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American Morning

Call for Independent, Non-Partisan Commission to Investigate Terror Attacks on September 11

Aired December 21, 2001 - 07:15   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: There was one right after Pearl Harbor, one following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Now there is another call for an independent, non-partisan commission to investigate the terror attacks on September 11. That is the aim of legislation introduced by Senators Joseph Lieberman and John McCain. They want the panel to find out how the attacks happened and what can be done to prevent future assaults.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: The commission is an integral part of our response to the attacks of September 11. Its mission is urgent. The American people clearly share a sense of urgency about protecting our country. I hope the proposed commission can channel that sense of urgency into a mandate for reform of the way we defend America for the future.

SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D), CONNECTICUT: It must be a hunt for the truth, not a witch hunt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: And Senator Lieberman joins me now from his home state. Good morning. Glad to have you back, sir.

LIEBERMAN: Good to be back with you, Paula, and it's good to be home.

ZAHN: Oh, I bet it is. You get to enjoy seeing your family and your constituents.

LIEBERMAN: Absolutely.

ZAHN: We have a lot to talk about this morning. Before we talk about your plans for a commission, I wanted to ask you about today's story in the "New York Times" that says that former President Clinton has actually summoned some of his old aides to help polish up his image. I don't know whether you've been able to fully digest the article. But one of the aides suggested that there's a risk in going public with this because they don't want to make it appear as though the president is preoccupied with his legacy or acting in any sort of unbecoming way for an ex-president. But just your quick reaction to the fact that this meeting did take place where all these top aides were asked to talk about ways to burnish his image.

LIEBERMAN: I don't know about the meeting. The fact is that President Clinton had a remarkable eight years in office. From the vantage point of today looking back at the boom economy, the number of people employed and all the governmental reforms that some of us where happy to work with him on, like welfare reform, anti-crime and balancing the budget, there's a lot to be proud of.

So I think history will speak well to the Clinton years. Obviously there were parts of it that were not so, not so popular. But that's all part of history.

So I don't -- and I think ultimately the historians will determine that. I know the folks who worked in the Clinton administration feel a closeness to the president and that continues. And I'm not surprised that they were meeting. Although I don't know what they were exactly meeting about.

ZAHN: Well, apparently they have a strategy where they're all going to make a series of speeches to help remind the public of some of the things that you think are part of the Clinton legacy. I've got so much to talk to you about this morning. Your quick reaction, too, to the David Ensor report where it has now become clear that for whatever the reason, either parts of what bin Laden said were missed in the translation we were provided by the government or left out altogether.

LIEBERMAN: Yes, I must say...

ZAHN: What do you make of that?

LIEBERMAN: I must say that's puzzling to me. I mean I suppose it could have been a problem in translation. But that's hard to believe. I don't honestly know why that happened and I think some of us in Congress will be asking why. The point is that the conclusion that most people reached right away after September 11, which was that bin Laden was probably responsible for this, is clearly the case now. He's a war criminal. He's the one who planned all this and oversaw it. And the tape makes that clear and it also reminds us that this battle, this phase of the war against terrorism will not be over until we have either captured or killed Osama bin Laden.

ZAHN: Are you fearful now that it has been reported that parts have been either missed or left out that it leaves the government open to charges that, you know, in some way, perhaps, it was trying to protect the Saudi Arabian government and not embarrass the government or whatever the charge might be?

LIEBERMAN: I can't imagine why this would have happened. I remember when the tape first came out that we were told that there were three translators and they agreed on the translation, if I have that right. So I hope the administration right away today responds to this latest better translation and explains why the first happened because credibility is at the heart of what we're trying to do now. And if the world or the American people begin to doubt the straightforwardness of our government, then we're going to begin to be in trouble.

It's not a big point, but it's a significant point, important point, and the administration ought to clear it up right away.

ZAHN: And to be fair here before we move on, I know Ari Fleischer said yesterday when asked about this he wasn't aware of any disputes about the official government translation and he advised us to ask the DOD. He said they're the ones who brought in the group of translators to do it, I haven't heard any complaints about it. So we'll see if we hear about that later today.

LIEBERMAN: Right. It's quite possible that the three translators all missed what your translators have found. But if so, we'd better get some new translators.

ZAHN: Let's move on to your commission.

LIEBERMAN: OK.

ZAHN: I know you're going to try to figure out why these attacks happened. I know people in America think well, isn't that why we have the homeland security department there for. What can you do that our government isn't already doing to try to figure out why September 11 happened.

LIEBERMAN: OK. These attacks were obviously so tragic, so painful, so destructive. They were also totally unsettling because we're, after all, the strongest nation in the world and all of us were asking ourselves right away how could this have happened and what could we have done, if anything, to have prevented it.

Naturally for a period of time we focused on our mourning, on our healing and on the war against terrorism. Now, John McCain and I feel that the end of the first phase of the war seems to have occurred with the defeat of the Taliban and the liberation of Afghanistan, that it's time for a totally independent, totally non-partisan commission with full investigative powers to go back and ask the questions that all of us are asking. Because until that happens, we're not going to be sure that our government is doing everything it can to prevent another September 11 type attack from happening.

ZAHN: And will your commission have the power, do you think, to stop a future attack?

LIEBERMAN: Well, it'll have the fullest power that any commission can be given by law to seek the truth and that's what this is all about, as it was after Pearl Harbor and the Kennedy assassinations, as you pointed out. The more information you have independently arrived at, the more likely it is you're going to figure out why this happened and make sure that you do the things that are necessary to prevent if from ever happening again.

And I think this is a unique function. There will be congressional investigations. They'll be helpful, as well. The homeland security agency is working right now at raising our guard. But we need a group of wise men and women who can step back with full investigatory power, look at this without any biases and then tell the government and the country why it happened and what we can do to stop it from happening again. That's critically important.

ZAHN: Well, we'd love to call upon you in the future to keep us posted on the future of this commission.

Thank you very much for joining us and covering so much ground with us this morning.

LIEBERMAN: Glad to, Paula. And happy holidays to you.

ZAHN: To you and your family and your home state, as well.

LIEBERMAN: Thank you.

ZAHN: Thank you so much, Senator.

LIEBERMAN: Bye-bye.

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