WASHINGTON — President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney will be quizzed on a range of topics this morning in an historic closed-door meeting with the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, including whether the administration could have done more to combat al-Qaida in early 2001 and whether it should have been better prepared for a terrorist attack on U.S. soil, according to commission officials.
Bush and Cheney are also expected to be questioned closely about the events of the day of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, several commission officials said. The president and vice president agreed to meet privately with the 10-member panel on the condition that they appear together.
Bush, speaking Wednesday, said the interview will focus on "my attitude and the attitude of the vice president about our country, our security, what happened on that particular date, what happened leading up to that."
"I look forward to the discussion," Bush said. "I look forward to giving the commissioners a chance to question both of us. … It will be a good opportunity for people to help write a report that hopefully will help future presidents deal with terrorist threats to the country."
Panel investigators have assembled questions for Bush and Cheney that commission members have agreed to ask, according to several commission officials. Panel members, who have previously interviewed former President Clinton and former vice president Al Gore, will be free to ask questions on their own, officials said.
"It’s essentially the same set of questions that we asked President Clinton with one exception, which is just what happened on the day of September 11th," said commissioner Bob Kerrey, a former Democratic senator from Nebraska. "What was your strategy before, what was your strategy on September 11, and what allowed the FAA to be so surprised by a hijacking?"
Other commission members said that much of the discussion is likely to revolve around conflicting testimony from former counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice. Clarke has said in testimony and a new book that the Bush administration did not view terrorism as a priority before the attacks. Rice told the commission that the White House was pursuing an al-Qaida strategy that was more aggressive than the Clinton administration’s.
Commissioners said another central topic will be the president’s daily briefing delivered to Bush on Aug. 6, 2001. One article in the brief, titled "Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US," warned that the FBI had observed "patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks."
"I think the PDB is an important question that will certainly be asked about in some fashion," said commission member Timothy Roemer, a Democrat and former Indiana congressman. "The other briefings and warnings in the spring and summer of 2001 are just as important. … What did they do about that, and how did they develop policy?"
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