Philip Klinkner, the James S. Sherman Associate Professor of Government, wrote an opinion piece for Newsday (7/23/04) about the 9/11 Commission report:
... the commission's report will do little to quell the controversy surrounding 9/11. Indeed, as with previous commissions, the 9/11 report will likely only fuel further questions and speculation.
...Perhaps the most controversial U.S. government commission was the Warren commission, charged with investigating the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. ... The commission's conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone is widely challenged ... An ABC News poll on the 40th anniversary of the assassination found that less than a quarter of Americans think Oswald acted alone.
The 9/11 Commission seems likely to follow in the path of its predecessors. ... One reason [these commissions fail] is that any commission, no matter how thorough and comprehensive, can't examine every piece of evidence. ... In other cases, the evidence will never be known. Oswald and the 9/11 hijackers took their thoughts to the grave. And into this vacuum of ignorance steps what historian Richard Hofstadter called "the paranoid style" of U.S. politics.
... Given this, the 9/11 report will not mark the end of, but just another stage in what will surely be an enduring controversy.
The complete piece may be read on: Newsday
He frequently writes about American politics and current events on his blog, Polysigh.
