BROADSIDES

August 23, 2005

The 9/11 Commission Farce
It's apparent that a U.S. military intelligence operation -- codenamed Able Danger -- identified several of the 9/11 hijackers a year before the attacks and, stunningly, were barred by the Clinton Justice Department from sharing that information with law enforcement.

This fact is most fundamental to the 9/11 Commission's mission to uncover the events which led to the attacks; and yet the commission chose to ignore it.

This is especially astonishing considering the arrogance many of the commissioners displayed during the hearings. In May of 2004, commissioners disgraced themselves by criticizing New York City's emergency response to the World Trade Center attack. The commissioners sniffed that New York first-responders "were forced to make rapid-fire, life-and-death decisions based on incomplete communications."

As I wrote at the time:

That's a laugh coming from an agency of the same federal government that repeatedly failed to prevent the attack in the first place. And just how is it possible to not have "incomplete communications" with a surprise attack of that magnitude?

The fact is, the only level of government which did not fail the people of New York on September 11, 2001 was their local government. Considering the size and nature of the attack and the tens of thousands of people evacuated that day from the twin towers and the surrounding area, it's a miracle thousands more didn't die.

What took place that day in the plaza after the attack was the greatest rescue in history--no thanks to the civilian agencies of the federal government.

So while the 9/11 Commission was nitpicking the heroic efforts of those who responded to the attack, it was ignoring the very fact which led to the attack.

The question now is, Why? Why didn't Able Danger figure into the 9/11 Commission's conclusions and recommendations? Was it a cover-up or gross incompetence?

Perhaps when it came to Able Danger, the Commission chose to look the other way so as not to embarrass one of its members, Jamie Gorelick. Gorelick was a deputy attorney general in the Clinton Justice Department and the legal architect of "the wall" which prevented the Able Danger intelligence from being shared with federal law enforcement. If the commission had concluded that the 9/11 attacks had been made possible in large part by a policy wrought by one of its own members, then the commission would be seen for what it was all along: a farce.

Or perhaps there was something more insidious at work. What was it about these commission hearings and its mission that compelled Clinton national security advisor Sandy Berger to commit a crime and risk destroying his professional reputation by stealing classified terrorist-related documents from the National Archives?

Congressional hearings will probably convene to investigate the commission and Able Danger -- and rightly so. But don't expect anything from it; this Congress is controlled by jellyfish-spined Republicans who are more concerned with being admired by the press and within Washington social circles than advancing the agenda that got them elected.

In other words, don't look for George Voinovich to take to the Senate floor and shed tears over the commission covering-up the fact that the September 11 attacks were totally preventable.

B. Sides @ 8:29 AM