The Los Angeles Times commented: “Snider’s brief tenure underscores the politically treacherous nature of the committee’s task. Even among the four ranking members of the House and Senate committees, there is tension over how aggressively to pursue the inquiry. Members agree the public deserves straight answers about intelligence failures, but are at odds over whether the inquiry should seek to place direct blame at a time when few in Washington are eager to be seen as unpatriotic.”
While the immediate reasons for his removal are quite murky, Snider’s ouster once again puts a spotlight on the extraordinary fact that nearly nine months after the September 11 attacks there has still been no congressional investigation into why the US intelligence apparatus failed to detect or prevent the murder of 3,000 people, despite numerous warnings.
There is growing public suspicion that the opposition to such an investigation is motivated by the Bush administration’s desire to cover up connections between the intelligence agencies and the suicide hijackings, including evidence that suggests they had considerable advance knowledge of the methods to be used, the targets, and even the identities of many of the hijackers.
While the immediate reasons for his removal are quite murky, Snider’s ouster once again puts a spotlight on the extraordinary fact that nearly nine months after the September 11 attacks there has still been no congressional investigation into why the US intelligence apparatus failed to detect or prevent the murder of 3,000 people, despite numerous warnings.
There is growing public suspicion that the opposition to such an investigation is motivated by the Bush administration’s desire to cover up connections between the intelligence agencies and the suicide hijackings, including evidence that suggests they had considerable advance knowledge of the methods to be used, the targets, and even the identities of many of the hijackers.