Bush tells panel memo lacked data

President Bush told the September 11 commission yesterday in a closed-door meeting that a memo saying Osama bin Laden wanted to conduct terrorist attacks in the United States did not provide enough intelligence for his administration to stop the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Mr. Bush explained that the intelligence did not specify a time or place for an attack, but if his administration had known more, it would have taken every action to thwart the al Qaeda terrorists.

One commission member told The Washington Times on the condition of anonymity that Mr. Bush was asked several questions in the three-hour Oval Office session about the now-famous Aug. 6, 2001, presidential daily briefing, titled “Bin Ladin Determined to Strike In U.S.”

The commission said yesterday that Mr. Bush, who testified with Vice President Dick Cheney, was “forthcoming and candid.”

In addition, several commission members rebutted Democratic charges from before — and after — the meeting that Mr. Bush insisted on being with Mr. Cheney in order to have a coach at his side for hard questions.

“There was no huddling, no looking over his shoulder,” Republican panel member John Lehman said, noting that Mr. Bush never consulted with Mr. Cheney or White House Counsel Albert Gonzales before answering a question.

“He certainly did not need to look at any cheat sheets or look to anyone else,” he said.

Despite clamoring by several of the five Democrats on the commission that the president was not allotting enough time to answer questions, the meeting ran so long that two members — former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey and former Indiana Rep. Lee H. Hamilton — left early to attend previous commitments.

Mr. Hamilton left 40 minutes early because, as president of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, he needed to introduce Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin before he spoke at the center.

Mr. Kerrey said in a statement that he left at the same time because he had a “previously scheduled meeting with Senator Pete Domenici on Capitol Hill.”

Mr. Lehman said the president was not miffed by the early departures.

“We all have day jobs,” Mr. Lehman said. “I don’t think anybody expected the session to go on as long as it did.”

After more than a week of heightened rhetoric and predictions that the question-and-answer session, like the public testimony of National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, would be acrimonious and dramatic, both sides offered only praise and respect after the meeting.

“They had a lot of good questions,” Mr. Bush said of the 10 commission members, who had crowded around the president and vice president on couches and chairs near the Oval Office fireplace.

“I’m glad I did it. I’m glad I took the time. This is an important commission, and it’s important that they ask the questions they ask so that they can help make recommendations necessary to better protect our homeland,” he told reporters in the Rose Garden after the meeting with the panelists.

Story Continues →