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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, Democracy Now 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 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.

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