The Hindu : International : Bush, Cheney appear before 9/11 panel

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Friday, Apr 30, 2004

International

International

Bush, Cheney appear before 9/11 panel

WASHINGTON, APRIL 29. The U.S. President George W. Bush and the Vice-President Dick Cheney went behind closed doors on Thursday to answer questions from members of the Sept. 11 commission who want to know how followers of Osama bin Laden managed to pull off the worst terrorist attack in American history.

``This is a good opportunity for the President to sit down with members of the commission and talk with them about the seriousness with which we took the threat from Al-Qaeda, the steps we were taking to confront it, and how we have been responding to the attacks of Sept. 11,'' said the White House press secretary, Scott McClellan, on Thursday, shortly after the session began.

``I don't expect a readout on the discussion,'' he said. ``This is a private meeting. ... The discussion from this meeting will be reflected in their final report.'' The White House initially opposed the creation of the panel into the attacks that killed some 3,000 people in New York City, Washington and Pennsylvania.

Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney agreed to answer questions jointly after sparring with the commissioners for months over ground rules for the meeting. In the question-and-answer session, Mr. Bush faced a familiar challenge: convincing Americans that he responded appropriately to an intelligence system that the CIA Director, George Tenet, said was ``blinking red'' with warnings of a terrorist strike.

The top two elected U.S. officials were to be quizzed about why, for instance, the Bush administration did not make terrorism urgent priority, especially after an Aug. 6, 2001, presidential daily brief that warned of ``patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings.'' — AP

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