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03/23/2004 Archived Entry: "9/11 Commission, Part 2"
9/11 Commission, Part 2
Bill Cohen is testifying, and doing a very good job of deflating some of the more stupid points that have been used as argument by the 'Clinton did it' crowd. He has pointed out the Republicans' cries of 'Wag The Dog' when he went after bin Laden, that Clinton would have never gotten the support of Congress for invading Afghanistan, that it would have been a stupid idea to send a small squad into Afghanistan to kill bin Laden. He's also pointed out two times that Clinton shouldn't be blamed for not getting bin Laden, because there are thousands of troops in Afghanistan right now with the support of Pakistan, and they can't find bin Laden. And he pointed out that the phrase 'two and a half years without an attack on American soil' is pretty much meaningless.
What's perplexing is that Bob Kerrey is arguing the Republican side on this. Rummy's up next.
Rummy is getting caught up in questioning by Bob Kerrey - especially regarding 'not having a plan' against Al Qaeda. But he's got such a talent for throwing of piles of irrelevancies, he's throwing in enough thread-stoppers to diffuse Kerrey's point.
He did say that they had enough of a structure in place to respond quickly after 9/11 - which brings up a point that I've been thinking about all day.
They keep saying that the transition slowed them down as far as their preparation. But didn't Bush start putting together a cabinet while the election was still in dispute, so they'd be 'ready on Day One?' I seem to remember there being a big deal made about Team Bush 'hitting the ground running.'
Ben Veniste repeatedly asked if ThugCo knew that terrorists were planning on using planes as weapons. Rummy played dumb until ben Veniste ran down a list of intelligence reports from other countries saying it could happen.
Jamie Gorelick (who's been excellent all day) is now grilling Rummy on whether NORAD had authority to shoot down hijacked planes. Rummy is giving a pretty evasive answer, saying 'I don't know what the pilots thought...'
Tim Roemer asked how they prepared for terrorism as compared to Clinton's team. Rummy tap-danced, offering a vague answer. Roemer pointed out that the commission's records didn't show a meeting devoted completely to terrorism until September 4.
Replies: 5 people speak up
Kerry asked the questions that had to be asked if the commission is to be taken seriously by the right. I was surprised at how well Cohen did.
Watching it streaming: http://www.c-span.org/watch
Rummy's up now, and he's damned boring already.
Posted by Laura G @ 03/23/2004 03:42 PM NY
yeah, rummy is damn boring, but he is getting torn a third asshole. rummsfeld is good though, the best they really have, bush would be insane to testify. no one in that room is under military orders to applaud...
Posted by justin @ 03/23/2004 04:14 PM NY
Wow, I didn't know "Skeletor" Gorton was on the panel! One of the few politicians I've met, and I've hated him since that day...
At least he's asking some good questions today.
Posted by Laura G @ 03/23/2004 04:26 PM NY
The only one of the lot that made any sense was Bill Cohen (the republican who worked for the democrat). Neither side of the argument (Clinton or Bush) is entitled to acquittal or guilt. I found Cohen to be logical, honest and apparently accurate. If you will allow yourself to step away from your political bias, you'll see that a plethora of mistakes took place, especially within the two most recent administrations. I have my biases too, but bias prevents truth. No individual will hang for this. The blame will be spread too thin all over the place.
Posted by Murphy @ 03/23/2004 05:59 PM NY
Any idea when a transcript of these will come out? I missed the testimony this morning because I didn't want to get up at 5:30.
Posted by Laura G @ 03/24/2004 11:47 AM NY
