"Charleston" wrote:

"Scott M. Kozel" wrote:

So you say that a government employee was working on a national
holiday? He he!

No, that is an asssumption on your part.

I was just commenting on the JTM claim that the man wrote the letter on
July 4th 2003.

The webpage said "Current as of June 1999" and his bio indicated that he
was working at the Pentagton for the U.S. Air Force.

Is he still working there?

By the way, is this the A. Ernest Fitzgerald that you are referring
to -- http://www.af.mil/bios/bio_5423.shtml -- ??

Yes, that is the man. He is extremely well respected in Washington D.C. as
having uncompromising values and impeccable credentials. He was actually
fired by then President Richard Nixon for blowing the whistle on the C-5
Galaxy project. Mr. Fitzgerald took the President to court for ordering his
termination. When he lost in Federal court on appeal (IIRC), his lawyers
abandoned him. He went on to win his case when of all things, drum roll
please, President Nixon audiotaped the conversation ordering Mr.
Fitzgerald's termination. Well Fitzgerald ultimately got the tape and the
President then lost and had to pay Fitzgerald somewhere around $140,000,
which was a lot back then.

His bio indicates that he worked 1965-1970 and 1973-present(at least
1999) for the U.S. Air Force.

He is above reproach, and it does not surprise
me that he would ask for a one page account of John Maxson's explanation of
the Challenger accident, especially in the middle of the current Space
Shuttle Columbia saga. Few Senators or Congressmen will read more than one
page of such a report and it is my guess that a Senator will read the
summary posted on this thread.

That was what I was trying to ascertain, what was the context of the
alleged missive that JTM has posted over and over.

Your explanation above says that Fitzgerald merely cataloged the JTM
explanation of 51-L, without necessarily agreeing with any of it. That
makes perfect sense to me.

His book about his own involvement in fraud against the government is called
"The High Priests of Waste", a direct referral to the almost cult-like
religion that is practiced by some contractors in bilking the U.S. taxpayers
out of a whole lot of money.

Thanks for the explanation!


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