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Extension unlikely for 9/11 panel

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, JAN. 19. The 10-member bipartisan panel investigating the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon is unlikely to get any more extension of time. The work of the panel comes to a close by the end of May and The Washington Post, quoting unnamed officials, said that both the U.S. President, George W. Bush, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert, had decided to oppose any extension.

Several Commission members, Republican and Democrat, have of late been saying that it is not possible to finish the work in time. . What was also being said was that the attitude of the Federal Government agencies — the White House included — did not help matters like unearthing and analysing documents. As a result, it is said that the Commission has decided to scale back, among other things, the nature and scope of public hearings where prominent individuals of the Bush and the Clinton administrations are expected to testify. Further, it is believed to be seeking the private testimonies of Mr. Bush, the former President, Bill Clinton, the Vice-President, Dick Cheney, and the former Vice-President, Al Gore.

The panel, which was the creation of the Congress in late 2002, was given the task of submitting its report to the President and the Congress by May 27 with another 60 days thrown in for providing supplementals. But conservatives in the Government and the political spectrum who had opposed the creation of the panel — or at best had a lukewarm attitude all along — have flatly opposed any extension of deadline.

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