Monday, July 26, 2004

Figures, again

From CNN:

CRAWFORD, Texas (CNN) -- President Bush and top security officials on Monday studied recommendations by an independent commission that investigated the September 11, 2001, attacks, White House officials said.

The 9/11 commission has pushed the White House and Congress to act quickly on its recommendations, which include appointing a Cabinet-level chief to oversee the nation's 15 intelligence agencies and a counterterrorism center modeled on the military's unified commands.

[. . .]

The president's top priority is to enact the commission's recommendations that he can implement through executive order, White House aides said.

Bush is expected to make decisions on some recommendations "within days," said one White House official, adding, "The president is on the fast track."

Senior administration officials describe the task force gathering as a "working meeting" that yielded no decisions but marked the beginning of "an ongoing process" of assessing intelligence and security reforms.

[. . .]

The 9/11 panel, officially called the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, released its findings Thursday in a 570-page report.

Chairman Thomas Kean and his fellow panelists cited a "failure of imagination" that they said kept U.S. officials from understanding al Qaeda's threat before the attacks on New York and Washington that killed nearly 3,000.

[. . .]


This is all bullshit designed to suck the air away from the Democratic convention. Bush won't commit to anything until after the election. At least, nothing that could be a political football. Don't even expect an executive order unless he's pretty sure congressional Republicans (and asshole Zell Miller) are behind him. This whole gung ho attitude from President Day Off toward the 9/11 Commission's recommendations will stay in Crawford. Remember, Bush and Cheney didn't want the Commission and obstructed them at every turn. Remember Condoliezza Rice and all that executive privilege bullshit? They'll talk about it until the press drops it and you won't hear anything else about it.

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