Marie Cocco: 9/11 Panel Gets Tough With City, but Not Bush

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Marie Cocco
9/11 Panel Gets Tough With City, but Not Bush

November 25, 2003 http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-vpcoc253558548nov25,0,1024393.column?coll=ny-viewpoints-headlines


And the president simply refuses to give the briefs to the panel, though each of its 10 members has the proper security clearance. The commission, in turn, simply refuses to treat Bush the same way it treats Bloomberg: as a witness to history who holds information crucial to compiling what is supposed to be an unfettered account of what happened on that day, and why.


It calls for as few as two, or as many as four, of its representatives to review some portions of the briefings. The panel members could take notes, but these would have to be left at the White House.


So the White House controls the number of panel members who get to see the key materials, a power never contemplated in the law that created the commission. It controls which articles of information are produced. Ultimately, it controls even the summaries through which a handful of commissioners are to convey to fellow panelists their understanding of what they've read.



But at least such a showdown would spare us the unctuous White House statements about how the president is cooperating fully, completely and earnestly - while he is fully, completely and earnestly constructing a stonewall.