Very simple question---why won't bush talk to 9/11 commission?

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

I want to ask this here before I ask it in more bipartisan circles.

But seriously, worst security failure to ever take place on American non-military soil (besides Pearl Harbor) and he WON'T meet with the commission investigating what happened and why?

Now I hear he MAY meet with them, but only for an hour. Then they say well, maybe longer than an hour if you still have questions.

What kind of messed up shit is that?

Can anyone give me a straightforward answer as to why he won't talk to them? Something people who are kinda wavering about bush would sit up and pay attention to?

Thanks!

[_Jumper_]

1. Bush, at best, knew about the attacks

At worst he helped orchestrate it along with a few foreign governments.

[DenverDem]

17. MIHOP

with the world government, the Power Elite.

[proud patriot]

2. Why because he's a spoiled brat who thinks himself Emperor

that's why . Oh yeah and because he didn't do crap
to protect America before and durring 9-11-01 .

[glarius]

22. Why isn't the media asking this question?....

This is a question SCREAMING to be asked, but the media ignores it...WHY?.....

[Old and In the Way]

26. Because they know.

Think about it.....how many documentaries have you seen on broadcast TV about 9/11....I mean real, indepth investigative stuff? None.

Why? Because they know where the truth leads.

This isn't stained dress stuff. 3000 people died. At the very, very least it was gross incomptence. At worse, it was active participation. Not one person held accountable.....because it would quickly lead directly into the WH. No one will be the fall guy on letting 9/11 happen....a criminal investigation would open the floodgates, IMHO.

Is America prepared to see a capital sentence laid on the POTUS? That's where it would lead.

But what's really scarey is that we are allowing these very same people to remain in office and who knows how bad they are compromising our country?

[rman]

36. they know they're not supposed to

Corporate journalism doesn't involve asking critical questions.

[dennis4868]

48. Its sad....

The media could be asking alot of basic questions of the WH but they are not. Instead people like Tweety yell at Dems from moveon.org for portraying sexual frustration in their TV ads. The media has given Bush a free pass on everything! WMD, 911, TANG, etc...it's a story one day and by the next day its history.

[Dr Fate]

3. His refusal to answer simple questions is suspicious.

Why does he refuse to go under oath and help us clear all this up?

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

4. Exactly. WHY???

Doesn't his very REFUSAL to do so say something?

I mean, think about this. If you were the president that day and you had NO advance knowledge of this. You had NO idea. And you KNOW you did everything you could to stop it once it started (I know he didn't just from the mainstream sources I've read), wouldn't it behoove you to cooperate fully with a commission investigating what happened?

I mean, you'd have nothing to hide, right?

Or are the people around him just afraid he'd make an ass out of himself without a script to read off of?

Nah, that's just why they don't let him do many off-the-cuff press conferences.

THIS.....this has to be something more. But what?

I am wanting to plant this seed with some people I know who are on the fence about bush, so I appreciate any help....with hashing this line of thinking out....I think this is a very serious question and the media is not bringing it up!

[Stephanie]

7. He behaves like a guilty man

Does everything he can to stymie the investigation while saying that he is cooperating. Opposes establishing a committee, delays security clearances, appoints Kissinger, delays turning over documents, refuses to testify under oath.

What is he hiding?

[Dr Fate]

9. I would DEMAND to be put under oath if people were questioning me...

...that goes for iraq too. I would DEMAND to clear the air by DEMANDING to be put under oath if I was accused of lying about WMDs.

But instead we get the exact opposite- Bush said in his interview w/ Tim Russert "I will not testify."

Bush is being accused of lying and hiding things- but instead of DEMANDING to set the record straight, he says "I will not testify."

Sounds suspicious to me.

[Leilani]

11. I don't think he was really ready to be President!

He did nothing beforehand to prevent it, & he panicked when it happened.

If you want talking pts. go to the 9/11 Familie's Website, & see all the unanswered questions. Like why did he sit in an elementary school, reading to kids for 20 minutes while we were under attack?

Why weren't the fighter jets launched right away?

They had warnings going way back that planes would be used to crash into bldgs. But Rice lied & said they didn't know.

The list goes on & on.

And when it happened, he flew around, & then hid in a bunker.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

14. I've already used the questions

and I have to say they are awesome and really got a lot of people going "hmmmm". Then I used the article from the Cooperative Center for Research (???) the one that is reallllly detailed and long and goes into EVERY moment of the days leading up to 9/11 AND that day and THAT made even some more hard-core bush people admit it was weird.

NOW I want to lower the hammer and ask, "Now. WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY if he says he wants to clear the air DOESN'T he answer questions the commission wants to ask?"

[Old and In the Way]

28. 52 minutes between the Flt 175 crashing into the WTC and FLt 77

crashing into the Pentagon. That is the irrefutable smoking gun.

[Old and In the Way]

27. If you were Pesident and had No advance knowledge and No idea,

wouldn't you be screaming to have the truth laid bear? WOuldn't you elevate this to the highest possible national urgency to understand how it happened? Because if you don't get to the root cause, what's to stop from having it happen again?

Of course you would.....if you had NO idea.

I suspect that this was an "event" gone wrong. I think they were expecting a spectacular hijacking that would get plenty of broadcast exposure and help to make the case to invade Afghanistan, just as the executive action order on his desk 9/11 stated. I think the players got played. They were fed some bad intel, maybe only part of the real story.

That's why Bush disappeared for the day.....they had to rebuild the story and they couldn't do that if Bush was in front of the people being asked questions.

I also think that's why he remains under extreme media control.

[Bandit]

43. Operation Ignore ~ Has the most plausible answer

"Clinton's National Security Advisor Sandy Berger remembered how little help the previous Bush administration had provided to his team. Believing that the nation's security should transcend political bitterness, Berger arranged ten briefings for his successor, Condoleezza Rice, and her deputy, Stephen Hadley. Berger made a special point of attending the briefing on terrorism. He told Dr. Rice, “I believe that the Bush administration will spend more time on terrorism in general, and on al Qaeda specifically, than any other subject.''

"Which brings me to a lie. When Time asked about the conversation, Rice declined to comment, but through a spokeswoman said she recalled no briefing at which Berger was present" Perhaps so, Dr. Rice. But might I direct our mutual friends, my readers, to a certain December 30, 2001, New York Times article? Perhaps you know the one, Condi? Shall I quote it? "As he prepared to leave office last January, Mr. Berger met with his successor, Condoleezza Rice, and gave her a warning. According to both of them, he said that terrorism-and particularly Mr. bin Laden's brand of it-would consume far more of her time than she had ever imagined.''

After Berger left, Rice stayed around to listen to counterterrorism bulldog Richard Clarke, who laid out the whole anti-al Qaeda plan. Rice was so impressed with Clarke that she immediately asked him to stay on as head of counterterrorism. In early February, Clarke repeated the briefing for Vice President Dick Cheney. But, according to Time, there was some question about how seriously the Bush team took Clarke's warnings. Outgoing Clinton officials felt that "the Bush team thought the Clintonites had become obsessed with terrorism."

"The Bushies had an entirely different set of obsessions. Missile defense, for example. The missile defense obsession proved prescient when terrorists fired a slow-moving intercontinental ballistic missile into the World Trade Center. If only Clarke had put his focus on missile defense instead of obsessing on Osama bin Laden.

"While all the Bushies focused on their pet projects, Clarke was blowing a gasket. He had a plan, and no one was paying attention. It didn't help that the plan had been hatched under Clinton. Clinton-hating was to the Bush White House what terrorism- fighting was to the Clinton White House.

"Meanwhile, on February 15, 2001, a commission led by former senators Gary Hart and Warren Rudman issued its third and final report on national security. The Hart-Rudman report warned that "mass-casualty terrorism directed against the U.S. homeland was of serious and growing concern'' and said that America was woefully unprepared for a "catastrophic'' domestic terrorist attack and urged the creation of a new federal agency: "A National Homeland Security Agency with responsibility for planning, coordinating, and integrating various U.S. government activities involved in homeland security” that would include the Customs Service, the Border Patrol, the Coast Guard, and more than a dozen other government departments and agencies.

"The Hart-Rudman Commission had studied every aspect of national security over a period of years and had come to a unanimous conclusion: "This commission believes that the security of the American homeland from the threats of the new century should be the primary national security mission of the U.S. government."

"The report generated a great deal of media attention and even a bill in Congress to establish a National Homeland Security Agency. But over at the White House, the Justice Department, and the Pentagon, President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Attorney General Ashcroft, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld decided that the best course of action was not to implement the recommendations of the Hart-Rudman report, but instead to launch a sweeping initiative dubbed "Operation Ignore."

"The holdovers from the Clinton era - Clarke and CIA Director George Tenet-were going nuts. Bush administration insiders would later say they never felt that the two men had been fully on board with Operation Ignore. Tenet was getting reports of more and more chatter about possible terrorist activity. Through June and July, according to one source quoted in the Washington Post, Tenet worked himself nearly frantic'' with concern. In mid-July, "George briefed Condi that there was going to be a major attack," an official told Time.

"Bush spent 42 percent of his first seven months in office either at Camp David, at the Bush compound in Kennebunkport, or at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. As he told a $1,000-a-plate crowd at a fund-raiser in June, Washington, D.C., is a great place to work, but Texas is a great place to relax." That's why on August 3, after signing off on a plan to cut funding for programs guarding unsecured or "loose” nukes in the former Soviet Union, he bade farewell to the Washington grind and headed to Crawford for the longest presidential vacation in thirty-two years.

"Now, on August 6, CIA Director Tenet delivered a report to President Bush entitled, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.'' The report warned that al Qaeda might be planning to hijack airplanes. But the President was resolute: Operation Ignore must proceed as planned. He did nothing to follow up on the memo.

"Actually, that's not entirely fair. The President did follow up, a little bit. Sitting in his golf cart the next day, Bush told some reporters, "I'm working on a lot of issues, national security matters.'' Then, Bush rode off to hit the links, before dealing with a stubborn landscaping issue by clearing some brush on his property. The next day, he followed up again, telling the press, I've got a lot of national security concerns that we're working on Iraq, Macedonia, very worrisome right now."

"But Iraq and Macedonia weren't the only things on Bush's mind. "One of the interesting things to do is drink coffee and watch Barney chase armadillos," he told reporters on a tour of the ranch later in his vacation. "The armadillos are out, and they love to root in our flower bed. It's good that Barney routs them out of their rooting.''

"Among those left to swelter in the D.C. heat that August was one Thomas J. Pickard. No fly-fishing for him. In his role as acting FBI director, Pickard had been privy to a top-secret, comprehensive review of counterterrorism programs in the FBI. The assessment called for a dramatic increase in funding. Alarmed by the report and by the mounting terrorist threat, Pickard met with Attorney General John Ashcroft to request $58 million from the Justice Department to hire hundreds of new field agents, translators, and intelligence analysts to improve the Bureau's capacity to detect foreign terror threats. On September 10, he received the final Operation Ignore communique: an official letter from Ashcroft turning him down flat. (To give Pickard credit for adopting a professional attitude, he did not call Ashcroft the next day to say, "I told you so.'')

"On September 9, as the plan cooled its heels, Congress proposed a boost of $600 million for antiterror programs. The money was to come from Rumsfeld's beloved missile defense program, the eventual price tag of which was estimated by the Congressional Budget Office at between $158 billion and $238 billion. Congress's proposal to shift $0.6 billion over to counterterror programs incurred Rummy's ire, and he threatened a presidential veto. Operation Ignore was in its 207th day.

"On Operation Ignore Day 208, Ashcroft sent his Justice Department budget request to Bush. It included spending increases in sixty-eight different programs. Out of these sixty-eight programs, less than half dealt with terrorism. Way less than half. In fact, none of them dealt with terrorism. Ashcroft passed around a memo listing his seven top priorities. Again, terrorism didn't make the list."

from Operation: Ignore

[theorist]

5. Because Rove says so?

:shrug:

The political embarassment would be unprecedented. Think Nixon with Watergate with actual assassinations (not just political) and secret armies in Cuba all wrapped up into one. Bush himself may want to testify to "clear his name" as it were, but his handlers always have the last word with him. Remember that Bush initially wanted to return to Washington as soon as he got to Air Force One on 9/11/01, but Rove and Cheney convinced him to stay away. From what I've read (and this is speculation, of course), I've concluded that Cheney wanted to control the show while his boss was at 45,000 ft. fearing for his life.

By the way, welcome to DU Moonbeam_Starlight!

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

6. Thanks for the welcome and for the comments

So if you were bringing up this question with on the fence bush people, what points would you highlight?

Would you simply put the question out there and see what they said?

Or point out that anyone on the up and up would WANT to answer these questions? (Wouldn't they?)

[opihimoimoi]

13. Because he CANNOT answer in a credible way and sound smart.

This is the guy who cannot read newspapers

This is the guy that made a book of Bushisms possible?

This is the guy who will not come forward to the panel for fear of sounding STUUUUPID

[theorist]

18. There are some incontrovertible facts.

1) Bush knew about the first tower being hit before entering Emma T. Booker Elementary. At this point, he should have cancelled the photo-op and ordered the scrambling of jets to intercept the other planes. Leadership, indeed!

2) Over one-hundred bin Laden relatives were allowed to leave the country in the days following 9/11 with only superficial questioning for only a handful. All of this occurred while thousands of Americans were stranded in airports.

There are many more. Go look at some of the excellent timelines and groups for more information that even Bush supporters would feel ashamed to defending. If you meet anyone who fights with such facts, tell them that they will be subject to the label of "Bush apologist" by American historians in the not too distant future. Americans will look back upon this time with great disdain and anger, especially the kids who were old enough to remember, but too young to understand. Future Americans will only have sympathy for those of us with the courage to question and demand accountability.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

19. Old enough to remember and too young to understand

describes me during the Reagan years.

Ok I was a teenager and old enough to understand, but I just didn't care. Teenager and all.

What I found out later burned me up.

[July]

41. Cheney was given terrorism task force responsibility in MAY '01

That's what I'd highlight. What did that task force do? Did it even meet? We've heard absolutely ZERO about any activity by the group directly responsible for addressing possible future terrorism BEFORE 9/11. So . . . could it possibly be that some of the stonewalling has to do with the fact that the Bush administration DID NOTHING to address the terrorism question?

[nostamj]

45. remind them of this...

who actually BENEFITTED from 9/11?

who said he won the TRIFECTA with 9/11?

who 'slept great' and told jokes about the evening of 9/11?

who had plummetting polls and the exposure of the FL fraud pending on 9/10?

[Stephanie]

8. "Bush initially wanted to return to Washington"

What makes you believe that?

[thebigidea]

12. that wonderful propaganda movie, DC 9/11: Time of Crisis

[theorist]

15. From the 9/11 timeline at unansweredquestions.org.

http://www.unansweredquestions.org/timeline/main/essayaninterestingday.html

In his comments at Booker, Bush said he was immediately flying back to Washington, but soon after takeoff, he, Cheney and the Secret Service began arguing whether it was safe to fly back to the capital. Andrew Card told Bush, "We've got to let the dust settle before we go back." The plane apparently stayed over Sarasota until the argument was settled. Accounts differ, but until about 10:35 a.m. , Air Force One "appeared to be going nowhere. The journalists on board – all of whom were barred from communicating with their offices – sensed that the plane was flying in big, slow circles."

Cheney apparently called Bush again at 10:32 a.m., and told him of another threat to Air Force One. Within minutes, the argument was over, and the plane turned away from Washington and flew to Louisiana instead. Bush recalled: "I wanted to come back to Washington, but the circumstances were such that it was just impossible for the Secret Service or the national security team to clear the way for Air Force One to come back." Given that the rocket-like takeoff was due to a threat, this must have been another threat, possibly even a third threat.

[Virginian]

24. I don't think Bush wanted to return to DC.

He doesn't like sleeping at the White House; he's too paranoid.
Watch how often he will go to Crawford or to Camp David.

[opihimoimoi]

25. He fought like hell to stay AWAY from DC. They forced him to return

He wanted to go to Tahiti or Samoa and hide as he did during Nam.

[Old and In the Way]

29. Are you sure about that?

"Remember that Bush initially wanted to return to Washington as soon as he got to Air Force One on 9/11/01"

I mean, I'm sure that's what they want us to believe, so why didn't he go? He was, afterall, POTUS, and if he really wanted to go, who would stop him?

I really don't think he was in a hurry to get back. Not because he was scared, either. I think they needed to stay incommunicado so they could work on orchestrating their story.

Anyone know why Bush would disappear into bunker on a secure AFB for 3 hours....unless it was to figure out what went wrong and what they were going to do and say about the events that day.

[theorist]

32. I don't think anyone who wasn't there knows for sure.

The news reports all corroborate each other with respect to this question. Whether or not he wanted to return to DC is really a moot point in light of the other facts surrounding 9/11, e.g. that reporters knew that he had been informed of Flight 11 hitting the North Tower before entering the Booker Elementary. See my reply to a previous criticism of the statement you quoted.

Please don't misconstrue my statement as a defense of Bush, but as evidence that Bush is controlled by his so-called subordinates, the vice president and the Secret Service. This could lead to a conclusion about his stonewalling of the 9/11 commision, i.e. he is not being allowed to testify even if he wanted to.

edit for clarity

[Virginian]

33. He had to get his expression right.

He was so thrilled that he had his "Pearl Harbor" that he had to make sure he wasn't revealing his true feelings in front of anyone.

[rman]

39. it seems Bush sort of objected to the 2nd tax cut

so maybe he does have a bit of a mind of his own.

(Paul O'Neill / "The price of loyalty")

Bush Sought ‘Way’ To Invade Iraq?
CBS - 60 Minutes
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/09/60minutes/printable592330.shtml

“He says, ‘Didn’t we already, why are we doing it again?’” Now, his advisers, they say, ‘Well Mr. President, the upper class, they're the entrepreneurs. That's the standard response.’ And the president kind of goes, ‘OK.’ That's their response. And then, he comes back to it again. ‘Well, shouldn't we be giving money to the middle, won't people be able to say, ‘You did it once, and then you did it twice, and what was it good for?’"

But according to the transcript, White House political advisor Karl Rove jumped in.

“Karl Rove is saying to the president, a kind of mantra. ‘Stick to principle. Stick to principle.’ He says it over and over again,” says Suskind. “Don’t waver.”

[July]

40. Bush wanted to return to Washington?

Why do you believe that? Because he said so? He can overrule the Secret Service, but he didn't. He's a candyass.

[Wapsie B]

10. That's one thing I've

been thinking about. No matter what side of the political spectrum a persons sits, there should've been a full and complete investigation before now on 9/11. No matter if you believe that chimpy MIHOP or all the way to thinking that chimpy sits at the right hand of God, a thorough investigation of this needs to be done, and that ain't happening.

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

16. RIGHT. EXACTLY.

I mean, you would THINK the bush people would WANT him to answer their questions. You'd THINK that would be political GOLD, right?

I mean, if he did it, and it came out well (or hell even if he DID it, that's about all you need to do nowdays) then that issue is, basically, DEAD.

Another question: is Kerry going to bring this up in the campaign?

I sure hope to hell he does. Because it is a VERY legit question.

BTW, I am not a MIHOP person. After reading this, though, I am leaning LIH:

http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/main/essayaninterestingday.html

[theorist]

20. The Kerry campaign has some aces up its sleeves!

Kerry would not have tried so hard if he didn't know he bring Bush to task. This is, therefore, not in question.

The problem that Bush has, is that he dodges questions poorly. Every time he answers a question, there are at least ten follow-ups that any inquisitive American could come up with. The Bush handlers are very keen to this, and they chalk it up to "no sitting President has ever had to testify under oath" as an excuse. Well....I seem to remember a guy by the name of William Jefferson Clinton having to detail his sex life....What do I know?

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

21. Theorist

I didn't understand the first two sentences of that post. Please forgive my lack of understanding and re-phrase?

Thanks!

[theorist]

23. Sure.

You asked:

Another question: is Kerry going to bring this up in the campaign?


All I was saying was that Kerry campaigned so hard, because he knew (and knows) he can beat Bush. Kerry is entering a race where he knows full well what tactics will be used against him, but he's running anyway. This means that the Dem leadership must have some juicy material that will be rolled out in due time, and this will invariably include 9/11 info.

If you thought the Bush AWOL attack was fun to watch, then you better get some popcorn, have a blank tape in the VCR at all times, and get ready for a real bloodbath.

[yorgatron]

30. * would fold like a cheap umbrella

if questioned seriously,even if only for one hour.

[Old and In the Way]

31. Totally agree.

Kerry, ex-federal prosecutor and chair of many Senate investigations, debating Bush.

What a delisious time to start asking him questions about 9/11. He'd probably have Bush taking the 5th by the time the debate is over.....

[spanone]

34. He's above the law. He told Russert "I don't testify"

It is total arrogant bullshit. I wanna see that worm waving goodbye like nixon as he's run out of town by the people he's screwed for the last four years (namely me and you).

[ignatius]

35. I wonder if they could subpoena Air Force One records from that

day..when I saw the subpoena for the Plame investigation from Air Force One records, I was curious if they could also get 9-11 records.

Norad,Fema, and Faa phone and computer records would be interesting as well.

If we had all that, I betcha we would know why Dimson doesn't want to meet with the 9-11 commission.

I have said it before, but I think Cheney,Papa Bush,Dimson.Wolfowitz,Rice,Rummy, Perle, the heads of Norad and the FAA and Powell should all be subpoenaed to testify, under oath, about what they knew. Compare those testimonies to each other, and the phone and computer records to connect the dots.

[amazona]

37. because he's at fault for negligent homicide

Whistleass received a briefing on Aug. 6, 2001 stating that Al Queda was preparing to hijack some U.S. airliners on American soil.

Instead of contacting the FAA and informing the airliners that they needed to beef up security, he fell over and went back to sleep.

The longest presidential vacation in U.S. history was followed by the largest U.S. security failure in U.S. history. Coincidence? Not hardly. Bush is negligent and CANNOT testify under oath about his lack of action to an urgent threat.

If he had just bothered to pick up the telephone and speak to the FAA, he would have far more ability to pass the buck and blame the airlines in question. However, since he didn't bother to inform them of a problem, they were not as secure as they should have been.

After the deadline passed for families to be able to sue the airlines in January, they finally released the stewardess's phone call revealing that knives and a bomb were used -- NOT box-cutters. If the airlines had been doing proper security, one or all of the hijackings could not have occurred.

Both the administration and the airlines are at fault, and they're more or less propping up each other's lies. Many people still truly believe that four airliners were hijacked with box-cutters. Yeah, right.

[mopaul]

38. very simple answer...bushco DID 9-11....how can anyone NOT see it?

there are some things too horrible for the mind to accept.
this is one of them. maybe the biggest one ever.

[Lindsay]

46. 'Scuse my going off-topic for a sec,

but MoPaul, you are on a mad roll lately. Your graphics have been awesome.

:yourock:

[graphixtech]

42. Collective action starts today-

Please add YOUR voice at this important time in history!
http://www.septembereleventh.org/alerts.php

WORLDWIDE 9-11 PHONE, FAX, EMAIL CAMPAIGN

Tom Flocco ( TomFlocco.com ) Bill Douglas
http://tomflocco.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=1
www.911Visibility.org )
PLEASE POST AND/OR EMAIL WIDELY:

There are SIX individuals who have the power to influence whether President George Bush, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, General Richard Myers, will publicly testify under oath before the American people to explain why they sat at their desks and in a school classroom, failing to take decisive action on September 11, 2001, until after four planes attacked the United States and killed 3,000 Americans and citizens from many other countries.  This, despite knowledge of the hijackings earlier that morning before any of the four planes crashed. 

Below you will find contact numbers and questions to initiate weekly communication with those who have the over-sight responsibility, public microphone, and/or power to influence the strength of the 9-11 Commission investigation.  These actions may well determine whether those in charge on 9-11 publicly testify under oath and submit to questioning by Commission-assisted and experienced career prosecutors rather than appointed former government bureaucrats and/or legislators.  Lawyers with prosecutorial skills prepare intensely for specific areas of interrogation and will be able to elicit truth and facts via questi . . .
(much more. . . )
http://www.septembereleventh.org/alerts.php
--------------------------------------------------------
Here's my letter:
Dear Honorable ,,,,,,,,,:

I have been following the Independent 9-11 Commission with increasing interest. Many citizens have become aware that 9-11 is NOT a partisan political issue. Growing numbers of American citizens are realizing that the overriding concern of honest government is a fundamental matter which affects ALL Americans.

The way that President Bush has stonewalled the 9-11 investigation has been very suspicious. Instead of cooperating with this bi-partisan commission, there appears a continual obfuscation from key members of the administration.

President Bush has a duty to the American people to testify to ALL commission members and give a complete accounting of facts that he has about September 11th. His offer to appear for ONE hour is a blatant insult and slap in the face to every citizen of this country and makes a mockery of our democracy.

Americans well remember President Clinton being sworn in for a private affair, in a comparatively ludicrous and near limitless investigation. The press scrutiny that Clinton’s indescretions recieved was far more than for this adminstration’s questionable actions.

I urge you to honor your oath to the American people and take actions to call those who were in charge at the time surrounding 9-11 to testify under OATH. These people would obviously include President Bush, Vice-President Cheney, Condoleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfield, Gen. Richard Myers etc. It is also imperative that the Presidential Daily Briefing of August 9th be given to the Commission as evidence.

Decency also demands that President Bush be sworn in to answer the 9-11 Family Steering Committee legitimate twenty three questions.

If this Independent 9-11 Commission is to have even a shred of credibility in the future, the people in charge of the failed security of 9-11 must be called to legally testify. Anything less from your position clearly shows a complicit weakness and looks extremely suspect to ANY Americans who are paying a modicum of attention.

Thank you for your immediate attention in this matter.

Sincerely,

[never cry wolf]

44. He thinks he's above it

http://www.buzzflash.com/mailbag/03/01/15.html

Excuse the hell out of me, but the title of President of the United States does not give an individual the right to order other human beings around like they were his personal slaves or subhuman cattle. The attitude exhibited by that statement is nothing but unbridled arrogance and contemptuous disrespect for basic norms of fundamental human decency; however it is, of course, nothing new from Mr. Bush who believes that his title of President confers upon him the absolute right to do as he pleases with no respect for principles of law or basic fundamental norms of decency and human behavior. He is after all the same person who told Bob Woodward that "I'm the captain of the team" and "I don't have to answer to anyone."

[rustydog]

47. Why is Bush and Rice unwilling to testify under oath?

let's examine this evil oath they are so scared to be placed under:
"I hereby swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God."
Hummm....what does this born-again christian have to fear swearing to this God if he is telling the truth?

He and Rice are getting away with refusing to testify under oath. By refusing to take the oath, they are openly saying..I plan to lie my ass off.

[reprobate]

49. Look, the Iraq attack had been planned for years....

....and the invasion of iraq would not have been possible without 9/11. It was the justification for everything the empire wanted. It was the "New American Pearl Harbor" as called for by PNAC.

QED

Was he involved directly? I don't know, but my feeling is that he was only on the perifery of the plan. I don't think they trusted his intellect enough to be directly involved, but he surely had to at least know that something was in the works. He is therefore just as guilty as the rest of them.

Your question begs some other questions.

1. If Kerry wins and * is ousted, will there then be a real investigation?

2. If there is a real investigation will america have the guts to truly look at who did what, and how far it went?

I believe that anyone with a rational mind and access to information knows that america underwent a coup d etat in november 2000. I believe that the only way my dear country will resume it's proper direction is to look at what really happened on sept 11, 2000, and bring justice to every american who had to suffer thru this past four years. If this can occur then america will once more be accepted into the family of nations. Otherwise, we will stay on the slid into oblivion.

[indepat]

50. 9-11 produced more deaths than Pearl Harbor and probably more

economic loss (in 2001 dollars) and luckily our few aircraft carriers were at sea so our nearly obsolete battleships took the brunt of the attacks. Our leadership in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor gave our country, our people, the will, courage, fortitude and determination to avenge this dastardly attack, to psychologically prepare us to meet any challenge required to militarily whip Japan into submission: we we all asked to sacrifice. Our leadership in the aftermath of 9-11 has bombarded us with fear, made us suspicious of our neighbors of whom in most cases probably 99.999% are loyal Americans, and systematically gutted much of the Bill of Rights: sacrifice has been required only of those who serve our military in a hostile environment as the Halliburtons of the world have reaped obscene windfall profits and the most affluent and large Corporations have had their taxes substantially reduced. Some sacrifice.