In September, we slept.

On Diane Rehm this morning, the substitute host was discussing the 911 Commission with the author of a new book about it and why it may have been unable to say what it wanted or see all the material it required. The reasons were predictable: Partisan politics, lack of access to secret material, etc. Personally, I take no position on the author’s specific claims; I didn’t hear the entire program let alone do I think I have enough information.

Did you know that post Pearl Harbor there were multiple commissions and investigations both during and after the war? People today still debate what really happened there and who is to blame. My favorite account and, I believe, the most authoritative is At Dawn We Slept and related books by Gordon Prague. Still, isn’t it curious how these things never change? 9-11 was almost sixty years after Pearl Harbor, but the pattern of how we deal with it remains the same.

I cannot help but note the timing of the release of this book vis-à-vis the Presidential election cycle though. Color me cynical, but that timing makes me suspicious of the entire work. Not that people release controversial books during major political contests. Oh, Heaven no.