Former Family Steering Committee Members Request Judiciary Compell Testimony

Former Family Steering Committee members Request Judiciary Compell Testimony of Key Witnesses

http://www.911citizenswatch.org/modu...rder=0&thold=0

Wednesday, September 21, 2005 - 02:27 PM

For Immediate Release -- 9/21/05

September 11th Advocates Statement
Regarding Today’s Open Able Danger Hearing
September 21, 2005

It is with great dissatisfaction that we find ourselves not attending today's "open" hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee that was to investigate the Able Danger operation.

Rather than "closing" the Able Danger hearing to the public, it is our opinion that the Pentagon simply barred, persuaded or suggested to the previously named and confirmed Pentagon witnesses who were slated to attend said hearing, that they simply not attend. The key witnesses who we believe were formerly scheduled to testify at today's hearing included, but were not limited to the following: Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer, Navy Capt. Scott Phillpott, Defense Contractor JD Smith, an individual with the last name Wentworth, and an individual with the last name Pricer. Additionally, we would have hoped that the following persons of interest would have also been asked to testify because we believe they too have valuable information to share on "Operation Able Danger": Former DIA interrogator and analyst, Kie Fallis; Former Chief of DIA's Persian Gulf Division, Jay Saunders; Former DIA Terrorism Division Senior Middle East Analyst, Randy Mac Robbie; Former DIA Terrorism Warning Chief, Gary Greco; Former DIA Chief of the Office for Counterterrorism Analysis, Bob Pecha and Former DIA Director, Vice Admiral Thomas Wilson.

We respectfully thank the Senate Judiciary Committee, for attempting to hold a hearing that would have clearly served the nation's interest with regard to national security matters. We continue to support full, transparent access to all vital information regarding our national security because we believe that in order to remain vigilant in the war against terror, we must garner the will of the nation and that can only be achieved by having a fully informed and engaged citizenry.

Unfortunately, because of the Pentagon's decision with regard to the Able Danger information, we must now respectfully ask the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to vote to use their subpoena power to compel the appearance of the aforementioned witness list from the Department of Defense. We will continue to follow the progress of this issue closely by reporting the breakdown of the Committee's subpoena vote.

It should be noted that the Committee needs a unanimous vote in order to issue these subpoenas. Certainly, we remain hopeful that since this issue is of paramount importance to the sanctity and security of this nation, that such a unanimous vote will be swift and summarily taken by the Committee. In light of the importance of this matter, we have taken the liberty of listing all members of the Senate Judiciary on this Press Release. We request that all Americans contact these members to encourage them to immediately vote in support of the issuance of these subpoenas to the Department of Defense.

Moreover, since the Able Danger operation entails individuals, policies, and decisions made by both the Clinton and Bush Administrations as they pertained to the growing terrorist threat posed by Al Qaeda in the years preceding 9/11, we would hope that all Americans realize that this is not a political issue, but is a national security issue. Certainly, under the Clinton Administration, America suffered the bombing of the USS Cole, while under the Bush Administration we suffered the attacks of 9/11. Both of these al Qaeda attacks were carried out by individuals who were allegedly identified and under active surveillance by DIA's Able Danger Operation. Thus, we need to ascertain why these attacks were not thwarted prior to their commission. Subsequently, as 9/11 family members who fought for the creation of the 9/11 Commission, we would also like to discern why the 9/11 Commission failed to include such highly relevent information within the pages of its "definitive" final report.

Only a truly open hearing can furnish the opportunity for all key individuals with pertinent, relevent material and evidence, to freely come forward to share their information with the American public. In addition, only a truly open hearing can confirm, clarify and/or dismiss the many outstanding and extremely disturbing issues surrounding Operation Able Danger.

The members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are:

Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) (202) 224-4254
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) (202) 224-4242
Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) (202) 224-2152; fax (202) 228-0400
Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) (202) 224-5251; fax (202) 224-6331
Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) ( 202) 224-3744
Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) (202) 224-4543; fax (202) 224-2417
Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) (202) 224-4521; fax (202) 224-2207
Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE) (202) 224-5042; fax (202) 224-0139
Senator Mike DeWine (R-OH) (202) 224-2315; fax (202) 224-6519
Senator Herbert Kohl (D-WI) (202) 224-5653; fax (202) 224-9787
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) (202) 224-5972
Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) (202) 224-2934; fax (202) 228-2856
Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) (202) 224-6521; fax (202) 228-1265
Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) (202) 224-5754; fax (202) 224-6008
Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) (202) 224-5653; fax (202) 224-9787
Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI) (202) 224-5323; fax (202) 224-2725
Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) (202) 224-6542; fax (202)228-3027
Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) (202) 224-4124; fax (202) 224-3149

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September 11th Advocates

Kristen Breitweiser
Patty Casazza
Monica Gabrielle
Mindy Kleinberg
Lorie Van Auken