Newsday has my take on the legacy of the 9/11 commission. Here's the gist of it:
"Why do these commissions usually fail in their task to bring consensus? One reason is that any commission, no matter how thorough and comprehensive, can't examine every piece of evidence. Indeed, new evidence often comes to light only long after these commissions complete their work. In other cases, the evidence will never be known. Oswald and the 9/11 hijackers took their thoughts to the grave. And into this vacuum of ignorance steps what historian Richard Hofstadter called "the paranoid style" of U.S. politics.
Many have always seen conspiracies lurking beneath the surface of American politics, but such thoughts are particularly evident in the wake of tragic events, as though something as horrible as 9/11 can only be the result of dark forces. Given this, the 9/11 report will not mark the end of, but just another stage in what will surely be an enduring controversy."
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The political science take on things.
Contributors
Books by PolySigh Contributors
Philip Klinkner:
The Unsteady March: The Rise and Decline of Racial Equality in America
Midterm: The Elections of 1994 in Context
The Losing Parties: Out-Party National Committees, 1956-1993
Steve Teles:
Whose Welfare? AFDC and Elite Politics
Jack Pitney:
The Art of Political Warfare
Congress' Permanent Minority?
Jacob Hacker:
The Road to Nowhere: The Genesis of President Clinton's Plan for Health Security
The Divided Welfare State: The Battle Over Public and Private Social Benefits
Paul Frymer:
Uneasy Alliances: Race and Party Competition in America
David Lublin:
The Paradox of Representation: Racial Gerrymandering and Minority Interests in Congress
The Republican South : Democratization and Partisan Change
Stephen K. Medvic
Political Consultants in U.S. Congressional Elections (Ohio State University Press 2001)
Shades of Gray:Â Perspectives on Campaign Ethics (Brookings Institution Press 2002)
Guide to Political Campaigns in America (CQ Press 2005)
The Unsteady March: The Rise and Decline of Racial Equality in America
Midterm: The Elections of 1994 in Context
The Losing Parties: Out-Party National Committees, 1956-1993
Steve Teles:
Whose Welfare? AFDC and Elite Politics
Jack Pitney:
The Art of Political Warfare
Congress' Permanent Minority?
Jacob Hacker:
The Road to Nowhere: The Genesis of President Clinton's Plan for Health Security
The Divided Welfare State: The Battle Over Public and Private Social Benefits
Paul Frymer:
Uneasy Alliances: Race and Party Competition in America
David Lublin:
The Paradox of Representation: Racial Gerrymandering and Minority Interests in Congress
The Republican South : Democratization and Partisan Change
Stephen K. Medvic
Political Consultants in U.S. Congressional Elections (Ohio State University Press 2001)
Shades of Gray:Â Perspectives on Campaign Ethics (Brookings Institution Press 2002)
Guide to Political Campaigns in America (CQ Press 2005)
1 comment:
Unlike the Warren Commission, I don’t think the 9/11 Commission missed any significant hard evidence. The motivations taken to the grave can be answered by psychiatrists. Read a few pieces by Tom Friedman of the NYT about the psychology of the hopeless (like Palestinians) and it is easy to see how a charismatic mullah can sweet talk them into suicide in the name of religion.
Anyone looking for a bigger conspiracy in 9/11 is an Enquirer reader.
I don’t know about the “Intelligence Czar”, but there are plenty of specific things still needed to provide domestic security: tracking foreign nationals; securing the ports, railways, water and power infrastructure, adequate staffing at airports and border crossings, etc. This is the part of the report that needs to be pursued.
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