28.10.03
Bush dodging issue of turning over 9/11 documents
Bush is still not committing the administration to turning over documents relating to the 11 September attacks. This continued foot-dragging (which the Times suggests may indicate that Bush will ultimately refuse to turn over the documents) will almost surely result in the 9/11 commission being unable to meet its May 2004 deadline.
The reason for this stonewalling, which in other contexts might be considered obstruction of justice? It might set a "bad precedent":
But this unnamed official is totally right about one thing - this matter of turning over these documents does involve national security. Let us recall the people who were in power when the 9/11 attacks - one of the greatest breaches of national security in the history of the country - happened: Bush; Cheney; Rumsfeld; Rice; Wolfowitz; Powell; Tenet. Oddly enough, probably the same people who all received these holy Presidential Daily Briefings.
The public should have access to these documents to find out the extent of the incompetence (at best) involved and to help make sure that this same group of administration officials doesn't get more people killed through further negligence. The longer Bush hems and haws, the more obvious it becomes that he has something to hide.
Bush is still not committing the administration to turning over documents relating to the 11 September attacks. This continued foot-dragging (which the Times suggests may indicate that Bush will ultimately refuse to turn over the documents) will almost surely result in the 9/11 commission being unable to meet its May 2004 deadline.
The reason for this stonewalling, which in other contexts might be considered obstruction of justice? It might set a "bad precedent":
[Administration officials] said the White House was also alarmed at the prospect of establishing a precedent in which some of the most secretive intelligence information reaching the Oval Office - the Presidential Daily Briefing is available only to Mr. Bush and a handful of his aides - could be turned over to investigators outside of the executive branch.That's the problem with Bush - the asshole wants to be as "helpful" as he can about all of these scandals (Plame, Iraq intelligence, Enron, the energy commission, etc. etc. etc.) without doing a goddamned thing about them.
"There are national security issues, executive privilege issues, common-sense issues," a senior White House official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We want to be as helpful as we can to Governor Kean and the commission, but these are not the sort of documents you freely share with the outside world."
But this unnamed official is totally right about one thing - this matter of turning over these documents does involve national security. Let us recall the people who were in power when the 9/11 attacks - one of the greatest breaches of national security in the history of the country - happened: Bush; Cheney; Rumsfeld; Rice; Wolfowitz; Powell; Tenet. Oddly enough, probably the same people who all received these holy Presidential Daily Briefings.
The public should have access to these documents to find out the extent of the incompetence (at best) involved and to help make sure that this same group of administration officials doesn't get more people killed through further negligence. The longer Bush hems and haws, the more obvious it becomes that he has something to hide.
