posted 02-29-2004 12:27 AM            

Highlights:

"I want your commission to do a thorough job, but I also believe that we must have your recommendations soon in order to give the Congress adequate time to act on them," he said.

Hastert's reversal came on the same day the Senate approved legislation granting a two-month extension, and after two senators threatened to delay a highway funding bill if the House did not consider giving more time to the commission.

Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, said commission leaders were scheduled to meet with Hastert on Tuesday to iron out details of the agreement. McCain had threatened to block the transportation measure -- which would have forced an embarrassing shutdown of federal highway programs on Monday.

posted 02-29-2004 12:53 AM            

If the Warren commission had released their report just before the 1968 election;

the fact that they had decided

before any evidence was presented

to blame Oswald as a "lone assassin" would make no difference.

No matter what date the 911 commission releases their "final report'
that they began with the assumption that al Queda and bin laden were responsible makes any report a fraud.

any honest investigation would begin with the facts and construct a premise and theories.

this commission began with the premis that Binladin and al queda were responsible and worked only to verify the official bush lies.

thier conclusions are only 'more right-wing propaganda'.

No more credible than Nazi official conclusions about the Reichstag fire.

the people who committed a crime should never be trusted to investigate that crime!

still unable to figure out my premise?

the people who committed a crime should never be trusted to investigate that crime!

The Bush administration should never be trusted to investigate anything!

It's like asking Al Capone to investigate a mob hit in 1930's Chicago .

Get my drift?

still unsure?

read it again:
The Bush administration should never be trusted to investigate anything!

It's like asking Al Capone to investigate a mob hit in 1930's Chicago .

posted 03-17-2004 10:58 PM            

Donald Rumsfeld, Defense Secretary and Colin Powell, Secretary of State
William Cohen, Clinton Defense Secretary
Madeleine Albright, Clinton Secretary of State
George Tenet, CIA Director
Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Adviser
Richard Clarke, former head of the National Security Council

You’ll notice that Dumbya and Ms. Rice are not on the list!

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-uscomm173710706mar17,0,4462329.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-headlines

Witness list disclosed
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
March 17, 2004

WASHINGTON - The federal panel reviewing the Sept. 11 attacks disclosed the witness list yesterday for its two-day hearing on counterterrorism next week, with scheduled testimony from top officials from the Bush and Clinton administrations.

The list omits one invited official: National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. She has repeatedly declined on the advice of the White House, citing separation of power concerns involving its staff testifying before a legislative body.

Commission officials, who haven't ruled out a subpoena, are still hoping she'll reconsider. "We would certainly welcome her to appear if the White House changes its thinking," spokesman Al Felzenberg said.

Also yesterday, President George W. Bush signed a bill giving the commission more time. It was to wrap up May 27, but members asked for a two-month extension, citing repeated delays because of disputes with the administration over access to witnesses and documents.

The bipartisan panel released the schedule for its eighth hearing on March 23-24. Its Republican chairman, former New Jersey Gov. Thomas H. Kean, said the hearing was critical in determining whether the attacks could have been prevented.

"A central aspect of our commission's mission is counterterrorism policy: what options senior officials considered before September 11, 2001, and what choices they made," Kean said. "This is clearly one of the most important hearings the commission will hold."

Among those on the witness list are: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell; their counterparts in the Clinton administration, William Cohen and Madeleine Albright; CIA Director George Tenet; Clinton National Security Adviser Sandy Berger; and Richard Clarke, former head of the National Security Council.

posted 03-17-2004 11:01 PM            

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/11/nyregion/11epa.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1079586149-w/XBZSRNT1zWkbSvvoYklw

Group Is Suing Federal Agency Over Post-9/11 Health Hazards
By ANTHONY DePALMA
Published: March 11, 2004

The health of tens of thousands of people who live and work in Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn has been endangered by the way federal officials mishandled the environmental hazards caused by the collapse of the World Trade Center, according to a lawsuit filed yesterday in United States District Court in Manhattan.

Twelve Manhattan residents and workers sued the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to follow its own procedures to ensure the area was safe before allowing people to return.

They also accused the agency's former administrator, Christie Whitman, of displaying "a shockingly deliberate indifference to human health" when she issued reassuring statements about air quality downtown that proved to be misleading.

"As a result," according to the lawsuit, a large group of New Yorkers exposed "to hazardous substances for over two years is left with the expense of full and proper cleanup of their residences and workplaces, and is faced with potentially serious long-term health effects."

In a statement, an E.P.A. regional administrator, Jane M. Kenny, said she had not seen the lawsuit and would not comment on it.

Since the dense cloud of dust and debris billowed through Lower Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001, contradictory statements about safety and risk have tarnished the reputation of the federal agency. Some residents fear they were deliberately misled by government officials more eager to see normalcy return to the area than to safeguard New Yorkers.

Just last week, federal officials conceded their hope that the formation of a panel of independent experts to oversee the cleanup would help restore lost confidence.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of 12 residents - workers, students and business owners - but it seeks to represent the entire class of people exposed to the hazardous dust. One of the 12, Robert Gulack of Fair Lawn, N.J., a senior lawyer with the Securities and Exchange Commission, said he developed severe respiratory problems because improperly cleaned stairways and elevators contaminated his office.

The lawsuit claims the E.P.A. had the regulatory responsibility for cleaning up indoor spaces. Initially, it delegated the task to the city, and then failed to supervise the city's inadequate response, the suit says.

A year after the attack, the federal agency agreed to take over the indoor cleanup. It implemented a voluntary program for residences in a limited area around ground zero. But the area to be cleaned excluded many apartments north of Canal Street and in Brooklyn. Offices were also excluded.