LIEBERMAN PRESSES FOR SEPTEMBER 11 REMEDIES
FUTURE ATTACKS ARE NOT “INEVITABLE”
June 11, 2002
WASHINGTON -
Before a Congressional subcommittee Tuesday, Senator Joe
Lieberman, D-Conn., pressed for a new homeland security
department to help prevent future terrorist attacks. Later in
the day, he attended a rally and met with families of September
11 victims in an effort to generate momentum for an independent,
blue-ribbon commission to investigate the circumstances
surrounding the terrorist attacks last fall.
Lieberman
has been developing bipartisan legislation to establish a new
Department of Homeland Security since last fall. His proposal,
introduced with Senators Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Bob Graham,
D-Fla., also calls for the establishment of a Senate-confirmed,
statutory White House Director for Combating Terrorism to
coordinate anti-terrorist activities government-wide. The
proposal was passed out of the Governmental Affairs Committee,
which Lieberman chairs, in May.
Lieberman
and Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., also introduced legislation to
establish an independent commission to examine the circumstances
leading up to and surrounding the September 11 attacks. The
commission would look at, among other things, issues involving
intelligence failures, diplomacy, immigration, border control,
law enforcement, and commercial aviation. The bill passed out
of the Government Affairs Committee in March.
“I for one
do not accept as inevitable that there will be another September
11th type attack,” Lieberman said at a hearing of the House
Committee on Government Reform’s Subcommittee on National
Security. “I think we have it within our capacity - if we
organize ourselves to prevent such attacks from occurring again
- for that to be our goal.”
Later, at a
rally organized by family members of September 11 victims to
generate support for Lieberman’s commission bill, the Senator
said the suffering of the victims’ families was “beyond the
ability of most of us to comprehend.”
But, he
added, “we can help give you some peace of mind by answering
many of the gnawing questions about the government failures
preceding the attacks... The proceedings would be serious and
sober. By its very nature, the commission would not feed - but
would help reduce - the appetite for the steady diet of
speculation, accusation, and anxiety we’ve now grown so
accustomed to over the past month.
“To those
detractors who say that a commission would distract us from the
war on terrorism that must remain our number one focus, I
respectfully say that’s exactly the opposite of what it would
do. An independent commission would not drain a drop of time or
talent from that fight, and would produce an invaluable document
for all those who seek to build a safer nation.
“I’m pleased
that last week, President Bush announced his proposal to create
a new, unified homeland security department - drawing heavily on
the legislation that Senator Specter and I introduced last
October. Now, I hope that the Administration will have a
similar evolution of mind and heart on the need to have a
thorough, credible and independent analysis of how the attacks
against our country happened. And this commission would find out
just where our government went wrong so that in the future we
can do right by the American people.” |