New Book Alleges 9/11 Commissioner Philip Zelikow Minimized Scrutiny of Bush Admin Failure to Prevent al-Qaeda Attack

Excellent report on Democracy Now! -- starts off with Sandy Berger's tawdry and craven stealing of documents from the National Archives (at Bill Clinton's behest) and then moves into Zelikow's mole-like status on the commission. Which more than one person wondered about at the time, just based on Zelikow's CV and networks; for example, Judith Miller in October 2002 was already accurately portraying Zelikow as follows:

The study, sponsored by the Markle Foundation, was conducted with two influential research groups -- the Brookings Institution and the Center for Strategic and International Studies -- and with the Miller Center for Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. The center's president, Philip Zelikow, a former White House official who is close to Bush administration officials, is the task force's executive director.

''Our study shows that the information and technology that could have prevented the 9/11 attacks already exists,'' Mr. Zelikow said in an interview. ''Had such systems been in place,'' he said, ''Sept. 11 might have been the nation's most important intelligence coup, instead of a day of national tragedy.''

Or, look here, from the Asia Times in 2004:

The commission's executive director, Philip D Zelikow, is a crucial player. This is the man who directs all the investigative research of the commission. On October 5, 2001 - two days before the beginning of the bombing of Afghanistan - he was appointed as one of the three members of Bush's foreign intelligence advisory board. Zelikow is the ultimate Bush insider.

Andrew Rice says that Zelikow "worked with these people and now he is defending them". Zelikow also worked for Jim Baker, former secretary of state of Bush senior. He spent three years on Bush senior's National Security Council. He is close to Bush junior, and even closer to Condi Rice: they worked together, and he even co-wrote two books with her.

But Shenon did the due diligence, which is necessary for rational conclusions, and apparently has wrapped this nasty piece of 9/11 up in a bow.

Parenthetically, Karl Rove is going to be a commentator on FoxNews. Isn't that really a demotion?