EDITORIAL
9/11 commission needs more time for report
The independent commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks clearly is in the process of developing crucial information for Americans concerned with preventing a recurrence of that day's dreadful events.
The value of that exercise requires a totally honest assessment of what went wrong.
In recent days, the commission has heard testimony startlingly different from earlier reports from the FBI and other agencies: Some of the 19 hijackers had not entered the United States smoothly and legally, as earlier thought, but carrying faked or defective passports.
The Federal Aviation Administration's screening system had flagged nine of them before they boarded their fatal flights, and at least three of them set off metal detectors. The weapons they carried were "Leatherman" folding knives with locking 4-inch blades, not box-cutters, as well as pepper spray.
The FAA had decided to downplay the likelihood of suicide hijackings, focusing instead on detecting explosives. The FAA says it had 12 names on its "no-fly list" of terrorists to keep off planes, while the State Department had a list of 61,000 suspected terrorists.
These findings are preliminary and incomplete, but disturbing. It's by no means obvious that clear blame against present or past administrations will result. But even if it does, it is vital that this bipartisan commission's work be thorough and authoritative. Toward that end, it has asked for an extension of its deadline to complete its investigation at least until July.
The White House and Republican congressional leaders have said they see no need to extend the congressionally mandated deadline, now set for May 27, and House Speaker Dennis Hastert says he will oppose any legislation to grant an extension.
Hastert gives two reasons for opposing a delay: first, because the requested two-month delay would see the final report delivered at the height of President Bush's campaign for re-election; and second, because Congress needs the fruits of the investigation as soon as possible in order to enact needed corrective legislation.
The first reason is somewhat disingenuous, given that the cause of the commission's delay almost entirely is White House foot-dragging in turning over documents and other evidence.
Indeed, the commission has not been given access either to the president or National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, despite White House acknowledgement that an Oval Office intelligence summary presented to Bush shortly before the attacks suggested that terrorists might be planning an attack using passenger planes.
And so is the second reason: The commission can hardly be expected to write a report by the end of May about information that is still being withheld.
"I fully support an extension to ensure that the commission's work is not compromised by the Bush administration's delaying tactics, secrecy and stone-walling," said one of the authors of the bill creating the panel. "Clearly the president is not interested in a complete and thorough investigation."
There's potential for the commission's report becoming a political football, given that the above quote comes from Joseph Lieberman, Democratic presidential candidate.
But the White House opposed creation of the commission, then tried to appoint Henry Kissinger to head it, and now is stonewalling. If there's a political price for this, so be it.
