McKinney and Others Blast the Atlanta Journal Over '9/11 Conspiracy' Comments

Two weeks ago I mentioned the AJC's article on the recent 9/11 hearing hosted by Cynthia McKinney. I have seen sections of the hearing as well as listened to it live, and the term 'conspiracy theory' being mentioned in the AJC's article did strike a cord with me. At this point I am always somewhat happy to see any mention of 9/11 questions by the mainstream media, and seeing as how the AJC was the only mainstream news source to even mention the event I couldn't hate them too much (although myself and others did write them letters complaining about the tone of their article).

In any event, a few public responses to the AJC article were posted today on 911citizenswatch.org. I'm glad to see that people with more recognizable names than my own have openly criticized their coverage, perhaps if we all continue on this line the media will start to realize that not everyone who questions 9/11 is a 'conspiracy theorist'. (Hell, they cover conspiracies all the time, WMD anyone?)

Here are the articles:
Atlanta Journal Rejects Rep. McKinney Op-ed Penned in Response to Paper's Smear

Your recent article ("McKinney reopens 9/11" July 23, 2005, by Bob Kemper) covering a day-long Congressional briefing on July 22 was totally misleading in claiming that it consisted of "conspiracy theories implicating president [Bush]." The actual title was "The 9/11 Commission Report One Year Later: A Citizens' Response - Did They Get it Right?" and not a single panelist at the event, which included 9/11 family members, former intelligence and government workers, whistleblowers and academic experts, raised any allegations that the Bush administration arranged the 9/11 attacks.
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This calls for another look at the government's account of 9/11, which guides so much of what has happened since. Mistakes of fact, intentional or not, have changed and guided America into costly wars and increased insecurity at home. They need to be addressed and scrutinized, not dismissed and used to attack those who discover or raise them.
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In the end, public consideration of important new facts regarding all aspects of the 9/11 tragedy is my responsibility to my constituents, the victims of 9/11, and the oath I took to defend our Constitution.

The presenters listed below, who were at the July 22 briefing, join me in this response.

Rep. Cynthia McKinney
4th District, Georgia

Peter Dale Scott, Ph.D.
Ray McGovern
David MacMichael
Paul Thompson
Nafeez Ahmed
Elaine Cassell
C. William Michaels, Esq.
Dr. John Nutter
Anne Norton
Dr. William F. Pepper

Fomer CIA Analyst Mel Goodman: Rep. McKinney Hearing Addressed Issues of Substance

Bob Kemper's article was unfair to Rep. Cynthia McKinney, the hearing's participants and his readers.

Most of the testimony dealt with the flaws of the 9/11 commission and the reform proposals, the reform legislation of 2004 and the policies of the Bush administration that have led to a tragic, unnecessary war in Iraq. Testimony from family members of Sept. 11 victims concentrated on the need for further investigation, not on conspiracy theory. My testimony criticized the commission for ignoring issues of accountability and promoting reforms that merely redesigned the architecture of the intelligence community. None of the reforms would have prevented the intelligence abuses of the run-up to the Iraq war, let alone another terrorist attack.

References to conspiracy theory came from questions to the participants, most of whom strongly disagreed with the emphasis on conspiracy. The hearing concluded that much work needed to be done on the Sept. 11 attacks, noted areas for continued research and query, and outlined a new U.S. national security policy.

MELVIN A. GOODMAN
Goodman, of Bethesda, Md., is a senior fellow at the Center for
International Policy and a former CIA analyst.

Unfortunately, although not surprisingly, the AJC refused to publish these comments as a rebuttal to their article. Here is Cynthia McKinney's response to their refusal to print their rebuttal:

It's a shame that the Atlanta Journal and Constitution seems incapable of running factual coverage of important events for the people in the Atlanta area. Their coverage of our historic Capitol Hill 9-11 briefing, laden with commentary and innuendo, bore no resemblance to the content of the actual event. They refuse to retract that story--as I have requested them to do--or to even print this op ed signed by many of the panelists and me. Please share this op ed with your friends; post it widely as an example of the way serious issues are treated by the corporate media in Atlanta.

Be sure to check out their entire responses and post any comments you might have.
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