Should Gorelick step down?

[Ripsnort]

Yes or no?

Gorelick: I won't quit
Sept. 11 commission
Clinton official rejects calls to resign amid allegations of conflict, cover-up

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Posted: April 14, 2004
10:27 p.m. Eastern


By Joe Kovacs
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com


Jamie Gorelick – the former deputy attorney general under President Clinton and current 9-11 Commission member under fire for alleged conflict of interest – is rejecting calls that she step down from her position and become a witness.


"I'm not going to resign from the commission," Gorelick said on CNN tonight. "It's a bogus factual issue. When you ask hard questions of people who are in office and who have been in office, they take offense."

Her comments were in reaction to a call by House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., who suggested she step down after revealing "her actions in establishing the heightened 'wall' prohibiting the sharing of intelligence information and criminal information" at the Justice Department.


"I believe the commission's work and independence will be fatally damaged by the continued participation of Ms. Gorelick as a commissioner," Sensenbrenner said.

But the congressman didn't think the former second-in-command at Justice should be totally discarded from participation.

"Given Ms. Gorelick's work as the deputy attorney general under Janet Reno, Ms. Gorelick can be quite valuable to the commission's work preparing 'a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.' However, that contribution should come as a witness before the commission – not as a member."

"All of the commission members have some government experience," Gorelick responded. "Everyone is subject to the same recusal policies. You could have had a commission with nobody who knew anything about government. And I don't think it would have been a very helpful commission."

When asked specifically by CNN's Wolf Blitzer if she wrote the "memorandum in '95 that helped establish the so-called walls between the FBI and CIA," Gorelick distanced herself from the matter:

"No, and again, I would refer you back to what others on the commission have said. The wall was a creature of statute. It's existed since the mid 1980s. And while it's too lengthy to go into, basically the policy that was put out in the mid-nineties, which I didn't sign, wasn't my policy by the way, it was the attorney general's policy, was ratified by Attorney General Ashcroft's deputy as well in August of 2001. So we are just going to move on from this. This is not a basis for resignation."


As WorldNetDaily reported, Attorney General John Ashcroft told investigators the document by Gorelick [pdf file] helped establish the "single greatest structural cause" for Sept. 11, which was "the wall that segregated criminal investigators and intelligence agents."

"Government erected this wall," Ashcroft said. "Government buttressed this wall. And before September 11, government was blinded by this wall."

Gorelick became the subject of radio talk shows across America today, blasted by, among others, conservative icon Rush Limbaugh, who said Gorelick was intentionally covering up critical information to protect her administration.

"She concealed the existence of her own memo issued in 1995," Limbaugh said. "She concealed her own memo from this fact-finding commission. She concealed her own memo to protect herself and Bill Clinton, pure and simple. ...


"You just stop and consider the thinking that even creates this wall; that information gathered by intelligence agencies is not usable when pursuing terrorists, for the technicality that the administration chose to pursue terrorists in the legal system? I mean, folks, it's hard to conclude any other thing except they didn't want the problem of capturing these people. They didn't want the hassle of dealing with this."

Within ten days after the Sept. 11 attack, Gorelick herself was critical of the Clinton administration's lack of persistence in the pursuit of terrorists and concluded there were intelligence breakdowns that led to the onslaught of violence in New York.

[boxboy28]

They been say ing all along that some one needs to be fired to explain the illcommunications between the CIA and FBI .....

[Hajo]

Seems to me she was an integral part of the problem.

Don't know if she should step down....but one of the Commision should question her about her actions.

By the way.....as always.....this has turned into a political football.

I'm not disappointed, figured it would happen.  Instead of working for a solution it's turned into finger pointing.  Reminds me of Congress...how about you?

Same ole same ole, nothing gets accomplished.

I don't care who, where, or why we dropped the ball.  We did.
I hope this Commision works to fix it......not  continue the Political infighting and finger pointing.  Reminds me about playing baseball as a kid.......hit a baseball, break a window.  All Right!!  Who did it?  He did....no I dint He did!~  Sheeesh

[Eagler]

if she were a republican, the press would have tarred and feathered her by now..

[gofaster]

Is she a hottie?

[Ripsnort]

Originally posted by gofaster
Is she a hottie?

No.

[AKIron]

Originally posted by gofaster
Is she a hottie?

Is that all you can think about? There are more important matters at hand here. If the democrats win there will be no more hotties!

[JBA]

This isn't Commissioner Gorelick's only conflict. In 2003, a year after she was named to the 9-11 commission, she joined the high-powered Washington law firm of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering.

Among their clients: Saudi Prince Mohammed al Faisal, who just might find himself on the receiving end of a 9-11 lawsuit or two. Two of his clients are Osmas brothers. He is accused of funding the 9-11 hijackers.

You might recall that when the 9-11 commission was first formed, President Bush named Henry Kissinger to head it. Shortly after he was named, he was forced to resign under fire from Democrats and the left for his many supposed conflicts of interest.

But Gorelick's conflicts are much more serious than Kissinger's - something that's now coming to be recognized in Washington.

On Wednesday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner called on her to resign, citing her "inherent conflict of interest."

[GtoRA2]

Yes and now, she needs to be testifing not standing on the panel were she can cover her own ass.