Washingtontimes.com
Now that the world knows that the State Department was responsible for granting visas to the September 11 terrorists — in direct violation of the law — top State Department press flack Richard Boucher is playing political three-card monty: pretending there was nothing wrong with the way things used to be, but then stressing that things are now much better.
At the daily press briefing last Wednesday, Mr. Boucher dismissed my investigative report — discussed last week on these pages — as "Monday morning quarterback[ing]." He didn't dispute any of the facts unearthed, or that the forms were not even close to filled out.
The best Mr. Boucher could muster was a meek excuse: "The fact is that with 20/20 hindsight, I'm sure one can always find a reason that you might have turned down a visa." A reason? Try many — for each visa.
Take Saeed al Ghamdi. Aside from listing "HTL" as the address where he intended to stay in the United States, al Ghamdi lied on his July 12, 2001, application when he checked "No" to the question, "Have you ever applied for a U.S. nonimmigrant visa?" If the consular officer had simply checked al Ghamdi's history, however, al Ghamdi would have been caught lying on the second form, resulting in a denial — or so one would hope.
Posted by Suzanne at October 16, 2002