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9/11 panel rocked by conflict revelations

WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- The panel investigating the terror attacks on New York and Washington is being rocked by word two of its officials were interviewed as part of the probe.

Philip Zelikow, the commission's staff director, worked on the Bush-Cheney transition team as the new administration took power, advising his long-time associate and former boss, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice on the structure of the incoming National Security Council.

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Jamie S. Gorelick, one the 10 members of the commission itself, was a senior official under Attorney General Janet Reno in the Clinton administration.

The revelations have been greeted with dismay by the commission's critics, who include survivors and relatives of the dead, because they suggest the panel is not sufficiently independent.

"This is looking like a whitewash," Kristen Breitweiser, who lost her husband Ron in tower two of the World Trade Center told UPI.

Critics of President Bush say the incoming administration "dropped the ball" on the fight against Osama bin Laden, which had begun to ramp up under Clinton after a suicide attack by his al-Qaida network nearly destroyed the USS Cole in Yemen.

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Bush's supporters counter it was Clinton's failure to capture or kill bin Laden after his network destroyed two U.S. embassies in east Africa in 1998.

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