9/11 panel distrusted Pentagon testimony Commissioners considered criminal probe

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http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/08/02/9-11panel.pentagon/index.html

 

9/11 panel distrusted Pentagon testimony

Commissioners considered criminal probe of false statements

 

Wednesday, August 2, 2006; Posted: 1:22 p.m. EDT (17:22 GMT)

 

 

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A member of the 9/11 commission said Wednesday

that panel members so distrusted testimony from Pentagon officials

that they referred their concerns to the Pentagon's inspector general.

 

The panel even considered taking the matter to the Justice Department

for a possible criminal probe, commission member Tim Roemer said.

 

" We were extremely frustrated with the false statements we were

getting, " Roemer told CNN. " We were not sure of the intent, whether it

was to deceive the commission or merely part of the fumbling bureaucracy. "

 

The issues concerned Pentagon officials' testimony about the timeline

of events on September 11, 2001, when terrorists hijacked four U.S.

airliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon

and a field in Pennsylvania.

 

The DOD inspector general's probe found mistakes and has since

corrected the record but found " nothing in the course of their review

that indicates testimony by DOD was knowingly false, " a Pentagon

spokesman said.

 

The Washington Post and Vanity Fair both published stories about the

commission's debate, and ABC News on Tuesday aired excerpts of

military audiotapes.

 

" For more than two years after the attacks, officials with NORAD [the

North American Aerospace Defense Command] and the FAA provided

inaccurate information about the response to the hijackings in

testimony and media appearances, " The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

 

" Authorities suggested that U.S. air defenses had reacted quickly,

that jets had been scrambled in response to the last two hijackings

and that fighters were prepared to shoot down United Airlines Flight

93 if it threatened Washington.

 

" In fact, the commission reported a year later, audiotapes from

NORAD's Northeast headquarters and other evidence showed clearly that

the military never had any of the hijacked airliners in its sights and

at one point chased a phantom aircraft -- American Airlines Flight 11

-- long after it had crashed into the World Trade Center, " according

to The Washington Post.