Investigation of September 11th:
A Panel Led by a Mass Murderer

Dec 9, 2002

In late November, the Bush administration finally agreed to create an "independent" panel to investigate all the problems surrounding the September 11th attacks. To lead the panel, Bush sent for Henry Kissinger.

Kissinger was Secretary of State and head of the National Security Council under Presidents Nixon and Ford. Kissinger was in charge of the war in Viet Nam (under Nixon) after Johnson decided not to run for election in 1968. In that era, covered by official government secrecy, Kissinger’s policy was to bomb cities and villages, in order to terrorize not only the Vietnamese, but also the Cambodians. An estimated 20,000 U.S. soldiers, 100,000 South Vietnamese and 500,000 North Vietnamese died during the era when Kissinger directed policies. Or, as Christopher Hitchens put it in his much-researched book, "The Trial of Henry Kissinger," for Kissinger, "mass murderer" is not a phrase of rhetoric, "it’s a job description."The New York Times described Mr. Kissinger’s history: "When he was in power, the U.S. carried out secret negotiations to open up China–important members of the cabinet were kept in the dark–as well as covert military operations against Cambodia and clandestine plans to overthrow [the elected government of] Salvador Allende in Chile. It was Mr. Kissinger who wanted to suppress publication of the Pentagon papers." Or as columnist Maureen Dowd wrote sarcastically: "Who better to investigate an unwarranted attack on America than the man who used to instigate America’s unwarranted attacks?"No one could believe what is said by a mass murderer in love with secrecy. His appointment tells us a lot about this administration’s interest in the truth–or rather, covering it up–concerning September 11th.