WASHINGTON - April 28 - Green Party leaders renewed the party's call for an independent commission, with full participation of surviving family members, to investigate the government's handling of 9/11 and information leading up to the attacks.

"The members of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks in the U.S. have pervasive conflicts of interests which disqualify them from leading an investigation," said Jake Schneider, treasurer of the Green Party of the United States. "The White House did all it could to obstruct a thorough probe, and has so far succeeded. President Bush insisted that commission members be limited to representatives of the two major parties, with each party having a veto, and that the commission could not investigate why 9/11 occurred. The commission's focus was damage control, not discovery of the truth."

Greens noted that the 9/11 Commission established two major points: (1) the Bush Administration ignored numerous warnings from intelligence and foreign governments; (2) the Bush Administration used 9/11 as a pretext to enact existing plans for a war against Iraq and to curtail civil liberties in America.

But Greens charge that numerous other points went uninvestigated:

-- The full extent of FBI and CIA surveillance and intelligence on the hijackers, some of whom (especially Mohammed Atta) had been closely monitored.

-- Connections between the U.S., the Bush family, and Saudi Arabian officials; the Saudi ruling family's funding of terrorists (most of whom were Saudi Arabian); obstruction by the Clinton and Bush administrations of FBI investigations into Saudi ties to terrorism; connections between other U.S. allies and the hijackers, such as Pakistani Intelligence Service.

-- The failure of FAA and NORAD to follow standard operating procedures in response to the 9/11 hijackings.

-- The extent to which bad U.S. policy in the Middle East motivated (and continues to motivate) extremist groups like al-Qaeda, including mishandling of the Israel-Palestine crisis; attempts by the U.S. to control Middle Eastern oil resources (such as the proposed trans-Afghanistan pipeline); earlier U.S. assistance for the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan, and for tyrants such as Saddam Hussein.

Greens warn that all of these policies -- including the recent invasion and occupation of Iraq -- have fueled Middle Eastern rage against the U.S. and may motivate future attacks.

"The question is whether the Bush Administration and Congress failed to prevent 9/11 out of gross incompetency or because they were looking for an excuse to go to war, seize control of Middle East oil, and implement their plan for a global American empire," said Mark Dunlea, a member of the Green Party of New York State and the author of a recent novel on 9/11. "The number of unanswered questions and the White House's secrecy and obstruction surrounding 9/11 demand a real investigation, not the current compromised inquiry. We owe that to the family members and to all Americans."

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