Gorelick's New Wall
From the Washington Post:At last week's hearing, Attorney General John Ashcroft, facing criticism, asserted that "the single greatest structural cause for September 11 was the wall that segregated criminal investigators and intelligence agents" and that I built that wall through a March 1995 memo. This is simply not true.Related story from the Washington Times
...
This history has all been well-rehearsed in publicly available briefs, opinions and reports, all available to the 9/11 commission. I have -- consistent with the policy applied to all commissioners -- recused myself from any consideration of my actions or of the department while I was there. My fellow commissioners have spoken for themselves in rejecting the call by a few partisans that I step aside based upon false premises. I have worked hard to help the American public understand what happened on Sept. 11. I intend -- with my brethren on the commission -- to finish the job
- Jamie Gorelick
Former acting FBI Director Thomas J. Pickard told the September 11 commission in a private interview earlier this year that he was surprised that Jamie S. Gorelick is serving on the panel because she had played a key role in setting the very counterterrorism policies being investigated.
According to a summary of that interview obtained by The Washington Times, Mr. Pickard said Ms. Gorelick — who was No. 2 in the Clinton Justice Department under Attorney General Janet Reno — resisted efforts by the FBI to expand the counterterrorism effort beyond simple law enforcement tactics and agencies.
Related links:
Gorelink's "Wall" MemoAshcroft's Opening Statement
Commission Guidelines on Recusals
Matt's Chat
We continue to assert that Ms. Gorelick should be a witness, not a commissioner. No one else who was involved has the advantage of being a commissioner. She has avoided the hot seat and has actually stoked the fire a few times herself. Each of the five points she asserts in her rebuttal in the Post is exactly what she needs to testify to under oath, if she is to be believed.For you hamsters out there, it is kind of like the furor over getting Rice to testify. I won't believe Gorelick until she is on national television and under oath.
This woman is hiding her own involvement and trying to blame others. I am not buying it. And neither should you.
Mark's Remarks
I think though, that she let a Freudian slip go through: "this history has been well-rehearsed"....Yep, Ms. Gorelick, we know you and Bin Vineste and Bob "hey I'm another liberal Vietnam war hero" Kerrey and Roemer and Co. have been rehearsing your talking points over and over.
Ms. Gorelick, you were no. 2 at Justice. You authored a memo building a wall between the CIA and FBI, and advocating such....A structural barrier that led to information not being shared about terrorism that may or may not have had to do with 9/11....Your role was crucial in the development and deployment of that policy and others by the Clinton Admin as it relates to domestic intelligence.....
So, how can you say with even a remote straight face that you should continue on this commission and not be a witness? How can these commissioners ignore such a BLATANT conflict of interest? How can Americans believe in this commission, when any pretense of non-partisanship or revisionist history has been blown away by this scandal and by the intimidation of the commissioners toward anyone from the Bush administration? This commission should be disbanded for becoming irrelevant. And Chairman Kean and Co. should be ashamed they wasted so much effort and time. This commission could have been important to evaluating intel issues, instead it developed into the Blame Game, and Kean just sat on his arse and let it happen, so as not to offend. Sir, grow a spine.
