WASHINGTON, Nov 27: Despite initial objections, US President George Bush on Wednesday approved creation of a commission to investigate the government’s failure to prevent last year’s Sept 11 attacks and appointed former secretary of state Henry Kissinger as chairman to “follow all the facts wherever they lead”.

Democrats said Bush and other top officials in current and past administrations were likely to be asked to testify before the independent commission about the events and intelligence leading up to the attacks. The Bush administration has, so far, rebuffed suggestions that Bush testify.

Kissinger, possibly the best-known diplomat of the 20th century and its most controversial, promised a full investigation, including an examination of any ties between Saudi Arabia and the Al Qaeda network.

“We are not restricted by any foreign policy considerations... We are under no restrictions and we would accept no restrictions,” Kissinger said, adding that Bush had given him assurances in private that “he has every intention to carry out the recommendations of the commission”.

The Bush administration initially opposed the commission, arguing that a congressional investigation was better equipped to preserve national security secrets. But victims’ families led a public campaign and pressured Bush to back down.

“This commission will help me and future presidents to understand the methods of America’s enemies and the nature of the threat we face,” Bush said at the bill-signing ceremony before flying to his Texas ranch for a Thanksgiving holiday weekend. “This investigation should carefully examine all the evidence and follow all the facts wherever they lead. We must uncover every detail and learn every lesson of Sept 11.”

The commission, included in a spending bill for intelligence agencies, will look for failures in intelligence, aviation security, immigration and other areas. Subpoenas could be issued by agreement of the chair and vice chair or a vote of six of the 10 commission members.

Bush urged the commission to expedite its work, due to be completed within 18 months. “After all, if there’s changes that need to be made, we need to know them as soon as possible,” Bush said.

The president said Kissinger, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and secretary of state under presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, would bring “broad experience, clear thinking and careful judgment to this important task”.

But critics blasted Bush’s choice, citing Kissinger’s hotly contested record during the Vietnam war and the secretive bombing of Cambodia.

“Kissinger is not distinguished as an impartial judge of government misconduct, to put it mildly. To the contrary, he is an investigate, not an investigator, and one who has stubbornly resisted the disclosure of official information to members of Congress, courts of law, private researchers, and others,” said Steven Aftergood, a government secrecy expert at the Federation of American Scientists.

In a message to victims’ families, who he will meet monthly, Kissinger said, “There is nothing that can be done about the losses they have suffered, but everything must be done to avoid that such a tragedy can occur again.”

A spokesman for the families welcomed Kissinger’s appointment and urged US intelligence agencies to produce the documents and testimony the commission needs. “We look forward to working with him to make the commission effective in uncovering the problems that led to the Sept. 11 attacks,” said Stephen Push, whose wife died on the hijacked plane that crashed into the Pentagon.

BROADER PROBE: White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Bush did not envision testifying before the panel, asserting it would not be “within the precedence of any congressional commission”.