Chairman of 9/11 Commission States that Attacks Didn't Have to Happen

Thomas Kean, the former Republican Governor of New Jersey, and chairman of the independent commission investigating 9/11, said that failures by government officials leading up to September 11, 2001 allowed the tragedy to occur:

"As you read the report, you're going to have a pretty clear idea what wasn't done and what should have been done. I mean, this was not something that had to happen," said Thomas Kean during an interview on the CBS Evening News.

Kean, a former Republican governor of New Jersey, said government officials in decision-making positions did not do their jobs in the weeks and months leading up to Sept. 11, 2001, or on that day, and should be held accountable.

"They failed. They simply failed," said Kean. He said if he were in charge, some of these people would still not be in their jobs today.

The story from CBS online offers additional details:

To find out who failed and why, the commission has navigated a political landmine, threatening a subpoena to gain access to the president's top-secret daily briefs. Those documents may shed light on one of the most controversial assertions of the Bush administration – that there was never any thought given to the idea that terrorists might fly an airplane into a building.

"I don't think anybody could have predicted that they would try to use an airplane as a missile, a hijacked airplane as a missile," said national security adviser Condoleeza Rice on May 16, 2002.

"How is it possible we have a national security advisor coming out and saying we had no idea they could use planes as weapons when we had FBI records from 1991 stating that this is a possibility," said Kristen Breitweiser, one of four New Jersey widows who lobbied Congress and the president to appoint the commission.

The widows want to know why various government agencies didn't connect the dots before Sept. 11, such as warnings from FBI offices in Minnesota and Arizona about suspicious student pilots.

"If you were to tell me that two years after the murder of my husband that we wouldn't have one question answered, I wouldn't believe it," Breitweiser said.

Kean admits the commission also has more questions than answers.

Asked whether we should at least know if people sitting in the decision-making spots on that critical day are still in those positions, Kean said, "Yes, the answer is yes. And we will."

Kean promises major revelations in public testimony beginning next month from top officials in the FBI, CIA, Defense Department, National Security Agency and, maybe, President Bush and former President Clinton.

I have long wondered when the 9/11 commission was going to begin making the story of 9/11 public. If Kean is able and willing to tell the whole story, this could be pretty interesting.