From The Associated Press, 2/12/04:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040212/ap_on_re_us/sept_11_commission&cid=519&ncid=716
Sept. 11 Panel to Ask for Bush Testimony
MADISON, N.J. -
The federal commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks will soon
ask President Bush, former President Bill Clinton and their vice
presidents to testify in public about possible warnings they might
have received from U.S. intelligence sources before the attacks.
"We need them to testify," former New Jersey Gov. Thomas H. Kean, the
bipartisan commission's chairman, told The Record of Bergen County in
a story published Thursday.
He said the panel would issue formal invitations within the next few
weeks, although he conceded that all four men would probably decline
to be questioned at a public forum.
However, Kean said their cooperation was crucial to the commission's
work, so he hoped they would at least consent to private interviews
with the panel.
"They all have important pieces to tell us and important questions to
answer, so they will all be getting an invitation and we're in contact
already with their staffs in every case," Kean said Wednesday on "The
NewsHour with Jim Lehrer."
Clinton has previously said that he would be willing to testify, and
Bush said in an NBC interview last week that he would "perhaps" submit
to questions from the commission.
Commission vice chairman Lee Hamilton told the "NewsHour," "My hope in
the end that the president will agree that to meet with us and answer
whatever questions we have."
However, a White House spokeswoman said Wednesday that she did not
know whether Bush would agree to testify or be interviewed.
"I can't speculate on that," said Pamela Stevens, assistant White
House press secretary.
"We've given them committee members unprecedented access. We've worked
in a very cooperative manner with them. We've given them 2.3 million
documents, and we just continue to work with them in a cooperative
manner."
Kean, who is now president of Drew University in Madison, said the
commission also plans to seek public testimony from Secretary of State
Colin L. Powell, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, CIA Director George Tenet, Attorney General
John Ashcroft and their counterparts in the Clinton administration.
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Great. And let the chips fall where they may.
Harry
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