WASHINGTON -- In selecting former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger to chair the congressionally mandated investigation of the events of Sept. 11, President Bush has followed precedent by turning to a major political figure with no conspicuous investigative skills.
Similarly, President Lyndon B. Johnson drafted Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren to seek the truth about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and President Ronald Reagan tapped Texas Sen. John Tower to inquire into the Iran-contra affair.
In those cases, neither Justice Warren, a former Republican governor of California, nor Mr. Tower, a partisan pol with a drinking problem, came to the assignment with any notable record as a sleuth. Each appointment, and Justice Warren's in particular, sought to apply a veneer of prestige to what needed to be a no-holds-barred, down-and-dirty exercise in digging for unpleasant facts.
In each case, the high profile of the chairman failed to produce unassailable credibility for the commission's findings, to the point that both of these historic events remain the subjects of continuing speculation.
It is in the nature of such matters that conspiracy theories abound, as they did in the JFK and Iran-contra inquiries, and the same no doubt will be the case in the 9/11 investigation. That's why the head of the inquiry should be a highly reputable veteran of the investigative art, not an individual knee-deep in politics and intrigue, especially one like Mr. Kissinger with such heavy credibility baggage.
While it's true that Mr. Kissinger's job description in the Nixon administration was that of a foreign policy adviser and super diplomat, he had his nose well under the tent in most significant matters, including the odorous Watergate affair.
He had a penchant for secrecy and self-aggrandizement and was the ultimate establishment player, which hardly inspires confidence that he is the best individual to direct a probing investigation. That's so even assuming that at 79 he has the energy, experience and skills to ferret out who, if anybody, was to blame for not uncovering the Sept. 11 plot.
In choosing Mr. Kissinger, Mr. Bush ignored the recommendations of the group Families of September 11, which pressured Congress to authorize the private investigation in the wake of Congress' own inquiry. The group's leader says he wanted former Sen. Warren B. Rudman of New Hampshire. While Mr. Rudman also is a former politician, he was co-chairman of a task force that warned of terrorist attacks nine months before 9/11 and called for creating an umbrella agency for homeland security well before Mr. Bush asked Congress for it.
Mr. Kissinger will not be alone in his latest assignment. Former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell of Maine will be vice chairman, and eight others, four appointed by leaders of each major party, will also serve, along with a hired staff, presumably of considerable investigative talent.
Perplexed by the Kissinger appointment, I called an old investigator to find out what he thought of it. I figured Seymour Hersh, who won a Pulitzer Prize uncovering the infamous My Lai massacre of the Vietnam War and then wrote a book about Mr. Kissinger, might have an interesting observation or two. After all, Mr. Hersh also had written books about what he called "the dark side" of JFK and the shooting down of Korean Airlines Flight 007 in 1983.
Mr. Hersh said he thought Mr. Bush's appointment gave new meaning to the word "irony." He noted that the commission's report is due in 18 months, when the 2004 presidential campaign will be well under way.
"Suppose the commission discovers something damaging to the administration," Mr. Hersh said. "Is Kissinger going to put it out?" At the same time, he allowed, the old diplomat will "probably be trying to save his reputation and do a good job," but because he has "zero credibility" if he reports "there's nothing there, nobody's going to believe him."
Asking Mr. Hersh about Mr. Kissinger is, to be sure, like shooting fish in a barrel. But the appointment invites such a reaction among those who remember the wily wizard behind the screen in the Nixon White House.
Jules Witcover writes from The Sun's Washington bureau. His column appears Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.