By Bob Woodwind

WASHINGTON, December 6 -- On November 27, 2002, Dr. Henry Kissinger was named to head a non-partisan commission to investigate possible intelligence failures surrounding the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. On December 4, less than 24 hours after its first meeting, the Commission issued its final report.

The Commission held its one and only media conference in Washington’s Union Station, which was decorated with Kissinger heraldry and sported a 300 member chorus and orchestra. Kissinger, an amateur performer of light opera, delivered the executive summary to the theme of Man of La Mancha. Although most reporters had trouble understanding Kissinger’s German-accented basso profundo, an official handout described the story.

Those public officials with close ties to Kissinger Associates—intelligence chiefs, former Republican lawmakers and above all the Bush family—were exhaustively investigated and found to be blameless. Above all, Bush, Cheney, Tenet and Mueller were both thoroughly knowledgeable and wholly ignorant and cannot be held responsible for anything. In short, said the Commission, no one could be blamed, except possibly some Arabs “who have no ties to the Saudi family or anyone else we like.”

By Jason Joist

WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 -- In a break with tradition, the DC Planning Commission last night approved a proposed glass-fronted, rectangular office building for the K Street Corridor. When completed, the building, tentatively called One Rectangular Square, will stand at 17th and L, Northwest. But already the plans are drawing worldwide attention.

“Finally, something with 90 degree corners!” exclaimed New York Times architecture critic Michael Kimmelman, “It’s about time that Washington had a structure that reflects the plodding rationalism that the city exudes. This is, I hope, a new direction for a city that was always too, too zany.”

But not everyone saw it that way. “I never thought we’d see that kind of structure in Washington,” said Eleanor Phibbs, 71. “This city has always prided itself on whimsical, imaginative architecture…and now this!”

The building breaks more new ground in its choice of tenants. These will include law, lobbying and public relations firms.

© The Washington Pox 2002

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