Demagogue

The Associated Press reports:

The Sept. 11 commission was so frustrated with repeated misstatements by the Pentagon and FAA about their response to the 2001 terror attacks that it considered an investigation into possible deception, the panel’s chairmen say in a new book.

Republican Thomas Kean and Democrat Lee Hamilton also say in “Without Precedent” that their panel was too soft in questioning former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani — and that the 20-month investigation may have suffered for it.

... Kean and Hamilton said the commission found it mind-boggling that (military) authorities had asserted during hearings that their air defenses had reacted quickly and were prepared to shoot down United Airlines Flight 93, which appeared headed toward Washington.

In fact, the commission determined — after it subpoenaed audiotapes and e-mails of the sequence of events — that the shootdown order did not reach North American Aerospace Command pilots until after all of the hijacked planes had crashed.

The book states that commission staff, “exceedingly frustrated” by what they thought could be deception, proposed a full review into why the FAA and the Pentagon’s NORAD had presented inaccurate information. That ultimately could have led to sanctions.

Due to a lack of time, the panel ultimately referred the matter to the inspectors general at the Pentagon and Transportation Department. Both are preparing reports, spokesmen said this week.

And those reports will probably do little more than collect dust.

Once again, the military — which basks in such warm tributes every Memorial Day and Veterans Day — will escape serious scrutiny for its malfeasance.

The military escaped serious reprimand for its subterfuge and/or incompetence related to the 1989 USS Iowa explosion and the 1945 sinking of the USS Indianapolis. So this is just one more example of how the military gets a pass.