Bush Covers up WTC Mistakes

By Mike Allen Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, January 30, 2002; Page A04

President Bush asked House and Senate leaders yesterday to allow only two congressional committees to investigate the government's response to the events of Sept. 11, officials said. The president said the inquiry should be limited to the House and Senate intelligence committees, whose proceedings are generally secret. Senate Democratic leaders want a broader investigation, involving some committees that would be free to air their findings. The focus of the committee probes is likely to center on intelligence failures preceding the terrorist attacks that killed about 3,100 people. A senior administration official said Congress "is already well set up through the intelligence committees to review intelligence matters, and those committees have a history of working with secret and classified documents that other committees lack. . . .

The president thinks it's important for Congress to review events in a way that does not unduly burden the defense and intelligence communities as they are still charged with fighting a war." Capitol Hill sources said Bush made the request of Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) during a breakfast meeting with congressional leaders. The White House would not confirm that. The congressional sources said Vice President Cheney called Daschle last week with the same request. Daschle told reporters that Cheney had "expressed the concern that a review of what happened on September 11 would take resources and personnel away from the effort in the war on terrorism."

Daschle said the probe will start with the Intelligence Committee in an effort "to limit the scope and the overall review of what happened." "But clearly I think the American people are entitled to know what happened and why at some point, just as they were desirous of knowing what happened after the Pearl Harbor attack," Daschle said. "We did that right during the early stages of World War II. So we haven't made any conclusions yet." A Senate Democratic aide said one objection to limiting the investigation is that "most of what the Intelligence Committee does is behind closed doors and never sees the light of day. If there is an issue, the public deserves to know about it." The two intelligence committees are planning a joint, bipartisan investigation.

The Democratic aide said lawmakers are expected to look into what was known before Sept. 11 about the possibility of a major attack, "why our intelligence wasn't better -- why we didn't know," how different parts of the government responded, and perhaps whether the government is prepared for a future attack. © 2002 The Washington Post Company