooley Hurd]

8. That's not true - Clinton & Gore have set no ground rules...

...obviously, they have nothing to hide. Both have agreed to meet with the entire commission and neither have set time limits. Bush/Cheney, however, will ONLY meet with the commission chairmen and co-chairman and ONLY for an hour.

Nice try, though...:eyes:

[SlavesandBulldozers]

9. the difference

dick, is that Clinton wasn't president during the most significant laspse in security in American history.

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Cooley Hurd]

23. Yes, our interests were attacked while President Clinton...

...was in office. However, he thwarted two attacks (@ LAX and a plot to bomb the Lincoln Tunnel), put the perpetrators of the first WTC bombing behind bars, and spent a lot of time & resources to protect the US. He also tried to get more $$$ for the fight against terrorism but was shot down by the REPUBLICAN controlled congress in 1996. Some other facts for you, my transparent friend...

1) Gore Commission for Airline Safety - shot down by Republican congress
2) Hart Rudman report on terrorism - handed to the Bush admin for implementation (report released a few days before Clinton's departure). Bush admin IGNORES report.
3) Clinton NSA Sandy Berger tells Condi Rice, "You'll have to devote a lot of time to Osama bin Laden & Al Qaeda." Condi never even speaks about terrorism in a national security meeting until after 9/11.

:eyes:

[bagnana]

24. oh sure. not criticizing Clinton

Just noting that the fact that Bush, who WAGED A F**CKING WAR because of 9/11, is only willing to talk about 9/11 for one hour, is not news.

[Evil_Dewers]

32. America and her interests abroad were attacked 4 times by Terrorists

during the Clinton administration.

---

Yeah, 9/11 was all Clinton's fault because Clinton was putting Tee ball fields on the White House lawn and passing billions in tax cuts for 600 billionaires while al Qaeda was doing their 9/11 dry runs.

No wait, that was Bush.

[stevedeshazer]

10. breaking news

Clinton isn't president any more. He wasn't president on 9/11, either.

[MoonAndSun]

12. Wrong, Bill & Al have set no limitations on their testimony.

Maybe because they have a lot so say about all the info they gave Chimpy about OBL, and then bush* will have to explain why they did nothing.

[Malva Zebrina]

53. if they ask him

we will never know. This is outrageous, I am weary of typing that word here on DU. He will not have to answer for a thing--nothing. He will have gotten away with treason, perhaps, and war crimes besides. We will never know. and, there is a possibility he may be elected for four more years to wreak havoc on our country. He will get away his crimes, like Ken Lay did. And people wonder why Americans do not seem to care. Ideals, they may perceive, like honor, are for the little guy. The little guy is stupid enough to fall for it so the ones in power may think. The really really big guys can do what they want, including murder, fraud and other things, and simply get away with it. That observation is not so far off base.

[leetrisck]

14. Big difference - Clinton has repeatedly offered

to testify,to interview, etc. Please don't forget the miserable one (bush) was in the White House at the time - this happened on his watch. He's going to protect our country - right? It's too damned late. This just shows how he really feels about the American people and all the dead from 9/11 and our military - he's snubbing his nose at the American people and saying "to hell with you" which is how he has always felt.

[Beetwasher]

17. Bullshit! That's a Lie!

Clinton is NOT limiting his interview for an hour. Provide a source for that bullshit claim.

[Evil_Dewers]

25. Provide a source for that bullshit claim.

http://freerepublic.com

[Beetwasher]

39. LOL! Touche!

n/t

[leftchick]

18. LOL.... huge difference...

Bill and Al have given no restrictions at all to the Committee unlike aWol*. They will meet with the WHOLE committee for as long as needed. What is chimpy* trying to hide?!?

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[aquart]

26. "Move on." Cute.

Again, not subtle.

[VolcanoJen]

44. <<< snicker >>>

Good post, aquart.

;-)

[Cooley Hurd]

28. But she refused to testify UNDER OATH!

Why would she stipulate that unless she planned to lie?

Bush/Cheney also are refusing to testify UNDER OATH. As I said before, Clinton/Gore have both said that they will testify UNDER OATH.

Keep diggin' Sharpton... :eyes:

[bagnana]

30. well then why place an artificial limit?

If the interview will probably only take an hour, then why try to limit it. Just what is the guy trying to hide??? And why wouldn't Condi Rice testify in public? Or under oath? What is she afraid of? Face it. They are afraid of being exposed as the f**k ups they are (or worse).

[Name removed]

34. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Cooley Hurd]

35. Bush was AGAINST the Commission from the start!

Here's a copy of my letter I sent this morning to Aaron Brown:

Mr Brown;

First, let me congratulate you for your unusual but wholly justified comments about the 9/11 commission last night on your broadcast. As one who has followed the commissions actions since its formation, I've been dumbfounded by attempts by our own government to stymie and derail the commission at every turn. But most of the roadblocks suffered by the commission have not been coming from the Speaker of the House, but from the White House itself. The White House has, since the 9/11 attacks, tried to discourage everything to do with an independent commission, including the formation of it to begin with:

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17816

<snip>
On Meet the Press on Sept. 19, 2002, Moderator Tim Russert asked Dick Cheney about a charge made by then-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle "that you called him several times and urged him not to investigate the events of Sept. 11."


"Tom's wrong," the vice president said. "I think in this case – well, let's say a misinterpretation. What I did do was work, at the direction of the president, with the leadership of the Intelligence committees to say, 'We prefer to work with the Intelligence committees.'"


The following Sunday, the senator was Russert's guest. After playing a tape of Cheney's statement, Russert asked Daschle, "Did the vice president call you and urge you not to investigate the events of Sept. 11?" Daschle flatly contradicted Cheney: "Yes, he did, Tim, on Jan. 24, and then on Jan. 28 the president himself at one of our breakfast meetings repeated the request."


Russert persisted: "It wasn't, 'Let's not have a national commission, but let's have the Intelligence committees look into this,' it was 'No investigation by anyone, period'?"


"That's correct," Daschle said. "hat request was made" by Cheney not only on Jan. 24 and by Mr. Bush four days later, but "on other dates following" as well.

</snip>

Another instance of the President's opposition to the formation of the 9/11 panel:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/05/15/attack/main509096.shtml

<snip>

President Bush took a few minutes during his trip to Europe Thursday to voice his opposition to establishing a special commission to probe how the government dealt with terror warnings before Sept. 11.

Mr. Bush said the matter should be dealt with by congressional intelligence committees.
</snip>

After finally relenting on formation of the independent commission, the Bush administration has attempted to slow or stop progress being made by the commission:

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/01/24/911_commission/index_np.html

<snip>

For months, the Bush administration and the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 terror attacks have been locked in low-intensity warfare. The White House opposed creation of the commission, and after it reluctantly yielded, it sought to bar the commission from seeing reams of documents pertaining to the attacks. The stonewalling went on so long that some commissioners say they're months behind in their work -- and yet, the White House is insisting that the May 27 deadline for the commission's final report shouldn't be extended.

The administration's apparent policy of delay and roadblock has outraged some members of Congress and a group representing families of 9/11 victims. But with hearings scheduled to resume Monday in Washington, a new frustration has emerged in recent days: Chairman Thomas Kean and Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton, both Republicans, have thus far refused to ask for more time to conduct the investigation.

</snip>

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/27/attack/main580200.shtml

<snip>

(CBS/AP) The chairman of the federal commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks said the White House was continuing to withhold several highly classified intelligence documents from the panel and that he was prepared to subpoena the documents if they were not turned over within weeks, The New York Times reports in a story prepared for its Sunday editions.

The chairman, Thomas H. Kean, the former Republican governor of New Jersey, also said in a Times interview that he believed the bipartisan 10-member commission would soon be forced to issue subpoenas to other executive branch agencies because of continuing delays by the Bush administration in providing documents and other evidence needed by the panel.

Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., said in a broadcast interview on Sunday that it would be in the administration's interest to release documents the commission has requested.
</snip>

Given its steady opposition of the commission even before its creation, I find it impossible to believe that, after months of stonewalling, the Bush administration is now "pleading" with Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert to extend the deadline of the commission. I believe a closer look at the White House and its relationship with the 9/11 commission is in order to fully understand why the commission is needing a deadline extension to begin with. Also, why have both President Clinton and Vice-President Al Gore agreed to speak to all the commissioners, under oath, yet President Bush, Vice-President Cheney and National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice have refused to do the same?

However, I did take your advice and wrote to Speaker Hastert and demanded an extension of the commission's deadline. But it's only a first step towards the truth.

Thank you for taking the time to read my email. The work of the 9/11 commission is extremely important if we truly want to understand what went wrong that September day.

Regards,
alg0912 from the DemocraticUnderground.

[VolcanoJen]

45. excellent letter, alg0912!!

Aaron's known to respond... DO let us know when he does!!

:D

[Evil_Dewers]

36. Bush extended the 9/11 Committees time

Hastert is pulling the plug on that.

Bush spent 144 hours playing golf last year. He spends 35% of his time raising money. And you think one hour is enough time to dedicate to the murder of 3000 Americans?

Bush should give the commission as much time as they demand.

Seriously, why can't you call another poster a freeper? Every time I sign up at FreeRepublic, I make one post, get called a DU troll and get banned.

[Occulus]

40. We want him

answering all questions asked to the full and complete satisfaction of the members of the Committee, and it's done when it's done.

I don't care if it takes a marathon 24 hour session. I want full and complete questioning. Compelled, if necessary.

In other words, what did the President know about 9/11- and when did he know it?

[lancdem]

41. You hate Bush, yet you use "us" as an excuse not to vote

in November? Huh? :eyes:

[Sparkle]

47. Liar!

You know your freeping butt will vote for Bush!

[Evil_Dewers]

50. gsc2749

He's been nuked. Intelligent people can fake being dumb, but retarded people like Schuckster American can't fake intelligence.

[Evil_Dewers]

48. Sharpton Pretender

The internet is a big place.



Buh-Bye

[Evil_Dewers]

33. Condi Rice met with the committee for as long as they needed her

She refused to testify under oath, Sharpton pretender.

Why is it against the rules to call a poster a freeper?

[bpilgrim]

42. if they could come back whenever they wanted

then it would be fairer... but still not by a long way FAIR.

welcome to DU :hi:

peace

[kysrsoze]

46. What on earth are you talking about?

Welcome, Freeper.

Condi Rice refuses to speak with the commission. The only reason I can see for limiting Bush/Cheney to an hour is so they don't have to listen to the bullshit spewing from both of their mouths. Bush couldn't handle talking to Tim Russert for an hour without babbling on and evading all questions.

I'd like to see Bush and Cheney speak under oath for a few hours apiece. Then we may get somewhere.

[aquart]

21. Welcome to DU.

You might want to try for a bit more subtlety.

[Kahuna]

4. They'll get as much out of him as Russert did. Uh, duh, um..

for an hour. Fifteen minutes into it they will plead for mercy and end the interview.

[Frances]

27. You nailed Bush

In an hour, Bush will speak maybe 15 intelligible words

[AZCat]

51. Precisely why they have a time limit...

This is so Dubya can repeat his memorized little speech 7 or 8 times and fill up the appointed time, and avoid actually answering any questions. We see this every day with Scott McClellan- he does the same thing (only he is marginally more coherent).

Why not the full commission, and why not under oath? This should be on the front page of every newspaper from now until March (?) when they are scheduled to 'meet' with the two members of the commission.

[fob]

5. Isn't this his handpicked omission, I mean commission?

Lee whitewash Hamilton? What's the fucking point? Why doesn't bush* just release a transcript of his answers to the press and skip the meeting altogether. The result would be the same.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

6. he's King

we subjects are lucky he could take time out of his busy day to answer questions (about the most significant event in American history) for as long as he is.

Thank you, sire. Long live the King.

[truthspeaker]

7. if they were to subpeona him he'd have to talk to the whole panel

for as long as they wanted.

C'mon, Kean, start serving subpeonas!

[dArKeR]

13. Why don't Dems. liken the Bush Regime to China's Communist Pary?

Eveything is the same:
1. Secretive
2. Pull back civil rights
3. Political officials profiting from Gov. policies
4. Family members with business profiting from Gov. contracts
5. Give companies all the rights and worker have rights (Gun lobby saying citizens have no right to sue.)

[zbdent]

15. I'm picturing something along the lines of W meeting with Gore

right after the selection.

Bush waddles in, full of attitude.

First question that actually requires something other than "What's your favorite book to read to children in September?", he storms out and claims that everybody in the room was out to crucify him.

[R Hickey]

16. One hour is about one second for each person killed

Bush knew.

[Frances]

19. How many hours has Bush spent fundraising?

[HootieMcBoob]

22. What a scumbag n/t

:nuke:

[markses]

29. Too busy campaigning, no doubt

What a fucking bagiagaloop.

[yellowcanine]

31. This is called hubris.

What goes around comes around. Bad karma for shrub to do this. He is running out of people whom he can fool.

[bushisanidiot]

37. "Interview"?? They need to SUBPOENA HIS ASS!

he knew the country was under attack and DID NOTHING! HE COULD HAVE INTERCEPTED THOSE PLANES and saved thousands of american lives!

George W. Bush is a PU**Y!

[Progress]

38. and he'll speak veeeerrrry slooowwwly

:silly:

[Festivito]

43. Have to wonder if Hamilton's family has death threats.

Only one opposing party person to hear him talk. Not even under oath. Can't be leaked without them knowing who leaked it, and we know they don't care about harming Americans who do not follow them and pay them tribute/campaign money/votes, from before gas outages in CA until after Valerie Plame.

Wonder if he'd use rational that it would hurt the country too much, to know that he knew.

I think he'll just sit there and repeat long diatribes of canned statements until their eyes glaze over.

[yellowcanine]

49. Kerry needs to talk about this over and over.

Why do you have ------ hours for raising money for your campaign but only 1 hour to talk to the 9-11 commission, Mr. President? Don't you think the families of the victims deserve more than 1 hour of your time to shed what light you can on this investigation? What are your priorities , Mr. President, campaigning or helping the American people find out the truth about 9-11?

[Lars39]

52. Unacceptable.

It is my new response to whatever #$%#$% outrage the bushco criminals come up with next. Yield no more ground and press forward for a subpeona ASAP.

[Moderator]

54. locking

Need a link to this, folks.