The 9/11 Commission hearings have taken on an almost surreal aspect as many of its members become media darlings and at least one of them is almost certainly guilty of an undisclosed conflict of interest.  These happenings put the very integrity of the investigation in question.

But first, a few words from one of the principals, Attorney General John Ashcroft.  Ashcroft dropped a few bombshells on the committee in his testimony on Tuesday, April 13, and I think it is incumbent on those who want the truth to come out to make sure as many people as possible are aware of what Ashcroft said.  In his opening remarks the Attorney General revealed that he could find no evidence of a Clinton Administration plan to kill Osama bin Laden, and that the plan to arrest him (bin Laden) was fatally flawed by legalistic impediments.

Ashcroft further revealed that after the FBI arrested Zacarias Moussaoui in the fall of 2001, they sought a criminal search warrant to look at the files on his (Moussaoui's) computer, which they had seized.  This warrant was not granted, because of what he referred to as "the wall" (Pink Floyd has nothing on the United States Government during the Clinton Administration).  "The wall" is the barrier constructed between the criminal/prosecutorial functions of the federal government and its intelligence-gathering functions.

Ashcroft then went on to identify the person whose memo had delineated the particulars of "the wall." He read a recently declassified 1995 memo from one Jamie Gorelick, an Assistant Attorney General under Janet Reno.  In the interests of "full disclosure," Ashcroft informed the Commission that one of its members had written the memo.  The implicit question was, Why hadn't Commission Member Gorelick informed the Commission Chariman at the outset of her intimate involvement in the creation of the very legal foundation which formed the basis of the government's inability to pursue potentially rewarding leads with regard to the 9/11 atrocities? Left unspoken was the obvious conflict of interest involved in her being both a maker of policy and a judge of its effectiveness.

Ashcroft also silenced (and would have shamed, if shame were one of the emotions Richard Ben-Veniste could feel) Commission member Richard Ben-Veniste, who questioned the Attorney General aggressively on his use of "private chartered jet plane[s]" instead of commercial flights, the implication being that Ashcroft somehow knew that a terrorist attack involving commercial aircraft against America was imminent and chose to minimize his risk of being the victim of such an attack by not taking commercial flights.

Ashcroft informed Ben-Veniste that he had never ceased using commercial flights for his personal travel and that he and his family had indeed flown on commercial airliners within a week of the 9/11 atrocities.  He then went on to explain that when he was on government business he traveled, not on "private chartered jets," but on government aircraft, this at the recommendation of the security team regarding the safety of the Attorney General.

Commission members are averaging four television appearances per week, with some members making as many as nine appearances weekly.  This is Real-World caliber exposure, as any publicity agent will tell you.  The buzz generated by the politicization of the Commission hearings, and the resultant demand for appearances by Commission members, are the stuff publicists drool over.  If there's a buck to be made — perhaps through a Richard-Clarke-like book deal — somebody will sidle up to one or more of the principals in this sideshow and whisper, "Hey, buddy, wanna earn some easy dough?"

Because it is easy dough.  Except for the fact that it's "dough" earned at the expense of the American public.  It's tainted precisely because Commissions such as this one have an obligation to the American people to fulfill the charter of the panel on which they serve, and politicizing and publicizing and allowing conflicts of interest to go undisclosed and exchanging one's duty to gather information dispassionately for the glare of the liberal-media spotlight don't go toward fulfilling that charge. It's certainly out of fashion to call on public servants to uphold traditional values, but, in fact, that is precisely what must occur in the current context.  The members of the 9/11 Commission must plight their troth to the cause of protecting the American people and defending their interests against the terrorists whose purpose is nothing less than the destruction of the very values and principles on which this country has been built.

Writer Greg Lewis is the co-author of the Warner Books hardcover "End Your Addiction Now."