[A-List] US state: 9/11 scandal & John O'Neill

[Michael Keaney]

Paul writes:

  One of the most interesting elements of this entire process is the
emergence of these very straight, basically conservative, defenders of the
existing US hegememony, who nevertheless find themselves morally bound to
take positions and public stands in opposition.  Somehow, watching Clarke
all I can think of is a man who feels that the very foundations of his
"social contract" have been violated.  He has the look of a man whose wife
has been cheating on him for a long time and he just hit the limit..

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BBC World kindly broadcast most of Clarke's testimony live on Wednesday,
which was a real eye-opener. He's an impressive performer, and very
difficult to damage credibility-wise. The member of the panel who tried to
tie him in knots over his September 2002 memo was forced into a gruffy
retreat because Clarke simply told the truth -- as someone working FOR the
president he was paid to give the best gloss possible on events.

The violation of the social contract is something that will tear the
conservative coalition asunder, as it has already in the case of Chalmers
Johnson, whose criticisms of US policy have become ever more trenchant as
the neocon ascendancy has developed. Business Week's review of his book
characterised him as being on the "left", which goes to show how skewed
rightward is the "centre" of US political discourse.

The documentary is likely to be shown by Finnish state television, which is
very good at picking up foreign current affairs programmes.

Michael