Incensed at US immigration officials for approving student visas for two of the September 11th hijackers, the Bush administration has begun an investigation and promised to punish those responsible.
President Bush demanded to "know how and why this happened", the White House said. The Attorney General, Mr John Ashcroft, called it "inexcusable" and promised to step up reforms at the beleaguered Immigration and Naturalisation Service.
On Monday, exactly six months after the suicide airliner attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the Florida flight school where Mohamed Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi were trained received notification from the INS that their visas had been approved.
Atta and Al-Shehhi trained at Huffman Aviation International in Venice, Florida, and are believed to have piloted the two planes that destroyed the World Trade Center.
The incident prompted Mr Bush to order Mr Ashcroft and Homeland Security Director, Mr Tom Ridge, to "get to the bottom of this" as quickly as possible, the White House said.
"Individuals will be held responsible for any professional incompetence that led to this failure, and inferior INS quality-control mechanisms will be reformed," Mr Ashcroft said. - (Reuters)