McKinney: Sept. 11 probe to justify comments

WASHINGTON - Cynthia McKinney, who as a Georgia congresswoman suggested that the Bush administration had prior warning of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, says an independent commission's investigation into the matter justifies her concerns.

"What it proves is that we need to have answers to the question that I originally asked," McKinney said in an interview with The Associated Press.

McKinney said she was right to question what the White House knew before the attacks, but that some controversial comments about the administration were taken out of context and have become an "urban myth" among her foes.

Her comments March 25, 2002, during an interview on KPFA radio in Berkeley, Calif., were interpreted as suggesting that the White House allowed the attacks so investment groups specializing in defense contracts would benefit from an ensuing military buildup. She singled out the Carlyle Group, where Bush's father was an adviser.

"What did this administration know and when did it know it, about the events of Sept. 11?" McKinney said at the time. "Who else knew, and why did they not warn the innocent people of New York who were needlessly murdered? What do they have to hide?"

McKinney now says she never meant to imply Bush let the attacks occur so others could benefit.

"There was a lot of heat and fury. Innocent Americans were attacked ... Our country was reacting. I'm part and parcel of that atmosphere," said McKinney, who is running for her old congressional seat. She lost it to fellow Democrat Denise Majette, now a Senate candidate.

However, McKinney still had few kind words for the White House.

"The Bush administration keeps giving us answers that don't answer, explanations that don't explain, and conclusions that don't conclude," McKinney said in Friday's interview.

She praised the 10-member commission examining pre-Sept. 11 intelligence failures and said she found "absolutely riveting" the testimony by former counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke, who depicted Bush as focused on invading Iraq, even when told that country had nothing to do with the attacks.

On the Web:

McKinney campaign: http://www.cynthiaforcongress.com/