The Screwing of Cynthia McKinney

FYI-LEE


The Screwing of Cynthia McKinney

By Greg Palast, AlterNet
June 18, 2003

Have you heard about Cynthia McKinney, former U.S. Congresswoman?

According to those quoted on National Public Radio, McKinney's "a loose
cannon"
(media expert) who "the people of Atlanta are embarrassed and disgusted"
(politician) by, and she is also "loony" and "dangerous" (senator from her
own
party).

Yow! And why is McKinney dangerous/loony/disgusting? According to NPR,
"McKinney implied that the [Bush] Administration knew in advance about
September 11 and deliberately held back the information."

The New York Times' Lynette Clemetson revealed her comments went even
further
over the edge: "Ms. McKinney suggest[ed] that President Bush might have
known
about the September 11 attacks but did nothing so his supporters could make
money in a war."

That's loony, all right. As an editor of the highly respected Atlanta
Journal
Constitution told NPR, McKinney's "practically accused the President of
murder!"

Problem is, McKinney never said it.

That's right. The "quote" from McKinney is a complete fabrication. A
whopper, a
fabulous fib, a fake, a flim-flam. Just freakin' made up.

—————————————————————————-
—

Hi, Lynette. My name is Greg Palast, and I wanted to follow up on a story of
yours. It says, let's see, after the opening - it's about Cynthia McKinney -
it
's dated Washington byline August 21. "McKinney's [opponent] capitalized on
the
furor caused by Miss McKinney's suggestion this year that President Bush
might
have known about the September 11 attacks but did nothing so his supporters
could make money in a war." Now, I have been trying my darndest to find this
phrase . . . I can't. . .

Lynette Clemetson, New York Times: Did you search the Atlanta Journal
Constitution?

Yes, but I haven't been able to find that statement.

I've heard that statement - it was all over the place.

I know it was all over the place, except no one can find it and that's why
I'm
concerned. Now did you see the statement in the Atlanta Journal
Constitution?

Yeah….

[Note: No such direct quote from McKinney can be found in the Atlanta
Journal
Constitution.]

And did you confirm this with McKinney?

Well, I worked with her office. The statement is from the floor of the House
[of Representatives]…. Right?

So did you check the statement from the Floor of the House?

I mean I wouldn't have done the story. . . . Have you looked at House
transcripts?

Yes. Did you check that?

Of course.

You did check it?

[Note: No such McKinney statement can be found in the transcripts or other
records of the House of Representatives.]

I think you have to go back to the House transcripts…. I mean it was all
over
the place at the time.


—————————————————————————-
—

Yes, this is one fact the Times reporter didn't fake: The McKinney "quote"
was,
indeed, all over the place: in the Washington Post, National Public Radio,
and
needless to say, all the other metropolitan dailies - everywhere but in
Congresswoman McKinney's mouth.

Nor was it in the Congressional Record, nor in any recorded talk, nor on her
Website, nor in any of her radio talks. Here's the Congresswoman's statement
from the record:

"George Bush had no prior knowledge of the plan to attack the World Trade
Center on September 11."

Oh.

And I should say former Congresswoman McKinney.

She was beaten in the August 2002 Democratic primary. More precisely, she
was
beaten to death, politically, by the fabricated quote.




Did I mention to you that (ex-)Congresswoman McKinney is black? And not just
any kind of black. She's the uppity kind of black.

What I mean by uppity is this:

After George Bush Senior left the White House, he became an advisor and
lobbyist for a Canadian gold-mining company, Barrick Gold. Hey, a guy's got
to
work. But there were a couple of questions about Barrick, to say the least.
For
example, was Barrick's Congo gold mine funding both sides of a civil war and
perpetuating that bloody conflict? Only one Congressperson demanded hearings
on
the matter.

You've guessed: Cynthia McKinney.

That was covered in the . . . well, it wasn't covered at all in the U.S.
press.

McKinney contacted me at the BBC. She asked if I'd heard of Barrick. Indeed,
I
had. Top human rights investigators had evidence that a mine that Barrick
bought in 1999 had, in clearing their Tanzanian properties three years
earlier,
bulldozed mine shafts . . . burying about 50 miners alive.

I certainly knew Barrick: They'd sued the Guardian for daring to run a story
I'
d written about the allegations of the killings. Barrick never sued an
American
paper for daring to run the story, because no American paper dared.

The primary source for my story, an internationally famous lawyer named
Tundu
Lissu, was charged by the Tanzanian police with sedition, and arrested, for
calling for an investigation. McKinney has been trying to save his life with
an
international campaign aimed at Barrick.

That was another of her mistakes.


—————————————————————————-
—

The New York Times wrote about McKinney that Atlanta's "prominent Black
leaders - including Julian Bond, the chairman of the NAACP and former Mayor
Maynard Jackson - who had supported Ms. McKinney in the past - distanced
themselves from her this time."

Really? Atlanta has four internationally recognized black leaders. Martin
Luther King III did not abandon McKinney. I checked with him. Nor did Julian
Bond (the Times ran a rare retraction on their website at Bond's request).
But
that left Atlanta's two other notables: Vernon Jordan and Andrew Young.
Here,
the Times had it right; no question that these two black faces of the
Atlanta
Establishment let McKinney twist slowly in the wind - because, the Times
implied, of her alleged looniness.

But maybe there was another reason Young and Jordan let McKinney swing.
Remember Barrick? George Bush's former gold-mining company, the target of
McKinney's investigations? Did I mention to you that Andy Young and Vernon
Jordan are both on Barrick's payroll? Well, I just did.

Did the Times mention it? I guess that wasn't fit to print.

—————————————————————————-
—

What can be read is her call for a follow-up on the revelations from the BBC
and USA Today on the information about a growing terror threat ignored by
Bush
.. . . and whether the policy response - war, war, war - was protecting
America
or simply enriching Bush's big arms industry donors and business partners.
Fair
questions. But asking them is dangerous . . . to one's political career.