Newsgroup: it.cultura.storia
Titolo: Sept 11 Executive Director Had Closer Ties to White House Than Publicly Disclose

Sept 11 Executive Director Had Closer Ties to White House Than Publicly
Disclosed
HOPE YEN
AP News
Feb 03, 2008 18:25 EST
The Sept. 11 commission's executive director had closer ties with the
White House than publicly disclosed and tried to influence the final
report in ways that the staff often perceived as limiting the Bush
administration's responsibility, a new book says.
Philip Zelikow, a friend of then-national security adviser Condoleezza
Rice, spoke with her several times during the 20-month investigation that
closely examined her role in assessing the al-Qaida threat. He also
exchanged frequent calls with the White House, including at least four
from Bush's chief political adviser at the time, Karl Rove.
Zelikow once tried to push through wording in a draft report that
suggested a greater tie between al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and Iraq,
in line with White House claims but not with the commission staff's
viewpoint, according to Philip Shenon's "The Commission: The Uncensored
History of the 9/11 Investigation."
Shenon, a New York Times reporter, says Zelikow sought to intimidate staff
to avoid damaging findings for President Bush, who at the time was running
for re-election, and Rice. Zelikow and Rice had written a book together in
1995 and he would later work for her after the commission finished its job
and she became secretary of state in 2005.
The Associated Press obtained an audio version of Shenon's book, which is
to go on sale Tuesday.
Reached by the AP, Zelikow provided a 131-page statement with information
he said was provided for the book. In it, Zelikow acknowledges talking to
Rove and Rice during the course of the commission's work despite a general
pledge he made not to. But he said the conversations never dealt with
politics.
The White House had no immediate comment Sunday.
According to the book, when Democratic commissioner Bob Kerrey learned the
extent of Zelikow's ties to the administration, he confronted Republican
chairman Tom Kean and demanded to know why someone with such apparent
conflicts of interest had been hired.
"Look Tom," Kerrey is quoted as saying, "either he goes or I go." Kean
eventually persuaded Kerrey to stay.
Former Rep. Lee Hamilton, the panel's Democratic vice chairman, praised
Zelikow as a "person of integrity" who was upfront in disclosing his
background and White House contacts. It made sense for commission staff to
contact the White House regularly to get information, Hamilton said, and
the book also notes that Zelikow was such a dogged negotiator that even
then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales found him irritating and
subsequently refused to meet with him.
"Did he try to sway the report to protect the administration? I think the
answer was no," Hamilton told the AP.
The book says phone logs maintained by the commission's executive
assistant showed at least two calls from Rove to Zelikow's office number
in June 2003, and two more calls in September. During that time, the
commission was in the midst of its fact-finding.
Zelikow ordered the assistant to stop keeping phone records of his
contacts with the White House, the book said, but the panel's general
counsel instructed her to ignore the order.
The phone logs do not record Zelikow's calls out, nor do they show calls
on his cell phone, which he relied on for most outgoing calls. Records
from the Government Accountability Office, which maintained some of the
commission's phone records, showed frequent calls from Zelikow to
telephone numbers in area code 202, with the telephone prefix 4-5-6 — the
prefix exclusive to the White House, the book says.
Zelikow, in his written statement, said Rove had called with questions
about the Bush library and other business related to Zelikow's work at the
University of Virginia. Zelikow also said he enlisted Rice's logistical
aid on behalf of the commission at one point to get Saudi cooperation so
the panel could interview their citizens.
"Rove and I didn't really know each other," he said in the statement. "I
don't recall ever having an extended conversation with him, and certainly
not about politics or the commission."
The book seeks to raise new questions about the independence of the
bipartisan commission, which was created in 2002 to investigate government
missteps that led to the Sept. 11 attacks. Initially opposed by the White
House, the panel issued a unanimous 567-page final report in July 2004
during the height of the presidential campaign that did not blame Bush or
former President Clinton for the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people
but did say they each failed to make anti-terrorism a priority.
The book says that in early 2004, Zelikow allegedly sought to add to an
initial staff report wording that linked al-Qaida to Iraq. The wording
would have said the terrorist network repeatedly tried to communicate with
the government of Saddam Hussein, a claim of cooperation the
administration had cited to justify the war in Iraq. After a staff
protest, Zelikow backed down; the final report said there was no
"collaborative relationship" between Saddam and al-Qaida. Zelikow has said
that he simply wanted the panel to keep an open mind on the issue.
Source: AP News 
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No all'antisemitismo "anche quando esso
si travesta da antisionismo". E' l'appello lanciato da Giorgio 
Napolitano nella giornata della Memoria, (dello scorso anno ndt) 
celebrata al Quirinale, in una cerimonia solenne cui hanno partecipato 
anche il presidente del Consiglio Romano Prodi, i presidenti della 
Camera e Senato Fausto Bertinotti e Franco Marini.
"Antisionismo", ha detto il capo dello stato, "significa negazione della 
fonte ispiratrice dello stato ebraico, delle ragioni della sua nascita, 
ieri, e della sua sicurezza oggi, al di là dei governi che si alternano 
nella guida di Israele".
.sergio. ha scritto:

