World press digests 9/11 report

Papers across the world see few surprises in the final report by the US commission which investigated the 11 September attacks.

Many make the point that organisations take the rap, while individuals - including the president - come out unscathed. Some however believe that the harsh criticism of intelligence failures could affect the outcome of the US presidential elections.

---

Months of unsparing study... have now produced a broad consensus about two colossal intelligence failures: the missed opportunities that left the United States open to attack from al-Qaeda and the misread clues on unconventional weapons that sent American troops to attack Iraq.

USA's The New York Times

---

The 11 September incident was used in an ugly and unlawful manner to harm Islam and the Muslim world.

Qatar's Al-Watan

---

It has now became clear that WMD [weapons of mass destruction] do not exist in Iraq and that al-Qaeda terrorism did not enter Iraq except during the US occupation of Iraq.

Jordan's Al-Ra'y

---

11 September investigation committee blames CIA, air defence, Pentagon, Clinton and Bush Administrations (headline)

UK-based Arabic daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi

---

11 September committee: no evidence of prior Saudi knowledge of the attacks (headline)

UK-based Arabic daily Al-Sharq al-Awsat

---

When almost 3,000 people were killed in the Yom Kippur war, a huge wave of popular protest broke out, the political stage shook and heads rolled... Yesterday [Thursday] the report stated: The response to the events was improvised. So if the leadership failed to foil the plot and the emergency services improvised, how come a hurricane-force sigh of relief swept through Washington?

Israel's Ma'ariv

---

The report does not give any useful ammunition to those who like to play with the rolling heads of political opponents... It is a document about collective human failure, but the emphasis is on human. The painstaking investigation was not about apportioning blame but about learning. It is difficult to imagine any other democracy exposing its weaknesses so mercilessly.

Germany's Die Welt

---

One thing is for sure: the US taxpayers did not get good value for money. Billions of dollars were swallowed up by the biggest intelligence machinery ever. But they only served to prepare what will remain the intelligence services' most resounding fiasco.

France's Liberation:

---

As happened when Japan attacked Pearl Harbour, the great superpower could not foresee a qualitative leap of this magnitude. And if now it does not reform and coordinate its defence and police strategy, it will happen again, and probably it will be even worse. This is disturbing. And one wonders: have any of these reforms been proposed in Spain since the 11 March attacks?

Spain's El Mundo

---

The USA has had its private catharsis about the greatest terrorist attack in history.

Spain's ABC

---

The frail giant without imagination (headline)... While the CIA and FBI were churning out tonnes of reports which nobody ever read, American soil was infested by dozens of terrorists.

Italy's La Repubblica

---

The spooks have machines which can hear the word Bin Laden whenever it is uttered or spot a golf ball from the sky, but they did not see the looming al-Qaeda battalion.

Italy's Corriere della Sera

---

Spies failed; George [Bush] and Bill [Clinton] innocent (headline). After 20 months of investigation, the report concludes that the suicide hijackers exploited deep failings in the institutions of the American government.

Serbia's Vecernje novosti

---

The commission's final report does not bring anything especially new... The American president, who once said he did not read newspapers, says he is much looking forward to reading the report.

Slovenia's Delo

---

The report which took 20 months to prepare has only aggravated a heated dispute on whether America could have prevented its greatest failure since Pearl Harbour.

Poland's Gazeta Wyborcza

---

The voluminous tome contained no particular sensations... However, the US media have spotted quite a lot of fuel to feed domestic political infighting, especially with the elections coming up.

Russia's Nezavisimaya Gazeta

---

Neither the White House nor the US intelligence agencies can derive any comfort from the experts' main conclusion.... Analysts are already predicting that the facts that have been brought to light could damage Bush's presidential election campaign.

Russia's Rossiyskaya Gazeta

---

All America was waiting for it. But the first reports that leaked into the press were a disappointment. The commission does not put the blame for what happened on any of the state structures, and not a single politician has been named as guilty.

Russia's Novyye Izvestiya

---

The chaotic situation of the intelligence world was only a microcosm of the internal contradictions in the Bush administration... However, the inquiry commission was made up of an equal number of Republicans and Democrats, so the report which emerged was a product of compromises. The contradictions had already vanished among the internal disputes and the process of collecting evidence, and its firepower is limited.

China's Xin Jing Bao

---

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.