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April 18, 2003
 Why
Is Bush Back-Pedaling On 9/11 Commission?
By
Joe Guzzardi
In his
April 11th remarks at the Army
and Navy Medical Centers in Bethesda, Maryland,
a glowing George W. Bush said, “The Iraqi
theater was a part of the war on terror, and we
continue to fight the war on terror.”
What he meant is that he is willing
to do the easy thing – comparatively - by conquering
Iraq. That is a political no-brainer. Trounce the enemy,
make countless patriotic speeches and watch your
popularity soar.
But deal with our wide-open borders,
our flawed legal immigration system, and our crazy visa
scams—no way! That’s tough, ugly business. (See Bill
Gertz’s recent Washington Times story
“Terrorists said to seek entry to U.S. via Mexico”
which reported that 14 Al Qaeda terrorist tried to enter
the U.S. through Mexico.)
If you think I’m exaggerating, then
explain Bush’s tepid endorsement of the
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the U.S.
White House support for the
Commission has been
luke-warm from the beginning. Perhaps hoping that the
Commission would just push papers around, Bush first
appointed the fossilized
Henry Kissinger to head the investigation.
But
disgusted victim family members booted Kissinger,
tight with
Saudi Arabia, out before he got in.
Then money became the issue. When it
looked like Congress was going to pull the funding plug
on the Commission after the $3 million start-up money was
spent, even the New York Times wrote a critical
editorial titled
“Undercutting the 9/11 Inquiry.”
After a week of haggling, Congress
finally came through with an
additional $11 million. But prying minds want to know
why the shuttle disaster (seven deaths opposed to 3,000)
has a $40 million budget - or why $30 million was wasted
on the Whitewater inquiry (no fatalities).
Figuring out why Bush wants the
Commission to disappear is easy. The Commission will
certainly find—and we hope widely report—the same things
that
Michelle Malkin, Dr.
Steven Camarota and
Mindy Kleinberg already know: that the U.S. heeded no
warning about the consequences of letting anyone into
America for any reason at any time.
And the Commission will doubtlessly
conclude, as have Malkin, Camorata and Kleinberg, that
nothing much has been done since 9/11 to make America
safe from future terrorist attacks.
VDARE.COM.com readers know Malkin
and her best-seller,
Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists,
Criminals and Other Foreign Menaces to Our Shores.
And many of you know the in-depth
research reports by Dr. Camorata of the Center for
Immigration Studies. On terrorism and 9/11 read his “How
Have Terrorists Entered the U.S.?” (Full
report,
Op-ed based on the full report.)
But Mindy Kleinberg’s name may be
new to you. Kleinberg, who
testified during the
first day of National Commission hearings, lost her
husband at the World Trade Center.
Kleinberg asked: “Where was our
government, its agencies, its institutions prior to and
on the morning of 9/11?”
She comes up with interesting
answers.
While naming the usual suspects -
the I.N.S., the State Department and overseas consular
offices—Kleinberg adds new villains.
- Where was the Securities and Exchange Commission?
The S.E.C. monitors the domestic and overseas security
markets for irregularities that might tip-off criminal
activity. Yet it didn’t catch the largest dollar volume
of
put options purchased on United and American Airlines
at the Chicago Board Options Exchange.
A week before 9/11, someone gambled
that the value of United and American shares would drop
dramatically. The $5 million in profit from those trades
is still unclaimed and the names of the investors still
undisclosed.
- Where were the FAA and NORAD? According to the FAA
and Department of Defense manuals, the
FAA is to notify NORAD immediately in emergency
situations. NORAD then scrambles fighter jets to
intercept errant planes. But NORAD was not contacted
until 20 minutes after AA Flight 11 out of Boston had
become non-responsive to ground control. And the fighter
jets were not deployed until 32 minutes after loss of
contact.
Directly relevant to VDARE.COM,
Kleinberg concluded her testimony by pulling out copies
of
U.S. visa application forms filled out by the
terrorists with incomplete or evasive answers,
(Q: Destination? A: Hotel).
At the end of the two days of
hearings, one of the Commissioners, former White House
Counsel
Fred Fielding said, “Your stories are very
compelling. Please stay with us. Please keep giving us
guidance.”
I spoke to several family members
who attended the hearings. Most came away with the sense
that the Commission would like to do the right thing.
But some feel that Bush may not
share the Commission’s enthusiasm for the unvarnished
truth.
Said
Peter Gadiel of the
Coalition for a Secure Driver's License and
9/11 Families For A Secure America:
“As a
lifelong Republican I can only say that George
Bush's fervent attempts to block the legislation that
created the commission and now his attempt to starve it
of funds give the strong impression of a man afraid of
what an effective commission would disclose.
“With
Bush's truly incredible refusal to make any effort to
bring realistic forces to the country's border with
Mexico for the purpose of reducing the flow of illegal
immigrants, terrorists and drugs, how can you conclude
that he is serious about making America safe?”
Concluded Gadiel:
“Bush may be riding high now
but he could wind up back in Texas sooner than he
thinks. If he believes that the 9/11 families are going
to settle for a cover-up, then he is nuts. If we come to
believe that he has betrayed us, and we start going
around the country in 2004 and send out the message that
the Commission's cover-up is Bush's cover-up, he is
finished.”
Joe Guzzardi [email
him], an instructor in English at the Lodi
Adult School, has been writing a weekly newspaper column
since 1988. This column is exclusive to VDARE.COM.
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