Bush, Cheney and the 9/11 Commission. Will We Ever Know?

hi infowarrior- I think we might be able to learn what Bush said under the Freedom of Information Act once he's out of office, which I hope will be another 6 months or so.

I don't know. Even with the FOIA, he has still got lots of stuff under wraps for 7 years. I don't know how that works, but if it's do-able, I think your prediction will come true, info.

I dont think well ever see it untill Bush and all the republican government is out of office. This means that the conserative judges would have to go too. Ill be long dead before it comes to the fore and the kids who read the history wont understand what the hallabou is about. Look at todays kids. My grandchildern and most of thier friends wonder why Hitler was so hated. Living history is completely different than reading about it.

Even the committee members agree that closed door sessions are more fruitful as the public sessions are mostly entertainment.

Is not testifying under oath and refusing to be recorded fruitful, too?
I think this is an outrage.

Just bear in mind what the 9/11 commission is designed to do. It is NOT designed to crucify anyone or to pander to the public. It was created to find out why 9/11 happened and how we can stop future 9/11 type events in the future.

As far as I understand it there won't be any transcripts - only "note taking"...

"Just bear in mind what the 9/11 commission is designed to do. It is NOT designed to crucify anyone or to pander to the public. It was created to find out why 9/11 happened and how we can stop future 9/11 type events in the future."

This didn't go over well when lefty's were saying it! Hmmm. But I understand your point, mcG, as I've said it myself.
However, not allowing it to be recorded seems pretty shady. It would be valuable for the historical record; you know, when, as Bush so eloquently put it "we'll all be dead".

The same reason that they could not make copies of every Presidental Daily Briefing. The interests of National Security are at risk. Hopefully, the committee will be asking some very in depth questions that get to the root of our national security and will be getting answers that can not have a paper trail.

Bush and Cheney met with the 9/11 Commission this morning.

Hopefully they cleared up all those niggling little questions about what they knew about the threat to this country prior to 9/11 and specifically what they did about it. The country will be able to rest assured that our leadership did the right thing and all will be well, because we will know that Bush and Cheney have been forthright in their testimony.

Except that we won't.

Bush and Cheney had members of the commission come to the Oval Office. Bush and Cheney will not be sworn to tell the truth. They will give testimony together. There will be no recording of the testimony, and no transcript.

Essentially they could tell hunting tales for two hours and we'd never know it.

There should be a common quest for solutions to what happened on September 11. Why is the White House treating it like it's an adversarial situation?

Remember, Bush never wanted this commission. He was forced into it at the risk of great political expense. Then he tried to limit the scope of the inquiry by establishing a quick deadline, which he was also forced to back down from. He refused to have his National Security Advisor testify under oath, and again only relented under enormous pressure from Republicans like John Lehman on the commission itself ("a poltical blunder of the first order," the former Navy Secretary said).

Besides all the other enemies real and imagined that the White House claims, today you can add truth, justice, and the American way to the list. These guys don't want to get to the bottom of anything -- or more accurately, they don't want us to get to the bottom of anything.

I should be more outraged here, I know. But for some reason this morning, I feel much the same numbness as I did when that 757 hit the second World Trade tower.

Today, the very truth that this country is founded on is under attack. And the attackers are the ones who tell us they're defending us.

Good post, P.

Bush, Cheney, 9-11 Commission
As I understand it, there will be no actual transcript. There will however be a "note taker"...........?

No it's not. It is speculation. That's it. PDiddie has a negative opinion about the current administration (One that he has determined to be credible and that's fine, a lot of people don't like this administration) and is simply projecting his negative opinion on today's events.

I believe that the commission is bi-partisan enough that if Bush and/or Cheney did not answer to the best of their abilities news will be leaked of it and it will be written about in the form of the commissions final report.

P - Good post.

I finally figured out why they both had to be in the room at once....it's because there is only "note taking" going on and the commission is only allowed one note-taker. This way if they both talk the whole time the secretary will have to focus on one or the other and the notes should be really nice and unclear.

Well said P.D.

In reply to journalist's questions afterwards, the President did reveal that he did not consider that the families of the victims of 9/11 are entitled to know anything about his evidence to the investigators.

well, I really did not expect the "meeting" to take as long as it did, after all George said he was going to tell them everything he knew. I expected two minutes, tops, but then if he was reading from notes that would have taken longer.

If Bush's testimony before the panel was as rambling and incoherent as his recent news conference, I doubt the public is missing much...

Why only one note-taker?
You're probably right, Jer, and that makes this even more outrageous.