President & Congress: Implement Commission Recommendations

Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., today said, "the President and the Congress must move as rapidly as possible to implement the major recommendations of today's 9-11 Commission Report.

"The report is a sobering account of intelligence and governmental failures by two administrations and the Congress to close security gaps that even today, three years after September 11, still make our nation vulnerable to terrorist attack. The Commission's unanimous recommendations reinforced the prior findings of many groups that have urged the President and Congress to move faster and stronger to protect America.

"The Democrats earlier report, `Winning the War on Terror,' produced by the Democrats on the House Select Committee on Homeland Security, contained recommendations similar to those issued today. This Commission's recommendations have both unanimous and bipartisan support, so I hope they will receive the attention and urgency they deserve.

"The challenges outlined in the 9-11 report reaffirm the need for a comprehensive plan to win the war on terror. The 9/11 Commission concludes that our nation must:

The only way to win the war on terror is to pursue all of these policies simultaneously. The time for finger-pointing and blame is past. The President and Congress must now begin to act to reduce the threat of terrorism at home and abroad. We must act now. Our terrorist enemies will not wait. We are at war and we must move forward with an urgency that is consistent with the reality of this war," Jackson concluded.