The 9/11 report is going to be damning for all involved, from Clinton to Bush, mistakes were made. Tom Kean sums it up:

"We were asleep. Opportunities were lost," said former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean, a Republican who chairs the bipartisan National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. "The hijackers analyzed our system and developed a plan they felt sure would beat it in every case, and 19 out of 19 succeeded."

Congress established the commission to study the nation's preparedness before Sept. 11, 2001, its response to the attacks, and to recommend ways to prevent such disasters.

The errors documented by the commission date back to just after the 1993 World Trade Center bombings and continued until the fateful day in 2001. The panel found airline security stopped nine of the 19 hijackers on the day of the attacks but let them go.

All five of the hijackers on American Airlines Flight 77 at Dulles International Airport outside Washington were flagged as security risks. All that was required then was that their checked bags be searched for explosives. None was found, so they were allowed to board.

Three of them also had carry-ons that set off alarms on X-ray belts. However, despite one or two additional checks, they successfully got on the plane with pocket knives and box cutters. That plane crashed into the Pentagon (news - web sites).

It's not a political issue, although most will attempt to make it so/ It's a safety issue and a procedural issue that shows how inadequately we were prepared, and how patience and knowledge of our system was used to unfortunate advantage.