A preventable disaster.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Anyone wondering why the Bush administration is doing its best to torpedo the independent commission investigating U.S. intelligence and law enforcement failures surrounding the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, need only glance through the newly released report by a joint committee of the House and Senate intelligence panels.

The 10-month congressional investigation found that U.S. intelligence agencies had no "smoking gun" that pointed with blinking neon clarity to the impending Sept. 11 attacks. But it concluded that critical clues had been ignored, vital information had not been shared between agencies and insufficient attention was paid to the likelihood of a major terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

It appears increasingly clear that the hijacking plot that killed more than 3,000 people could have been foiled. The reason it wasn't was a sorry sequence of mistakes, lapses and missed opportunities by the CIA, FBI and the National Security Agency, and their obstinate unwillingness to share the vital intelligence data necessary to, as that treadworn-but-apt Sept. 11 cliche goes, "connect the dots."

The Bush administration is not eager for Americans to know such awkward truths. It would much rather they believe that federal agencies were blameless in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. It would much rather they accept the administration's contention that the only way to prevent such acts of terrorism is to make permanent drastic expansions of government power such as those contained in the USA Patriot Act.

The congressional report found that for nearly two years before the attacks, the CIA was aware of terror connections between two of the Sept. 11 hijackers. Yet the information was not shared with other intelligence agencies. The two men were allowed to freely enter and leave the United States until shortly before the attack, when they were placed on a State Department watch list.

It also turns out that both of the hijackers had many contacts with an FBI informant, but the agent responsible for that informant had no idea they were suspected terrorists. The reason: The CIA never told the FBI. Dots weren't connected. Terrorists operated with impunity. And, ultimately, 3,000 people died.

The heavily censored report also describes intelligence agency warnings of al-Qaeda attacks. One in 1998 said ``plans to hijack U.S. aircraft proceeding well.'' Again, the information disappeared down a rat hole. Dots weren't connected. Terrorists operated with impunity. And, ultimately, 3,000 people died.

The report points to another problem: the Bush administration's failure to speak openly to Saudi Arabia about its ties to terrorism, even though 15 of the 19 hijackers came from that country and the Saudi establishment continues to finance Wahhabi extremism around the world.

Earlier this month, leaders of an independent bipartisan commission probing government failures surrounding Sept. 11 went public to complain that their work is being hindered by uncooperative executive branch agencies.

The 10-member panel, which Congress and the president appointed last year, has until only next May to produce its final findings. Yet it has not received millions of documents that it has requested from the Defense, Justice and other departments and has been refused unmonitored access to key witnesses.

The congressional report released this week is only a partial explanation of what went wrong before the terrorist attacks. Americans deserve a full accounting, and the administration should stop its efforts to impede the search for the truth.