The Hindu : International : 9/11 probe panel rebukes failure to comprehend threat

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 23, 2004

International

International

9/11 probe panel rebukes failure to comprehend threat

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, JULY 22. The National Commission which investigated the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 has rebuked both the Clinton and the Bush administrations for failing to comprehend the enormity of the threat posed by terror outfits like the Al-Qaeda and has recommended a deep shake-up of the intelligence agencies to meet future dangers.

The Commission has also said that while there were conversations between the Al-Qaeda and Iraq in the run-up to 9/11, Iraq was not involved in the attacks of the day; and the Co Chair of the panel, Lee Hamilton also remarked that Official Saudi Arabia had nothing to do with the events of 9/11 as suggested in some quarters.

The bottom line was that the United States was unprepared on September 11, 2001 for the kind of terror attack that inflicted `unbearable trauma' on the country, remarked the Chair of the National Commission, Thomas Kean. In his opening remarks, Mr. Kean said the failure on 9/11 was on many fronts — policy, management, capability and above all `a failure of imagination'.

"The 9/11 attacks were a shock, but they should not have come as a surprise. Islamist extremists had given plenty of warning that they meant to kill Americans indiscriminately and in large numbers", the report said.

The report has a string of recommendations including the overhaul of the intelligence agencies; the creation of a Director of National Intelligence who will oversee all intelligence agencies including the Central Intelligence Agency and report directly to the White House. The Commission has also recommended the creation of a national counter-terrorism centre with a view to better coordinating and sharing information about future attacks.

The bipartisan panel spent nearly 20 months compiling this 500-plus page report studying not only the minute details of the plot that killed nearly 3000 people in Washington, New York and Pennsylvania but also on ways to strengthen the intelligence mechanism to prevent further attacks.

Missed opportunities

The report has listed at least 10 `missed opportunities' by the CIA and the FBI in the run-up to 9/11 in the realm of interpretation or even sharing of information that could have helped penetrate the plot. And in the face of numerous, but not specific, warnings of attacks in the summer of 2001, the Attorney General John Ashcroft assumed that the FBI was taking necessary action and never asked the agency what it was doing. "Domestic agencies never mobilised in response to the threat", the report said.

Over the months a persistent question faced by the Commission was whether the 9/11 attacks `could' have been prevented or `should' have been prevented. Senior members of the panel have at various times talked only of the possibilities of the attacks being `thwarted' or that there were `many opportunities' out there that were not taken advantage of.

What has attracted considerable attention in the last few days is the Commission's findings and remarks on the nature of relationship between the Al-Qaeda and Iran — the broad finding being one of a much closer relationship than what it had been with Iraq which had no operational links with the terror outfit. Among the latest findings that have surfaced in the media is that as many as 10 of the Sept 11, 2001 hijackers passed through Iran before the attacks. But the Commission has also stressed that there is no evidence linking Iran to 9/11, a position that is shared by senior administration officials.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

International