Andrew Hagen

Henry Kissinger has stepped down from the commission designated by Congress to investigate intelligence failures prior to 9/11. (*) He cited potential conflicts of interest between his private business and the work of the commission. As I wrote earlier, there is reason to believe that these potential conflicts would have been very real. (†) This is a victory for everyone who wants to see a strong and truly independent commission undertake this important work. It should not be seen in any way as a disgrace to the former diplomat. Dr. Kissinger has his business interests, and as it turns out potential conflicts arising from those would inhibit the credibility of the commission. He has done the right thing. He also has significant questions about his past to answer. Those should have nothing to do with 9/11. Thankfully, they won’t distract the commission’s work any longer.

Earlier, I stated that appointing Kissinger was the worst political mistake of President Bush’s life. (‡) Regardless of the propriety of Bush’s mistake in naming Kissinger in the first place, Bush finds himself in a much more favorable political position today. It’s likely that Bush or an aide urged Kissinger to step down, or even pressured him to do so. This just shows how incredibly deft, nimble, and savvy George W. Bush is when it comes to politics. He has a way of recovering from setbacks.

Bush’s next step is to quickly find a truly independent figure to replace Kissinger. There are many qualifications for the job, but chief among them is impeccable integrity. The Democrats have their own challenge as well. Earlier in the week, George Mitchell stepped down, also citing conflicts. Two good names that come to mind are Republican Warren Rudman and Democrat Gary Hart.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 13th, 2002 at 18:45 and is filed under 9/11. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.