I have a strong feeling that we’ll be hearing a lot more about this story in the coming months.
For the first time, the chairman of the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks is saying publicly that 9/11 could have and should have been prevented, reports CBS News Correspondent Randall Pinkston.
“This is a very, very important part of history and we’ve got to tell it right,” said Thomas Kean.
“As you read the report, you’re going to have a pretty clear idea what wasn’t done and what should have been done,” he said. “This was not something that had to happen.”
Appointed by the Bush administration, Kean, a former Republican governor of New Jersey, is now pointing fingers inside the administration and laying blame.
“There are people that, if I was doing the job, would certainly not be in the position they were in at that time because they failed. They simply failed,” Kean said.
Just to reemphasize, Kean is a Republican, appointed to the commission by the Bush White House, not a Democratic partisan launching a Ken Starr-like witch hunt. Considering his standing, Kean’s conclusions will carry enormous weight.
I don’t want to read too much between the lines, but it sounds as if Kean is prepared to name names and point some fingers at high-level White House staffers.
At this point, it appears the question is not whether Bush administration officials made tragic mistakes, but rather, which Bush administration officials made these mistakes.