Quote:

McCain: Bush 'Stonewalling' 9/11 Commission

After months of defending the Bush administration's decision to go to war in Iraq, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is accusing the White House of "stonewalling" the independent commission set up to examine why America was vulnerable to the 9/11 attacks.

"While I don't want to believe such a basic lack of cooperation was intentional, it nonetheless creates the appearance of bureaucratic stonewalling," the influential Republican told the commission, in comments reported Tuesday by the Wall Street Journal.

"Excessive administration secrecy on issues related to the Sept. 11 attacks feeds conspiracy theories and reduces the public's confidence in government," he added.

The criticism from McCain, who was a main sponsor for the bill that created the independent probe, has Democrats piling on, with commission member Max Cleland, the former senator from Georgia, complaining that the White House is "cherry picking" the documents it wants to turn over for review.

"It's obvious they're sifting the information to the 9/11 commission now," he told the Journal. "The picture is not encouraging."

For its part the White House says it has nothing to hide.

"The president believes the commission should carefully investigate the evidence and follow all the facts wherever they should lead," White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett told the paper. "What the investigation would show is that we took terrorism very seriously."

Still, administration critics complain that access to key documents has to be routed through the Justice Department and that subpoena power will be restricted under rules required by the White House.

The Bush administration insisted that the 10-member panel be evenly spilt between Democrats and Republicans, requiring at least one Republican to go along before any witness is subpoenaed.

A controversy is also brewing over claims from former Clinton administration officials that their warnings about Osama bin Laden went unheeded by Bush officials.

"I know that during the transition between the Clinton and Bush administrations that the outgoing administration told the incoming one that they would spend more time on terrorism and bin Laden than anything else," Sen. Hillary Clinton complained earlier this year, adding, "That wasn't their priority. Their priorities were different."

Though commission members include sharp-eyed partisan Democrats like ex-Whitewater damage controller Richard Ben Veniste and former Janet Reno deputy attorney general Jamie Gorelick, Republicans on the committee seem just as flat-footed as ever.

In a move that signals that the White House is committed to staying on the defensive, neither administration officials nor their ham-handed allies in Congress have expressed any interest in ex-President Clinton's confession last year that he turned down a deal to extradite Osama bin Laden to the U.S. in 1996.

Despite the GOP's investigative lethargy, the ex-president seems to be taking no chances. While Mr. Bartlett told the Journal that President Bush was open to being interviewed by 9/11 probers, a Clinton spokesman declined to say whether his boss would also agree to be grilled.

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Wondy why Bush wouldn't want the 9/11 Commission to see these documents? Could it be because..............................


BUSH KNEW?

Learyfan said:

What's Bush hiding about 9-11??

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Quote:

In the history of the US, how often do you think all government agencies have turned over all requested, and
even subpoenaed documents?

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That's no excuse. Let's start holding the men who run our country accountable.

Learyfan said:

Are you saying it's ok for politicians to lie and/or withhold the truth?

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luvdemshrooms said:

Learyfan said:

Are you saying it's ok for politicians to lie and/or withhold the truth?

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In matters of national security, yes.

To protect their asses, no.

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Quote:

The Internet is full of wild theories -- that Mr. Bush knew in advance of
9/11 and allowed it to happen so he could exploit it to get his way in
domestic and international politics is the most notable -- and while
cyberspace is the natural home of the improbable and the far-fetched, the
administration's stonewalling only lends credence to those who believe a
cover-up of something is going on.

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Why does 9/11 inquiry scare Bush?