Galileo’s Telescope and the Kean-Hamilton Luncheon
Morgan Reynolds —September 14, 2006

The church authorities, it is written, refused to look through Galileo’s telescope for fear their Earth-centric view of the universe would be imperiled by facts. Instead of this dangerous look, they condemned Galileo for his Copernican heresy that the Earth orbited the Sun and forced him to recant.
On September 11, the fifth anniversary of our government’s murder of 3,000 American lives it is supposed to defend, I had the “pleasure” of attending the Thomas Kean-Lee Hamilton luncheon, chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the 9/11 cover-up Commission. After the luncheon adjourned, I even muscled my way up to the dais and got both of them to autograph Dr. Judy Wood’s copy of their new book, Without Precedent. Hopefully they will have more time for autographs once they are behind bars as accessories to mass murder.
As Kean and Hamilton spoke, it was clear to me that we live in parallel universes. They were not going to look at 9/11 facts closely and critically through any kind of telescope. Kean spoke first and complained, “There was not enough time, not enough money…I was a neophyte but I learned…we tried to tell the story [yes, it was a story, now wasn’t it?] to the best of our ability…largest investigation…dedicated staff…we made 41 recommendations yet a number of them are still not in place… allocating Homeland Security money by risk, the easiest thing, is still not done…the basic point is that five years later still so much is left undone…everyone is for the 41 recommendations yet most are not passed.”
Lee Hamilton, the sage hand at cover-ups from Iran-Contra to the October surprise to 9/11, praised his buddy Kean for insisting on public hearings [but not publicly and separately under oath with recordings and transcripts of testimony by the president and vice-president!] and for facilitating a unanimous report by ten commissioners. “There were defects in intelligence, the military, special operations, communications…a lack of unity throughout the government,” Hamilton droned on in favor of the government fiction, “and only about half of the 41 recommendations [how many, exactly, again?] have been enacted into law…and these can only be as good as the implementation is.” He had the chutzpah to assert, “We set out the record…built a consensus…Facts are facts.” Huh? What facts did the Commission cite? Name some. As David Ray Griffin points out, virtually every fact inconvenient to the 9/11 myth was studiously ignored, beginning with the unmentionable 6.6-second collapse of WTC building 7 at 5:20 that afternoon five years ago. Hamilton concluded with the clanker, “The system worked in the end.” What? I initially thought he meant that the intelligence and defense systems worked on 9/11 but apparently he meant that Congress and its habit of pushing off big issues on “Commissions like ours” worked.
Then came Q&A. The 9/11 skeptics at my table knew the fix was in because a National Press Club moderator chose among written questions. None of our questions would be asked. Ten press representatives including Eleanor Clift seated at the head table with Kean-Hamilton symbolized the complicity of corporate media with the perps. The softball questions began with, “Are we safe?” Kean replied, “My nightmare is a terrorist nuke. Anybody can make one given the enriched uranium, it’s my nightmare.” Hamilton chimed in, “It’s a matter of urgency…there are a lot of good people in this city [District of Criminals?]…but nothing is more important than making people secure.” Be afraid, be very afraid, that was the constant Kean-Hamilton meme. Kean-Hamilton have done yeoman service in the hoax called the war on terror.
Next, “what was the biggest failing of the 9/11 Commission?” “The biggest failing was a failure to maintain better contact with the House Republican leadership,” Kean replied. Astounding. Ah, yes, it’s all about good politics, isn’t it? The fact that the entire report is a whitewash, a lie, a cover up for mass murderers ranks somewhere below better contact with Republicans as a failing. Lee Hamilton then chimed in, “The story we told [yes, it is a “story”] in the report held up pretty well.” Nothing could be further from the truth, it is losing credibility daily and the U.S. public is rapidly headed for European-style numbers who believe 9/11 was an inside job. Kean-Hamilton seem oblivious, although Hamilton acknowledged, “I know there are a lot of conspiracy theories out there…” [including the biggest whopper of all, their official conspiracy theory].
“Why has there been no second terrorist event. Should the Bush-Cheney government be given credit?” Hamilton responded with marginal sense: “We don’t know why we have been so fortunate…” “And if there is a second attack, should the Bush government be held accountable?” Both Kean and Hamilton dodged the question and Kean replied, “Neither the Clinton nor the Bush administration had terrorism as its top priority.” Be afraid, be very afraid. We must not become complacent.
“Why were there no firings for incompetence? Why no recommendations for firings?” Hamilton responded, “It’s an understandable criticism but it is a long list of people not doing the job right…we could point the finger at people who didn’t do their job right but chose instead to look at systemic corrections…” Old Lee went so far as to say that nearly everyone is to blame, so no one is to blame. Besides they had no disciplinary authority, but if they had pointed the finger, it would have mattered enormously. Instead of driving for a touchdown, they punted to the perps and laid down.
“What about shoulder-fired missiles?” asked the moderator. Kean replied, “Yes, every airliner should have a defense against them…” despite a cost of some $1 million per plane. Kean ended up somewhat incoherently talking about hijackers turning off transponders and “disappearing to the skies.” Hamilton, also seeing a Muslim terrorist under every rock and around every corner, added, “We have known about liquids for some time, the detection problem…it will be costly but it should be done.” Happy flying, everyone.
Asked about getting all the evidence they sought, Kean said, “We got all the documents we wanted after pulling hair, teeth and everything else…the only exception was interviews with detainees from Guantanamo were denied. We could ask questions only in writing…” So he admits they were all on the same side as Bushco, despite their little public shows of conflict.
The censor, er, moderator, chose only one middling tough question: “What about the conspiracy theories? Why are these 9/11 theories gaining popularity?” Kean responded, “Well, some Americans will think that way regardless, FDR for example knew about Pearl Harbor six months in advance [not quite but weeks in advance, yes!]…but what strikes me is that these people are demanding a level of proof they don’t demand of themselves.” On the contrary, Mr. Kean, alternative conspiracy theorists like me deal in facts we can verify, data that have not been destroyed, fabricated or suppressed by the perpetrators. Hamilton pleaded, “We had limited money, staff and time. There were thousands and thousands of questions people wanted answered [yet they answered none] and we couldn’t possibly answer all these questions.” Kean piled on, “We had 150 questions of the families [of the victims]…I’d like them answered too.” Isn’t that nice?
As if confirming that they operate from planet Zircon, the luminaries were asked about the controversial ABC 6-hour mini-series or docudrama on 9/11 that supposedly puts too much blame for 9/11 on the Clinton administration. Kean was an advisor to ABC and said that he thought to himself, “I can’t make it any worse…this controversy shows how enormously sensitive it still is, maybe five years isn’t long enough.” Hamilton was better in remarking, “Docudrama? I don’t like the ring of that. A documentary is one thing and a drama another, and here the two are dangerously intertwined. It does not serve the country well.” Then Hamilton reverted back to form: “We need to look forward, not back…get those recommendations approved to make the country safer.” How many were they, Lee? 41! Repeat after me, 41!
Kean finished off our excursion into reality-concoction by banging on the problem of “we are still not talking to the Arab world.” Not enough talking? That is the problem? The U.S. government and powers-that-be daily meddle with if not directly invade and occupy the entire Arab world, as well as kill, maim and threaten to kill and maim many more Arabs at U.S. whim. And Kean advocates more talking to Arabs!? Inside the District of Criminals, 70 square miles surrounded by reality, this kind of idiocy passes for wisdom. It’s great to be back at my computer in the heartland.