- WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Former Secretary of State
Henry A. Kissinger stepped down Friday as chairman of a blue ribbon commission
investigating the United States' failure to prevent the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks, in a move which was welcomed by groups representing the families
of those killed.
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- In a letter to President Bush, Kissinger, 79, said that
he was concerned that combining his role as chairman with his ownership
of an international consulting firm which advises foreign clients would
embroil both bodies in controversy, even though he was prepared to disclose
any potential conflicts of interest to the White House.
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- "To remove any questions about even the appearance
of a conflict of interest, I was prepared ... to submit all relevant financial
information to the White House, as well as to independent review and in
the end to any procedure, consistent with submissions of other members
of the Joint Commission," he wrote.
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- "However, it is clear that, although specific potential
conflicts can be resolved in this manner, the controversy would quickly
move to the consulting firm I have built and own." To break the firm
up, the letter says, would delay the start of the commission's work. Since
Kissinger says he wants the panel to work "without delay or distraction,"
he concludes, "I cannot accept the responsibility you propose."
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- President Bush, in a statement Friday night, said his
administration "will work quickly to select a new chairman whose mission
will be to uncover every detail and learn every lesson of Sept. 11, even
as we act on what we have learned so far to better protect and defend America."
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- Of Kissinger, Bush said in accepting his resignation,
"his chairmanship would have provided the insights and analysis the
government needs to understand the methods of our enemies and the nature
of the threats we face"
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- The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the
United States was set up to discover how the United States failed to prevent
the Sept. 11 suicide hijackings, which killed nearly 3,000 Americans. The
president signed the act of Congress bringing it into being on Nov. 27.
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- But the commission has been beset by problems and controversy
ever since. White House sources told United Press International Thursday
that -- though expected to be up and running late this month or early next
month -- the panel is still in a state of flux, with no offices, no desks
and not even a telephone number.
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- Kissinger is the second senior member to quit this week.
The vice chairman, former Democratic Senate majority leader George Mitchell
resigned Wednesday, saying he had not realized how much work was involved
and could not afford to leave his law practice.
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- Both men have repeatedly denied that they would have
-- or even appear to have -- any conflict of interest in investigating
the failures of the U.S. intelligence community and the possible complicity
in the attacks of foreign entities and governments.
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- Mitchell said in his resignation letter, "as to
conflicts (of interest), I have already stated publicly that I have none
and that I would immediately stop representing and have no further contact
with any client of my firm who becomes involved in the inquiry."
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- Nonetheless, both men quit after a report prepared for
Senate Governmental Affairs Committee by the Congressional Research Service
found that all the members of the commission would be bound by the 1978
Ethics in Government Act, and that -- under the supervision of the Senate
Ethics Committee -- they would have to publicly disclose "detailed
information about income, assets ... liabilities, positions held in private
entities and organizations, agreements or understandings for future employment
or re-employment," and about any clients from whom they had earned
more than $5,000 in the past two years.
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- Both men have lucrative private sector jobs with extensive
client lists.
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- The White House believed that the commission's chairman
-- because he is part-time, unpaid and appointed by the president -- should
only be subject to the much less detailed -- and less public -- disclosure
requirements for executive branch officials.
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- "The White House had a different opinion (about
disclosure requirements)," one Democratic official familiar with the
issue told United Press International, "but I never saw anything from
them that cited the law and legal precedent like (the CRS report) did."
No one form the White House had any comment Friday evening.
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- A spokesman for a coalition of four groups representing
the families of the victims of the attacks welcomed Kissinger's decision.
"This is a wonderful opportunity for the president to correct the
mistake he made and appoint the right person for the job -- Senator Warren
Rudman," Stephen Push of the "Families of Sept. 11" group
told UPI.
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- "If Kissinger had remained chairman there would
always have been questions about how thorough the inquiry was," he
said.
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- Push maintained that Rudman would do his best to get
to the bottom of the issue, which he said made him a difficult choice for
some. "Someone has been blocking Rudman's appointment because he is
a highly qualified candidate who would be a dogged investigator,"
he said.
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- Push was of the opinion that Kissinger had stepped down
because he was reluctant to make his client list public. "I spoke
with him by telephone on Monday and met with him Thursday (in his New York
office) and he made it very clear to me on both occasions that he was not
going to release his client list to the public ... . I cannot think of
any other reason why he would have quit like that. He gave no hint of his
intention to go when we met, in fact we discussed the date for our next
meeting."
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- Neither Kissinger nor anyone from his office Kissinger
Associates Inc., an international consulting firm, would comment.
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- Originally an academic, he was appointed national security
adviser by President Richard Nixon and later became Secretary of State,
a post he also held in the succeeding administration of President Gerald
Ford.
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- Actions during his tenure led to his sharing the Nobel
Peace Prize with North Vietnam's Le Duc Tho for helping the United States
withdraw from the Vietnam War. But they also earned him opprobrium from
critics, who accused Kissinger of lying to Congress, needlessly extending
the war and orchestrating the overthrow of Chile's elected president, Salvador
Allende.
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- Criticism had followed him to this latest posting, with
some suggesting his appointment heralded a cover up of the circumstances
-- from missed intelligence to personal failures by intelligence and other
officials -- that lead up to the attacks which killed nearly 3,000 people.
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- "His affinity for power and the commercial interests
he has cultivated since leaving government may make him less than the staunchly
independent figure that is needed for this critical post," The New
York Times wrote in an editorial. "Indeed, it is tempting to wonder
if the choice of Mr. Kissinger is not a clever maneuver by the White House
to contain an investigation it has long opposed."
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- With additional reporting by Richard Tomkins.
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- Copyright © 2002 United Press International. All
rights reserved.
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