9/11 Chairs Kean and Hamilton today explicitly accuse CIA of obstructing investigation

[HamdenRice]

They did so in an editorial in the New York Times, excerpted here by AntiFascist:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2571484

[noise]

1. Kean and Hamilton

have obstructed the public from understanding what truly happened on 9/11. They can pretend they represented the public in good faith but IMO that is a joke.

[wildbilln864]

10. It's no joke...

it's almost criminal! :hi:

[noise]

11. It's strange the way

even alternative media assumes the 9/11 Commission is telling the truth about their lack of awareness about the tapes. We are to believe nobody on the 9/11 Commission staff heard anything about tapes. And Zelikow didn't know?

[RedSock]

12. alternative media

There are scores of progressive people/media who will absolutely hammer Bush/Cheney all day and all night on every single topic under the sun -- except 9/11 -- which happens to be the one event that has led to so many of the topics they hammer Bush/Cheney on.

Funny, huh?

And most of the time, these progressives will not even admit to be willing to keep an open mind on the subject.

[wildbilln864]

13. excellnt points RedSock! Thanks, n/t

[truedelphi]

2. Four paragraphs worth reading

<snip>
Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton
"Stonewalled by The CIA"
<snip>The C.I.A. gave us many reports summarizing information gained in the interrogations. But the reports raised almost as many questions as they answered. Agency officials assured us that, if we posed specific questions, they would do all they could to answer them.

So, in October 2003, we sent another wave of questions to the C.I.A.’s general counsel. One set posed dozens of specific questions about the reports, including those about Abu Zubaydah. A second set, even more important in our view, asked for details about the translation process in the interrogations; the background of the interrogators; the way the interrogators handled inconsistencies in the detainees’ stories; the particular questions that had been asked to elicit reported information; the way interrogators had followed up on certain lines of questioning; the context of the interrogations so we could assess the credibility and demeanor of the detainees when they made the reported statements; and the views or assessments of the interrogators themselves.

The general counsel responded in writing with non-specific replies. The agency did not disclose that any interrogations had ever been recorded or that it had held any further relevant information, in any form. Not satisfied with this response, we decided that we needed to question the detainees directly, including Abu Zubaydah and a few other key captives.

In a lunch meeting on Dec. 23, 2003, George Tenet, the C.I.A. director, told us point blank that we would have no such access. During the meeting, we emphasized to him that the C.I.A. should provide any documents responsive to our requests, even if the commission had not specifically asked for them. Mr. Tenet replied by alluding to several documents he thought would be helpful to us, but neither he, nor anyone else in the meeting, mentioned videotapes.

Full article at
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/opinion/02kean.html?_...

[noise]

3. Will Tenet take a polygraph test?

Are we supposed to believe him simply because he acts self righteously?

[seemslikeadream]

4. He's got a really nice necklace?

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

7. It's the equivalent of a blindfold just prior to execution...

...I can't imagine Tenet didn't know this, but what could he do? He was to be sacrificed and there wasn't much he could've done to stop it -- it would, however, have been nice to see him at least attempt to preserve some bit of personal dignity and self respect. I guess he had other priorities.

[KJF]

5. Subpoena

If they had used subpoenas like they were advised by the family members this would not have happened to them. The CIA made their "document requests" into paper aeroplanes.

[noise]

6. How do we know the 9/11 Commission

is telling the truth? Maybe Zelikow (and others) knew about the tapes but realized they would complicate things. IMO, there is no reason to take the 9/11 Commission's claims at face value.

[spooked911]

8. Important story but ultimately a very minor hangout in terms of what happened on 9/11

:(

[seatnineb]

9. Agreed! ...n/t