Well, our position, and our chairman has talked about this extensively, is that we had a lot of intelligence prior to 9-11. We knew that two al Qaeda operatives who ultimately participated in the 9-11 disaster were in the United…

Quote by Richard Ben-Veniste

Topics: Intelligence Quotes

Only the last two planes, I think, had any shot of being intercepted and taken...

Only the last two planes, I think, had any shot of being intercepted and taken...

Well, our concern has to do with the period prior to 9-11, up to and...

Well, our concern has to do with the period prior to 9-11, up to and...

So we knew their intentions were to strike in the United States. We also knew...

So we knew their intentions were to strike in the United States. We also knew...

No connection between Iraq and the 9-11 catastrophe.

No connection between Iraq and the 9-11 catastrophe.

But as I said to Dr. Rice following her testimony, and I think she appreciated...

But as I said to Dr. Rice following her testimony, and I think she appreciated...

And it turned out that the Roberts Commission did not fully utilize the information available...

And it turned out that the Roberts Commission did not fully utilize the information available...

It was not easy to get all my questions answered, frankly.

It was not easy to get all my questions answered, frankly.

We've had public hearings. We've had interim reports, which our statute has encouraged us to...

We've had public hearings. We've had interim reports, which our statute has encouraged us to...

Our mandate expects that we will build on the Joint Inquiry's investigation and we will...

Our mandate expects that we will build on the Joint Inquiry's investigation and we will...

Well, changes have been made. The question is whether we've done enough by way of...

Well, changes have been made. The question is whether we've done enough by way of...

Were there contacts over time between Iraq and al-Qaeda? Yes, there were efforts made to...

Were there contacts over time between Iraq and al-Qaeda? Yes, there were efforts made to...

We've got a daunting enough task to provide a definitive account of what happened in...

We've got a daunting enough task to provide a definitive account of what happened in...

With respect to the FBI, they had problems communicating in a vertical way, within the...

With respect to the FBI, they had problems communicating in a vertical way, within the...

The real question was, here we had this information, Bin Laden intends to strike in...

The real question was, here we had this information, Bin Laden intends to strike in...

Well, our statute provides us with authority to conduct a very broad inquiry basically to...

Well, our statute provides us with authority to conduct a very broad inquiry basically to...