Investigation of the Sept. 11 attacks

Opposition from the White House and congressional Republicans to granting the commission investigating the Sept. 11 terror attacks an extension past its May deadline is unconscionable. It is nothing less than playing politics with our national security.

The White House and its GOP allies in Congress are fighting a proposal by Sens. John McCain, Republican-Arizona, and Joseph Lieberman, Democrat-Connecticut, to extend the commission's work past the November elections. The commission said that it needs at least two more months to complete its work.

The administration has hampered the commission almost from its inception, starting with White House refusal to release information the panel needed to do its job.

One member of the panel, former Indiana Rep. Tim Roemer, had it exactly right when he said getting the facts won't kill us, but not getting them might. The commission needs as many of the pertinent facts as it can get in order to complete a thorough and comprehensive report on what led to the nearly 3,000 American deaths in the Sept. 11 attacks. Congress should approve the extension as soon as possible.

-- The Buffalo News, Buffalo, New York