Ashcroft Testifies Before 9/11 Commission
9/11 Panel Faults FBI, CIA Efforts Against Terrorism

WASHINGTON (AP) – In a veiled swipe at the Clinton administration, Attorney General John Ashcroft testified Tuesday the nation was stunned by the Sept. 11 attacks because ”for nearly a decade our government had blinded itself to our enemies.”

Appearing before a commission investigating the worst attacks in the nation’s history, Ashcroft also said he moved quickly once in office to overturn a ”failed policy” that he said allowed American agents to capture terrorist leader Osama bin Laden but not assassinate him.

Former Attorney General Janet Reno, Attorney General John Ashcroft, former FBI Director Louis Freeh and FBI Director Robert Mueller are today’s witnesses.

In a nationally televised appearance, Ashcroft said the government had become bound up in legal restrictions that grew steadily more restrictive. ”Even if they could have penetrated bin Laden’s training camps, they would have needed a battery of lawyers” to take action, he said dismissively. Full Article

The US military last night vowed to “kill or capture” a radical Shia cleric who led an uprising against the occupation authorities, despite warnings that it would unleash yet more violent unrest.

“The mission of US forces is to kill or capture Moqtada al-Sadr,” said Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, America’s most senior general in Iraq. His threat comes despite concerted efforts by leading Iraqi politicians to negotiate a deal between the authorities and Mr Sadr, 30, whose forces in the past week have led rebellions in Baghdad and towns across southern Iraq.
www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1190776,00.html

Americans Slaughtering Civilians in Fallujah

There is no difference between America’s actions here and Israel’s actions.

Flashback:

Israel Says It Will Kill Hamas’ Leaders
March 23, 2004
JERUSALEM – Israel will strike at more leaders of Hamas, the Israeli defense minister said Tuesday, a day after the founder of the Islamic militant group, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, was assassinated in a missile attack.
www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/3/23/92356.shtml
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By Rootsie

Here we are again. A quagmire. It could be 1964, but it’s so much worse. The United States versus a billion Arabs.

Like 1964, an election year. Neither party with the political will, neither candidate with the simple integrity to say “We made a mistake. It’s time to get out of there.” The pretext for this war was to ‘free the Iraqi people.’ No need to say what a crock that is, but even on that basis the United States has failed. What lies ahead for Iraq is a ghastly civil war and, at the end, a fundamentalist Shi’ite state. Moderates in the Islamic world have had the rug pulled out from under them, and are really in an impossible situation. They are already pulling out of the ‘interim government.’ How could it possibly be in the Shi’ites’ interest to share power three ways with the Kurds and Sunnis when they comprise 80% of Iraq’s population? How can moderate Shi’ites stand with any moral or political authority when they are perceived as shills for the Americans?
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by Rootsie

So let’s see. They knew he bombed the WTC in 1993 and regarded that job as unfinished. They knew he plaaned attacks years in advance. They knew about Tanzania, Kenya, and the Cole. The FBI was telling him there were suspicious guys in Arizona and Minnesota taking flight lessons. They knew he had people in the United States. They knew he wanted to retaliate on Washington for the 1998 bombings of Afghanistan, and they knew people were casing buildings in New York. Thanks to the Minnesota FBI agent/whistle-blower we know that local FBI was told by Washington to leave them alone. How can they say now that they needed TIME to formulate a strategy? Come on, this was their strategy: at the very least to allow the attacks to happen so they could pursue their agenda in Afghanistan and Iraq. And maybe more. What is the personal relationship between Bush and Bin Laden?

Transcript: Bin Laden determined to strike in US

A Fiery Ex-Congresswoman Hopes to Make a Comeback