Comments like these from a senior Republican certainly raise important points about the validity of the argument expressed by Bush, Rice, Fleischer etc.. that those events could not have been prevented.

On the 27th October 2004, an alliance of 100 prominent Americans and 40 family members of those killed on that dreadful day released a "911 truth statement", calling for immediate inquiry into evidence that suggests high-level government officials may have deliberately allowed the September 11th attacks to occur.

I certainly agree that an inquiry such as this should have been allowed well before now if the regime had nothing to hide.

There are 12 important questions the signatories to the statement want answering, these are:

1. Why were standard operating procedures for dealing with hijacked airliners not followed that day?

2. Why were the extensive missile batteries and air defenses reportedly deployed around the Pentagon not activated during the attack?

3. Why did the Secret Service allow Bush to complete his elementary school visit, apparently unconcerned about his safety or that of the schoolchildren?

4. Why hasn't a single person been fired, penalized, or reprimanded for the gross incompetence we witnessed that day?

5. Why haven't authorities in the U.S. and abroad published the results of multiple investigations into trading that strongly suggested foreknowledge of specific details of the 9/11 attacks, resulting in tens of millions of dollars of traceable gains?

6. Why has Sibel Edmonds, a former FBI translator who claims to have knowledge of advance warnings, been publicly silenced with a gag order requested by Attorney General Ashcroft and granted by a Bush-appointed judge?

7. How could Flight 77, which reportedly hit the Pentagon, have flown back towards Washington D.C. for 40 minutes without being detected by the FAA's radar or the even superior radar possessed by the US military?

8. How were the FBI and CIA able to release the names and photos of the alleged hijackers within hours, as well as to visit houses, restaurants, and flight schools they were known to frequent?

9. What happened to the over 20 documented warnings given our government by 14 foreign intelligence agencies or heads of state?

10. Why did the Bush administration cover up the fact that the head of the Pakistani intelligence agency was in Washington the week of 9/11 and reportedly had 0,000 wired to Mohamed Atta, considered the ringleader of the hijackers?

11. Why did the 911 Commission fail to address most of the questions posed by the families of the victims, in addition to almost all of the questions posed here?

12. Why was Philip Zelikow chosen to be the Executive Director of the ostensibly independent 911 Commission although he had co-authored a book with Condoleezza Rice?