Able Danger Hearings

From NewsMax:

The Senate is considering holding hearings into claims that an elite military intelligence unit had identified lead 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta two years before the attacks but was ordered not to alert law enforcement by Clinton administration lawyers at the Pentagon.

Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer briefed the staff of Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Arlen Specter about Able Danger on Thursday, the intelligence unit's code name, Shaffer's lawyer, Mark Zaid, told the New York Post.

A congressional source told Fox News that Able Danger hearings could come as early as this fall, though neither Specter's office nor Shaffer would confirm a plan for hearings.

"I think I can safely say that anyone who is involved in this project will do anything we can to [go to] the appropriate venue [to] present all the truth that we are aware of in the appropriate time and place," Shaffer said.

Tom Kean, the former chairman of the Sept. 11 Commission, told Fox that the Pentagon should expedite its evaluation of Shaffer's allegations.

On Thursday, Rep. Curt Weldon said that Lt. Col. Shaffer "had a good meeting with [Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence] Stephen Cambone and Gen. Schwartz on Monday where they really laid it out."

"Secretary Cambone told him, 'Look, we need to know what really happened here because this all happened in a previous administration and so we don't know all the details,'" according to Weldon.

I agree.

We need to know what really happened. The 9/11 commission did not give the American people a complete report.

If Clinton administration lawyers ordered Able Danger not to inform law enforcement about Mohamed Atta, that's important.

Since the commission ignored Able Danger, let the Senate investigate.

Obviously, the 9/11 commission's work was heavy on political posturing and light on substance. If we want to prevent terrorism, we need to understand what failures enabled the catastrophic attacks to occur.

If the Clinton administration refused to heed the warnings of Able Danger, then that needs to be verified. It's not about assigning blame. It's about clarifying exactly what happened so we can better protect ourselves in the future.

The 9/11 Report should not have been a CYA exercise, but it was. Jamie Gorelick and Richard Ben-Veniste tried to cover for Clinton and pin as much blame as possible on the Bush administration. Sandy Berger was on a mission as well. Their agenda was clear.

Now, the truth is becoming clearer.

It may be troubling for the Dems to have to acknowledge their mistakes. Too bad.

This isn't about politics; at least it shouldn't be. It's about keeping Americans and our homeland safe from radical Islamic fundamentalists. They want us dead.