Calvinball

A few days ago the White House and the 9/11 investigative commission
came to an agreement concerning access to "sensitive" documents. The
Bush Administration was pleased with it, but here's what two members of
the panel had to say:

The limitations prompted angry condemnations yesterday from
two Democratic commissioners -- former senator Max Cleland (Ga.) and
former representative Timothy J. Roemer (Ind.) -- who have argued that
the commission should be more aggressive in seeking sensitive materials
from the Bush administration. Cleland called the agreement
"unconscionable" and said it "was deliberately compromised by the
president of the United States" to limit the commission's work. "If
this decision stands, I, as a member of the commission, cannot look any
American in the eye, especially family members of victims, and say the
commission had full access," Cleland said. "This investigation is now
compromised. . . . This is 'The Gong Show'; this isn't protection of
national security." Roemer said: "To paraphrase Churchill, never have
so few commissioners reviewed such important documents with so many
restrictions. The 10 commissioners should either have access to this or
not at all." The commission, which does not release vote counts and has
conducted many of its deliberations behind closed doors, declined
yesterday to publicly provide details about the agreement. "We believe
this agreement will prove satisfactory and enable us to get our job
done," a commission statement said.

But satisfactory to whom? That's the pertinent question here. If you're
the one who gets to make up the rules as you go, then of course you're
happy with them. But it's certainly not satisfactory to relatives of 9/11 victims:

Relatives of people who perished in the Sept. 11 attacks
say a federal commission accepted too many conditions in striking a
deal with the White House over access to secret intelligence documents.
The Family Steering Committee,
a group of victims' relatives who are monitoring the work of the
independent commission, criticized the agreement announced late
Wednesday. Under the deal, only some of the 10 commissioners
will be allowed to examine classified intelligence documents, and their
notes will be subject to White House review.
"We really want to know the details here," said Lorie Van Auken of New
Jersey, whose husband, Kenneth, was killed at the World Trade Center.
"I don't understand what's so secret about that. I mean, this is not a
game."

Posted by flow Frazao on November 13, 2003 at 05:22 PM | Permalink