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Fmr. CIA Analyst and FBI Whistleblower Dissect Final 9/11
Commission Report
DNC Watch: Homeland Security Shows Off New Surveillance Equipment
and Weapons at Camp Near Boston
A Passel of Pomp and a Circus of Circumstance: Historic Conventions
Coverage from the Pacifica Radio Archives
Fmr. CIA Analyst and FBI Whistleblower Dissect Final
9/11 Commission Report
As the bipartisan Commission investigating the Sept. 11
attacks releases its much-anticipated final report, we take
an in-depth look at what it says and what it doesn't say with
former CIA analyst Ray McGovern and FBI whistleblower Sibel
Edmonds. The bipartisan commission of ex-government officials
investigating the Sept. 11 attacks published its much-anticipated
final report yesterday.
The commission concluded that "The 9/11 attacks were
a shock, but they should not have come as a surprise"
and warned that without a historic restructuring of the nation's
intelligence agencies and a new emphasis on diplomacy, the
United States would leave itself open to an even more catastrophic
attack. The Washington Post reports that the panel was much
gentler on the Bush administration than many Republicans and
the White House had feared.
The panel said it could not determine whether the attacks
could reasonably have been prevented. However, it identifies
10 "operational opportunities" to detect the 9/11
plot that were missed and identifies nine major vulnerabilities
that enabled the attacks to move forward.
In a package of recommendations for overhauling intelligence
operations, the commission called for a cabinet-level national
intelligence director within the White House who would control
the budgets of all 15 federal intelligence agencies. The intelligence
director's office would take substantial power away from the
C.I.A., the F.B.I. and the Pentagon, and it would essentially
strip the National Security Council of its role in coordinating
the actions of intelligence agencies.
The panel also advocates encoding U.S. passports with personal
information and recommends standardized driver's licenses
nationwide. Both ideas were met with immediate criticism from
civil liberties advocates.
In addition, the report recommended adherence to the Geneva
Conventions in its treatment of alleged combatants saying
"America should be able to reconcile its views of how
to balance humanity and security with our nation's commitment
to these same goals."
The panel finds that Iraq and al Qaeda had no "collaborative
operational relationship "but outlines a deeper alliance
between the terrorist group and Iran. The report alleges that
as many as 10 of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers were able to freely
pass through Iran, although there is no evidence that Tehran
was aware of the plot.
The report also outlines how senior administration officials
turned their attention to Iraq soon after the attacks. In
the most glaring example, at 2:40 p.m. on Sept. 11, Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman
Richard Myers that his instinct was to hit Saddam Hussein
at the same time as Osama bin Laden. Four days later, when
Bush convened a meeting of his senior advisers at Camp David
to decide retaliatory steps, the Defense Department submitted
a paper that depicted Iraq, the Taliban and al Qaeda as priority
targets in the first stage of action. The report goes on to
note that a failed Iraq in the wake of the U.S. invasion could
become "breeding grounds for attacks against Americans
at home."
The panel also concluded that there was no evidence that
the Saudi government or Saudi officials knew of or supported
the plot to attack the United States.
President Bush and former President Clinton, who were both
interviewed by the commission, disagreed in their recollection
of a two-hour meeting on national security and foreign policy
issues in December 2000. Clinton recalls telling Bush that
"by far your biggest threat is Bin Ladin and the al Qaeda"
and that he regretted not capturing or killing the al Qaeda
leader.
Bush told the commission. "that he felt sure President
Clinton had mentioned terrorism, but did not remember much
being said about al Qaeda." Bush said Clinton emphasized
other issues such as North Korea and the Israeli peace process.
The panel also found that 36 presidential intelligence briefings
given Bush before the attacks that mentioned al Qaeda or bin
Laden.
The 567-page report was based on 2.5 million pages of documents
and testimony from more than 1,000 witnesses and is on sale
in bookstores across the country.
- Ray McGovern, 27-year career analyst with the CIA. He
is co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for
Sanity.
- Sibel Edmonds, former FBI translator who was hired shortly
after Sept. 11 to translate intelligence gathered over the
previous year related to the 9/11 attacks. She speaks fluent
Farsi and Turkish.
DNC Watch: Homeland Security Shows Off New Surveillance
Equipment and Weapons at Camp Near Boston
With the Democratic National Convention approaching, the
Department of Homeland Security gathered more than 30 law
enforcement agencies in a field outside of Boston to show
off the latest technology in surveillance and crowd control.
We speak with Dallas Morning News reporter Pete Slover who
was there. [includes rush
transcript]
In recent weeks, the Bush administration has made several
very public announcements on the possibility that al Qaeda
or other terror groups may be plotting attacks during the
Democratic and Republican conventions, which kick off this
weekend in Boston as the Democrats meet to coronate John Kerry
as the party's nominee. And yesterday, in an open field outside
of Boston, the Department of Homeland Security sponsored a
large gathering of more than 30 state, local and federal agencies
that are being deployed for the conventions. On display was
the latest surveillance and crowd control technologies.
- Pete Slover, veteran investigative reporter with the
Dallas Morning News. His latest article is called "In
Boston, an Anti-Terror Trade Show." He joins us on
the line from Boston.
A Passel of Pomp and a Circus of Circumstance: Historic
Conventions Coverage from the Pacifica Radio Archives
We continue with our week-long series looking at political
party conventions throughout history with a new documentary
"A Passel of Pomp and a Circus of Circumstance: Historic
Conventions Coverage" produced by the Pacifica Radio
Archives in collaboration with Democracy Now!
We hear the last in our week-long series looking at conventions
past. The new 2-hour documentary A Passel of Pomp and a Circus
of Circumstance: Historic Conventions Coverage" produced
by the Pacifica Radio Archives in collaboration with Democracy
Now!
Today we look at the year 2000.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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