Sept 11 panel mulls strategy for Rice hearing

‘‘We expect it to be exciting,’’ Kean said, ‘‘because we want to know so much… We want to know what she heard and knew, and of course what differences there may be between her, Clarke and the other people we’ve heard.’’

Kean said that the Commission and White House are ‘‘planning’’ to have a final report finished and available to the public by July, but he acknowledged that he could not guarantee an early release date.

The White House will vet the report to protect intelligence sources and methods, a process that could be time-consuming. ‘‘This is one of the remaining obstacles, for us to get the report declassified,’’ said vice-chairman Lee Hamilton.

When asked about his forthcoming ‘‘testimony’’ before the9/11 Commission jointly with Vice-President Cheney, Bush called it ‘‘just a meeting’’. ‘‘It will be a great opportunity for them to ask both of us our opinions on the subject,’’ said Bush. ‘‘I look forward to sharing information with them,’’ he said.

‘‘Let me just be very clear about this. Had we had the information that was necessary to stop an attack, I’d have stopped the attack. And I am convinced any other government would have, too.’’