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Sen graham 9 11 coverup { May 12 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/5/11/205318.shtmlhttp://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/5/11/205318.shtml
Sen. Graham Accuses
Administration of 9/11 Cover-up
Dave Eberhart, NewsMax.com
Monday, May 12, 2003
In perhaps the harshest rhetoric from a leading Democrat yet, Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., said Sunday that the Bush administration has been engaging in a "cover-up” of the government's handling of terrorist warnings before Sept. 11 and continues to stymie the release of critical information about future terrorist threats.
Appearing on CBS’s "Face the Nation" with Bob Schieffer, Graham, a former member of the Senate Intelligence Committee and announced presidential hopeful, also claimed that he is aware of still classified information about Sept. 11 and future threats that should be publicly disclosed.
"Senator," Schieffer asked Graham, "If I were writing a newspaper story and putting headlines on top of it right now, I would say: 'Senator Graham accuses the administration of a cover-up.' Is that too strong a term?"
"No, ... that is a very appropriate term," Graham responded.
Graham blasted the administration for putting a veil of secrecy around evidence of government bungling in the days before Sept. 11 and preventing the public from knowing the full facts of what happened.
Schieffer pressed Graham: "Do you know something that the rest of us don't know? Because you continue to be sort of a voice of doom. You warn that there may be another attack coming. You've said all kinds of things along that line."
Graham responded:
"Yes, I think I know some things that are currently classified for the American people, unnecessarily so. I think the American people should be informed about what kind of capability terrorists have inside the United States. They should be informed about the prospect that foreign governments have been aiding the terrorists in the United States. They should be informed of why we are not using that information to do a more effective job of dealing with terrorists where they live and when they've been placed in the United States."
Graham bluntly accused the administration of being "probably ... one of the most secret administrations in American history."
The Florida Democrat cited the administration's failure to OK the release of the congressional inquiry into Sept. 11.
"... but now almost five months later the administration has refused to release that report so that it will available to you and to the American public."
“I think what they are shooting at is to cover up the failures that occurred before September the 11th; even more so, the failure to utilize the information that we have gained to avoid a future September the 11th," Graham concluded.
Graham also concluded that America is less safe, in his opinion – even in the wake of the victory in Iraq, saying, “I think you could make the case that we are less secure. ..."
"[W]e shifted military and intelligence resources out of Afghanistan and Pakistan to get ready for the war in Iraq," Graham explained.
"For that reason, al-Qaeda, which was on the ropes about a year ago, has been able to regenerate itself and carry out that very complex set of terrorist acts that ranged from Yemen to Bali last fall and have every appearance of being capable of launching other terrorist attacks. And we haven't laid a glove on the A-team of international terrorism, which is Hezbollah."
"In my judgment, we should have pursued the war on terrorism to victory before we moved to Iraq," Graham added.
Previously, Graham has stated that Syria and Iran posed a much more serious threat to U.S. national security and should have been targeted before Iraq.
During his interview with Schieffer, Graham referred to a "foreign country" that had helped terrorists within the U.S., and claimed the administration was allowing this unnamed country to skate without responsibility.
Previous published reports indicate that the country's name, which Graham described as classified, is Saudi Arabia.
As to complicity of nation-states in 9/11, Graham begged off on addressing Saudi Arabia in particular – the home country of most of the 9/11 team of terrorists:
"Well, that is a – still continues to be classified – but I think there are a whole series of countries, beginning with Syria, that we have not given the appropriate forceful statement that we will not tolerate their continued sanctuary and support of terrorists. ..."
Admitting that Saddam Hussein was an evil tyrant that the world is better off without, Graham questioned President Bush’s priorities in picking targets. He noted that the terrorist threat remains real because of "the large number of their operatives who are located inside the United States to launch future terrorist attacks."
While Graham hinted at administration culpability for failing to put together all of the intelligence available before Sept. 11, he did not address the role the Clinton administration played in the disaster. President Bush had been in office only nine months at the time of Sept. 11, and available information indicates that al-Qaeda had been planning the attacks for several years.
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