To the Point

The 9-11 Commission Hearings

Yesterday-s star witness before the investigating commission told survivors of September 11, -Your government failed you.- Richard Clarke, the former anti-terrorism official whose book and public testimony have so shaken the Bush White House, went on to say that President Bush himself lacked -a sense of urgency- about the threat of al Qaeda. Other witnesses said the Clinton administration was too reluctant to use force. After two days of high-level testimony, what really went wrong? Have the hearings been reassuring about the future? How will they impact this year-s already bitter presidential campaign? Warren Olney gets perspective from journalists, experts in strategic planning and international relations, and a former appointee to the National Commission on Terrorism Making News: New Counter-Terror Strategy for the European Union Prime Minister Tony Blair has become the first British head-of-state since World War II to visit Libya, the country responsible for the Lockerbie bombing of 1988. Blair says there-s a -new relationship- now that Muammar Qadhafi has renounced his nuclear weapons. Blair then flew off to Brussels for a European summit meeting on terror. Judy Dempsey, diplomatic correspondent for the Financial Times, reports on plans for an EU counter-terrorism tsar. Reporters Notebook: With Olympic Games 141 Days Away, Will Athens Be Ready? Today, in an ancient sanctuary where the Olympics were born, a Greek actress playing the role of a high priestess lit the torch for this year-s Summer Olympic Games. But Alan Abrahamson of the Los Angeles Times says it will take an Olympian effort to get the venues ready and install the necessary safeguard for the August 13 start date of the first Summer Olympic Games since September 11.