Rice Chooses former 9/11 Commission Director To Serve As Her Counselor
Rice Chooses former 9/11 Commission Director To Serve As Her Counselor
by John F. McManus -- March 5, 2005
Philip Zelikow, a former close associate of Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, has been reunited with her and will serve as her senior adviser at the State Department. The two became close when they worked together during the administration of George H.W. Bush. In 1999, they collaborated as co-authors of the book, Germany Unified and Europe Transformed: A Study in Statecraft. Commenting on the selection of Zelikow, Rice stated: “Philip and I have worked together for years and I value his counsel and expertise.” For the past six years, Zelikow, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations since 1992, led the University of Virginia’s Center for Public Affairs as its executive director. During that period, he also served as the executive director of the 9/11 Commission.
In his new position, Zelikow will be referred to simply as “Counselor of the U.S. State Department.” His responsibilities will include advising the secretary on foreign policy issues and international negotiations. Wendy Sherman (CFR) served as counselor to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (CFR) until 2001. The post had not been filled during the years Colin Powell was our nation’s secretary of state.
http://www.thenewamerican.com/artman...icle_763.shtml Commentary:
It appears that in the wake of the release of the FAA/Warning monograph by the the National Security Archives, that Condi Rice lied when she said that she had seen no intelligence about the threat posed by planes employed as weapons. Just the FAA, one agency of dozens, recieved 52 warnings regarding the threat of Al-Qaeda. Surely the National Security Advisor would have had a hand in vetting the intelligence that made its way through the intel apparatus. So now as Representatives in Congress are calling for hearings on this subject of Condis possibly (probably) lying, we have the former Executive Director of the Commission who was silent over her apparent lies joining her at the Dept. of State.
I take some satisfaction from having enjoyed confronting Zelikow at the National Book Awards Ceremony in New York late last year. With my photographer/press hat on, cameras around my neck, I walked up to the table where he was sitting with his former colleagues from the Commission including Thomas Kean and told him that he presided over the worst cover-up in history. The chief counsel who I also confronted looked like he wanted to hit me. I then turned to ever cheerful and collegial Tom Kean, who recognized me, and asked him how he liked to spend his winter vacations in Anguilla. Thankfully they did not win an award that night. You see, they were nominated for the wrong category for their 9/11 Report. Should have been fiction. Funny thing was when it came time to read the nominees for the non-fiction category, the presenter forgot to mention the 9/11 Report and was about to read the name of the winner when he was quickly set right.
But all this is a deadly serious matter and there is much reckoning to be done if we are ever to learn the whole story behind 9/11. So let us keep our eyes on the horizon in hope someone will come bearing the torch to shed light where it needs to be...
Kyle F. Hence
