The 9/11 Commission Report

The 9/11 commission report is an odd document in some ways. Ten out of thirteen chapters of the report simply contain an organized retelling of the factual documents and statements that they received. Only the last three chapters contain any sort of “editorializing,” as it were. And in that section, the commission was extremely careful to always mention the Clinton and Bush administrations in the same sentence, and therefore to avoid casting blame on either one.

The factual statements presented in the first ten chapters will be read in different ways by different people, as the commission intended. Nevertheless, it is still possible that the commission reached certain conclusions which they were uncomfortable explicitly stating, but which may be discernable upon close reading of the strictly factual portions of their report. That’s what thousands (millions?) of people will be doing over the next few days. I encourage you to look at the actual report (helpfully made available online by the Washington Post) to draw your own conclusions.

Kash