Sept. 11 commissioners explain early departure

WASHINGTON -- The Sept. 11 commission said Friday that it went into its private interview with President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney with the understanding that it would be restricted to about two hours.

The disclosure, which came amid questions as to why two Democratic commissioners left the three-hour meeting early, appears to contradict the suggestion by the Bush administration in March that it wouldn't be setting time limits amounting to one hour each for Bush and Cheney.

"We knew when visiting with a sitting president we wouldn't get a full day or a half day," said spokesman Al Felzenberg in explaining why the panel agreed to the scheduling. "We set a date and time convenient to the White House."

The Democrats, Lee Hamilton and Bob Kerrey, left Thursday's meeting to attend previously scheduled appointments. Hamilton, who is chairman of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, attended a luncheon at the center honoring the prime minister of Canada; Kerrey left for a meeting with a senator to discuss appropriations for New School University, of which he is president.

Both explained Friday that they allowed their appointments to stand because they expected the meeting, which began at 9:30 a.m., to conclude by about 11:30 a.m. Their early departures were not intended to snub the president nor abdicate their responsibility as commissioners, they said.

"I don't think I failed in my duties to be a good commissioner by giving up a tail end of a meeting," Kerrey said on CNN's "Wolf Blitzer Reports."

Kerrey said he considered canceling the appointment Thursday morning, but commission chairman Tom Kean said there was no need because "we'll be done by 11:30."

In March, the commission set up separate private interviews with former President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore without time restrictions. Earlier this month, Clinton met the full panel for four hours; Gore was interviewed for three hours.

The panel met resistance from Bush and Cheney, who only wanted to meet two commissioners, rather than the full panel, in separate meetings of one hour each.

Bush appeared to back off the time limit, however, after Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry accused him of stonewalling investigations of the terrorist attacks and U.S. intelligence failures. Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said the president would answer all questions without "watching the clock."

Under pressure from the commission to meet all 10 members of the panel, Bush later agreed, on the condition that he be interviewed jointly with Cheney.

Felzenberg said commissioners were able to ask all the questions they had, but declined to say whether only two hours of questions were prepared beforehand. The panel originally asked to meet at 9 a.m. because of Hamilton's scheduling conflict, but eventually agreed to a 9:30 a.m. start.

"They asked the questions they thought the president could be helpful with," Felzenberg said.