Jon, for posting this.

In an unrelated note, Zelikow is coming to speak here in Chicago. We are going to ask him some questions.

Do you have any feedback on these questions:
Which are the most effective? Which would you ask? Would you reword any of these? Any factual problems?

Thanks!

-Rich Fobes
Chicago, IL

1. Were you advised by the Bush Administration as to how to conduct the investigation and/or how the final Report should look?

2. After Alberto Gonzales continued to deny the Commission access to documents citing 'executive privilege', why didn't you respect the Family Steering Committee's suggestions to issue subpoenas for documents rather than putting in for 'document requests' that were repeatedly denied?

3. Will you comment on the detailed outline that you wrote with Earnest May (author the 9/11 Commission Report) by March 2003, shortly after the Commission's staff had been put in place? This document was kept secret from the rest of the Commissioners, save Kean and Hamilton. Will you comment further on this secret, detailed outline you produced before doing any 'investigating'?

4. One of your duties as Executive Director was to examine all the terrorist threats in the months before 9/11. How stupid do you think we are to consider your Report as 'independent and impartial' considering your central role on the transition team from Clinton to Bush, the briefings you were privy to concerning intelligence reports to Clarke concerning al-Qaeda threats, and the demoting of Richard Clarke?

5. Why did your Commission fail to address 70% of the Faimly Steering Committee's questions regarding the investigation of 9/11?

6. You co-wrote a book with Condi Rice in 1995. You worked closely with Rice on the Bush Administration transition team and played a central role in the demoting of Richard Clarke, later to recuse yourself from those parts of the investigations. You wrote the pre-emptive war strategy document that was released by the Bush Adminstration in late September 2002, under the direction of Condi Rice. You served as a member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board in late 2002. After all of these glaring conflicts of interest came to light, why didn't you respect the Family Steering Committee's demands that they issued on March 20, 2004, to: a) Resign immediately. b) Tesify in public and under oath. c) Submit all your notes ffrom the intelligence briefings you attended with Richard Clarke. d) Apologize to the 9/11 families and America for the masssive appearance of impropriety?

(Follow up) - Will you apologize now to the 9/11 families and America for not addressing 70% of the questions they submitted?

7. Why did you attempt to cut off communications between the Commissioners and their staff members in the memo you issued in March 2003, only to rescind that part of your memo?

8. Why did you strike a deal with the Justice Department to cut the 9/11 Commission's access to files compiled by the 9/11 Congressional Inguiry until the White House was able to review them? Why did you then keep that deal a secret from the commissioners?

9. When asked by Philip Shenon, 'Did you shar Tom Kean's view that the Commission was set up to fail?', you responded by saying that you thought he was making a statement about political circumstances more than about hte 'hard-writing' of the Commission. What makes you believe that's what Kean meant by that statement?

10. You state in your correspondence with Philip Shenon that your approach in the 9/11 Commission was to 'leave it to readers to decide what form of blame, culpability, and responsibility they would assign to the conduct you described.' Now that hundreds of top military officials, family members, architects, engineers, historians, scholars, and scientists have concluded that 9/11 was orchestrated by elements of the United States government, will you acknowledge your role in the 9/11 cover-up?

11. Why didn't you include Sibel Edmonds testimony in your report?

12. Why were you so determined to demonstrate early on in the investigation that Iraq and al-Qaeda had a close relationship?

13. What is your response to Lorie Van Auken's accusation that you were 'selling the war in Iraq' by allowing neoconservative Laurie Mylroie's testimony that there was a 'terrrorist conspiracy' between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda?

14. In October 2003, you reportedly met with two senior members of the Pakistani ISI. Did you inquire about the report that was confirmed by the FBI that former ISI General Mahmoud Ahmed wired $100,000 to alleged hijacker Mohammed Atta?

15. According to a CIA manager, at least 90% of Khalid Sheik Mohammed's testimony is considered unreliable because he was tortured. Considering the fact that the majority of your report's story of the 9/11 plot was based on this testimony, will you apologize to the 9/11 families and America for releasing such a deeply flawed and unreliable conspiracy theory?

16. As an architect of the pre-emptive war strategy, now known as the Bush doctrine, and an expert on the creation of public myth, how well do you feel you've served your purpose?