NYT Bombshell: bushco Blocking Clinton's Anti-Terror Papers from Commish

[stopbush]

Sorry if this is a dupe. I didn't see it here.

Looks to me that these papers will PROVE beyond a shadow of a doubt that Clinton was on top of terrorism like a republican on nepotism. We can't have anything showing that BC knew what he was doing, especially if it makes bushco look all that much worse in comparison.

The New York Times
April 2, 2004
Bush Aides Block Clinton's Papers From 9/11 Panel
By PHILIP SHENON and DAVID E. SANGER

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.

(snip)

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.

(snip)

The general counsel of Mr. Clinton's presidential foundation, Bruce Lindsey, who was his deputy White House counsel, said in an interview that he was concerned that the Bush administration had applied a "very legalistic approach to the documents" and might have blocked the release of material that would be valuable to the commission.
(snip)

He said he had read through many of the 10,800 pages that were collected and believed them to be valuable to the work of the panel. "They involved all of the issues — Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, terrorism, all of the areas with the commission's jurisdiction," he said. He made his first public complaints about the handling of the documents in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Here: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/02/politics/02PANE.html?hp=&pagewanted=print&position=

[Dover]

1. What info don't they want revealed? I thought they were anxious to

lay the 9/11 failures at Clinton's feet? So why not show how he dealt with the threat during his presidency?

And still no mention of O'Neill in these proceedings as far as I know. How can an investigation on 9/11 overlook that whole piece...?

[mouse7]

2. Can't blame Clinton if Clinton fought Al-Queda and Bush wasn't

It's real clear that Clinton was making serious efforts to fight Al-Queda. Not massively successful efforts, but at least they were trying hard. Al-Queda will be seen all over the agendas of Clinton-era anti-terrorism meeting minutes.

Bush didn't even try.

[roguevalley]

3. saw clarke on a show -daily show? - who said that he must have

alerted the administrations to terrorists and terrorism and he said that CLINTON alerted HIM to it and made it a priority. Any wonder???

[redqueen]

5. That was priceless

Clinton got CLARKE invested in antiterror measures... priceless. :)

Too bad it's so easy for bush party loyalists to bury their heads and pretend that Clarke is a partisan money grubber. As the old saying goes - denial ain't just a river in Egypt.

What's sad is that this man served under FOUR administrations, and only quit out of FRUSTRATION after bush the moron invaded Iraq, despite being told by every expert except the ones he pays to be his yes men that it would HURT THE WAR ON TERROR!

They must keep out this knowledge or they'll have to admit what a royal screw up bush has been.

[ComerPerro]

4. Well, gotta perpetuate the lie of "Clinton didn't do anything" somehow

It is truly disgusting how many important documetns and info have been blocked by this administration, in the name of "national security".

These secretive motherfuckers think that they can do whatever they want without consequence, and they actually have loathing and contempt for the general public.

[nostamj]

6. also in today's PROGRESS REPORT

PLAYING POLITICS WITH NATIONAL SECURITY: The Bush White House has not turned over about 75% of the almost 11,000 pages of Clinton records "that document custodians had determined should be released to the commission investigating the terrorist attacks" to the 9/11 Commission, even though the records are vital to the panel's mission. Bruce Lindsey, former counsel to President Clinton, surprised many panel members with his charge that only a quarter of the documents the Clinton Library had made available over the past two years had actually been released. Clinton "had given authorization to the National Archives to gather evidence from Mr. Clinton's files that was sought by the independent commission...But the Bush administration...had final authority to decide what would be turned over." The Bush White House confirmed that it had withheld a variety of classified documents from Clinton's files. Clinton aides confirm that the files which were withheld "contained highly classified documents about the Clinton administration's efforts against Al Qaeda."


www.americanprogress.org


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1331877

[redqueen]

7. Oh thank goodness for REAL left-wing think tanks (unlike PPI)

:kick:

[redqueen]

8. Kick!

They're trying to spin this as 'oh those are all probably just duplicates'