|
CounterPunch
December
17, 2002
Lou
Dobbs & Henry K., True Love at Last
Kissinger Gives Away the Store
by MICHAEL LEON
Did anyone catch Lou Dobbs' Moneyline last night?
Unbelievable.
That George W. Bush believes that he
can get away with anything was made clear with his over-the-top
appointment of Henry Kissinger to the 9/11 commission in late
November.
This time Bush went too far. An absurd
appointment for a commission searching for the truth behind the
9/11 attacks, even the New York Times blasted Kissinger's appointment.
"There can be no place for the kind
of political calculation and court flattery that Mr. Kissinger
practiced so assiduously during his tenure as Richard Nixon's
national security adviser and secretary of state. Nor is there
any tolerance for the kind of cynicism that Mr. Kissinger applied
to the prosecution of the Vietnam War."--November 29, 2002.
But the most political, most dishonest
administration in American history found an ally in Lou Dobbs
last night, who tried to prevent an elderly Kissinger from giving
away the store.
Fawning over Kissinger, Dobbs assailed
the "principally partisan interests"--like the 9/11
victims' families--who doubted Kissinger's commitment to investigate
the truth of the events leading up to 9/11, a situation displaying
a titanic intelligence failure by the Bush administration and
some petty partisan maneuvering.
Bush had been caught asleep at the wheel;
and everyone, especially Karl Rove, knows that this could mortally
wound the administration were this to come out displayed on national
stage. Hence, enter Kissinger.
Insistence that Kissinger make public
his myriad transnational and foreign clients so the American
people could feel assured that Kissinger would be objective and
diligent, untainted by conflicts of interests, was condemned
by an indignant Dobbs fawning all over the man in the five-minute,
32-second interview segment.
"...The fact that you and George
Mitchell could fall victim to this kind of, frankly, partisan
attack sets the stage for what will be probably--would you not
say--more partisan attacks on both Hamilton and Kean. It doesn't
look like it's going to be easy sailing for them either. And
therefore it looks like they're going to have a very difficult
job of getting to the truth here," said Dobbs.
Dobbs and Kissinger just want the truth,
cutting through the fog of partisanship.
Kissinger responded to this act of ingratiation
by offering his preordained conclusion of the very matters he
was supposed to investigate--improbably veering so far off message
that even Dobbs' save attempt was too late.
Kissinger responded: "I hope that
everybody has his partisanship out of his system now. And that
people remember that this was an event that was totally unexpected
to the American public; that it came from a direction that nobody
had ever thought of. And that it was the first attack on the
continental United States..." (Dobbs quickly interrupts)
"What is the first question--were
you still chairing the commission--that you would have thought
to ask and to answer?" asked Dobbs.
From a direction that nobody had ever
thought of? There is a mountain of evidence that flying jets
into buildings was thought of, presented to Bush before 9/11,
and not acted upon; as well as the Clinton administration handing
over other strategic plans to fight Al-Qaida, similarly not acted
upon. These are among the questions that Kissinger and the commission
were supposed to investigate and answer objectively and thoroughly
wherever the truth would lead them, with no biases.
Dobbs on-air rescue attempt to prevent
Kissinger from giving away his obvious bias in favor of the Bush
administration was a sight to see. Here was Dobbs changing gears
from his commiserating and suddenly and rudely interrupting in
mid-sentence the great though now babbling man going way off
message.
Could it be that Rove and Bush finessed
Kissinger out because Kissinger, getting on in years, has lost
his message discipline? Getting past the 9/11 panel, no matter
how well stacked with those who will not rock the boat, demands
some slick PR savvy and a whole lot of lying. Henry Kissinger
may not be quite up to the job anymore.
Mike Leon
is a writer living in Madison, Wisconsin. His writing has appeared
nationally in The Progressive, In These Times, and CounterPunch.
He can be reached at: maleon@terracom.net
Yesterday's
Features
Alexander Cockburn
Iraq
After D-Day
Ted Honderich
After the Terror
Marsha Cusic
Jolene: Working a Detroit Factory
Ann Pettifer
Zionism Unbound
Diane Christian
License to Kill
Francis Boyle
US Policy Toward the Iran/Iraq War
Yves Engler
Venezuela: a Canadian Perspective
Ron Sullivan
The Impotence of Being Earnest
Ron Jacobs
Dylan's Thunder
Dr. Susan Block
Caning
Able
Adam Engel
Star 2000
CounterPunch Available Exclusively
to Subscribers:
- CounterPunch Special:
The Persecution of Gershon Legman by Susan Davis: Smut, the Post Office, Commies
and the FBI;
- Reeling Democrats: Is Pelosi the Answer?
- Gandhi v. Hitler: the Secret Race for the Nobel
Prize;
- Sullying Mario Savio's
Memory;
- Lynching Then and Now;
- Earn While You Learn: Chris Whittle and Child Labor;
The Case of the Pompous
Professor;
- The Class Struggle in
Boston: All that
Effort, But What Did They Get?
Remember, the CounterPunch website is
supported exclusively by subscribers to our newsletter. Our worldwide
web audience is soaring , with about seven million hits a month
now. This is inspiring, but the work involved also compels us
to remind you more urgently than ever to subscribe and/or make
a (tax deductible) donation if you can afford it. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe
Now!
Or Call Toll Free 1 800 840 3683
home / subscribe
/ about us
/ books
/ archives
/ search
/ links
/
|