[Editor's note: This article orginally appeared on the cover of the May 27, 2002, issue of HUMAN EVENTS.]
In a brutally cynical political ploy, House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D.-Mo.) opened his regular press briefing on May 16, saying, "I think what we have to do now is to find out what the President, what the White House, knew about the events leading up to 9/11, when they knew it, and most importantly what was done about it at the time."
A reporter asked Gephardt, "Should the President have intervened in some way?" Gephardt responded: "Well, I think it's early in the process to reach conclusions."
Aside from the fact that the congressional intelligence committees had seen precisely the same vague information the President had seen prior to September 11, it is not at all clear that even if the government had perfect intelligence of what al Qaeda had planned that liberals in Congress would have supported the President's taking actions that would have guaranteed those plans were thwarted-i.e., such as removing all young male Muslim visitors from the country until the threat had subsided.
Human Events Assistant Editor David Freddoso went to Capitol Hill last week to find out.
Excuse me Congresswoman. I'm David Freddoso from HUMAN EVENTS.
REP. JULIA CARSON (D.-IND.): What is HUMAN EVENTS?
HUMAN EVENTS is a national conservative weekly.
CARSON: Oh really? And you're a conservative?
Well, yeah.
CARSON: Well bless your little heart. What's bothering you?
President Bush had at least some vague knowledge that al Qaeda [might] try to hijack planes in the U.S. . . . In your opinion, should he have acted then to cancel the visas of young men from countries where al Qaeda is very active?
CARSON: I think that all the information we're getting-while I lean toward believing some of what I'm hearing-I don't have any firm, documented evidence of that. And until the Congress works its way through an investigation-an unemotional one-with some clear sight, I think I would withhold judgement in terms of what should have happened. But I do say that we need to quickly learn whether or not something was broken and needs to be fixed??¢â???¬ ¦
In terms of sending foreigners home who are here visiting from countries that might be dangerous in terms of al Qaeda, how do you feel about that?
CARSON: Being the African-American that I am, I'm not one to reinforce some stereotypical kind of belief in terms of what somebody may or may not do based on the color of their skin or the configuration of their culture.
Given that President Bush knew before September 11 that there could be hijackings by al Qaeda in the United States, should he have, at that point, acted to suspend the visas of young men from countries where al Qaeda is active in recruiting?
REP. CHAKA FATTAH (D.-PA.): My belief is that the President did everything he should have done, given what he knew. But we lack certain specifics. None of us know exactly what was in the briefing. But I think that we have to be forward focused. I do know that the administration, of late, has burdened us with all of their warnings-you know, from apartment buildings, to New York statues and other landmarks, to the possibility of chemical and nuclear and other kinds of problems. So I think that whatever took place then, lessons have been learned. Because now they are putting forward every conceivable warning on every conceivable threat, so that the public is fully aware??¢â???¬ ¦We always used to say, if you're forewarned, you're fore-armed. Not somebody that often is quoted in your publication, but Bill Clinton said something that's important. He said that almost always, when the American people get the information, they do the right thing. Almost always. So it's probably better to err on the side of telling people, than not telling people.
Now, Congressman, to look toward the future. Given that we have new warnings now, from Vice President Cheney, FBI Director Mueller, that there might be more attacks from al Qaeda, should we cancel the visas of people visiting or studying from countries where al Qaeda is known to recruit?
FATTAH: Well, I think you've got a big problem there, in the sense that we know that they have recruited people from countries other than the normal list that you are probably referring to. For instance, Zacarias Mossaoui is a French citizen. Are we going to cancel visas for French citizens? We know he has been most active recruiting in the former Yugoslavia, Bosnia, other places. So I think it would give us a false sense of security, especially given John Walker Lindh.
President Bush had some vague knowledge that al Qaeda might try to hijack airplanes. Based on that knowledge, should he have acted to cancel the visas of young men from countries where al Qaeda has a strong presence?
REP. VITO FOSSELLA (R.-N.Y.): I think President Bush has done everything humanly possible to protect the American people, given the information forwarded to him and then reviewing it. And I think it's utterly ridiculous to suggest that he had any specific knowledge that would have caused him to do anything differently. The focus now should be on how do we prevent something like that from occurring ever again, and our resources should support that.
President Bush had some vague [information] in the summer that al Qaeda [might] try to hijack planes in the U.S. Given that, should President Bush have taken action immediately to cancel the visas of young men from countries where al Qaeda has a strong presence?
REP. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R.-S.C.): I think, based on the memo that was three years old from an unconfirmed British source, the President handled it appropriately. Everybody was on a high state of alert, but you can't shut the whole government down, and you're not going to be able to undo the immigration policy based on an assessment such as was presented to the President. Because when you start that action, people are going to ask you why, what are you doing? What do you say?
Now that 9/11 has happened, and we're receiving similar threats, should we now suspend the visas of young men from countries where al Qaeda has a strong presence?
GRAHAM: I think what we should do is, first, make sure that student visas are honored in an appropriate manner, and go find out who's here on a student visa, and if they're going to school. In terms of immigration policy in the future, I'm not a big fan of prejudging people, but I think when you're threatened in a particular way, that immigration policy has to be reviewed in the light of where the threats come from. But the No. 1 priority I have is to look at people who are already in the country under student visas and see if they're actually going to school. If they're not, expel them.
Congressman Weldon of Florida plans to propose a bill that would cancel the visas of people from 15 different countries where al Qaeda is active. In principle, might that sort of bill have your support?
GRAHAM: Yes, it could, depending on how it's written and the constitutional issues it may raise. But I definitely want to make sure we secure our borders.
President Bush and the intelligence committees had some vague knowledge that al Qaeda [might] try to hijack planes in the United States this summer. Should he have acted then to cancel the visas of young men from countries where al Qaeda is active?
REP. TOM TANCREDO (R.-COLO.): Well, although my gut wants me to say yes, because of course I'm so concerned about this issue-of immigration impropriety and incompetence-but the reality is, I do not know enough. I cannot say in my heart of hearts that he should have done it or not, because I don't know enough about it right now. I just get little bits and pieces of everything that he, quote, knew, didn't know, and when he knew it??¢â???¬ ¦
How about the current scenario, where we're receiving those kinds of warnings again, and we've already seen 9/11 happen?
TANCREDO: At this point in time, I've said this before, I will reiterate it. If something happens-no, when something else happens-and we have not done more than we have done today to stop incursions into this country, to stop people from being able to come across the border at their whim, if we haven't done more, then it is our responsibility, this government's responsibility.
Particularly, Congressman Weldon is proposing a bill that would cancel the visas of young men from 15 different mostly Middle Eastern countries.
TANCREDO: Right. We've had that in there for a long time. It's one more step we have to take. But you know what, that's only one. We have to do so much more in order to feel satisfied that we've done all we can. Even if we do all we can, something can happen, but unless we do all we can, and something happens, we have only ourselves to blame.
Given that President Bush had some [information] during the summer that al Qaeda may try to hijack planes in the United States, should he have cancelled the visas of young men from al Qaeda recruiting countries?
REP. ANTHONY WEINER (D.-N.Y.): No, I don't think that would be an appropriate reaction. An appropriate reaction is to make sure we did everything possible to secure the airliners. I mean, we've had trouble finding these people. That's part of the problem.
