9-11 commission to release final report today

The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States published the comprehensive findings of its 20-month investigation into the Sept. 11 attacks and the government's failure to prevent them today.\nThe 10-member panel, headed by Chairman Thomas Kean, former governor of New Jersey, examined the response of government agencies and emergency response workers to the attacks and has made recommendations to prevent the occurrence of other attacks against the United States.\nAmong the recommendations made by the panel is the creation of a Cabinet-level post to oversee the nation's 15 intelligence gathering agencies. \nThe commission's report faults the FBI and CIA's lack of intelligence sharing and poor intelligence analysis prior to Sept. 11. In what it termed "colossal systemic failures," the report faults Congress for inadequate intelligence oversight. The panel has recommended merging the Senate and House intelligence committees and removing term limits on intelligence committee members.\nThe 500-plus page report is available online. A $10 paper-back edition of the report will be available Friday at Barnes and Noble, 2813 E. Third St., and Monday at Borders, 2634 E. Third St.\nGary Rains, Bloomington's Barnes and Noble assistant store manager, said he expected high demand for the published copy report.\n"Bloomington is a politically minded town," Rains said. "Current affairs and political science books do very well. The 9-11 commission report will be no exception."\nThe five Democrat and five Republican members of the commission are expected to travel around the country advocating through speech engagements and media appearances for speedy implementation of the panel's recommendations.\nHouse Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said it is unlikely the proposals of the 9-11 commission would be acted upon by Congress immediately as Congress readies for its annual six week recess, which begins Friday.\nJunior Scott Fischer said he was interested in the commission's findings but said he would not read the entire report.\n"I'll read about it, but I probably will not read the actual report," Fischer said.\nThe report mentions that up to 10 of the Sept. 11 hijackers may have traveled to and from Afghanistan via Iran in the months prior the attack on the United States. The report accuses Iranian officials on instructing border guards not to stamp the passport of suspected al-Qaida operatives traveling to and from Afghanistan.\nIranian officials have vehemently denied the allegation, but added it is possible that some al-Qaida operatives passed through the country's borders without the Iranian governments knowledge, and cited Iran's long and porous border with Afghanistan.\nThe report's authors have been cautious about indicating that the Sept. 11 attacks could have been prevented or faulting a particular presidential administration. Panel member John Lehman, a former Navy secretary, said such a politically sensitive judgment may have the unintended effect of providing fodder for partisan wrangling during an election year. \n"My personal view is that the intelligence system we have has been broken for a long time," Lehman said. "But we wanted to let the American people make up their mind. They don't need our editorializing."\nGraduate student Jennifer Heusel said she plans to read some of the commission's report, but added that the investigation may not have uncovered all the details about the Sept. 11 attack.\n-- The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact Nation and World Editor Rami Chami at rchami@indiana.edu.