US congress votes Friday morning for 'independent' Sept 11 investigation. (Sept 11 --2001)

Friday November 15, 2002 18:06

by underground and blind

independent.

very independent. independent? yes the culture that gave us "independece day" now gives us an "independent inquiry into Sept 11th 2001.

full text by Thomas Ferraro on Reuters.com

selected excerpts for interested readers....
The House of Representatives approved legislation early on Friday to create a bipartisan, independent commission to conduct a sweeping probe into last year's Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
(note attacks on the US not attacks on locations within the US, these are beofer the inquiry attacks on a nationstate)
The 366-3 vote came shortly past midnight and just hours after the White House and congressional leaders struck a deal on the long-sought investigation.
================(it´s been talked about since Sept 12 2001, by the relatives and many other interests supporting the "international war against terrorism")

The measure now goes to the Senate, which may approve it as early as Friday, and then send it to President Bush to sign into law.

================[The last Sentate vote concerning current international affairs perhaps of interest to Irish readers, was the invasion of Iraq vote, Senate voted 23 against, and in the week of the IRish referendum oddly enough Congress voted 133 against)
The 10-member commission would have 18 months to examine how the assaults on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon outside Washington were able to take place, specifically looking into any possible breakdown in security.

================[how did Das Bild come to publish the identity of the pilots before Reuters for example c/f Das Bild Sept 13 2001]

Rep. Ray LaHood, an Illinois Republican, cast one of the three "no" votes, denouncing it as a "blame-game commission."

================[very good at playing games on Capitol Hill]
House Democratic Whip Nancy Pelosi of California disagreed, saying, "The purpose ... isn't to assign blame. It is to find out why .... We have to get to the bottom of this."
================[quite right to Nancy, right to the dirty bottom]
The administration had long opposed such a commission, arguing that a congressional investigation was better equipped to preserve national security secrets.
================[was the President "in the air" as reported by Cheney contrary to all normal safety provisions of the US executive during a situtation where DEFCON status goes above 3]

Even after it accepted the idea in September, it argued with lawmakers over its composition.

===============[lawyers don´t we love ´em]

But families of the victims of the attacks, in which more than 3,000 people were killed, led a public campaign for its creation, putting pressure on the White House and congressional leaders to finally reach their agreement on Thursday.

"This is a decisive victory for the families of September 11th victims and the nation as a whole," said Democratic Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut,
==============[ yes siree the very same Sen. Joe Lieberman who ran for office as vice-president]

who has pushed for creation of the commission since shortly after the attacks.

==============[ look at my comment above and c/f indymedia article link :http://ireland.indymedia.org/cgi-bin/newswire.cgi?id=17293, very long but worth considering in "detail" where the devil is normally found.

"Finally we will get a clear picture of what government agencies failed, how they failed and why," Lieberman said.

=============[Lieberman is currently avoiding Israeli issues and is focussing his future political ambitions (the White House) with lots of help from his friends. [they´re not all our friends by the way]

Congressional and administration negotiators agreed that the 10-member commission would be equally divided with five Republican appointees and five Democratic appointees.

=================[american democracy for you]

In addition, Bush would name the chairman and the Democratic congressional leadership would pick the vice chairman.

=================[well he would wouldn´t he, to quote Mr Bush badly on the Iraqi parliament "its just a rubber stamp organisation".

SWEEPING PROBE

The commission would have 18 months to conduct a sweeping probe, with the White House funding it from existing accounts.

================[accountablity and published $ figures, will affect thoughts on lots, and be stopped by the "national security don´t say how spend the black budget $]

Subpoenas could be issued by agreement of chair and vice chair or a vote of six of the 10 commission members.

================[possible extra-national territorial powers as ascribed to the US executive in the enabling act of late September 2001, are you waiting for the FBI to knock on your door? "where we you on Sept 11 2001?"

The commission probe would be broader than one already conducted jointly by the House of Representatives and Senate Intelligence committees, which focused on the failures of U.S. spy agencies. The commission would also look at a variety of other matters, from aviation to immigration.

=================[yes sirree the inquiry that blamed the FBI and led to new intelligence arangements, and larger budgets]
"I don't know why we couldn't have done this six months ago," said House Intelligence Committee Chairman Porter Goss, a Florida Republican. "It makes perfect sense to me."

=================[florida republicans weren´t so secure six months ago]

The agreement was reached after a new round of talks between the White House and key lawmakers who pursued the commission -- Lieberman and Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican.

=================[arizona arizona great big place arizona]

They were joined by Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi, who will be the majority leader in the new Congress that convenes in January.

=================[the man who will comment on the Israeli elections of January 28th 2003, watch out for Sen. Lieberman´s reply to that one, some press releases are worth predicting]
"Our agreement protects the principles we and the families of September 11th have pursued in calling for such a commission since last November: equal bipartisan membership, a broad mandate to review policies and responses related to the terrorists attacks ... and subpoena power to dig deep," McCain said.

=================[sub poena powers in american mean something very different to good old friendly european law or indeed Irish / British anglo-saxon law. think about sub poenas issued by Mc Carthy to the "anti-american" comitee.

=============go check out the newsreport.