McKinney touts 9/11 inquiry

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Former Rep. Cynthia A. McKinney, the Georgia Democrat who suggested that the Bush administration had prior warning of the September 11 attacks, says an independent commission’s investigation into the matter justifies her concerns.

“What it proves is that we need to have answers to the question that I originally asked,” Mrs. McKinney said in an interview.

Mrs. McKinney said she was right to question what the White House knew before the attacks, but that some comments about the administration were taken out of context and have become an “urban legend” among her foes.

Her comments March 25, 2002, during an interview on KPFA radio in Berkeley, Calif., implied that the White House allowed the attacks so investment groups specializing in defense contracts would benefit from an ensuing military buildup. She singled out the Carlyle Group, where Mr. Bush’s father, former President George Bush, was an adviser.

“What did this administration know and when did it know it, about the events of September 11?” Mrs. McKinney said at the time. “Who else knew, and why did they not warn the innocent people of New York who were needlessly murdered? What do they have to hide?”

Mrs. McKinney now says she never meant to imply Mr. Bush let the attacks occur so others could benefit.

“There was a lot of heat and fury. Innocent Americans were attacked. … Our country was reacting. I’m part and parcel of that atmosphere,” said Mrs. McKinney, who is running for her old congressional seat, which she lost to fellow Democrat Denise Majette, now a Senate candidate.

However, Mrs. McKinney still has few kind words for the White House.

“The Bush administration keeps giving us answers that don’t answer, explanations that don’t explain and conclusions that don’t conclude,” she said in Friday’s interview.

She praised the 10-member commission examining pre-September 11 intelligence failures and said she found “absolutely riveting” the testimony by former counterterrorism chief Richard A. Clarke, who depicted Mr. Bush as obsessed with invading Iraq.