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All Richard Ben-Veniste Quotes
No connection between Iraq and the 9/11 catastrophe.
Richard Ben-Veniste
73% of people like this quote
Our mandate expects that we will build on the Joint Inquiry's investigation and we will not be re-inventing the wheel. But we go to places which the Joint Inquiry was not permitted to explore.
Richard Ben-Veniste
70% of people like this quote
Were there contacts over time between Iraq and al-Qaeda? Yes, there were efforts made to communicate. We found no evidence of collaboration in any effort to mount any kind of operation against the United States' interests.
Richard Ben-Veniste
64% of people like this quote
We've got a daunting enough task to provide a definitive account of what happened in 9/11, without fear or favor, something that will last and will survive criticism over time. And we think we can do that with integrity in a bipartisan report.
Richard Ben-Veniste
56% of people like this quote
Only the last two planes, I think, had any shot of being intercepted and taken down on 9/11.
Richard Ben-Veniste
54% of people like this quote
We've had public hearings. We've had interim reports, which our statute has encouraged us to provide to the public. We have brought the public along with us, trying to make as much available as possible over time.
Richard Ben-Veniste
54% of people like this quote
So we knew their intentions were to strike in the United States. We also knew from other sources of dozens of examples of where the notion of using planes as weapons was discussed.
Richard Ben-Veniste
54% of people like this quote
Well, our concern has to do with the period prior to 9/11, up to and including the catastrophe that occurred. And thank goodness, we're not obliged to make assessments of what's going on now and deal with these current events.
Richard Ben-Veniste
51% of people like this quote
Well, our statute provides us with authority to conduct a very broad inquiry basically to provide an investigation of 9/11 that's thorough, complete and will withstand the scrutiny of history.
Richard Ben-Veniste
51% of people like this quote
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 States. We didn't find them.
Richard Ben-Veniste
50% of people like this quote
But as I said to Dr. Rice following her testimony, and I think she appreciated it, we had our job to do and we did it best we could, trying to get answers to the important questions that the 9/11 Commission must answer.
Richard Ben-Veniste
49% of people like this quote
It was not easy to get all my questions answered, frankly.
Richard Ben-Veniste
49% of people like this quote
Well, changes have been made. The question is whether we've done enough by way of change.
Richard Ben-Veniste
47% of people like this quote
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