I've been reading that the committee found that the "failures" which permitted the WTC attacks were failures of intelligence. I think somebody has been skimming the record - or maybe they just haven't had time to read it yet.
Congressional Record: February 2, 2004 (Senate)
Page S337-S341
Mr. President, as Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence during most of the 107th Congress, I worked with colleagues from the House and Senate to accept the responsibility of reviewing the horrific events that struck our Nation's symbols of commerce and security on September 11, 2001, claiming the lives of nearly 3,000 Americans. From New York City and the Pentagon to a field in rural Pennsylvania, 9-11 demonstrated the vulnerabilities of our free society. But in my view, and after the careful review of the Intelligence Committees, the most tragic aspect of this day never to be forgotten is that it could have been prevented. Had our intelligence agencies been better organized and more focused on the problem of international terrorism--particularly Osama bin Laden--September 11th would have been prevented. I also have concluded that, had the President and the Congress initiated the reforms that our joint inquiry recommended, we might well have avoided the embarrassment of the flawed intelligence on weapons of mass destruction--or the misleading use of that intelligence--which formed the basis of our war against Iraq.
So today, and in remarks in the next 2 days, I would like to review with my colleagues the conclusions of the House-Senate joint inquiry.
[Remarks on the failure of intelligence.]
The fact that we conducted this bipartisan, bicameral inquiry and submitted recommendations creates a new heightened level of congressional responsibility. If the terrorists are successful in another attack in the United States, the American people will demand to know what the institutions of government learned from 9-11, and how the intelligence agencies, the White House, and the Congress used that knowledge to harden the United States against future terrorist attacks. Congress was largely able to avoid accountability for 9-11. Mark my words: There will be no avoidance of responsibility for the next attack.
There will be no avoiding responsibility for the President. September 11, 2001, was a wake up call--it told us we had severe deficiencies in our intelligence community. If 9-11 was a wake up call, the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was a report card on how far we have come since 9-11 in correcting the problems in our intelligence community. The grade we received on that report card is F.
...What troubles me more than the President's unwillingness to make the necessary changes is his unwillingness to even admit that our Nation
has a problem. Just last week, the President responded to questions about the inaccuracies of his statements about Iraq's WMD capability by saying he has "great confidence in our intelligence community." How can he have great confidence in our intelligence community after it has been proven confused before September 11 and completely wrong on the threat posed by Iraq?
[Remarks on recommendations for corrective measures made by the committee - most of which have not been followed.]
I wish I could be more specific in discussing the involvement of foreign governments in the 9-11 plot. Unfortunately, the administration will not allow me to do so. After 7 months of effort to de-classify the report that we filed on December 20, 2002, the CIA, the FBI and other agencies decided to keep significant portions secret. In particular, there are 27 pages that were virtually completely censored.
This censorship is troubling for a number of reasons. First, it reduces the information available to the public about some of the most important government actions--or to be more accurate, inactions--prior to September 11. Second, it precludes the American people from asking their government legitimate questions, such as:
- Was there a reason that some, but not all, of the terrorists were receiving foreign support while they were in the United States?
- Or is it not more likely that they were all receiving similar support?
- What evidence do we have that the infrastructure of support that existed prior to 9-11 has been dismantled?
- Or is it not more likely that such an infrastructure is still in place for the next generation of terrorists?
- How many trained operatives of al-Qaida, Hezbollah, and other international terrorist organizations are there inside the United States of America?
- What are the skills and capabilities of these operatives?
- What was the scale and skills of Iraqi operatives inside the United States prior to the war in Iraq and at the current date?
- What was the comparative threat to the people of the United States of Iraq and the trained agents of international terrorists placed inside our country?
- Has the number, skill set, funding or ability to avoid disclosure of international terrorist operatives within the United States of America been enhanced by support from foreign governments?
- How professional and aggressive have been the efforts of agencies such as the FBI and the CIA in answering those questions?
- And, how was the information that our government might have had prior to September 11th utilized after September 11th to enhance the security of our homeland and American interests abroad?
Unfortunately, almost 2\1/2\ years after the tragedy, the administration and the Congress--in the main--have not initiated the reforms necessary to reduce the chances of another 9-11. Given the seriousness of that situation, some of what was withheld from this report bordered on the absurd. For examples of the absurdity, some of the information censored from these pages actually appears in other parts of the report.
[Examples cited.]
...I would note that the declassified sections of the report point out that, despite public assurances from U.S. officials that Saudi Arabia has cooperated in counter terrorism efforts, the Joint Inquiry received testimony that Saudi officials in fact "had been uncooperative and often did not act on information implicating Saudi nationals."
What this indicates is that in the months following the release of our recommendation that the administration ``aggressively'' address the foreign government involvement in 9-11, the Bush administration not only failed to pursue and investigate foreign government involvement, the administration misused the classification process to protect the foreign governments that may have been involved in 9-11. There is no reason for the Bush administration to continue to shield make-believe allies who are supporting, either directly or indirectly, terrorists who want to kill Americans.
Ouch.
....hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
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