It will be intersting to see how this is spun into more anti-Bush agitprop:
President Bush reversed himself Wednesday and said he now supports giving a commission investigating the 9/11 attacks more time to produce a final report.
The commission is scheduled to finish its work on May 27. But panel members last month asked Congress for a two-month extension, citing a need for full analysis of reams of documents about the disaster.
Bush had resisted that request for months, saying through his spokesmen that the administration wanted the panel to complete its work as soon as possible. Privately, White House aides feared that delaying the commission’s final report would result in a potentially damaging assessment of the administration’s handling of pre-attack intelligence in the heat of a presidential campaign.
On Wednesday, the White House relented, saying it backed moving the deadline to July 26. But White House spokesman Scott McClellan also urged the commission to wrap up its work 30 days after that. If Congress accepts Bush’s recommendation, the report would arrive at the end of August, just as the presidential campaign is entering the post-Labor Day final stretch.
JKC
Good for Bush. He did the right thing.
andy
it starts like this, my good man.
“It’s not that I think the CIA and the rest of the intelligence community are blameless. Something clearly went way wrong — not just with Iraq but with Sept. 11 as well. Two such massive intelligence failures in a single presidential term are something that history, although not necessarily this meek Congress, will hold George W. Bush accountable for.”
in other words,
“the commission will never go aginst bush, so any outcome that exonerates him is surely coerced!”
andrew
The victems families wanted this delay…gez John. To answer your question, no popular lefty blog has attacked Bush for this yet.
JakeV
Er, there’s no spin required for the anti-Bush angle on this one. It’s right there in the article quoted:
“Privately, White House aides feared that delaying the commission’s final report would result in a potentially damaging assessment of the administration’s handling of pre-attack intelligence in the heat of a presidential campaign.”
So, according to his own aides,Bush wanted to shut down the 9/11 commission for political reasons. It seems likely that he’s changed his mind for political reasons too.
The obvious conclusion is that the WH has decided that the potential fallout from the commission’s conclusions is not as bad as the potential fallout from the appearance of a coverup.
Dave S
If this blows up in his face, Bush only has himself to blame. He could have put this thing to bed over a year ago.
Grant R
Here’s the old moveon.org talking point, asking people to sign a petition:
“Congress must establish an independent,
bipartisan commission to investigate and
hold the President and his officials accountable
if they manipulated or fabricated intelligence
to justify taking the country to war.” moveon.org/distortion/
Here’s the new moveon.org talking point from the homepage:
“In an attempt to evade responsibility for the misleading statements that pushed the nation into war, Bush has announced plans to form an independent inquiry to look into what went wrong. An inquiry would serve the Bush administration well…”
We should get the names of everyone on the petition and thank them for supporting the Bush…
gay teens
Aspice, officio fungeris sine spe honoris amplioris – Face it, you’re stuck in a dead end job
tranny trick
Aut insanit homo, aut versus facit – The fellow is either mad or he is composing verses
tranny trick
Aut insanit homo, aut versus facit – The fellow is either mad or he is composing verses