As of March 15, we're $28,000 in the red for the quarter. Donate here to support this vital work
Subscribe here and join over 13,000 subscribers to our free weekly newsletter

Two Senators Blame State Department in Sept. 11 Attacks

AP Website Requires Payment to View Article
Free Copy Given Below

This is one of the documents on the 9/11 summary for which the media website requires payment. You must pay a small fee by credit card on line in order to be able to download this document from the Associated Press website. Go to:

http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/fronts/ARCHIVE?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=HOME

Click on "advanced search". Type "Two senators blame." Then select the date as 12/18/02 in both date boxes and click on the Search button. We provide a free copy of the article below.


Two senators blame State Department in Sept. 11 attacks
KEN GUGGENHEIM; Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Sept. 11 attacks would not have happened if the State Department had followed its own guidelines and denied visas to the hijackers, two top Republican senators said in a report issued Wednesday.

Sens. Jon Kyl and Pat Roberts said in a report that "the answer to the question—could 9/11 have been prevented—is yes, if State Department personnel had merely followed the law and not granted non-immigrant visas to 15 of the 19 hijackers in Saudi Arabia."

If U.S. laws had been followed, "most of the hijackers would not have been able to obtain visas and 9/11 would not have happened," they said.

They said the hijackers should have been denied visas as single young men with no visible means of support.

Many lawmakers have criticized the State Department's handling of visas for the hijackers. But the criticism by Kyl and Roberts was among the most blunt in tying the issuance of the visas to the failure to stop the attacks.

There was no immediate comment from the State Department. State Department officials have said previously they had no reason to believe the men were terrorists and that their visa policies have been improved since the attacks.

Roberts and Kyl are members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which along with its House counterparts, conducted the inquiry into intelligence failures leading up to the attacks. Roberts, of Kansas, will likely be the committee's chairman next year; Kyl, of Arizona, will have a top position in the Senate leadership.

Their comments were included in a supplemental report to the inquiry's findings, which were completed last week. The committees found that intelligence agencies were poorly organized and slow to pursue clues that might have led to the attacks. They recommended creating a Cabinet-level national intelligence director to improve communications among agencies.

In a separate supplemental report, Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del., also criticized the State Department, saying most of the hijackers were wrongly admitted "as a result of decisions made and errors committed by responsible State Department and Justice Department officers."

Roberts, Kyl and Castle all noted that State Department's actions was not part of the inquiry, which was limited to intelligence issues. A newly formed commission headed by former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean will examine immigration and other issues related to the attacks.

Kyl and Roberts also criticized the recently completed congressional investigation of the Sept. 11 attacks, saying it didn't dig deeply enough into intelligence problems. They said intelligence committee leaders excluded lawmakers from key decisions during the investigation.

Keywords: Washington

© The Associated Press
KEN GUGGENHEIM; Associated Press Writer
Two senators blame State Department in Sept. 11 attacks, 12-18-2002



FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of criminal justice, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

What you can do:
  • Inform your media and political representatives of this vital information on 9/11. To contact those close to you, click here. Urge them to call for the release of classified documents and videos and to press for a new, impartial investigation.
  • Explore the wealth of reliable, verifiable information on 9/11, including several excellent documentaries, in our 9/11 Information Center available here.
  • Learn more about 9/11 and the secret societies likely involved in this powerful lesson from the free Insight Course.
  • Explore inspiring ideas on building a brighter future by reading this short essay.
  • Spread this news to your friends and colleagues, and recommend this article on key social networking websites so that we can fill the role at which the major media is sadly failing. Together, we can make a difference.

See our exceptional archive of revealing news articles.

Please support this important work: Donate here.

Explore the mind and heart expanding websites managed by the nonprofit PEERS network:
www.peerservice.org - PEERS websites: Spreading inspiration, education, & empowerment
www.momentoflove.org - Every person in the world has a heart
www.personalgrowthcourses.net - Dynamic online courses powerfully expand your horizons
www.WantToKnow.info - Reliable, verifiable information on major cover-ups
www.weboflove.org - Strengthening the Web of Love that interconnects us all

Subscribe here to the WantToKnow.info email list (two messages a week)

Two senators blame State Department in Sept. 11 attacks