Robert Torricelli: “on four occasions since September 11, 2001, I have come to the Chamber to recommend to my colleagues that the Senate…”

“on four occasions since September 11, 2001, I have come to the Chamber to recommend to my colleagues that the Senate immediately consider the establishment of a national commission concerning the events of September 11, 2001. My request has been based on no motivation but the belief that the American people deserve honest answers and that the only means of preventing another terrorist attack on the United States is a fair, honest, and dispassionate view of what happened and what didn't happen, what was known, and what should have occurred. The historic basis of such an honest approach to the tragedy of New York and the Pentagon is overwhelming. Ten days after December 7, 1941, Franklin Delano Roosevelt recognized that he could not reassure the American people about their Government and could not unify the country for the war ahead unless he gave them an explanation about what failed at Pearl Harbor. Lyndon Johnson recognized almost immediately the same need to reassure the American people about the operations of their Government and the integrity of its officers after the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963. Ronald Reagan drew upon the same precedent establishing the Challenger Commission to assure the American people that they would receive an honest answer to prevent any recurrence in the loss of life in the Challenger. What I recommend has not only had precedents, it was the rule.…”