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Wednesday, June 9, 2004
NO
THE BATTALlf
r
Thousands endure hours to
pay respects to Ronald Reagan
By Jeremiah Marquez
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. — Waiting good-naturedly for as much as half a day in traf
fic jams and a parking lot, tens of thousands of people tiled past Ronald Reagan’s flag-
draped casket in an outpouring that forced organizers to extend the viewing period
Tuesday by four hours.
An estimated 79,000 mourners had passed by the coffin in 28 hours after viewing
began at noon Monday, library officials said. The nation’s 40th president died
Saturday at age 93.
Nancy Reagan, resting and preparing for funeral events in Washington, D.C.,
watched the scene on television at her Bel Air home in Los Angeles, said Joanne
Drake, chief of staff of Reagan’s office.
“Tt is unbelievable what I am seeing on TV,”’ Drake quoted the former first lady
as saying. “The outpouring of love for my husband is incredible.’”
The flow of mourners was interrupted briefly when Democratic presidential can
didate John Kerry arrived. Standing before the casket, he made the sign of the cross,
placed his hand over his heart, then left.
Traffic jams and the wait for shuttle buses encouraged camaraderie among the
throngs, who passed the time sharing memories of Reagan and making new friends.
“It was really something. There was a kindred spirit out there as we waited,”
said Linda Peterson, 49, of Temecula, who left home with her son, Lee, 23, on
Monday night.
Their 110-mile trip went swiftly until the last four miles to a local college park
ing lot, which took four hours to cover, and then there was a 4 1/2-hour wait to
board a shuttle bus to the hilltop library.
“I wanted my son to know exactly what an honorable life is all about — a life
of service with such passion,” Mrs. Peterson said.
The viewing at the library in the Ventura County hills west of Los Angeles was
the first event in a week of national mourning. The body was to be flown to
Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to lie in state at the Capitol, followed by a
national funeral on Friday.
Former President Ford told CNN’s “Larry King Live” Tuesday that Reagan was
“a great statesman whom we miss very badly.... He was a firm believer in the strength
of the United States and as a nation that was going to be the leader of the free world.”
Duke Blackwood, the library’s executive director, said that at the conclusion of the
national funeral, the bells of the National Cathedral will ring 40 times and churches
nationwide will join in.
The body will then be flown back to California for burial at the library Friday
TOM WILLIAMS • KRTOM
Members of the 3rd Infantry Old Guard practice memorialized at the first presidential stated 1
a 21 Gun Salute in preparation of the arrival of al in more than three decades. His bod/ m i
the body of former President Ronald Reagan. laid in state for public viewing in the Rohdl
Reagan, who died on Saturday, June 5, will be the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, Dij
evening. Blackwood said the inscription on the headstone will read “Ronald Will
Reagan,” with his date of birth and death.
Nancy Reagan, who accompanied the body to the library, received a mesJ
Tuesday from Pope John Paul II expressing “deep gratitude” for her husband’sccl
mitment to the cause of freedom.
Visitors to the library Tuesday included Govs. Bill Richardson of New Mexicoi
Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, and celebrities Morgan Fairchild and BrJ
Boxleitner, who arrived as representatives of the Screen Actors Guild, which Real
once led.
Sept. 11 commission drafl
harshly critical of FBI, CIJ
■ op
Bush
a grt
By Hope Yen
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
U.
WASHINGTON — Draft portions of the Sept.
11 commission’s final report offer a stinging
rebuke of the FBI and intelligence agencies but
refrain from assigning blame to individuals in
government to avoid the appearance of partisan
ship, several commissioners say.
The 10-member panel still is wrestling over
recommendations to shore up the intelligence gaps
and communications breakdowns that allowed the
hijackers to succeed, four commissioners told The
Associated Press in separate interviews.
“There’s broad consensus
that major changes are need
ed. This is not just a question
of running faster, jumping
higher,” said Republican
commissioner John Lehman,
a former secretary of the
Navy. “We need to ensure
the fusion and sharing of all
intelligence that could have
helped us to avoid 9/11.”
Among the ideas under
consideration is a domestic
intelligence agency modeled
after Britain’s MI5.
Democratic commissioner
Timothy Roemer said FBI
Director Robert Mueller’s
recent proposal to improve
The failure to thwart the
9/11 catastrophe was in part
the result of the failure to
communicate both
internally and externally
about information collected
by our intelligence agencies.
domestic surveillance by creating an intelligence
service within the bureau is another option under
review by the panel but might not be enough.
“Certainly there’s consensus the FBI has not done
a good job prior to 9/11, and they have a long way to
go,” said Roemer, a former Indiana congressman.
The commission was established by Congress
in 2002 to investigate government mistakes
before the attacks and recommend ways to
improve the nation’s protection against terrorists.
It has interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses,
including President Bush, and reviewed more
than 2 million documents.
The bipartisan panel’s final report is due July 26.
However, portions of it, dealing with factual find
ings leading up to and including the attacks, already
have been drafted and sent to the White House for
vetting and declassification,'commissioners said.
CIA Director George Tenet, former FBI Director
Louis Freeh and national security adviser
Condoleezza Rice have been harshly criticized by
some lawmakers and relatives of Sept. 11 victims
for not doing more to combat the threat of terrorism.
The commissioners who spoke to the AP said
the panel wants to avoid blaming individuals
avert charges of partisanship that could uni
mine their work.
"We’re going to say everything we m
say, but there’s not going to be a poli
gotcha,” said Republican commissioners)
Gorton, a former senator from Washing
“It’s very important that it be factual andk.’
major conclusions to the people of the Unit
States. There are huge numbers of facts wi
are not in dispute.”
One example of the FBI’s troubles waSfseet
the case of Sept. 11 hijackers Khalid al-Mihdtiail
Nawaf al-Hazmi, who were linked by the CIAloi
Qaida and were found to have entered the Ui
States in summer 2001.1
agents involved in the ciit
nal probe couldn’t track!
men down because inlet
gence officials wen
allowed to share informal*
on the case. H nl0,
The two would latertxw r Cc
American Airlines Flight
which slammed into
Pentagon.
“The restrictions oi
FBI after Watergate prohi
ing them from modemis
and computerizing theird
systems (and) from kee[
track of watchlists and in
ligations” were among
— Richard Ben-Veniste
democratic commissioner
biggest obstacles to terror prevention, Lelm
said. “It made it impossible for the FBItosk £ 01s
information even within the bureau.”
Officials with the FBI and CIA declined
comment until agency officials had an opporli
ty to review the report. CIA spokesman h
Mansfield said cooperation between the CIA
FBI on counterterrorism has never been better ; ^ 1e
Other sections of the final report will detail" 101 vv
CIA’s missteps, including a failure to recogi
the threat posed by al-Qaida and an overreliafj
on suspect sources for information. The comi
sion has attributed the problems in part to
loose-knit nature of the intelligence commiffi
which didn’t always cooperate because C
Director George Tenet lacked adequate author A
Some commissioners said they didn’t expj
Tenet's impending departure to affect theirii
recommendations, which will focus on stmcW
changes. Roemer said one proposal he supports
creating a national director of intelligence"
would oversee foreign and domestic intelligei*
gathering — might be more palatable to CongT
once Tenet is gone.
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