The Commission: What we didn’t know about 9/11 will get your heart racing, stomach knotted, fists pounding and blood boiling. All in no specific order. You will feel moved-to-action regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum.
Read this book and allow yourself to come back up-to-speed with the events surrounding 9/11. Learn about dirty politics played by the Bush Administration regarding staff appointments to the 9/11 Commission.
Philip Shenon, the New York Times staff writer in Washington DC offers a behind the scenes look at twisted politics and power in Washington DC and NYC. The book’s focus is simple: the Commission formation and events surrounding their investigation of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Remember the Jersey Girls? Or senior Bush Administration officials who actually fought against forming the 9/11 commission?
Throughout the book Shenon documents how Philip Zelikow, appointed 9/11 Commission Executive Director was viewed by the commission staff as a mole for the Bush White House. Zelikow served President-elect Bush as a member of his transition team prior to being appointed Executive Director of the 9/11 Commission. Soon after the Commission’s report was published Zelikow accepted an offer from Condoleezza Rice to work in the White House.
Remember George Bush initially nominated Henry Kissinger to head the commission? Yet when victims families first met with him (including the Jersey Girls) they learned Kissinger’s personal consulting company had the Bin Ladin family as a client. The families were outrage and Kissinger resigned the following day.
During public hearings in NYC Shenon documented how the 9/11 Commission was handicapped by the ego of newly elected mayor Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg saw the commission as something “from Washington” and wanted little to do with them while public testimony was scheduled in “his” city.
All set against tension filled events. The 9/11 Commission members had to ask for ‘approval’ from the Bush White House to even have Condoleezza Rice appear.
Remember Bush first issuing ‘executive privilege’ as the reason he did not permit Rice to testify? Part of the negotiation between the 9/11 Commission and the White House: the consent that the commission would not request any further testimonials following Rice’s appearance. Here is the tension filled ‘allotted time’ with commissioner Richard Ben-Veneste.
Shenon explains Rice’s “historical data” comments as well as acknowledging that behind the scenes, as part of the deal by Bush to permit Rice to address the commission, she was in fact given a time limit of 10 minutes of questions/per commissioner. Finally Shenon gracefully explains how she was able to spin other questions and make statements in her remarks in order to eat up the allotted time. In the clip above Ben-Veneste is allocated a small series of questions.
Really …. time limits on testimony regarding the White House actions on 9/11?
Recall that both Cheney and Bush refused to testify under oath. A’negotiation’ outcome: their meetings with the Commissioners would be without ANY written notes in their joint appearance.
Also there was no option to interview President Bush individually. That statement frustrated the Commission staff. The 9/11 Commission felt so mislead by the military that series discussion within the commission developed about submitting a request to the Justice Department regarding criminal actions against the Pentagon.
Any surprise that the final report issued by the Commission was not well received?
The book includes a number of eye-opening events that confuse the reader if the goals were to find why the terrorists caught America flat-footed. My stomach was knotted several times where politics played more important roles that the lives lost on 9/11.