Daniel Akaka: “Today I wish to address some of the issues raised by the White House's revelations last week that President Bush had…”

“Today I wish to address some of the issues raised by the White House's revelations last week that President Bush had been briefed on August 6 on Osama bin Laden's terrorist network and on plans by al-Qaida to hijack airplanes. I understand that there was no advance knowledge that al-Qaida was planning to hijack airplanes and fly them into the World Trade Center or the Pentagon. I understand that there was no advance warning that this was to take place on September 11. I believe the President when he states that had he known that the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were going to be attacked on September 11 by hijacked planes, he would have taken immediate action. Likewise, I believe none of my Democratic colleagues have suggested otherwise. I am certain that the President would have acted swiftly and effectively to prevent those attacks. In retrospect there are numerous actions which I am certain both the administration and the Congress wished we had taken when the Director of Central Intelligence first warned the President about terrorist attacks in the United States. An inquiry into what was done and what went wrong are legitimate questions which should be answered by the administration, and I hope will be. But rather than concentrating on the past, I would like to focus my remarks on what now needs to be done to prevent future attacks.”