[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 63 (Thursday, May 16, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4453-S4454]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            INVESTIGATE 9-11

  Mrs. CLINTON. Mr. President, I rise today out of respect for and to 
speak on behalf of the people I represent in New York. I am especially 
mindful today of the memory of those whom we lost on September 11, 
their family members and their loved ones who, until this very minute, 
grieve for those who were sacrificed in the terrible attacks we 
suffered on September 11.
  We have learned something today that raises a number of serious 
questions. We have learned that President Bush had been informed last 
year, before September 11, of a possible plot by those associated with 
Osama bin Laden to hijack a U.S. airliner. The White House says the 
President took all appropriate steps in reaction to that warning. The 
White House further says that the warning did not include any specific 
information, such as which airline, which date, or the fact that a 
hijacked plane would be used as a missile. Those are all very important 
issues, worthy of exploration by the relevant committees of Congress. 
The goal of such an examination should not be to assign blame but to 
find out all of the facts.
  I also support the effort by Senators Lieberman and McCain to 
establish an independent national commission on terrorist attacks upon 
the United States. That was reported out of the Senate Governmental 
Affairs Committee in March. Such a panel can help assure the people of 
New York and America that every facet of this national tragedy will be 
fully examined in hopes that the lessons we learn can prevent disasters 
in the future.
  I very much appreciated the remarks by Senator Lieberman in the 
Chamber earlier today, indicating his desire to offer this proposal 
that he and Senator McCain have put forth as an amendment at the 
earliest possible time.
  Because we must do all we can to learn the hard lessons of experience 
from our past and apply them to safeguard our future, I also support 
the call by the distinguished majority leader, Mr. Daschle, for the 
release of the Phoenix FBI memorandum and the August intelligence 
briefing to congressional investigators, because, as Senator Daschle 
said this morning, the American people need to get the facts.
  I do know some things about the unique challenges faced by the person 
who assumes the mantle of Commander in Chief. I do not for a minute 
doubt that any individual who holds that responsibility is the only 
person who can truly know the full scope of the burdens of that office. 
Just the other day there was a survey about the most difficult job in 
America, the most stressful position. It should not come as any 
surprise that President of the United States ranked at the top.
  I have had the privilege of witnessing history up close, and I know 
there is never any shortage of second guessers and Monday morning 
quarterbacks, ready to dismantle any comment or critique any action 
taken or not taken. Having experienced that from the other end of 
Pennsylvania Avenue, I for one will not play that game, especially in 
these circumstances. I am simply here today on the floor of this 
hallowed Chamber to seek answers to the questions being asked by my 
constituents, questions raised by one of our newspapers in New York 
with the headline ``Bush Knew.''
  The President knew what? My constituents would like to know the 
answer to that and many other questions, not to blame the President or 
any other American but just to know, to learn from experience, to do 
all we can today to ensure that a 9-11 never happens again.
  If we look back, we know that the Phoenix FBI memorandum in early 
July raised very specific issues about certain people of Arab heritage 
who were taking flying lessons. For what purpose? To do what?
  We know that shortly after there was at least the news report of the 
Attorney General sending a directive that people of the Justice 
Department should no longer fly commercially. In fact, the Attorney 
General took a chartered plane for his own vacation.
  We know that in August additional information came forward, including 
what we learned today about the intelligence briefing provided to the 
President.
  The pain of 9-11 is revisited in thousands of homes in New York and 
around our country every time that terrible scene of those planes going 
into those towers and then their collapse appears on television. It is 
revisited in our minds every time we see a picture of the cleanup at 
Ground Zero. It is revisited every time the remains of a fallen hero 
are recovered, as they were yesterday for Deputy Chief Downey. And it 
is revisited today with the

[[Page S4454]]

questions about what might have been had the pieces of the puzzle been 
put together in a different way before that sad and tragic day in 
September.
  I cannot answer the questions my constituents are asking. I cannot 
answer the concerns raised by the families of the victims. As agonizing 
as it is even to think that there was intelligence suggesting the 
possibility of the tragedy that occurred, particularly for the family 
members who lost their husband, their wife, their son, their daughter, 
their niece, their nephew, their mother, their father, it is a subject 
we are absolutely required to explore.
  As for the President, he may not be in a position at this time to 
respond to all of those concerns, but he is in a position to answer 
some of them, including the question of why we know today, May 16, 
about the warning he received. Why did we not know this on April 16 or 
March 16 or February or January 16 or August 16 of last year?
  I do hope and trust that the President will assume the duty that we 
know he is capable of fulfilling, exercise the leadership that we know 
he has, and come before the American people, at the earliest possible 
time, to answer the questions so many New Yorkers and Americans are 
asking. That will be a very great help to all of us.
  I know my constituents want those answers, particularly the families 
who still today wonder why their loved one went to work that beautiful 
September morning and did not come home from the World Trade Center or 
the Pentagon or those airplane flights. After all, in the grieving 
process, it is often the not knowing that hurts the most.
  I hope the President will address these issues, will do so as soon as 
possible, and will also authorize the release of any other information 
that New Yorkers and Americans have a right to know. I certainly look 
forward to learning of and being able to share that information with 
the people I represent.
  I thank the Chair and yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Bayh). The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I have some remarks on another subject I 
would like to make. I commend our colleague and friend from New York 
for her comments. I associate myself with her remarks. I think all 
Americans would.
  Obviously, it is critically important we know all that we possibly 
can of what occurred. If there was, in fact, information that should 
have been acted on, it is critically important we know about it, what 
happened, and why actions were not taken, so we minimize the 
possibility of the events of September 11 from occurring again.
  We all realize, as our colleague and friend from New York has pointed 
out, it is a difficult job being the Chief Executive Officer of this 
country, the Commander in Chief. And there is a voluminous amount of 
material that arrives every day from our national security agencies and 
services. But when you get information this specific, this detailed, 
arriving from a variety of different sources, then someone should have 
taken better action, in my view.
  So I am hopeful we will get a response. It is critically important 
for the healing process and for understanding exactly what occurred. So 
I commend the Senator for her remarks and associate myself with them.

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