First the fix was in, now it’s not:
Don’t let the doorknob hit you in the ass on the way out. 
Hoo-ha!
"Kissinger had been criticized over possible conflicts of interest. "
What? Does he own stock in Al Queda or something?
That being beside the point, I am utterly shocked at this story.
Shocked, I say.
I thought that fucker died years ago.
I don’t know. It was sort of nice to see Nixon’s Grey Eminence spooking around in W.’s Rose Garden. The prospect of Henry the K’s Realpolitik and W.’s Marvel Comics think playing on the same field was bound to make for exciting entertainment. Maybe W.’s boys can come up with some unindicted or conviction reversed or conviction forgiven figure from Ronnie’s or George I’s administration to honcho the inquiry and make sure that any skeletons stay securely buried.
I have it! It’s a perfect job for Newt!
Why should anyone be surprised at this, this commission is so politically charged that no matter what the findings happen to be, and no matter what evidence is available, someone will find some conspiracy theory.
Talk about a poisoned chalice, no wonder anyone with any sense wants out!!
The fact that he could be appointed in the first place says more about the US political system than his resignation ever will, unfortunately.
Still, i’m glad to see the fucker go.
People have long complained about the conflict of interests being the major problem with Kissenger, and I’m not qualified to say whether that was really an issue.
What WAS a very important issue is that Kissenger embodies, and is intellectually wedded to, a particular philosophy of foriegn policy. And it is EXACTLY that philosophy which may well be to blame for our intelligence failures: it was a misdirected approach focused on states, insularity, and realpolitik, and dismissive of non-state forces.
Given that this attitude was a potential culprit in how we thought about security, intelligence and threats prior to 9/11, Kissenger would never be able to question whether this sort of doctrine was to blame. It was HIS doctrine, after all, one which he has continued to defend and elaborate on. There’s no way he could make an honest appraisal of it’s role in 9/11.
It’s a good thing.
Although this commission is going to be controversial no matter what, I think that George Mitchell (who also resigned) and Lee Hamilton (who is suggested as a possibility in the linked article) would not raise quite the red flags that Kissinger did.
Buh-bye!
Me, I’m holding out for Ollie North.
Daniel
The clients for his consulting firm allegedly include more than a few foreign nations. Not a good idea to be heading the 9/11 inquiry if you’re on the payroll of (for instance) Saudi Arabia.
I think I can clear up your confusion. From the book Who in Hell…: A Gudie to the Whole Damned Bunch (Kelly and Rogers, 1996):
?
I thought the pellet with the poison was in the vessel with the pestle, and the chalice with the palace held the brew that was true!
What’s going on here?
I don’t know. Couldn’t you argue that it, in some ways, was the rejection of Kissinger’s philosophy of foreign policy that contributed to our intelligence failures? It seems like current foreign policy says that we should base our foreign policy on the pursuit of human rights and democritization, and that we should encourage our allies to improve their human rights record. It’s commonly accepted that intelligence operations like assassinations and coups of other goverments are inappropriate, that the US, in war, should try to minimize innocent casualties, etc.