US President George W. Bush said on Thursday that he and Vice-President Dick Cheney answered every question from the panel investigating the September 11 attacks and denied the joint appearance was aimed at keeping their story straight.In comments afterwards in the White House Rose Garden, Bush said that the extraordinary, more than three-hour session was a success, adding that he hoped it would lead to recommendations about how to guard against future attacks. ‘‘We answered all their questions. As I say, I came away good about the session because I wanted them to know how I set strategy, how we run the White House, how we deal with threats,’’ Bush said.The commission said Bush and Cheney had been ‘‘forthcoming and candid’’. The commission’s final report should be ready by July 26. A key area of questioning for Bush was his response to an August 6, 2001, presidential memo entitled ‘‘Bin Laden determined to strike in US’’. It said Al Qaeda members were in the US before the attacks and that the FBI had detected suspicious patterns of activity ‘‘consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks’’. — Reuters
