9/11 Commission Considered Criminal Charges Against Lying Defense Officials

The Washington Post is reporting how the Commission investigating the attacks of September 11, 2001 considered referring several officials of the Department of Defense for prosecution after lying to the Commission. Saying:

"We to this day don't know why NORAD [the North American Aerospace Command] told us what they told us," said Thomas H. Kean, the former New Jersey Republican governor who led the commission. "It was just so far from the truth. . . . It's one of those loose ends that never got tied."

For more than two years after the attacks, officials with NORAD and the FAA provided inaccurate information about the response to the hijackings in testimony and media appearances. Authorities suggested that U.S. air defenses had reacted quickly, that jets had been scrambled in response to the last two hijackings and that fighters were prepared to shoot down United Airlines Flight 93 if it threatened Washington.

In fact little of what they testified to was true. If NORAD is this incompetent we need to discover why so the problems can be rectified. I've wondered how our national capital and our largest city were so completely defenseless on September 11th. How can it be possible, with all the hundreds of billions we spend each year on defense, that Washington can have no air defense? Or New York City. That defies logic and explanation.

Perhaps this is why President Bush fought the creation of this Commission so hard. Perhaps this explains Condi's refusal to testify under oath. Many legitimate questions remain and it's time they were answered.