9/11 Citizen Watch: Status of the Investigations

posted by ewing2001 on Wednesday October 22, @08:26PM

9/11: Status of the Investigations

A Report from 9/11 CitizensWatch (ed: Part of Preview)

Photo: John Judge, Kyle Hence

www.911citizenswatch.org -October 23, 2003

What really happened on September 11, 2001? Who was responsible? Were there warnings in advance or foreknowledge? Why was the military response to events delayed? Does the official story of 19 men on a suicide mission plotted by Osama bin Laden and the Al-Qa’ida from Afghanistan hold up under intense scrutiny? Has the administration deceived the American people about what they knew prior to the attacks? Why have no U.S officials or Agency heads been held accountable?

Preface 9/11 CitizensWatch serves as a watchdog group working in an oversight capacity to hold the National Commission on Terrorist Acts Upon the United States responsible in fulfilling their mandate; to be sure they do everything in their power to be open, transparent and accountable to the American people and to insure they follow all lines of inquiry in assembling what the Commission insists will be “the definitive account” of what happened on 9/11.

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Seeking Answers and Accountability

The survivors, the family members of victims, indeed all Americans who have been so severely affected by this tragedy and its aftermath deserve to have a full redress of their concerns and to have all their questions answered to their satisfaction in the course of what should be a complete and aggressive public investigation. This does not seem to be happening, and the progress of the Commission investigation to date suggests that it will not before their May deadline.

Resisting Investigation and Full Disclosure

Many questions remain unanswered to this day, in part because official inquiries, investigations, lawsuits and courts-martial have never been initiated, or because they have been obstructed and delayed. A wall of secrecy erected by the current administration, ostensibly to protect “national security” also surrounds the events of 9/11. By resisting calls for a full and open investigation, on the grounds that it would divert resources and energy from the war on terrorism, and by refusing to turn over or make public key documents (e.g. Presidential briefing of August 6, 2001 on Al Qa’ida or the redacted 28 pages of the Joint Inquiry Report), the Bush Administration has presented at least the appearance of a cover-up.

This secrecy follows in the wake of the never produced “White Paper” Secretary of State Powell and Prime Minister Blair were to present at the UN as proof that Al-Qa’ida and bin Laden were complicit in the attacks. Whether this obfuscation is motivated by fear of embarrassment over purported incompetence, or to avoid accusations of gross or criminal negligence, there should be no tolerance for excessive secrecy relative to issues of public safety and the need for full accountability surrounding the worst crime against the U.S. in its history.

The Post 9/11 Agenda In the meantime, 9/11 has been used as a pretext for taking the country into two wars abroad, diverting massive new funding and powers to military and intelligence agencies, attacking privacy and basic civil liberties, and redefining “justice” by putting suspects into categories that exempt them from both the Constitution and the internationally recognized rights of prisoners of war.

Whole new government agencies have been created to consolidate power into the hands of those providing “security”, and now one of twelve government employees are under the umbrella of the Office of Homeland Security. We are told by the current Administration to expect a “war that will not end in our lifetime” involving as many as 60 foreign countries. Neo-conservatives inside the Executive Branch are carrying out a blueprint for global domination and a Pax-Americana written well in advance of the events of 9/11 with war plans for both Afghanistan and Iraq in place well before the events of 9/11.

Growing Body of Independent Research

Due to efforts by victims’ family members and independent researchers to raise and get answers to crucial questions, a massive collection of reported information, investigative leads and interviews, and official statements has been compiled, and displayed in thoroughly documented exhaustive timeline (www.cooperativeresearch.org).

Lawsuits and ‘Discovery’ Family members who have refused government compensation for their loss, and thus retained their right to legal redress, have filed several lawsuits against the government, the airline industry, the NY Port Authority and key leaders in Saudi Arabia, charging either negligence or complicity. One lawsuit was filed against Iraq, though Bush has recently denied having any evidence of their involvement in the events of 9/11. The ‘discovery process’ allowed attorneys by the courts could yield details not forthcoming from the official government investigation

Congressional Joint Inquiry

A special Joint Intelligence Committee Inquiry (JICI) was initiated by the House and Senate Committees on Intelligence after both President Bush and Vice-President Cheney had pressured Senator Daschle to limit the scope of Congressional investigations. Early on, as many as half a dozen committees had planned or discussed holding hearings regarding the attacks but the primary inquiry was ultimately limited to intelligence matters, and conducted by the JICI. After a series of open and closed-door hearings, the JICI completed their report in December of 2002, but the release of their finished report was delayed for almost 6 months as the administration and the JICI negotiated over how much should be made public.

Representative Max Cleland (D-GA) charged that the Administration was afraid that some of its conclusions about lack of evidence linking Iraq to the 9/11 attack would have undermined their publicly stated rationale for a drive to war. Large sections of the report were redacted at the time of the public release in August of this year. Many called for the declassification of the relevant pages, including Senator Shelby (R-AL), who insisted that 90-95% of the redacted material could be released without compromising national security or ongoing investigations.

The 9/11 Commission and their Government Mandate

Despite foot-dragging and delay on the part of the administration, relentless pressure by the 9/11 victims’ family member organizations on President Bush led to the creation November 27th, 2002, of the National Commission on Terrorist Acts Upon the United States. This 18 month investigation is severely under-funded at $12 million, compared to over $50 million spent to look into Whitewater and “Monicagate” and a comparable sum allotted the Challenger disaster inquiry, that was launched within days after the event.

The Commission’s short-lived inquiry is already beyond the halfway point. The Commission’s mandate is to take up where the JICI left off, and to look into a wide range of areas related to the events of 9/11, including perpetrators, sponsors, aviation security, law enforcement, diplomacy, non-immigrant visas, border control and terrorist financing.

At a press conference held in New York City on March 31st, following their first open hearing, Chairman Kean and Vice-Chair Hamilton confirmed to 9/11 CitizensWatch that their investigation would also include an inquiry into the failure of air defenses and reported advance ‘insider trading’, neither of which was clearly delineated in the legislated mandate.

They have held three public panels collecting testimony; and additional ones are being planned. Their final report is due out May 27th, when they are scheduled to disband.

Conflicts of Interest Governor Tom Kean of New Jersey chairs this independent and bi-partisan panel. President Bush’s first appointment for chairman, Henry Kissinger, was forced out because he was reluctant to comply with required disclosure of his firm’s current clients, to prevent conflicts of interest. The first appointment for Vice-chair, former Senator George Mitchell withdrew for a similar reason.

Former Senator Lee Hamilton replaced him. Conflicts of interest issues remain however, as many of the Commissioners have close ties to the airline industry and to the US intelligence community. Governor Thomas Kean has ties to the National Endowment for Democracy, a long-time conduit of CIA covert operations abroad, as well as a history of investments that link him to Saudi investors who have financially supported both George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden in the past.

Lee Hamilton and Fred Fielding have been part of earlier investigations into White House excesses that were limited in scope and not fully responsive to public demands for thorough inquiry. Jamie Gorelick sits on a Presidential advisory board concerning intelligence.

More recently, the Families Steering Committee, which is a liaison to the Commission, has called for the director, Phillip Zelikow, to step down, since he worked with Condaleeza Rice and others in the administration as part of the Bush transition team. Despite these possible conflicts, the panel is tasked with getting at the truth of what happened on 9/11 and what our response has been or should be to the event...

NOTE: a full hyper-linked and footnoted version of this document will soon be posted at www.911citizenswatch.org. We will inform our media list at the time of its posting.

John Judge copa@starpower.net

Kyle F. Hence kylehence@earthlink.net

Co-founders, 9/11 CitizensWatch www.911citizenswatch.org

Upcoming Meeting on 9/11 Alternative Witness List

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