How Very Convenient...
by John Bottoms
How very convenient. How very damned convenient.
~ L. Neil Smith, 1995
L. Neil wrote these bitterly sarcastic words in response to the
1995 bombing of the Murrah building in Oklahoma City, but they
seem to resonate more strongly every day, as calamities pile up,
seemingly always in the furtherance of State power. So,
with the recent death of Minnesota's Senator Wellstone, it's my
turn to say it:
How very convenient...
...that Democratic anti-war Senator Wellstone died, to the
advantage of his Republican adversary, whose ascension to the
Senate will give a majority to the Republican Party.
...that Wellstone died right after Republicans conceded privately
that he was going to win his Senate race in spite of, or maybe
even because of, his anti-war vote.
...that he died after voting against Bush's unilateral attack
on Iraq, against Bush's Homeland Security Department, and in favor
of an independent 9-11 investigation over Bush and Cheney's objections.
...that he died one day before time ran out to name a replacement
candidate. Running posthumously, Wellstone would surely
have won, and a replacement named by Minnesota Democrats.
Replacement candidate over-the-hill Mondale has less of a chance.
Senator Wellstone's wife was conveniently killed also, preventing
a repeat of John Ashcroft's defeat two years ago by the wife of
newly deceased air crash victim Mel Carnahan.
...that a weather radar map from the hour that the plane went
down shows no precipitation anywhere in northern Minnesota, and
the on-the-scene reporter said there was no indication that weather
was a factor, which was confirmed by officials the day of the
crash. But two days later Robert Benzon, the NTSB official
in charge of the investigation describes temperatures near freezing
with icy and snowy conditions at the time of the crash, and is
searching for "valves and cockpit switches that could indicate
whether the plane's de-icing equipment was functioning."
The story takes shape.
...that another pilot who left the same airport about an hour
after the crash reported only "trace to light icing,"
but the NTSB investigator wouldn't speculate on whether such minimal
icing was sufficient to cause the crash, although they've been
happy to speculate that icing may be the cause almost from the
start.
...that Wellstone's airplane lacked the usual flight data recorder
and a cockpit voice recorder, even though FAA spokesman Paul Takemoto
said that the plane was supposed to be so equipped.
...that Carol Carmody, the acting head of the NTSB, said on the
day of the crash that the plane had a cockpit voice recorder,
but retracted it the next day.
...that the first rescue party at the Senator's crash site told
St. Louis County Sheriff that "the fuselage was intact, the
wings were separated from the plane and the tail had broken off."
But the next day, the NTSB said that "only the burned tail
section was still intact, but everything else was destroyed."
Acting NTSB head Carmody said that the fuselage was destroyed
and the cockpit was "gone," and that "the impact
destroyed the fuselage and the cockpit."
...that "the condition of [the plane's] de-icing system...may
be impossible to document because of the badly burned condition
of the wreckage."
...that the plane's poor condition prevented investigators from
learning whether either of the plane's two independent de-icing
systems (a set of valves, air lines and expandable boots on the
wings) worked or were activated.
...that investigators have few clues to go on "since the
plane had neither a cockpit voice recorder nor a flight data recorder,
issued no distress call and was mostly consumed by fire."
But they're quite willing to speculate that the weather was the
cause.
...that the NTSB says they may "spend at least a year"
determining the cause of the accident. That's plenty of
time to start several new wars of conquest.
...that in these days when the federal government is issuing almost
daily terrorism alerts, the NTSB has apparently already rejected
sabotage as a possible cause of the crash, instead focusing solely
on the weather.
...that the Bush administration has had an active "Plan Wellstone"
for more than a year, and recently campaigned for his opponent.
...that "just hours after [Wellstone] perished in the fiery
accident, WABC Radio's resident Democrat Richard Bey complained
that he thought the Wellstone crash defied mere coincidence--then
pointed out that the Bush White House had made the Minnesota liberal
one of its top political targets. By the next day Bey had
second thoughts, telling his audience he didn't want to encourage
such bizarre speculation." Did someone get to him?
...that Wellstone avoided an apparent assassination attempt in
Colombia (where there's an active CIA presence) less than two
years ago.
...that 9 other powerful and outspoken politicians have died in
often mysterious plane crashes over the last 30 years. Most
convenient was the death of Mel Carnahan, John Ashcroft's Senate
opponent, almost exactly two years ago.
In the weeks and months to come, don't be surprised if the contradictions
and misinformation start to pile up, so that we may someday view
Senator Wellstone's death as something far more ominous than merely
"convenient."
October 31, 2002 discuss this column in the forum
John Bottoms writes, works and lives in Phoenix, Arizona.
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