NYT: Bush Aides Block Clinton's Papers From 9/11 Panel

[kskiska]

On Edit: Meant this for LBN. Oh, well…

WASHINGTON, April 1 — The commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks said on Thursday that it was pressing the White House to explain why the Bush administration had blocked thousands of pages of classified foreign policy and counterterrorism documents from former President Bill Clinton's White House files from being turned over to the panel's investigators.

The White House confirmed on Thursday that it had withheld a variety of classified documents from Mr. Clinton's files that had been gathered by the National Archives over the last two years in response to requests from the commission, which is investigating intelligence and law enforcement failures before the attacks.

Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, said some Clinton administration documents had been withheld because they were "duplicative or unrelated," while others were withheld because they were "highly sensitive" and the information in them could be relayed to the commission in other ways. "We are providing the commission with access to all the information they need to do their job," Mr. McClellan said.

The commission and the White House were reacting to public complaints from former aides to Mr. Clinton, who said they had been surprised to learn in recent months that three-quarters of the nearly 11,000 pages of files the former president was ready to offer the commission had been withheld by the Bush administration. The former aides said the files contained highly classified documents about the Clinton administration's efforts against Al Qaeda.

more…
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/02/politics/02PANE.html?hp

[fearnobush]

1. Condi and * "envisioned military strikes only as a last resort."

<snip>
The so-called National Security Presidential Directive envisioned the military action as the last step of a three-to-five year plan. It called for two earlier steps — a diplomatic mission to the Taliban and covert action — and envisioned military strikes only as a last resort.

The actual language in the directive could be interpreted in two very different ways when Ms. Rice testifies. On the one hand, she will undoubtedly use it to build her case that the administration took the Qaeda threat seriously.

But because the policy was supposed to unfold over three to five years, it suggests that the threat posed by Al Qaeda and its Taliban hosts in Afghanistan was not considered an urgent one by the White House, bolstering Mr. Clarke's accusations.

[libbygurl]

Again, what are they trying to hide? To Karl & co: The game is up!

[David Dunham]

2. Ourageous!! Bush want to conceal Clinton's fight against Bin Laden

[grannylib]

3. This whole charade by BushCo thugs is just pathetic; it is so obvious

that they are scrambling in desperation to hide the truth from the commission and the public. This utter bullshit about Chimpy only testifying if Unca Dick is there to hold his hand is just ludicrous. The facts speak loudly and clearly on this issue; Bush and his handlers and their minions did NOT take terrorism seriously until post-9/11; they in fact worked AGAINST couterterrorism by cutting funding and ignoring warnings.
Filth. Fucking filth, every one of them, from Asscroft to Bushbaby to Cheney, all the way down to condosleaZZa.