NEW YORK, Dec. 17, 2003 (CBS) For the first time, the chairman of the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks is saying publicly that 9/11 could have and should have been prevented, reports CBS News Correspondent Randall Pinkston. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/12/17/eveningnews/main589137.shtml
Quite amazing, and uncommonly ballsey things for a Republican to say during a Republican administration: "Appointed by the Bush administration, Kean, a former Republican governor of New Jersey, is now pointing fingers inside the administration and laying blame. 'There are people that, if I was doing the job, would certainly not be in the position they were in at that time because they failed. They simply failed,' Kean said. "
9/11 Panel Faults U.S. For Letting Hijackers In By Dan Eggen Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, January 27, 2004; Page A01 The U.S. government fumbled repeated opportunities to stop many of the men responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks from entering the country, missing fraudulent passports and other warning signs that should have attracted greater scrutiny, according to a preliminary report released yesterday. The new findings by the independent commission investigating the terrorist strikes stand in marked contrast to the contentions of many senior U.S. officials, who for more than two years have portrayed the 19 hijackers as law-abiding travelers who did little to attract government suspicion and who, in nearly all cases, entered or resided in the country legally. Yesterday's report disclosed that as many as eight of the hijackers carried passports that "showed evidence of fraudulent manipulation," while as many as five of the passports had "suspicious indicators." The report did not identify the details missed by authorities. The report also found that at least six hijackers, including ringleader Mohamed Atta, violated U.S. immigration laws either while in the United States or while returning. Five of the hijackers aroused enough suspicion that they were questioned individually by customs or immigration inspectors but were eventually allowed to enter the United States. None of the hijackers filled out his visa application correctly, and three clearly lied on the forms, according to the report. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50466-2004Jan26.html
That's why Bush and the House Repubs cut off funding for the panel. They don't want bad publicity during campaign season.
George Bush is in trouble. With a $470 million dollar budget deficit for 2004, an incredibly weak dollar, several U.S. soldiers dying everyday in Iraq without any substantive evidence of weapons of mass destruction, and only 277,000 new jobs created since July, the White House is totally up for grabs. There is an awful lot of uncertainty out there, and markets do not like uncertainty. Stay tuned . . .