The man certainly doesn’t lack courage, as evidenced by his 2003 commencement address at Rockford College (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAWMgYyAtHU).

As with Amy Goodman, Noam Chomsky, and some other commentators on the left, it may be more a case of entrenched punditry—heavy investment in elaborately articulated world views cemented in place by mountains of articles, books, editorials, and speeches (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9AmEl8kMz8&feature=related for an example from Chris Hedges). When such views are so fundamentally undermined by the truth of 911 that they must be abandoned or significantly revised, the prospect is simply too daunting to be faced.

The 911 script writers have carefully provided distractive grist for both punditry mills: for the right, the evil Muslim extremists who hate our freedoms; for the left, blowback against U.S. imperialism, the negligence of the Bush administration, etc. Both sides immediately snapped up the bait after 911, and have been cranking out pabulum about how many bin Laden's can dance on the head of a pin, etc., ever since.

In any case, thanks to Jon Gold for so effectively giving Chris Hedges something to think about.