The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (Authorized Edition) [Paperback]

National Commission on Terrorist Attacks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 22, 2004

Nearly three thousand people died in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In Lower Manhattan, on a field in Pennsylvania, and along the banks of the Potomoc, the United States suffered the single largest loss of life from an enemy attack on its soil.

In November 2002 the United States Congress and President George W. Bush established by law the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission. This independent, bipartisan panel was directed to examine the facts and circumstances surrounding the September 11 attacks, identify lessons learned, and provide recommendations to safeguard against future acts of terrorism.

This volume is the authorized edition of the Commission's final report.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The result of months of intensive investigations and inquiries by a specially appointed bipartisan panel, The 9/11 Commission Report is one of the most important historical documents of the modern era. And while that fact alone makes it worth owning, it is also a chilling and valuable piece of nonfiction: a comprehensive and alarming look at one of the biggest intelligence failures in history and the events that led up to it. The commission traces the roots of al-Qaeda's strategies along with the emergence of the 19 hijackers and how they entered the United States and boarded airplanes. It details the missed opportunities of law enforcement officials to avert disaster. Using transcripts of cockpit voice recordings, the report describes events on board the planes along with the chaotic reaction on the ground from nearly every level of government. Going forward, the commission calls for a comprehensive overhaul of what it sees as a deeply flawed and disjointed intelligence-gathering operation. The creation of a post for a single National Security Director is recommended, along with the creation of a National Counterterrorism Center. The report finds fault with the approaches of both the Clinton and Bush administrations but, because they were a bipartisan panel and the problems described are so systemic and far-reaching, they stop short of assigning blame to any particular person or group. Credit must be given to how readable the report is. At more than 500 pages, the writing is clear and forceful and the information is made more accessible since it is fre from election politics and rancor. While the commission notes that future attacks are probably inevitable, a coordinated preventive effort along with a clear plan to respond with efficiency can offer Americans some hope in a post-9/11 world. --John Moe

From Publishers Weekly

With a grave resolve that perfectly balances the enormous stakes with the necessity of delving into minutiae, this historic book describes the mechanics of the horrific attacks on the United States and recommends measures for preventing further strikes. Without trivializing any of the events or diminishing the people involved, it reads like a Shakespearean drama. The authors, with grim but charged dispassion, unspool paragraph after paragraph dramatizing the arrival of "muscle hijackers" (as opposed to pilots), the thinking of CIA director George Tenet (regularly referred to, along with most other players here, simply by last name) and plot co-coordinator Khalid Sheikh Mohammad ("KSM") among thousands of others, and the other ways and means by which a "foreign" incursion caused catastrophic domestic damage. Distilling an enormous amount of information in plain language, with unerring pitch and a perfect feel for when to gloss ("Dubai, a modern city with easy access to a major airport..."), the book's implied narrator sticks as close as possible to how real people made real decisions, and, when stymied in considering a factor or set of factors, is willing to say so. In so doing, this multi-author document produces an absolutely compelling narrative intelligence, one with clarity, a sense of shared mission and an overriding desire to do something about the situation. At the same time, with quotational chapter headings like " 'We Have Some Planes' " and " 'The System Was Blinking Red,' " the authors never forget that they are communicating in a medium that has a lot of stylistic resources for holding one's attention; they draw liberally on the most tried and true. Given what hangs in the balance, it is not a stretch to compare this document to The Federalist Papers, in the sense that the book is designed to foster the debate by which the country will reimagine itself through its bureaucracy.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 568 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; First Edition edition (July 22, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393326713
• ISBN-13: 978-0393326710
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (214 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #43,617 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #25 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Current Events > September 11
  • #84 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Current Events > Terrorism

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars "Punking" America, November 28, 2005

By 

G. Estes "Gerald" (NY, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (Authorized Edition) (Paperback)

If you're not familiar with the popular MTV show "Punked", it's a show where the host tricks targeted celebrities, by filming them in completely phony but often scary situations. At the end of the show, the "Punked" celebrity is informed of the hoax and everyone has a good laugh. Unbeknownst to most Americans, 9/11 places us in the same position as the "targeted celebrity" on Punked. The U.S. government occupies the place of the "host"; while the government's version of 9/11, is the hoax being perpetrated! The major difference however, is that unlike the practical joke hoaxes on "Punked", the 9/11 hoax was deadly serious and never intended to be revealed under any circumstances! It was intended to be so traumatic, as to bring about the total transformation of our nation! This transformation has so far, been devastating for established Constitutional liberties of every form! 9/11 has ultimately had the ominous result of freeing our blatantly corrupt federal government from all constitutional restraints! The President for example has been granted the powers of a totalitarian dictator, while secret U.S. gulags have been setup to detain anyone designated a "terrorist"! In short, the U.S. has been "Punked" with a capital "P", down the road to a potentially nightmarish Orwellian future! Since nine (9) of the individuals identified by the U.S. government as "9/11 suicide skyjackers", are definitely alive and well today, the government's version of 9/11 events, can in no way be true!

By completely supporting a proven fraudulent version of 9/11 events, the 9/11 Commision's report is obviously intended to maintain the murderous deception perpetrated upon the American public! For the average uninformed American it may of course seem quite crazy for anyone to even think our government capable of the 9/11 attacks! What these individuals fail to grasp is that governments are composed firstly of individuals with specific agendas, that may or many not coincide with the best interests of their nation. Since we've foolishly adopted the habit of selecting our highest leaders based upon how they look and sound on TV, rather that what they really stand for, it should come as no surprise that some of our most respected U.S. leaders have hidden agendas which can be considered criminal or even treasonous! This is the danger of any and all governments, and is the main reason the citizenry should never under any circumstances, blindly believe any government "official story" without first checking all available facts for themselves. Since suppressed facts clearly revealing government complicity in 9/11 have been made available by brilliant independent researchers, it is still possible for one to get at the real truth of 9/11. When the available facts are properly examined the case for suppression of evidence and fraud in the official 9/11 story as well as the 9/11 Commission's report, is overwhelming.

55 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars THE BIGGEST LIE EVER TOLD!!!, May 17, 2005

By 

H.R. #1 "gloerax3" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (Authorized Edition) (Paperback)

The Warren Commission is officially off the hook about their lies on the Kennedy Assassination. 9/11 as told by mainstream sources is the biggest joke and should never be believed. The unrefutable documented facts show that there is something wrong with this report. If people don't take time and dig for the truth it's their own fault. Just don't be the one that falls into that naive batch. In the memory of the over 3000 dead on 9/11 and the countless civilians murdered by bombs in Afghanistan and Irag, along with the brave military who are fighting and dying, we can do better than a disgraceful report like this. Check the websites that are mentioned in some of the reviews here and get educated on the unrefutable documented facts. DAVID GRIFFIN is the name you should stamp on your forehead so check out his books please.

220 of 306 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A National Disgrace Riddled with Omissions & Distortions, November 25, 2004

By 

David R. Griffin - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (Authorized Edition) (Paperback)

Many people have said that this Report "reads like a novel." It is indeed surprisingly good when judged in terms of criteria appropriate to works of fiction. But the 9/11 Commission was supposed to conduct a serious investigation into the question of who was responsible for the attacks of 9/11. Instead, it simply presupposed the official conspiracy theory, according to which the attacks were planned and carried out solely by al-Qaeda. The Commission entirely ignored all evidence for the alternative conspiracy theory, according to which the attacks succeeded only because of complicity by members of the US government.

Having written a book that summarizes much of the evidence supportive of this alternative theory ("The New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions about the Bush Administration and 9/11"), I read "The 9/11 Commission Report" to see how it handled this evidence. I found that it simply omitted most of it and distorted the rest.

For example, the Report simply repeats the official story about the 19 Arab hijackers, failing to mention that at least six of the named men have shown up alive. It even suggests that Waleed al-Shehri, who visited the US embassy in Morocco after 9/11, stabbed a flight attendant on AA 11 before it hit the North Tower (page 5). This sloppy scholarship proves to be no aberration.

With regard to why jet fighters failed to intercept any of the flights, the Report provides a radically revisionist account of 9/11. Claiming--in contradiction to the timeline provided by NORAD on September 18, 2001--that the FAA never notified the military about Flights 175, 77, and 93 until after they crashed, the Report fails to explain why NORAD had earlier said otherwise. This new timeline also changes the starting times of all the teleconferences, in order to claim that they could not have been the means for the military to have learned about the hijackings from the FAA. Also, to bolster the claim that the shootdown order was not given until after Flight 93 had crashed, the Report also contradicts by 45 minutes all prior testimony--including Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta's eyewitness testimony to the Commission itself--as to when Vice President Cheney descended to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center.

With regard to the World Trade Center, the Report fails to mention that fire had never caused steel-frame high-rise buildings to collapse. It also, by way of suggesting why the Twin Towers could have collapsed so easily, says that the core of each building consisted of "a hollow steel shaft" (541n1), whereas in reality the core of each consisted of 47 massive steel columns. While mentioning that the South Tower collapsed in 10 seconds (305), the Report otherwise fails to mention the fact that the collapses manifested 10 standard features of controlled demolitions. The Report handles the collapse of Building 7, which even FEMA admitted it could not explain, by simply failing to mention it.

With regard to the Pentagon, the Report fails to mention that the West Wing would have been the least likely target for terrorists, that its facade did not collapse until 30 minutes after the strike, and other facts in tension with the idea that the Pentagon was struck by Flight 77. And while claiming that al-Qaeda operatives did not strike a nuclear plant for fear that their plane would be shot down (245), the Report fails to point out that the Pentagon is even better protected, so that any aircraft without a military transponder would have been automatically shot down.

With regard to the FBI, the Report fails to mention many stories that are damaging to the official account of 9/11. These omitted stories include attorney David Schippers' report that several FBI agents told him of their advance knowledge of the New York attacks, the complaint by Coleen Rowley (Time magazine person of the year) that FBI headquarters sabotaged the Moussaoui investigation, and the damning allegations made by FBI translator Sibel Edmonds in her 3.5-hour testimony to the Commission.

What about the allegation by Craig Unger (popularized in Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11") that the White House authorized a private flight carrying Saudis on September 13, before private flights were otherwise allowed? The Report "refutes" this allegation by simply saying that US airspace had been reopened at 11 AM that day (329, 556n25), thereby ignoring the crucial distinction between commercial flights, which were then allowed, and private flights, which were not.

The Report also provides radically ahistorical accounts of the attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq, ignoring all the evidence that these attacks were motivated by desires to establish military bases and to take over the oil (rather than by desires to protect human rights and promote democracy). In this and other ways, the Report omits all evidence that the Bush administration had plans of the sort that could have provided motives for allowing or even engineering the attacks of 9/11.

I have documented these and dozens of other problems in my book "The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions and Distortions." These problems are so great that the Report, instead of being nominated for a National Book Award, should be designated a National Disgrace.