Greenwald from 2008--> 9/11 Commission: Our investigation was “obstructed”

[nationalize the fed]

The bipartisan co-chairmen all but accuse the White House of committing serious felonies in destroying the CIA videos.

Glenn Greenwald Salon.com Jan 2, 2008

(*** Updated below – Outside prosecutor appointed
Update II – Update III – Update IV – Update V)

The bi-partisan co-chairmen of the 9/11 Commission, Tom Kean and Lee Hamilton, jointly published an Op-Ed in today’s New York Times which contains some extremely emphatic and serious accusations against the CIA and the White House. The essence:

The recent revelations that the C.I.A. destroyed videotaped interrogations of Qaeda operatives leads us to conclude that the agency failed to respond to our lawful requests for information about the 9/11 plot. Those who knew about those videotapes — and did not tell us about them — obstructed our investigation.

More strikingly still, they explicitly include the White House at the top of their list of guilty parties:

There could have been absolutely no doubt in the mind of anyone at the C.I.A. — or the White House — of the commission’s interest in any and all information related to Qaeda detainees involved in the 9/11 plot. Yet no one in the administration ever told the commission of the existence of videotapes of detainee interrogations.

To underscore the seriousness of their accusations, Keane and Hamilton end with this:

What we do know is that government officials decided not to inform a lawfully constituted body, created by Congress and the president, to investigate one the (sic) greatest tragedies to confront this country. We call that obstruction.

It’s hard to imagine a more serious scandal than this. As I noted the other day, it is a confirmed fact that Alberto Gonzales and David Addingtion — the top legal representatives of George Bush and Dick Cheney, respectively — participated in discussions as to whether those videotapes should be destroyed. The White House refuses to disclose what these top officials said in those meetings. Did they instruct that the videos should be destroyed or fail to oppose their destruction? The NYT previously quoted one “senior intelligence official with direct knowledge of the matter (who) said there had been ‘vigorous sentiment’ among some top White House officials to destroy the tapes.”...

...What possible justification is there for the White House to refuse to say what the role of Addington, Gonzales, Bush and Cheney was in all of this? Having been ordered by Bush’s new Attorney General not to investigate, are the Senate and House Intelligence Committees (led by the meek Silvestre Reyes and the even meeker Jay Rockefeller) going to compel answers to these questions? In light of this Op-Ed, do Mitt Romney, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson and Mike Huckabee think the White House should publicly disclose to the country the role Bush and Cheney played in the destruction of this evidence? If there are any reporters left who aren’t traipsing around together in Iowa, it seems pretty clear that this story ought to be dominating the news...

MORE: http://www.salon.com/2008/01/02/obstruction/

Lee Hamilton (D-IN), Co-Chair 911 commission: "We were set up to fail"

[superbeachnut]

1. the witch hunt failed? oh noes

Was Lee Hamilton's witch hunt foiled by facts?

How did they fail? Wait, is the FBI investigation? no? Wait, 19 terrorists did 911 - who was Congress looking for. Where is Joseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy when you need him?

Did the NIST investigation fail? no.

Why does 911 truth get behind congress on this, when congress is in on the fantasy inside job 911 truth is trying to expose? Why quote mine congress for the inside job fantasy? How does this 911 truth logic work? Quote mine this, quote mine that, and connect to dots to the dumbest inside job story 911 truth can't define or explain, back up with fact and evidence for 13 years.

Is Glenn Greenwald a 911 truth supporter? no

Does the article support 911 truth claims? no

[nationalize the fed]

2. "Did the NIST investigation fail? no."

So maybe you know more than the co-chairmen of the Commission.

Or, maybe you're just another member of the 911 Chairborne Brigade, sliming and insulting everyone that doesn't agree with your twisted "logic".

Does the article support 911 truth claims? no

[AZCat]

3. Nice job conflating the two.

"NIST Investigation" and "9/11 Commission" are not the same thing. Kean and Hamilton were chairman of one, but not the other.