Are any "reputable" reporters in the lamestream media pursuing this story? As Deep Throat said a quarter century ago, "Follow the money."
Thank you for your intelligence, and dilligence.
The (More er Less) Honorable Billybob,
cyberCongressman from Western Carolina
How true! In EVERY aspect of our society!
g
Now I know why Gore grew a beard. So he wouldn't be recognized when the truth about this finally emerged!
Thank you CAL for bringing these facts to America's attention.
The Lefties at first spun this as partisanship by the folks at NewsMax. I responded that the original source of the story as cited by the NewsMax reporter was their very own Leftie rag, the Boston Globe.
They also tried to spin this as being the fault of the Republican-controlled Congress. I pointed out that the airlines are governed by regulations of an administrative agency known as the Federal Aviation Administration, and that the last time I checked, it was part of the Department of Transportation, which is part of the Executive branch.
At the time, the Executive branch was firmly in the iron grip of the ideologically pure left-wing fringe of the Democratic Party, led by President Hillary and her faithful sidekick, Bill.
Oh, how they try to squirm and slither out from under the blame for this! Look at them squirm! There are several other ways in which the Lefties are trying to blame Bush for the events of 9/11. But the blame can be laid squarely at the feet of Clinton and the Democrats in Congress, who slashed intelligence spending in 1993-94.
Not for commercial use. Solely to be used for the educational purposes of research and open discussion.
The American Spectator
August,1999
The Ongoing Dissent over TWA 800
John B. Roberts IIThe White House, with help from a Republican Senator, is sitting on evidence that could point to terrorism in the 1996 jet explosion. an FBI official has become a scapegoat in the cover-up. and the mystery remains unsolved.
(snip)
Neither [Sen. Charles] Grassley [R-Iowa] nor [Chairman John] Duncan [R - Tenn] pressed [NTSB Chairman James] Hall to answer still unresolved questions on Hall's and the vice president's roles in raising more than $500, 000 in soft-money contributions from the airline industry for the 1996 Clinton-Gore reelection effort--at a time when the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security was considering security measures which could have cost the industry $1 billion.(snip)
A recent federal appeals court ruling may shed light on some of the political mysteries surrounding TWA 800. On June 18, 1999, a three-judge panel affirmed Victoria Cummock's lawsuit against Al Gore and the Department of Transportation (see "Dissent of Flight 800," TAS, July 1997).
Two years ago Victoria Cummock filed suit, claiming Gore pressured her to abandon a call for counter-terrorism measures, and refused to publish her 42- page dissent from the final report of the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security. She demanded access to confidential files kept from her and to a secret annex to the commission's final report.
In early discovery, Cummock was given limited access to commission records. One document she found was a memo from a CIA staffer assigned to CIA Director John Deutch, who sat next to Cummock at most commission meetings. The CIA memo, written by an officer who intelligence sources say is normally assigned to clandestine services, drew on psychological profiling of Cummock. It said Cummock could be "kept in line if she believes progress could be made" but warned Deutch that she "could become a major problem" if she thought otherwise.
The existence of this memo is puzzling. Why did the CIA analyze its ability to control Commissioner Cummock? Is there any relationship between the CIA and the NTSB collaboration on the TWA 800 video animation, and the profiling memo on Cummock? Who ordered the assessment?
Cummock became an aviation security advocate after her husband, John, died in the Pan Am 103 bombing. Clinton personally asked her to serve on the commission while he was flying to New York to meet with the grieving TWA 800 family members.
The commission was no ordinary citizen-advisory committee. It was a high-powered group, resembling a mini-Cabinet. Transportation Secretary Federico Pena, CIA Director John Deutch, NTSB Chairman Jim Hall, Vice President Al Gore, FBI Director Louis Freeh, and Council of Economic Advisors Chairman Laura D'Andrea Tyson were among government officials serving on the commission appointed after the TWA 800 catastrophe.
After a lower-court judge sided with Transportation Department attorneys and dismissed her case, Cummock appealed. On April 24, 1999, her appeal was heard by a three-judge panel.
"They were stunned at the government's position," Cummock says, noting that administration lawyers didn't deny her fundamental charge that information was improperly withheld or that Clinton appointees to the commission met often in secret. The government attorneys simply said such conduct was permissible under the Federal Advisory Committee Act.
"The judges were pretty outraged," Cummock told me shortly before the appeals court ruled. "They couldn't believe how the government interpreted the federal commission act."
As Cummock's lawsuit goes forward, she may gain access to documents which would clarify the relationship between the commission's secret meetings and Clinton-Gore campaign fundraising. Cummock says the Clinton appointees "had a ton of secret meetings" with airline industry representatives. At the same time, the Clinton-Gore campaign and Democratic Party received more than $500, 000 in political contributions from the airlines. The disturbing prospect of a quid pro quo whereby the Gore Commission withdrew its preliminary security policies in exchange for 1996 campaign contributions remains open.
John Cummock's widow is nothing if not persistent. "What I want now is to see the classified report," she said, "and write a dissent, classified or not. I know it sounds old-fashioned, but it's a matter of morals, and values, and ethics."
(snip)
Roy
Airports!
It might be interesting to list those with Islamic terrorist ownership and partial ownership!