The 9/11 Files: The Cover-up Commission | Ep 2

The 9/11 Commission's Flawed Origins [1:02]

• The official story of 9/11 is based on a single report from the 9/11 final report of the National Commission.
• This commission is described as a "farce," intentionally underfunded, poorly structured, and corrupt from top to bottom.
• The commission's own chairman admitted years later that it was set up to fail.
• Americans questioned how a terror network closely monitored by U.S. intelligence agencies could carry out the attacks.

This section establishes the premise that the official 9/11 report is inherently flawed and questions the government's narrative regarding the events.

The media never mentioned is that the commission itself was a farce. It was intentionally underfunded. It was poorly structured. It was from top to bottom corrupt.

Bush Administration's Post-9/11 Agenda [1:36]

• In the immediate hours after the attacks, the Bush administration began leveraging the tragedy to launch a "global war on terror."
• The evidence gathered at the time pointed to al-Qaeda as the perpetrator.
• The administration ferociously opposed any attempt to carefully examine what happened on that day, raising questions about what they had to hide.

This part highlights the swift shift by the administration to focus on a war on terror and their resistance to thorough investigation.

Beginning in the first hours after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the Bush administration began leveraging the tragedy to launch their next project, a so-called global war on terror.

The "Jersey Girls" and the Fight for Truth [2:34]

• Kristen Brightweiser, whose husband Ron was killed on 9/11, is introduced as one of four 9/11 widows known as the "Jersey girls."
• They were among the few public figures who refused to accept the official 9/11 story and were vocal about their doubts.
• Determined to identify any government officials complicit in the tragedy, they were ultimately ignored.
• They observed a Bush administration that was not interested in looking backward, pushing instead for immediate war and the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq.

This section introduces a group of victims' families who actively pursued accountability and truth, facing resistance from the administration.

They were some of the only people in public life in the United States who wouldn't let it go. They didn't believe the official 9/11 story and they often said so.

Exploiting the Crisis for the Iraq Invasion [3:34]

• Instead of getting to the bottom of what happened, the Bush administration immediately exploited the crisis to push for the invasion of Iraq.
• Richard Clarke, a counterterrorism advisor to George W. Bush, noted that upon returning to the White House post-9/11, he expected meetings on future attacks and vulnerabilities.
• Instead, he realized that figures like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz were using the tragedy to promote their agenda for Iraq.
• Rumsfeld's instinct was to hit Saddam Hussein, and the day after the attack, Bush asked Clarke to investigate Saddam's involvement.
• Wolfowitz argued that Iraq was the source of the terrorist problem and should be attacked.

This topic details how the 9/11 attacks were used as a pretext to advance the pre-existing agenda of invading Iraq.

Instead, he realized with what he called almost sharp physical pain that Rumsfeld and Wolawitz were going to take advantage of the tragedy to promote their agenda about Iraq.

The Personal Toll of 9/11 and the Desire for Answers [4:38]

• A widow shares a deeply personal account of her husband's final moments on September 11th, describing his call as the towers were attacked.
• She expresses regret for not telling him to run or get out, fueled by a sense of not knowing and a desire for the American public to know the truth.
• The speaker emphasizes the profound loss of 3,000 loved ones and the unmet need for answers.

This section focuses on the human impact of 9/11 and the emotional drive behind the pursuit of truth for the victims.

And um, he's like, "People are falling out the windows." I'm like, "Just, you know, what are you what are you what are you going to do?" And he's like, "Well, I'm going to go down to the trading floor and see if I can find a television to see what's going on. We don't know anything."

Undermining the Investigation: The Administration's Resistance [6:34]

• The Bush administration, enjoying a 90% approval rating, pushed a narrative that Osama bin Laden caught authorities off guard and that there was no way to prevent the attacks, which the public later understood to be a lie.
• More than two-thirds of Americans by May 2002 wanted an investigation into intelligence failures.
• An initial effort for investigation was a joint congressional commission, but Vice President Cheney reportedly did not want scrutiny of his or the administration's failures.
• Cheney and political strategist Carl Rove were focused on the president's reputation and re-election.
• Dick Cheney allegedly threatened Senate Majority Leader Tom Dashel, implying that investigating would be seen as interfering with the war effort.

This topic details the specific actions taken by the Bush administration to hinder and suppress the investigation into 9/11.

The lengths that the Bush administration went to kill the investigation into 9/11 are shocking.

Intercepted Messages and FBI Intimidation [8:04]

• The joint congressional commission discovered that the NSA had intercepted messages from al-Qaeda operatives the day before the attacks, stating "The match begins tomorrow and tomorrow is zero day."
• Leaked messages led to retaliation from the Bush administration, which sicced the FBI on the committee.
• The FBI conducted interrogations, polygraphs, and threats, creating a chilling effect on the inquiry's progress.
• Staffers feared losing their positions or facing imprisonment.

This section highlights how the discovery of crucial evidence was met with government intimidation tactics against those investigating.

It was pure intimidation. And so it had a very chilling effect in my opinion on the progress of the inquiry and their investigation.

The Establishment of a Weakened 9/11 Commission [9:09]

• Congress made discoveries, but most were redacted in the final report, leading the "Jersey girls" to demand an independent commission.
• Legislation for a "blue ribbon commission" was signed by President Bush on November 27, 2002, partly due to fear of political blowback.
• However, Bush's allies in Congress gave the commission weak subpoena power and limited it to an 18-month timeline.
• The commission was appropriated only $3 million, significantly less than funding for investigations like the Monica Lewinsky scandal or Russiagate.
• This demonstrates the administration and Congress's unwillingness for the public to know what happened on 9/11.

This topic outlines the deliberate efforts to create a compromised 9/11 Commission with insufficient resources and authority.

By Washington standards, it was nothing. By comparison, Congress gave 13 times more funding to investigate the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Henry Kissinger's Controversial Nomination and Resignation [10:19]

• The White House controlled the commission by choosing its chairman, with Henry Kissinger as their first choice.
• Kissinger's past involvement in controversial actions, including secret bombings in Cambodia and Laos, and his role in the coup in Chile, raised concerns.
• At the time, he was running a lucrative consulting business, Kissinger Associates, raising questions about conflicts of interest.
• During a meeting with the "Jersey girls," Kissinger became flustered when asked about representing Saudi royals or members of the Bin Laden family.
• He spilled his drink, feigned a fake eye, and never answered the question, resigning the very next day.

This section details the attempted appointment of Henry Kissinger as chairman and the reasons for his swift resignation, pointing to potential conflicts of interest.

We had grave concerns that he was chosen by the vice president and the president and Carl Rove because he was really good at what he does. And so we were also concerned about his clients and that he had a huge conflict of interest.

Philip Zelico: The Architect of the Cover-Up? [14:43]

• After Kissinger's resignation, Carl Rove, Bush's top political adviser, offered the job to former New Jersey Governor Tom Kean.
• Kean was instructed by White House advisers to not have a "runaway commission," essentially to "do what we say."
• Chairman Kean later admitted the commission was "set up to fail."
• Philip Zelico was selected as the commission's executive director, presented as a historian but was an active Bush administration official.
• Zelico had served on a White House intelligence advisory panel and had extensive ties to Condoleezza Rice, co-authoring a book with her and authoring a policy paper championing preemptive invasions at her behest.
• He is described as the "perfect person to keep the commission from finding the truth" and to protect the Bush administration and lay groundwork for the war in Iraq.

This topic introduces Philip Zelico and outlines his alleged conflicts of interest and his role in undermining the commission's integrity from the start.

The White House's fingerprints were certainly all over the commission.

Zelico's Methods: Pre-writing and Control [16:59]

• Zelico's first action was to pre-write the entire report before facts were gathered, creating a detailed outline that closely matched the final report.
• He kept this outline secret from the rest of the staff, believing it was approved by the Bush administration.
• Zelico consolidated power by controlling hiring, blocking staff communication with commissioners, restricting document access, and siloing teams, particularly the one handling classified information from the White House and CIA.
• He made a secret agreement with the Justice Department to allow the White House to review congressional inquiry files before the commission accessed them.
• The final report contained 61 references to finding "no evidence" of certain claims, a tactic described as not looking for evidence so you don't find it.

This section details the specific tactics Zelico employed to control the narrative and limit the investigation's scope and findings.

Zelico's first move was to prewrite the entire report before the facts were in.

Communication with the White House and Agenda-Driven Hearings [18:46]

• A staffer overheard Zelico pressuring a CIA employee to accept Condoleezza Rice's recollection of intel briefings.
• Phone logs showed Zelico regularly taking calls from Condoleezza Rice and Carl Rove, contradicting Rove's denial of regular contact.
• Zelico received calls from Carl Rove, though he claimed they did not discuss the commission.
• The commission's public hearings were stacked with discredited neocons who towed the White House line about Iraq's connections to al-Qaeda, none of which were real.
• Experts like Abraham Sofaer and Laurie Mylroie testified, emphasizing the need for preemptive invasions and linking the attacks to Iraqi intelligence, despite the hearings being on 9/11.

This topic reveals the alleged coordination between Zelico and White House officials, and how the public hearings were used to promote a specific political agenda.

Phone logs kept by Zelico's assistant show that he was regularly taking calls from both Condisa Rice and Carl Rove, George W. Bush's top political adviser in the White House.

Zelico's Role in Demoting Dick Clark and Omitting Key Details [22:03]

• Philip Zelico, the man in charge of the official story of 9/11, was the same Bush administration adviser who demoted counterterrorism advisor Dick Clark in the months before 9/11.
• Crucial details about Zelico's conflicts of interest and his role in pushing the Iraq war narrative were omitted from the commission's final report.
• The report is characterized as a cover-up from beginning to end, serving as the most important starting point for understanding what truly happened on September 11th.
• The speaker questions why successive governments would continue to perpetuate the lie and cover up the events, wondering what was being hidden and who was being protected.

This concluding section reinforces the argument that the 9/11 Commission report was a deliberate cover-up, leaving lingering questions about the government's motivations and protected parties.

The 9/11 commission report was a cover up from beginning to end. That is true.