Linkmeister

I commission thee...

Yesterday the 9/11 Commission said not enough was done to prevent the September 11 attacks, despite repeated opportunities to do so.

At various points in the hearings this week, commissioners pressed current and former US officials on why they had failed to note warning signs as hijackers navigated the US border security and immigration systems.

As I reported a few days ago, the Administration continues to deny there's any need to extend the commission's deadline, despite its urging.

By law, the commission must report back to the president and the Congress by May 27, but there is a 60-day closeout period, which could give commissioners a chance to extend their report. Already, White House aides and GOP congressional leaders have squelched suggestions that that deadline could be extended. If so, an extension would mean the controversial report lands deep in the presidential campaign.

Nope, wouldn't want that.

In other independent commission news, despite David Kay's call for one to investigate possible intelligence failures which may have overstated Saddam's WMD, the White House says there's no need.

The White House immediately turned aside the calls from Dr. Kay and many Democrats for an immediate outside investigation, seeking to head off any new wide-ranging election-year inquiry that might go beyond reports already being assembled by Congressional committees and the Central Intelligence Agency.

If you thought the 9/11 Commission's report might be messy in the midst of the President's re-election campaign, imagine the report an independent commission might issue regarding the Administration's use of intelligence to lead the country into Iraq, particularly if there really was as little evidence as it now seems there was. It boggles the mind.

Posted by Linkmeister at January 29, 2004 12:01 AM