Lynn C. Woolsey: “Yesterday, the Bush White House finally succumbed to intense and well-deserved pressure and agreed to allow National…”

“Yesterday, the Bush White House finally succumbed to intense and well-deserved pressure and agreed to allow National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice to testify under oath before the independent commission investigating the 9/11 terror attacks. I am glad that Dr. Rice will publicly testify before the commission. This is an important step towards learning about the events surrounding the terrible attacks that occurred in New York and Washington, D.C. on September 11. Now we can prevent such events from ever happening again if we get the information that has been withheld. But why is it that the Bush administration agreed to do the right thing only after receiving intense pressure from the public and from Republican appointees on the 9/11 Commission? Why does the White House time and again fail to quickly and transparently disclose what transpires behind its closed doors? After all, who could possibly provide better information in the fight against terrorism than those top White House officials, those who served the administration during that fateful day on September 11? Remember, and we cannot forget, that the Bush administration initially tried to prevent Congress from creating the independent commission in the first place.”