Wednesday, August 02, 2006
9/11 commissioner: Panel mulled criminal probe of Pentagon


A military official watches smoke spew from the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A 9/11 commissioner said Wednesday that panel members so distrusted testimony from Pentagon officials that they considered asking the Justice Department to look into a possible criminal probe.

"We were extremely frustated with the false statements we were getting," said Tim Roemer, noting that the commission referred their concerns to the Pentagon's inspector general. "We were not sure of the intent, whether it was to deceive the commission or merely part of the fumbling bureaucracy."

The issues centered around Pentagon officials' testimony concerning the timeline of events on September 11, 2001, when terrorists hijacked four U.S. airliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a rural Pennsylvania field.

A Pentagon spokesman said the DOD inspector general's probe found mistakes, which were corrected, but "nothing ... that indicates testimony by DOD was knowingly false."

The Washington Post reported that the commission discussed how the military and Federal Aviation Administration officials provided "inaccurate information" -- generally, suggesting that U.S. forces reacted quickly and were ready to shoot down United Airlines Flight 93 if it threatened Washington. In fact, the commission said according to the Post, the military never had any of the hijacked airliners in its sights.
Posted By CNN's Washington Bureau: 8/02/2006 01:03:00 PM ET | Permalink
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