Twenty Questions (+3)
For awhile now, Slacktivist has been featuring individual items from the list questions the Family Steering Committee of the 9-11 Commission has assembled and would like to ask the president.
Now, after first saying he would would only meet with the chair and vice-chair of the commission, and that he would only answer their questions for an hour, the White House seemed to back-track from that position a bit on Tuesday (though as Josh Marshall points in his post at Talking Points Memo on just what Scott McClellan said during Tuesday's news gaggle, it's a bit hard to tell).
If Bush truly is willing now to answer all the commission's questions, the FSC's questions are the ones the commissioners should pose. They'll take a lot longer than an hour to answer, but they'll also go a long way toward addressing the commission's charter:
. . . to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, including preparedness for and the immediate response to the attacks.
Fortunately, the full list of the Family Steering Committee's questions to the president arrived in my email box the other day. Here they are for your consideration; consider, too, the effort the Bush administration has spent trying to avoid giving testimony in public and, perhaps, answering these questions at all.
Before an audience of the American people, the Commission must ask President Bush in sworn testimony, the following questions:
1. As Commander-in-Chief on the morning of 9/11, why didn't you return immediately to Washington, D.C. or the National Military Command Center once you became aware that America was under attack? At specifically what time did you become aware that America was under attack? Who informed you of this fact?
2. On the morning of 9/11, who was in charge of our country while you were away from the National Military Command Center? Were you informed or consulted about all decisions made in your absence?
3. What defensive action did you personally order to protect our nation during the crisis on September
11th? What time were these orders given, and to whom? What orders were carried out? What was the result of such orders? Were any such orders not carried out?
4. In your opinion, why was our nation so utterly unprepared for an attack on our own soil?
5. U.S. Navy Captain Deborah Loewer, the Director of the White House Situation Room, informed you of the first airliner hitting Tower One of the World Trade Center before you entered the Emma E. Booker
Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida. Please explain the reason why you decided to continue with the
scheduled classroom visit, fifteen minutes after learning the first hijacked airliner had hit the World Trade Center.
6. Is it normal procedure for the Director of the White House Situation Room to travel with you? If so, please cite any prior examples of when this occurred. If not normal procedure, please explain the circumstances that led to the Director of the White House Situation Room being asked to accompany you to Florida during the week of September 11th.
7. What plan of action caused you to remain seated after Andrew Card informed you that a second airliner
had hit the second tower of the World Trade Center and America was clearly under attack? Approximately how long did you remain in the classroom after Card's message?
8. At what time were you made aware that other planes were hijacked in addition to Flight 11 and Flight 175? Who notified you? What was your course of action as Commander-in-Chief of the United States?
9. Beginning with the transition period between the Clinton administration and your own, and ending on
9/11/01, specifically what information (either verbal or written) about terrorists, possible attacks and
targets, did you receive from any source?
This would include briefings or communications from:
a. Out-going Clinton officials
b. CIA, FBI, NSA, DoD and other intelligence agencies
c. Foreign intelligence, governments, dignitaries or
envoys
d. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice
e. Richard Clarke, former counterterrorism czar
10. Specifically, what did you learn from the August 6, 2001, PDB about the terrorist threat that was
facing our nation? Did you request any follow-up action to take place? Did you request any further report be
developed and/or prepared?
11. As Commander-in-Chief, from May 1, 2001 until September 11, 2001, did you receive any information
from any intelligence agency official or agent that UBL [bin Laden] was planning to attack this nation on its
own soil using airplanes as weapons, targeting New York City landmarks during the week of September 11, 2001 or on the actual day of September 11, 2001?
12. What defensive measures did you take in response to pre-9/11 warnings from eleven nations about a terrorist attack, many of which cited an attack in the continental United States? Did you prepare any
directives in response to these actions? If so, with what results?
13. As Commander-in-Chief from May 1, 2001 until September 11, 2001, did you or any agent of the United
States government carry out any negotiations or talks with UBL, an agent of UBL, or al-Qaeda? During that same period, did you or any agent of the United States government carry out any negotiations or talks with any foreign government, its agents, or officials regarding UBL? If so, what resulted?
14. Your schedule for September 11, 2001 was in the public domain since September 7, 2001. The Emma E. Booker School is only five miles from the Bradenton Airport, so you, and therefore the children in the
classroom, might have been a target for the terrorists on 9/11. What was the intention of the Secret Service in allowing you to remain in the Emma E. Booker Elementary School, even though they were aware America was under attack?
15. Please explain why you remained at the Sarasota, Florida, Elementary School for a press conference
after you had finished listening to the children read, when as a terrorist target, your presence potentially
jeopardized the lives of the children?
16. What was the purpose of the several stops of Air Force One on September 11th? Was Air Force One at any time during the day of September 11th a target of the terrorists? Was Air Force One's code ever breached on September 11th?
17. Was there a reason for Air Force One lifting off without a military escort, even after ample time had
elapsed to allow military jets to arrive?
18. What prompted your refusal to release the information regarding foreign sponsorship of the
terrorists, as illustrated in the inaccessible 28 redacted pages in the Joint Intelligence Committee
Inquiry Report? What actions have you personally taken since 9/11 to thwart foreign sponsorship of terrorism?
19. Who approved the flight of the bin Laden family out of the United States when all commercial flights
were grounded, when there was time for only minimal questioning by the FBI, and especially, when two of
those same individuals had links to WAMY, a charity suspected of funding terrorism? Why were bin Laden
family members granted that special privilege--a privilege not available to American families whose
loved ones were killed on 9/11?
20. Please explain why no one in any level of our government has yet been held accountable for the
countless failures leading up to and on 9/11?
21. Please comment on the fact that UBL's profile on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives poster does not
include the 9/11 attacks. To your knowledge, when was the last time any agent of our government had contact with UBL? If prior to 9/11, specifically what was the date of that contact and what was the context of said meeting.
22. Do you continue to maintain that Saddam Hussein was linked to al Qaeda? What proof do you have of any connection between al-Qaeda and the Hussein regime?
23. Which individuals, governments, agencies, institutions, or groups may have benefited from the
attacks of 9/11? Please state specifically how you think they have benefited.
-- The Family Steering Committee for the 9/11 Independent Commission
abuddhas memes
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