A couple days ago I commented on President Bush’s denials that anyone in his administration knew terrorists might use commercial airplanes as weapons in an attack on U.S. soil. It turns out that it isn’t just me (or Howard Dean) making those assertions.
CBS News is reporting that former Republican New Jersey Governor Thomas Kean, appointed by President Bush to chair the federal bi-partisan commission investigating 9/11, is saying that information was available to the President and the attacks could have been prevented.
"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."
"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.
No one is suggesting that President Bush ignored warnings about terrorism for political reasons and simply allowed the attacks to occur. What is becoming clear, however, is that the Bush Administration failed to understand the threat that terrorism posed in 2001. That failure may have allowed the attacks to proceed.
