Who is Cynthia McKinney? Cynthia McKinney is a brave woman. Cynthia McKinney is the Georgia congresswoman who stood up on the floor of congress on Friday, April 12, and, behind mounting evidence, proposed an inquiry into the notion that the Bush Administration had prior knowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks, but took no action to stop them. But you wouldn’t know any of this from mainstream news sources.
On that Friday, I heard a snippet of this story on the radio; a basic outline of McKinney’s proposed investigation. Armed with the information organized by former policeman turned public advocate Michael Ruppert, I went online in search of a more full representation of McKinney’s sentiments.
Reuters news wire: nothing in regards to McKinney. “Well, the Times ought to have it.” New York Times Web site: nothing. The Associated Press: nothing. NPR – where I’d originally heard mention of the story: not a word. National Public Radio; sponsored by Exxon Mobil. Undoubtedly, these organizations played the safe hand, a king and an ace instead of a risky pair of 3’s. In their attempts to dodge public ridicule and cater to Capitol Hill’s wealthy arm, these Pulitzer Prize-winning news sources failed the public. Because they refused to document McKinney’s statements, there is little knowledge of the proceedings on Friday, April 12. So much for objectivity. So much for checks and balances. God forbid anyone hold our government accountable.
Finally, I found my way to Portland Indy Media – the first source I’d consulted that isn’t controlled or funded by a major corporation. On their Web site, I found a front page article regarding Cynthia McKinney’s proposal. I found a link to a copy of McKinney’s complete statement. And I found a poll at Indy Media, in which 46 percent (roughly 23,000 people participated) of participants believed that the Bush Administration had knowledge of the attacks.
Also at Portland Indy media, I found statements from a Bush spokesman calling McKinney’s views “ludicrous,” and confidence that the “American people know the facts.” We know what NBC news has shown us. We know the biases of papers like the Oregonian and the NY Times. But until I sought out certain details of the situation, I had no idea of how many facts have been kept out of mainstream news, and mainstream life. And Cynthia McKinney has been ridiculed for sharing such facts; for doing her job as a representative of the people. As Michael Moore said at a recent talk he gave in Eugene, “This isn’t a war on terror, this is a war on us, to shred the constitution, and take away our liberties.”
With the push by McKinney, and the help of Michael Rupert and Indy Media, I was able to discover the following things: since Sept. 11, the Carlyle Group, an oil conglomerate, has experienced significant profit. Stockholders of the Carlyle group include George Bush Sr., and members of the Bin Laden family. The Bin Laden and Bush families have been business partners for years. In 1979, bin Laden money helped fund Arbusto, George W.’s first oil company. And, as reported by a French newspaper, a top CIA official met with Osama Bin Laden in July, while he was laid up in a hospital for a kidney infection. (For more information on these, and other facts, visit indymedia.org, and copvcia.com.)
After doing a minimal amount of research, and a less than copious amount of reading, I was able to find substantial evidence supporting Cynthia McKinney’s hypothesis. In addition, I was disgusted with the government’s ability to thwart free speech. The American people do not know the facts, and politicians without corporate ties, like McKinney, want us to know the truth. They want others to see the dangers of an incurring corporate feudalism in which the Bush Administration would control both policy and world trade. I’ve seen it. Now it’s your turn; go home, do some research, don’t let some corporate rag define your thoughts. It’s a free country …
Editor’s Note: This opinion piece erroneously ran in the News section in our online edition. The piece was correctly labeled Opinion in the print version. Joel Silverstein, “The Heretic,” is an opinion writer, not a news writer. We apologize for any confusion this error may have caused.