The Sept. 11 commission, at a press conference releasing the final report of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, faulted on the US government for the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and proposed a sweeping overhaul of the US intelligence apparatus. (Xinhua Photo)

This photo shows a copy of the 567-page 9/11 Commission's report released July 22, 2004 in Washington, DC. A national commission probing the 11 September, 2001 attacks found "failures of imagination, policy, capabilities and management" by the US government and recommended a sweeping overhaul of intelligence services. The report concluding two years of investigation the 10-member bipartisan commission called for establishment of a "national counter-terrorism center" to unify intelligence and operational planning under a new "national intelligence director." The panel issued a broad indictment of US intelligence and air defenses in the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon that left nearly 3,000 people dead. (Xinhua/AFP Photo/Brendan SMIALOWSKI)

This photo shows a copy of the 9/11 Commission's report released July 22, 2004 in Washington, DC. (Xinhua/AFP Photo/Brendan SMIALOWSKI)

Sept. 11 commission chairman Thomas Kean held the report at a press conference releasing the final report of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.(Xinhua Photo)

A man took up a "9/11 Commission Report" sold in a bookstore in New York, July 22, 2004.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

Sept. 11 commission chairman Thomas Kean prepared for the press conference releasing the final report of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, Washington, July 22, 2004.(Xinhua Photo)

Sept. 11 commission chairman Thomas Kean(L) and Lee Hamilton, the vice chairman, answered questions at the press conference in Washington, July 22, 2004.(Xinhua Photo)

Sept. 11 commission chairman Thomas Kean(C) and other 9 members of the commission answered questions at the press conference releasing the final report of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, faulted on the US government for the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and proposed a sweeping overhaul of the US intelligence apparatus in Washington, July 22, 2004.(Xinhua Photo)

Lee Hamilton(R), the Sept. 11 commission vice chairman, announced the commission's recommendations to the government.(Xinhua Photo)   

    WASHINGTON, July 22 (Xinhuanet) -- The Sept. 11 commission, at a press conference releasing the final report of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, faulted on the US government for the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and proposed a sweeping overhaul of the US intelligence apparatus.

    "We did not grasp the magnitude of a threat that had been gathering over a considerable period of time. As we detail in our report, this was a failure of policy, management, capability and above all, a failure of imagination," commission chairman Thomas Kean said.

    "None of the measures adopted by the United States government before Sept. 11 disturbed or even delayed the progress of the al-Qaeda plot," Kean said.

    The United States has blamed the al Qaeda network for the terror attacks that killed some 3,000 people on Sept. 11, 2001.

    Kean criticized the government for failing to watch-list future hijackers before they arrived in the United States; failing to link the arrest of Zacarias Moussaoui, trying to use an airplane to a terrorist act, to the heightened indications of attack; failing to discover false statements on visa applications; failingto expand no-fly lists to include names from terrorist watch lists.

    "These examples make up part of a broader national security picture where the government failed to protect the American people.The United States government was simply not active enough in combating the terrorist threat before the Sept. 11," Kean said.

    Kean stressed the failures took place over many years and administrations.

    "There is no single individuals who is responsible for our failures. Yet individuals and institutions can not be absolved of responsibility. Any person in a senior position within our government during this time bears some element of responsibility for our government's actions," Kean said.

    Kean said that the commission, formally known as the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, found no relationship between Iraq and the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. "We found no relationship whatever between Iraq and the attack on Sept. 11. That just does not exist," Kean said.

    Neither did the commission find any Iranian role in the Sept. 11 terror attacks. "There is no evidence whatsoever that Iran knew anything about the attack on Sept. 11 or certainly assisted in it any way whatsoever," he said.

    Lee Hamilton, the Sept. 11 commission vice chairman, announced the commission's recommendations to the government.

    "We should create a national counterterrorism center to unify all counterterrorism intelligence and operations across the foreign and domestic divide in one organization," Hamilton said.

    "We recommend a national intelligence director. We need unity of effort in the intelligence community," Hamilton said.

    Hamilton said the US Congress should also be reformed. "Oversight for homeland security is splintered among too many committees. We need much stronger committees performing oversight of intelligence, and we need a single committee in each chamber providing oversight of the Department of Homeland Security," he said.

    Internationally, "We need ensure key countries, like Afghanistan and Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, are stable, capable andresolute in opposing terrorism. We need to sustain a coalition of nations that cooperate bilaterally and multilaterally with us in the counterterrorism mission," Hamilton said.

    "We need a better dialogue between the West and the Islamic World," Hamilton said.

    The commission, which interviewed thousands of witnesses and examined mountains of documents, released the much-awaited 567-page final report on Thursday.

    Earlier Thursday, US President George W. Bush met Kean and Hamilton at the White House and praised the September 11 commission for its hard work as well as "very constructive recommendations."

    "It has been my honor to welcome Chairman Kean and Vice Chairman Hamilton to the Oval Office. We just had a good discussion about the Sept. 11 commission report," Bush told reporters at the White House.

    "I want to thank these two gentlemen for serving their country so well and so admirably. They have done a really good job of learning about our country, learning about what went wrong prior to September 11th, and making very solid, sound recommendations about how to move forward. I assured them that where government needs to act, we will," Bush said.

    Bush promised to study the recommendations and work with responsible parties within his administration "to move forward on these recommendations."

    Rejecting the blame of the Sept. 11 commission report, Bush said on Wednesday that he did not have enough warning to prevent the Sept. 11 terror attacks in 2001.

    "Had we had any inkling whatsoever that terrorists were about to attack our country, we would have moved heaven and earth to protect America. Any president would," Bush said. Enditem