The “Good Good War” Is A Bad War
By John Pilger

10/01/08 “ICH” – – In his latest article for the New Statesman, John Pilger describes how the invasion of Afghanistan, which was widely supported in the West as a ‘good war’ and justifiable response to 9/11, was actually planned months before 9/11 and is the latest instalment of ‘a great game’.

Dahr Jamail explains the how US foments sectarian division in Iraq as a tool of divide and conquer, and as an excuse for perpetual military presence.

The myth of sectarianism

IF THE U.S. leaves Iraq, the violent sectarianism between the Sunni and Shia will worsen. This is what Republicans and Democrats alike will have us believe. This key piece of rhetoric is used to justify the continuance of the occupation of Iraq.This propaganda, like others of its ilk, gains ground, substance, and reality due largely to the ignorance of those ingesting it. The snow job by the corporate media on the issue of sectarianism in Iraq has ensured that the public buys into the line that the Sunni and Shia will dice one another up into little pieces if the occupation ends.

It may be worthwhile to consider that prior to the Anglo-American invasion and occupation of Iraq there had never been open warfare between the two groups and certainly not a civil war.

How Propaganda Works
Specifically, propaganda works by appealing to three things: emotionalism, tribalism and narcissism.

Internet Archive: September 11 Television Archive

Welcome to September 11 Television Archive

This collection contains television news programs recorded live from around September 11, 2001 by the non-profit Television Archive to help patrons research this important part of United States history. These materials were available on the televisionarchive.org site from October 11, 2001 through 2003.

aldeilis.net

Interesting site that seems to have many articles over the same theme a sthe one below:

‘False Flag’ terrorism

“A false flag operation means that you execute a strike against your own people and then assign blame to the enemy. The result is that you appear to be highly justified when you in turn attack your enemy.” (Willem Middelkoop)

YouTube – Dr. Dahlia Wasfi speaks at Iraq forum

This woman explains the plain facts, that USA is destroying Iraq for the looting of their oil.

This is the kind of simply explained truth that our National news-media does not but should show.

This article describes how The US administration uses budgets to entrench the ‘war on terror’ into the fabric of American life.

An all-consuming ‘war on terror’

…The same imperative – translate your agenda into war on terror requirements or be starved of funds – and its spiraling consequences surged across the government, affecting virtually all agencies. Bureaucrats unable to describe their activities in “war on terror” terms were virtually disqualified from budget increases and probably doomed to cuts. With billions of dollars a year in state and local funding, the Department of Homeland Security devised a list of 15 National Planning Scenarios to help guide its allocations. To qualify for Homeland Security funding, state and local governments had to describe how they would use allocated funds to meet one of those chosen scenarios…

Chomsky Dismisses 911 Conspiracy Theories As ‘Dubious’

The following is an exchange between a ZNet  Sustainer and Noam Chomsky, which took place in the Sustainer Web Board where Noam hosts a forum…

ZNet Sustainer: Dear Noam, There is much documentation observed and uncovered by the 911 families themselves suggesting a criminal conspiracy within the Bush Administration to cover-up the 9/11 attacks (see DVD, 9/11: Press for Truth). Additionally, much evidence has been put forward to question the official version of events. This has come in part from Paul Thompson, an activist who has creatively established the 9/11 Timeline, a free 9/11 investigative database for activist researchers, which now, according to The Village Voice’s James Ridgeway, rivals the 9/11 Commission’s report in accuracy and lucidity (see,
http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0416,mondo1,52830,6.html,
or www.cooperativeresearch.org).

Noam Chomsky: Hard for me to respond to the rest of the letter, because I am not persuaded by the assumption that much documentation and other evidence has been uncovered. To determine that, we’d have to investigate the alleged evidence. Take, say, the physical evidence. There are ways to assess that: submit it to specialists — of whom there are thousands — who have the requisite background in civil-mechanical engineering, materials science, building construction, etc., for review and analysis; and one cannot gain the required knowledge by surfing the internet. In fact, that’s been done, by the professional association of civil engineers. Or, take the course pursued by anyone who thinks they have made a genuine discovery: submit it to a serious journal for peer review and publication. To my knowledge, there isn’t a single submission.

ZNet Sustainer: A question that arises for me is that regardless of this issue, how do I as an activist prevent myself from getting distracted by such things as conspiracy theories instead of focusing on the bigger picture of the institutional analysis of private profit over people?

Noam Chomsky: I think this reaches the heart of the matter. One of the major consequences of the 9/11 movement has been to draw enormous amounts of energy and effort away from activism directed to real and ongoing crimes of state, and their institutional background, crimes that are far more serious than blowing up the WTC would be, if there were any credibility to that thesis. That is, I suspect, why the 9/11 movement is treated far more tolerantly by centers of power than is the norm for serious critical and activist work. How do you personally set priorities? That’s of course up to you. I’ve explained my priorities often, in print as well as elsewhere, but we have to make our own judgments.

ZNet Sustainer: In a sense, profit over people is the real conspiracy, yes, yet not a conspiracy at all ­ rather institutional reality? At the same time, if the core of conspiracy theories are accurate, which is challenging to pin down, though increasingly possible, does it not fit into the same motivations of furthering institutional aims of public subsidizes to private tyrannies? I mean, through the 9/11attacks, Bush Et Al. has been able to justify massive increases in defense spending for a “war without end,” and Israel has been given the green light to do virtually whatever it wants since now ‘the Americans are in the same fight.’ Furthermore, there has been a substantial rollback of civil rights in our nation, with the most extreme example being strong attempt to terminate habeas corpus.

Noam Chomsky: Can’t answer for the same reasons. I don’t see any reason to accept the presuppositions. As for the consequences, in one of my first interviews after 9/11 I pointed out the obvious: every power system in the world was going to exploit it for its own interests: the Russians in Chechnya, China against the Uighurs, Israel in the occupied territories,… etc., and states would exploit the opportunity to control their own populations more fully through “prevention of terrorism acts” and the like. By the “who gains” argument, every power system in the world could be assigned responsibility for 9/11.

ZNet Sustianer: This begs the question: if 9/11 was an inside job, then what’s to say that Bush Et Al., if cornered or not, wouldn’t resort to another more heinous attack of grander proportions in the age of nuclear terrorism ­ which by its very nature would petrify populations the world over, leading citizens to cower under the Bush umbrella of power.

Noam Chomsky: Wrong question, in my opinion. They were carrying out far more serious crimes, against Americans as well, before 9/11 — crimes that literally threaten human survival. They may well resort to further crimes if activists here prefer not to deal with them and to focus their attention on arcane and dubious theories about 9/11.

ZNet Sustainer: Considering that in the US there are stage-managed elections, public relations propaganda wars, and a military-industrial-education-prison-etc. complex, does something like this sound far-fetched?

Noam Chomsky: I think that’s the wrong way to look at it. Everything you mention goes back far before 9/11, and hasn’t changed that much since. More evidence that the 9/11 movement is diverting energy and attention away from far more serious crimes — and in this case crimes that are quite real and easily demonstrated.

ZNet Sustainer:Considering the long history of false flag operations to wrongly justify wars, our most recent precedent being WMD in Iraq, The Gulf of Tonkin in Vietnam, going back much further to Pearl Harbor (FDR knowingly allowing the Japanese to bomb Pearl Harbor ­ which is different from false flag operations), to the 1898 Spanish-American War, to the 1846 Mexican-American War, to Andrew Jackson’s seizing of Seminole land in 1812 (aka Florida).

Noam Chomsky: The concept of “false flag operation” is not a very serious one, in my opinion. None of the examples you describe, or any other in history, has even a remote resemblance to the alleged 9/11 conspiracy. I’d suggest that you look at each of them carefully.

ZNet Sustainer: Lastly, as the world’s leading terror state, would it not surprise anyone if the US was capable of such an action? Would it surprise you? Do you think that so-called conspiracy theorists have anything worthy to present?

Noam Chomsky: I think the Bush administration would have had to be utterly insane to try anything like what is alleged, for their own narrow interests, and do not think that serious evidence has been provided to support claims about actions that would not only be outlandish, for their own interests, but that have no remote historical parallel. The effects, however, are all too clear, namely, what I just mentioned: diverting activism and commitment away from the very serious ongoing crimes of state.

http://blog.zmag.org/node/2779

Basically the republicans does not call for recounts, because it would expose the amount of fraud they have been doing to minimize their losses.
Senate Majority Accomplished; Why Allen and Burns Are Not Calling for Recounts:

by Rob Kall
http://www.opednews.com

There was a huge amount of talk about the potential theft of the 2006 election.

The predictions were that there would be vote flipping with machines, voter disenfranchisement through voter role purges, long lines, inadequate equipment.

Then there were the robocalls, the threats to voters.

Many of the people in the voting integrity advocacy community believe that all these things were going on.

The problem was, the wave of voter rejection of the republican party was so great,

Syria switching to euros to combat U.S. sanctions -

Last time a nation did that it was Iraq, and the next moment they were invaded.

Now it should be exciting to see if Syria will start a stampede away from the dollar, or if they will just be carpeted with bombs and depleted Uranium.

This is a Google videowith a guy who says that you can use encrypted voice Over IP (VoIP) to avoid having your phonecall wiretapped by NSA.

Why Bush’s NSA Wire tapping is defeated by VoIP Networks
He mentions the software telephone-server www.asterisk.org

He also says that obviously the real terrorists (ed: if any such exists) does not use the regular tappable phone-services, so when Bush Authorizes NSA to wiretap any regular phobecall, they’re not really hunting terrorists, but i fact terrorizing regular people.

20 Amazing Facts about Voting in the USA

The top ten:

1. 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S.
2. There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry.
3. The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers.
4. The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizer and donor who wrote in 2003 that he was “committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year.”
5. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel used to be chairman of ES&S. He became Senator based on votes counted by ES&S machines.
6. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, long-connected with the Bush family, was recently caught lying about his ownership of ES&S by the Senate Ethics Committee.
7. Senator Chuck Hagel was on a short list of George W. Bush’s vice-presidential candidates.
8. ES&S is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the U.S. and counts almost 60% of all U.S. votes.
9. Diebold’s new touch screen voting machines have no paper trail of any votes. In other words, there is no way to verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same as what was legitimately put in by voters.
10. Diebold also makes ATMs, checkout scanners, and ticket machines, all of which log each transaction and can generate a paper trail.

by Angry Girl of

Nightweed.com

Did you know….

1. 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S.

http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diebold

2. There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry.

http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0916-04.htm

http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

3. The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers.

http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/private_company.html

http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

4. The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizer and donor who wrote in 2003 that he was “committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/main632436.shtml

http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1647886

5. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel used to be chairman of ES&S. He became Senator based on votes counted by ES&S machines.

http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2004/03/03_200.html

http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/031004Fitrakis/031004fitrakis.html

6. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, long-connected with the Bush family, was recently caught lying about his ownership of ES&S by the Senate Ethics Committee.

http://www.blackboxvoting.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=26

http://www.hillnews.com/news/012903/hagel.aspx

http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/000896.php

7. Senator Chuck Hagel was on a short list of George W. Bush’s vice-presidential candidates.

http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_28/b3689130.htm

http://theindependent.com/stories/052700/new_hagel27.html

8. ES&S is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the U.S. and counts almost 60% of all U.S. votes.

http://www.essvote.com/HTML/about/about.html

http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

9. Diebold’s new touch screen voting machines have no paper trail of any votes. In other words, there is no way to verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same as what was legitimately put in by voters.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm

http://www.itworld.com/Tech/2987/041020evotestates/pfindex.html

10. Diebold also makes ATMs, checkout scanners, and ticket machines, all of which log each transaction and can generate a paper trail.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm

http://www.diebold.com/solutions/default.htm

11. Diebold is based in Ohio.

http://www.diebold.com/aboutus/ataglance/default.htm

12. Diebold employed 5 convicted felons as consultants and developers to help write the central compiler computer code that counted 50% of the votes in 30 states.

http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,61640,00.html

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/301469.shtml

13. Jeff Dean was Senior Vice-President of Global Election Systems when it was bought by Diebold. Even though he had been convicted of 23 counts of felony theft in the first degree, Jeff Dean was retained as a consultant by Diebold and was largely responsible for programming the optical scanning software now used in most of the United States.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0312/S00191.htm
http://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how

http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf

14. Diebold consultant Jeff Dean was convicted of planting back doors in his software and using a “high degree of sophistication” to evade detection over a period of 2 years.

http://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how

http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf

15. None of the international election observers were allowed in the polls in Ohio.

http://www.globalexchange.org/update/press/2638.html

http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/10/26/loc_elexoh.html

16. California banned the use of Diebold machines because the security was so bad. Despite Diebold’s claims that the audit logs could not be hacked, a chimpanzee was able to do it! (See the movie here: http://www.bbvdocs.org/videos/baxterVPR.mov.)

http://wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,63298,00.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4874190

17. 30% of all U.S. votes are carried out on unverifiable touch screen voting machines with no paper trail.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/main632436.shtml

18. All — not some — but all the voting machine errors detected and reported in Florida went in favor of Bush or Republican candidates.

http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,65757,00.html

http://www.yuricareport.com/ElectionAftermath04/ThreeResearchStudiesBushIsOut.htm

http://www.rise4news.net/extravotes.html

http://www.ilcaonline.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=950

http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0411/S00227.htm

19. The governor of the state of Florida, Jeb Bush, is the President’s brother.

http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/local/7628725.htm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10544-2004Oct29.html

20. Serious voting anomalies in Florida — again always favoring Bush — have been mathematically demonstrated and experts are recommending further investigation.

http://www.yuricareport.com/ElectionAftermath04/ThreeResearchStudiesBushIsOut.htm

http://www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/policy/story/0,10801,97614,00.html

http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/tens_of_thousands.html

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1106-30.htm

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2004/110904.html

http://uscountvotes.org/

Rolling Stone : THE LOW POST: The Hopeless Stupidity of 9/11 Conspiracies

THE LOW POST: I, Left Gatekeeper
Why the “9/11 Truth” movement makes the “Left Behind” sci-fi series read like ShakespeareMATT TAIBBI

Center for Information Technology Policy » Voting Study
(itpolicy.princeton.edu/voting)
Security Analysis of the Diebold AccuVote-TS Voting Machine

Ariel J. Feldman, J. Alex Halderman, and Edward W. Felten
Abstract This paper presents a fully independent security study of a Diebold AccuVote-TS voting machine, including its hardware and software. We obtained the machine from a private party. Analysis of the machine, in light of real election procedures, shows that it is vulnerable to extremely serious attacks. For example, an attacker who gets physical access to a machine or its removable memory card for as little as one minute could install malicious code; malicious code on a machine could steal votes undetectably, modifying all records, logs, and counters to be consistent with the fraudulent vote count it creates. An attacker could also create malicious code that spreads automatically and silently from machine to machine during normal election activities — a voting-machine virus. We have constructed working demonstrations of these attacks in our lab. Mitigating these threats will require changes to the voting machine’s hardware and software and the adoption of more rigorous election procedures.

Embedded video:

Attacks On 911 Researchers Growing

Attacking The MessengerThe growing attack on critics of 9/11 has reached a crescendo this week. Not only has the public been exposed to multiple conspiracy debunkers on radio and television interviews as well as articles in national magazines, but this week Brigham Young University put Prof. Steven Jones on paid leave to stop any influence he might have on students pending an investigation into what BYU considers his “increasingly speculative and accusatory” statements concerning the real cause of the WTC collapse.

CNN.com – Poll: More Americans blame Bush for 9/11 – Sep 11, 2006

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The percentage of Americans who blame the Bush administration for the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington has risen from almost a third to almost half over the past four years, a CNN poll released Monday found.Asked whether they blame the Bush administration for the attacks, 45 percent said either a “great deal” or a “moderate amount,” up from 32 percent in a June 2002 CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll.

But the Clinton administration did not get off lightly either. The latest poll, conducted by Opinion Research Corporation for CNN, found that 41 percent of respondents blamed his administration a “great deal” or a “moderate amount” for the attacks. (Read the complete poll results — PDF)

That’s only slightly less than the 45 percent who blamed his administration in a poll carried out less than a week after the attacks.

Still, most Americans appear to be fatalistic, with more than half — 57 percent — saying they think that terrorists will “always find a way to launch attacks no matter what the U.S. government does.”

The poll was carried out August 30 through September 2 by Opinion Research Corp. with 1,004 American adults questioned by telephone. The sampling error for the questions was 3 percentage points.

Beware The Rise Of The Fourth Reich By Indira Rai-Choudhury

…I watch, and I am afraid.I am afraid because this is the rise of the Fourth Reich…the rise of racist and immoral power hungry men that rationalize crimes against humanity and criminalize all dissent.

I am afraid, and I have run out of words, or, rather, it would seem words have had no effect, have done nothing at all to stop the rise of evil and ruthless men to eviscerate all that once made this Nation great.

I am afraid, and I will become one of the disappeared. I will either be taken away, or I will leave this place, this country that I no longer know and now fear. I am a stranger in my own land…I am a woman without a country.

Beware the rise of the Fourth Reich…it is upon us.

The poll 36%

Third of Americans suspect 9-11 government conspiracy | ScrippsNews

Shut Up and Listen

If You Get Your News
From the Corporate Media:
Just Shut Up and Listen!!!
shh
Advice to the Uninformed
From TvNewsLIESIt’s very important in life to know when to shut up: Alex Trebek

THE ADMONITION

Enough! Just stop. You’ve had your say over and over and over. You’ve repeated yourself ad nauseam for years without making an iota of sense. You’ve accomplished nothing constructive, absolutely nothing. You’ve repeated the same nonsense over and over without knowing a single fact. So just cut it out. Now it’s time to close your mouth and open your ears.

Just shut up and listen!…

A bleek outlook on the descend of USA into an overt fascistic police-state.

“It Can’t Happen Here”

What?! Death squads? People gone missing in the middle-of-the-night? Here?! In America?! Why, that’s just absurd! Things like that can’t happen here, in the land of the free and the home of the brave!That is what you’re thinking, isn’t it? That is the thought that you have always used to comfort yourself. As long as you can remain firm in your commitment to the idea that nothing truly bad can happen in the greatest nation on earth, then you can continue to ignore all evidence to the contrary. It doesn’t matter that Halliburton has announced that it has a contract to build detention centers, because you know that the notion of concentration camps in America is absurd. It doesn’t matter that the Army is operating a Civilian Inmate Labor Program, because you know that the very idea of forced-labor camps in America is ridiculous. It doesn’t matter that the Department of Defense has drafted an ambitious plan to deploy military forces domestically, because you know that the Posse Comitatus Act forbids any such thing.

This article is mostly interesting when the comments are also considered, because the two together form the discussion of what were really the goals of the American military adventures in Afghanistan and Iraq, and thus whether the invasions are really successes or failures.

This article takes the stance that  based on the official goals, the invasions have been failures.

I personally tend to share the opinion that the real purposes of the invasions have been mainly to create turmoil in the region as a cover for permanent military presence, and further aggresion.
Amateur Warlords

Bush, Cheney, Blair – and now Olmert – have demonstrated they have no grasp of military affairs

By Eric Margolis

savethemales.ca – Hitler Didn’t Want World War

So Hitler was a CIA agent!

No – hold it. CIA wasn’t even invented yet then…

Anyway: New World Rothschild Order rules!

Michel Chossudovsky says that Rumsfeld has already prepared plans for expanding the ‘War on Terror’ after the next 9/11.

So, all we have to do now is to wait for Cheney to give the go.

The Pentagon’s “Second 911″: “Another [9/11] attack could create both a justification and an opportunity to retaliate against some known targets”

“Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has approved the military’s most ambitious plan yet to fight terrorism around the world and retaliate more rapidly and decisively in the case of another major terrorist attack on the United States, according to defense officials.

Eisenhower’s famous farewell address in which he warned of the risk of the military-indstrial complex obtaining too much power.

Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library
Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.

This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence-economic, political, even spiritual-is felt in every city, every state house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.

The Government’s 9/11 Facade is Crumbling

Any time two or more people are knowingly involved in the commission of a crime, there is, by definition, a conspiracy. This is not a theory, folks. It’s a stone-cold, undeniable fact. So the real question about 9/11 is not whether there was a conspiracy, but indeed exactly who the conspirators are.

By Michel Chossudovsky

Bulatlat – The Philippines’s alternative weekly magazine

‘Al-Qaeda Is a U.S.-sponsored Intelligence Asset’

9/11 News

Reuters AlertNet – Venezuela’s Chavez compares Israel to Hitler

…Chavez, on a visit to Doha where Al Jazeera is based, said Israel was carrying out an “imperialist offensive” against Lebanon and the Palestinians that was orchestrated by the United States as part of a bid to control the energy-rich region.

“The American hand is pushing them. It is behind the Israeli aggression, it is an imperialist aggression … and Israel is one of the imperialist tools.”…

Physics911 Public Site

…As our top Bin Laden expert Professor Lawrence says, the real Bin Laden, who insisted that he had nothing to do with 9/11, has been dead since 2001. The fake messages have been fabricated by al-CIA-duh to support the Bush regime and its phony “war on terror.” It is time for Americans to rise up against the masters of synthetic terror who have been looting the US taxpayer, torching the Constitution, demolishing the economy, and threatening a nuclear Armageddon…

9/11 Blogger – Blogging 9/11 Related Alternative News: Dr. David Ray Griffin and David Shayler to Present in London on 9/9

Dr. David Ray Griffin and David Shayler to Present in London on 9/9

911 Truth Campaign (Britain & Ireland)

presents

Dr David Ray Griffin
author of The New Pearl Harbor & The 9/11 Commission Report – Ommissions and Distortions

David Shayler (MI5 Whistleblower)
Was 9/11 an Inside Job?

David Ray Griffin, a retired Professor of Theology addresses this question in his two books that critically examine the official account of the events of 9/11.

Now for the first time in the UK, David Ray Griffin will present his case for the urgent need to re-open the investigation into the events of September 11th 2006.

7:30pm – Saturday 9th September 2006

Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, LONDON, WC1R 4RL

Nearest tube: Holborn or Chancery Lane; doors open at 6:45pm

Tickets: before Aug 15th £7.50 (cons £5) – after Aug 15th £10 (cons £7.50)

Ticket hotline: 0845 108 1736
Online booking: www.911truthtotnes.com
Email: tickets@911truthtotnes.com

posted by dz at 12:14 AM EST

San Francisco Bay View – National Black Newspaper of the Year

This 4-year-old Iraqi boy is suffering from a tumor growing in his eye.
Photo: BBC

Confident U.S. generals commit war crimes

Uranium as a force multiplier

by Bob Nichols

…A leading scientist, Leuren Moret, speaking out on the use of depleted uranium today, says flatly, “Iraq is uninhabitable,” due to widespread radiation poisoning…

Albany, N.Y.: Timesunion.com – Print Story

…Mr. Cheney is a vile, indeed evil, influence in American political life. He is a very dangerous person who would if he could destroy American freedom about which he and his mentor prate hypocritically. His long years in Washington have caused him to lose faith in the legislative and judicial processes of the government. The country, he believes, requires a much stronger executive. Such concentrated power would have been necessary even if the Sept. 11 attacks had not occurred. Mr. Cheney uses the fear of terrorists as a pretext to advance his agenda of an all powerful president, a military dictator…

I haven’t read this rather lengthy paper, but by the description it is some kind of forerunner to PNAC’s “Rebuilding America’s defences”.

Apparently it should bring insight into the Machicavellian machinations of US government, and – I guess – all round Power Elites of the world.

APPENDIX III, “The Secret Team”, 1997
TRAINING UNDER THE MUTUAL SECURITY PROGRAM

Hillary May Be Presidential Material, After All – by Joshua Frank

Regulated Resistance: Is it possible to change the system when you are the system? :: Newtopia Magazine :: a journal of the new counterculture

• part 1
• part 2

And while we’re at it.

Of course the 1993 WTC bombing was also FBI orchestrated according to this article.

Who Bombed The World Trade Center? Fbi Bomb Builders Exposed!!

‘Thou Shalt Not Criticize The State Of Israel’

An article about the fact that American media doesn’t criticize Israel, and the absurdity of the claim that the giant Israeli army should feel threatened by the miniscule armies of its neighbours.

The article has many links to other info about this theme.

Norge ‘Le Monde’ puts 9/11 on Front Page.

Rough Translation provided by “Seabhcan”

Was September 11th an inside job?

From the July 1, 2006 Norwegian Le Monde Diplomatique

9/11TRUTH: More and more people in the USA are convinced that the American authorities are concealing their involvement in the September 11th tragedy. Statements from witnesses, marked confidential for several years, now show that controlled demolition may have taken place. The US government had long anticipated such an incident – as the Republican document from 2000 Rebuilding America’s defenses indicates. The 9/11Truth organisation believes that the USA probably orchestrated an incident of this type in order to justify the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the curtailing of civil liberties within the US through the introduction of The Patriot Act. It has now emerged that the America’s most senior military leader in 1962 devised a plan for a premeditated attack on Americans, which would have involved shooting down a passenger plane, so that the blame could be cast on Cuba. So why should this be excluded today? Many also believe that Pakistani intelligence cooperated with the CIA and Al-Qaida because the former transferred significant sums of money to the hijacker Mohammed Atta in the days leading up to the 11th of September. They even had Bin Laden under surveillance during the time of his treatment in a military hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan in September 2001.

Kim Bredesen
Journalist for Le Monde diplomatique.

Most of us would think it strange if the impact of a passenger plane wasn’t sufficient to cause a skyscraper to collapse. So there were few who doubted what it was that hit the Twin Towers on the 11th of September 2001 or the identities of the perpetrators. However, in the intervening years, several individuals and groups, both in North America and in Europe, began to doubt whether this necessarily constitutes accuracy. For them, a set of contradictory circumstances surrounding the attacks do not correspond with the explanations of the American authorities and the Congress-appointed 9/11 Commission. A key reason for this doubt could be that there are witnesses and participants in September 11th who describe events that do not tally with events in the official story. An example is provided by onlookers who heard and saw what they believed to be explosions around the Twin Towers before they were struck by the planes. Policemen thought it looked like “planned implosion”. Fireman Richard Banaciski reported that: “It seemed like on television when they blow up these buildings. It seemed like it was going all the way around like a belt, all these explosions.” Assistant Fire Commissioner Stephen Gregory claimed:

“I saw a flash flash flash [at] the lower level of the building. You know like when they demolish a building?” – Assistant Fire Commissioner Stephen Gregory

Another controversial witness statement came from maintenance worker, William Rodriguez who was working in the North Tower on the 11th of September. In an interview with New York Magazine he claimed that he first heard a huge explosion when he was in one of the sub-basements of the skyscraper and witnessed the appearance of victims, the skin burnt off their arms by fires in the lift shaft. After the explosion in the sub-basement he heard another one from above. It was a Boeing 767. Williams was the last survivor to be rescued from the World Trade Center’s Ground Zero. He was hailed as a hero and invited to visit George Bush and the White House. Later, when he attempted to publicise his story about the sub-basement explosion, it was rejected by the American authorities. He has now filed a lawsuit against these same authorities under the RICO Statute, a legal ruling originally designed to prosecute Mafia families.

Besides witness statements describing a controlled demolition of the Twin Towers with explosives, critics of the Bush administration believe there are several sets of circumstances around September 11th that give good reason to suspect the official story is incorrect. It is a fact that none of the four hijacked planes were intercepted by fighter planes. That this did not happen, combined with the fact that the majority of the air force was engaged in military exercises, has given weight to suspicion that the American air defense force gave the order to “stand down” so that the terrorist attacks could proceed unhindered. Another suspicious circumstance is that WTC 7- also known as Building 7 – a 47-storey skyscraper, collapsed without having been hit by any of the planes. Conversely, the buildings that stood adjacent are still intact.

When it comes to any forewarning of the attacks, claims that the NSA monitored fully translated conversations in the summer of 2001 – in real-time – between Mohammed Atta and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed have raised concern. In one of the conversations, Atta purportedly gave Mohammed the green light for the attacks; NSA therefore should have been forewarned.

FBI-agent Colleen Rowley claims that the FBI’s directors intentionally obstructed her investigation of Zacarias Moussaoui In relation to investigation that could have led to the apprehension of the hijackers, FBI agent Colleen Rowley claims that the FBI’s directors intentionally obstructed her investigation of Zacarias Moussaoui – at the time he was attending flight school in Minneapolis. They did this despite having received warnings from French intelligence. Rowley believes that, had the FBI approved the investigation, they could have uncovered Moussaoui’s plans as well as those of several other hijackers enrolled in flight schools. That Pakistani intelligence (ISI) transferred significant sums of money to Mohammed Atta in the days leading up to the 11th of September, some believe, is evidence of cooperation between the ISI, CIA and Al-Qaida.

It may also seem suspicious that George Bush has maintained that American authorities have stepped down the hunt for Osama bin Laden, the main suspect behind September 11th. General Richard Myers also stated that the war in Afghanistan was not about finding bin Laden. A former CIA agent, Gary Berntsen, has furthermore claimed that the Bush administration let bin Laden escape when he was cornered in a pocket of the Tora Bora mountains in Afghanistan in 2001. It is also known that American intelligence were fully aware of bin Laden’s whereabouts as early as July 2001 when he was treated for a kidney condition at an American hospital in Dubai, The United Arab Emirates. A few months later in September, he also received treatment in a military hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan under the surveillance of Pakistani intelligence.

THE EXISTENCE OF CIRCUMSTANCES and witness accounts that contradict aspects of the official story has led some individuals and groups to search for alternative explanations for what happened on the 11th of September 2001. Consequently, a veritable jungle of theories about what really happened in the US five years ago has sprung up. The theories unfurl in a several, interconnected directions. A comparison of different opinions is presented in the book The New Pearl Harbor – Disturbing Questions about the Bush-Administration and 9/11 (2004), by David Ray Griffin, Professor of Theology and the Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, California. A key premise he presents in the book is that the responsibility for the attacks of September 11th can, to a large extent, be attributed to former members of the Neo-Conservative think tank Project for a New American Century (PNAC), who are now key players in the Bush administration. In the document Rebuilding Amercia’s defenses: strategies, forces and resources for a New American Century (2000), written by PNACs members, it is claimed that:

“Further, the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor”.

The title of Griffin’s book refers to PNAC’s statement the transformation of the American military necessitated “a new Pearl Harbor”. Griffin looks at this quotation in the light of the legal principle of the profit motive, or qui bono and concludes that September 11th was precisely the catalyst the Bush administration needed. For Griffin, it is therefore probable that the US orchestrated an incident of this type in order to justify the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the curtailment of civil liberties in the US through the introduction of The Patriot Act. That they have chosen to invade countries in the Middle East he regards as simply an extension of the cooperation the US already had with the power elite in Saudi Arabia, the Pakistani Intelligence (ISI), the Taliban regime and regimes in Central Asia. And for Griffen, the agenda in the Middle East and Central Asia is quite clear: it is about controlling both the production and transportation of oil via pipes and tankers. Griffin does not point to any specific figures responsible for arranging the September 11th attacks. He states only that there are different opinions about this issue. For some, speculation about the identity of those responsible surrounds intelligence agencies like the NSA, FBI and CIA. Others believe it was the White House. A third group believe that is was individual figures like Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Jeb Bush, George Tenet and Donald Rumsfeld who were the real architects of the attacks. Alternatively, other possible combinations of perpetrators and organisations may have worked together. In his paper, “What is your ‘HOP’level?” Nicholas Levis categorises opinions on the attacks under four main headings:

a) The Official Story: That Osama bin Laden was responsible, that the planes were hijacked by 19 Muslim fundamentalists and that the White House did not receive any warning.

b) Incompetence Theory: Accepts the official history but blames the White House, FBI, CIA, NSA and others for not following up the many warnings. This was the line taken, with a great deal of cover-up and spin, in the 9/11 Commission’s report.

c) LIHOP (“Letting It Happen on Purpose”): There are a number of variations on this one. Is mainly about how factions within the American authorities and the private sector were aware of the hijackers’ plans but did nothing to stop them, since September 11th was in line with political objectives.

d) MIHOP (“Making It Happen on Purpose”): US authorities or private forces planned and carried out the attacks.

For the sceptics, the common denominator is their belief that at least one of the elements of the official presentation of September 11th is inaccurate. For those who subscribe to the radical MIHOP hypothesis, a key premise is that the Twin Towers – including Building 7 – collapsed as a result of controlled demolition with explosives; that it was an inside job. The technical/construction part of this claim has however been directly refuted in a report of approximately 10,000 pages written by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), who claim that it was fuel from the passenger planes that disturbed the structure of the towers and that it was this that eventually caused them to collapse. NIST is unable to offer a satisfactory explanation as to why the third building collapsed, WTC 7, did so without having been struck by a plane. Professor of physics at Brigham Young University in Utah, Steven E. Jones, rejects NIST’s claims about the Twin Towers (see also Greig’s article). He relates, for example, how eyewitnesses had observed that steel from all three skyscrapers had melted, (in some cases, the steel was found glowing three weeks after the attack) and was twisted in a way that can only have been caused by what he describes as pre-positioned “cutter charges”. According to Jones, these charges consisted of thermate, HMX or RDX, and these are only used in explosives that are used in controlled demolitions. Another important point for Jones is that the fires in the buildings and the fuel from the passenger planes, (the maximum temperature for airplane fuel is 1000 degrees Celsius) did not produce sufficient heat to melt the steel – which would require temperatures of between 1550-1990 grader Celsius – within the 1-1½ hours it took the Twin Towers to collapse.. Jones’ claims are supported by the data engineer Jim Hoffman. After video and photo analysis of the events, Hoffman concludes that all three buildings fell almost symmetrically, at close to freefall speed and directly downwards onto their own foundations. According to Hoffman therefore, the speed of the collapse, the pulverisation of the concrete to a “milky” powder and the presence of horizontal dust clouds observed alongside WTC 7 are associates with the use of pre-positioned explosives in buildings.

MANY NO LONGER BELIEVE the official explanation, but are convinced that the Towers’ collapse was an inside job – either that the authorities “let it happen” or “made it happen”. Many who put their trust in other hypotheses, have joined forces with the umbrella organisation 9/11Truth. – an ad hoc organisation, formed to exist until the last unanswered question about September 11th has been answered. 9/11Truth has brought together a cross-section of society; members with different political allegiances manage the same organisations and lobby groups. This cooperation is mainly concentrated on meetings, demonstrations, the production of documentary films, Internet fora, online publications and conferences. In the UK, a local branch of 9/11Truth has been set up called JulySeventhTruth, so called as it seeks to piece together what happened during the terrorist attacks in London on the 7th of July 2005.

9/11Truth poses questions about why no fighter planes managed to intercept the four hijacked planes. 9/11Truth searches for the answer to whether or not the Bush administration is lying when it says they had no foreknowledge of the terrorist attacks. And as to whether intelligence agencies like the FBI, CIA and NSA deliberately failed to investigate leads and dismissed evidence that could have identified the hijackers before September 11th. 9/11Truth organised a major conference entitled “9/11 Revealing The Truth/ Reclaiming our Future” in Chicago between the 2nd and 4th of June. Every day, the media spokesman for NY9/11Truth, Les Jamieson is in southern Manhattan,where each Sunday he helps to arrange demonstrations at Ground Zero or seminars in St. Mark’s Church, made available by priest, Frank Morales. Jamieson made the following responses to questions from Le Monde Diplomatique:

– Does September 11th represent further justification to declare war?

– No. It happened before in Germany when the Reichstag was set on fire. Those responsible dressed Germans up to look like Communists and made it look as though Russians were setting fire to the German parliamentary building. The Germans did the same with Poland. They dressed prisoners to look like German soldiers and shot them. In this way, they made it look like Polish soldiers were shooting Germans – and used this as an excuse to invade Poland. And it has recently emerged that, here in the USA, the authorities planned a similarly staged operation, Operation Northwoods: A plan was devised in 1962 by the most senior-ranking military leader in the US. The plan was to arrange a terrorist attack inland, on the coast of Florida where Americans would be killed, a passenger plane shot down, a ship sunk – and all the blame would be laid on the Cubans. So this is nothing new, it’s been done before.

– How cynical can a government become?

– A lie precipitated the Vietnam War too – the events in the Tonkin Gulf. It was reported that Vietnamese torpedo boats had shot at American ships in the Tonkin Gulf. But these reports were fictitious. President Lyndon B. Johnson and foreign minister Robert McNamara exploited these reports to pass the Tonkin Gulf Resolution in Congress – which was really a declaration of war. 50,000 Americans ended up dead, hundreds of thousands tragically affected. The herbicide Agent Orange was used to poison farms and land use. This is what happens when governments and the power elite orchestrate wars. There really is a level of evil, a loathing of humanity. That’s why Henry Kissinger said once about the war between Iraq and Iran: “I hope they kill each other,” or: “Oil is much too important a commodity to be left in the hands of the Arabs.”

– Is it similarly possible to suggest that there could have been a secret group connected to the government, a “state within a state,” that planned and brought about September 11th?

– Yes. One has to remember that there are private groups of agents, private armies that exist outside Congress’ field of vision. They carry out covert operations deep inside the CIA, and have severed all contact with the American government, who for their part, have no knowledge about what is going on. This has been happening since the 50’s. When Dwight Eisenhower left his presidency he said that one should be vigilant over the overarching control of the Military-Industrial Complex. To this day, we still have a shadow government, an invisible government and we believe this one works together with elements within the intelligence agencies MI5, MI6 and perhaps Mossad. MI5 and the CIA definitely work together in translating the agenda for the international power elite.

– Are you not afraid of being labelled a conspiracy theorist?

– The term “Conspiracy Theory” must also be understood as a strategy of the mass media and individuals within the power elite to sew seeds of doubt about this kind of information. The fact is that, on the contrary, there are a range of examples of real conspiracies by the authorities. For example, the Iran-Contras affair was a result of a huge conspiracy that enabled the sale of narcotics to buy weapons for the Contras. And we have the BCCI scandal in 1991 – a massive banking scandal. There’s also the vote in Florida in 2000 and in Ohio in 2004. If one studies these things, mammoth conspiracies can be uncovered. What about all the lies that led to the invasion of Iraq? We were told that weapons of mass destruction definitely existed and that Saddam tried to buy “yellow cake” from Nigeria. It was all lies and deception. These kinds of events need a conspiracy! The American government’s official version of what happened on September 11th is a scandalous conspiracy theory; it’s not to be believed! In our organisation we are detectives and investigators. We put together a theory and are actually extremely stringent in finding the best possible analysis.

The American government’s official version of what happened on September 11th is a scandalous conspiracy theory; it’s not to be believed!

Les Jamieson

JAMIESON IS NOT THE ONLY ONE subscribing to such theories. The participation of many community groups and service personnel connected to 9/11Truth has generated a trail of research and articles. A group called Scholars for 911Truth describes itself as ”..a non-partisan association of faculty, students, and scholars, in fields as diverse as history, science, military affairs, psychology, and philosophy, dedicated to exposing falsehoods and to revealing truths behind 9/11. It was established by philosophy professor James H. Fetzer and professor of physics Steven E. Jones – the movement’s foremost expert on the collapse of the Twin Towers. The latter’s work will be published in September, a contribution to the anthology 9/11 & American Empire: Intellectuals Speak Out (2006). In the book, edited by David Ray Griffin and Peter Dale Scott, there is input also from Ola Tunander, professor at the PRIO – the International Peace Research Institute Oslo with the article “The War on Terror and Pax Americana” (see under).

Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed wrote one of the first books published to question the official version of September 11th – The War on Freedom: How and Why America was Attacked, September 11th, 2001 (2002). It expresses profound criticism of American foreign policy, both leading up to and subsequent to 9/11.

Paul Thompson, from Scholars for 9/11Truth, is the author of The Terror Timeline, A Comprehensive Chronicle of the Road to 9/11 and America’s Response. This is a comprehensive collection of news articles about the terrorist attacks on the 11th of September 2001. Thompson works at the Center for Cooperative Research. Another much-talked about member of Scholars for 9/11Truth is David Ray Griffin. In addition to books on theology, religion and philosophy, he wrote The New Pearl Harbour (2004) and 9/11 Commission Omissions and Distortions (2005). In the latter, Griffin highlights 115 areas where the 9/11 Commission’s report failed to evaluate important evidence or deduced fundamentally flawed conclusions from existing evidence. Griffin is also a dynamic force behind the organisation MUJCA-net – a discussion forum for Christians, Jews, Muslims and other believers who are sceptical of the official explanation for September 11th. The head of the organisation is the intellectual, doctor and imam Faiz Khan, who works at a Jewish hospital in New York. In the essay The Paralysis of Discourse; The Incompetence of Academia, and The Need for an Accurate Diagnosis, he argues that September 11th precipitated a simplification of language and ideas about what it means to be Muslim and Arab – especially when Muslims the world over are to be held responsible for actions a small minority of terrorists have carried out. Khan believes the hijackers were most probably “fake” Muslims, i.e. that they were not Muslim in their beliefs in the way that American foreign policy is American. That the blame for the terrorist attacks is attributed to something as diffuse as a “military Islamic network,” he believes, is tantamount to an abdication of responsibility by the US, since the latter worked in tandem with the ISI (Pakistani intelligence) and Saudi-Arabia to build those networks up.

(c) Diplo

Den norkse avis “LE MONDE diplomatique” har en større og udemærket dækning af 9/11 bestÃ¥ende af flere artikler.

Her bringes hovedartiklen i sin helhed, men sidst i denne post findes links til pdf af hele dækningen.
LE MONDE diplomatique – globalt og intellektuelt engasjement
11. September – en innsidejobb?
Kim Bredesen, Juli 2006

Side1:

For de fleste ville det være underlig om ikke et sammenstøt med et passasjerfly skulle være nok til at en skyskraper raste sammen. Det var derfor få som var i tvil om hva som rammet Tvillingtårnene den 11. september 2001, og hvem som var gjerningsmennene. I årene som har fulgt har imidlertid en rekke enkeltpersoner og grupperinger, både i Nord-Amerika og Europa, begynt å tvile på om dette nødvendigvis medfører riktighet. For dem er det en rekke paradoksale omstendigheter ved angrepene som ikke gir mening i forhold til hvordan de er forklart av amerikanske myndigheter og granskningskommisjonen som er utnevnt av Kongressen.

En viktig årsak til denne tvilen kan være at det finnes vitner og deltakere i dramaet rundt 11. September som beskriver hendelser som ikke stemmer med hva som skjedde i den offisielle historien. Et eksempel er tilskuere som hørte og så noe de mente var eksplosjoner rundt Tvillingtårnene før de ble truffet av flyene. Politimenn mente det så ut som «planlagt implosjon». Brannmannen Richard Banaciski rapporterte om at «det var en eksplosjon [i det sørlige tårnet]. Det så ut som om når de detonerer bygninger. Det så ut som om de fant sted hele veien rundt som et belte, alle eksplosjonene». Assisterende brannkommisjonær Stephen Gregory hevdet følgende: «Jeg så gjentakende lysglimt på den nedre delen av bygningen. Du vet, som når de river ned et bygg?»
Et annet kontroversielt vitneutsagn kom fra rengjøringsassistenten William Rodriguez som jobbet i Nordtårnet den 11. september. I et intervju med New York Magazine hevder han at han først hørte en stor eksplosjon da han befant seg i kjelleren i skyskraperen og var vitne til at det dukket opp rammede med skinnet brent av armene fra heissjakten. Etter eksplosjonen i kjelleren hørte han en ny ovenfra. Det var et Boeing 767. Williams var den siste levende personen som ble reddet ut av branntomten ved World Trade Center. Han ble regnet som en helt og fikk besøke Det hvite hus og president George Bush. Senere, da han forsøkte å videreformidle historien om eksplosjonen i kjelleren, ble han avvist av amerikanske myndigheter. Nå har han anlagt en sak mot de samme myndighetene under RICO-statuttene, en lovgiving som egentlig er beregnet for å tiltale mafiafamilier.

Foruten vitneutsagn som beskriver en kontrollert nedriving av Tvillingtårnene med eksplosiver, mener kritikere av Bush-administrasjonen at det finnes flere omstendigheter rundt 11. September som gir rimelig grunn til mistanke om at den offisielle historien ikke er korrekt. Et faktum er at ingen av de fire kaprede flyene ble avskåret av jagerfly. At dette ikke skjedde, kombinert med at mesteparten av luftstyrken var opptatt med militærøvelser, har gitt grobunn for mistanken om at det ble gitt ordre om «standdown» av det amerikanske luftforsvaret, slik at terrorangrepene på denne måten kunne foregå uhindret. En annen mistenkelig omstendighet er at WTC 7, også kjent som bygning 7, som var en 47-etasjes skyskraper raste sammen uten å ha blitt truffet av noe fly. Derimot er bygningene som stod ved siden av fremdeles intakte.
Når det gjelder forhåndsvarsling av angrepene har det vakt oppsikt at det har blitt hevdet at NSA lyttet på samtaler sommeren 2001, i sanntid og med full oversettelse, mellom Mohammed Atta og Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. I en av samtalene hadde Atta angivelig gitt Mohammed grønt lys for angrepene, og NSA burde derfor vært informert i forkant. I forhold til etterforskning som kunne ledet til pågripelse av flykaprerne hevder FBI-agent Colleen Rowley at FBIs ledelse med hensikt forhindret hennes etterforskning av Zacarias Moussaoui – da han befant seg på en flyskole i Minneapolis. Dette gjorde de til tross for at de hadde mottatt advarsler fra fransk etterretning. Hvis FBI hadde tillatt etterforskningen mener Rowley at de kunne avslørt planene til både Moussaoui og flere andre kaprere som befant seg på flyskoler. At pakistansk etterretning (ISI) overførte betydelige pengesummer til Mohammed Atta i dagene før 11. september mener enkelte er et bevis på samarbeid mellom ISI, CIA og Al-Qaida.
Det kan også virke mistenkelig at George Bush har konstatert at amerikanske myndigheter har trappet ned jakten på Osama bin Laden, den hovedmistenkte bak 11. September. General Richard Myers uttalte også at krigen i Afghanistan ikke handlet om å finne bin Laden. En tidligere CIA-agent, Gary Berntsen, har dessuten hevdet at Bush-administrasjonen lot bin Laden slippe unna da han var innesperret i en lomme i Tora Bora-fjellene i Afghanistan i 2001. Det er også kjent at amerikansk etterretning visste godt hvor bin Laden befant seg allerede i juli 2001 da han ble behandlet for en nyresykdom på et amerikansk sykehus i Dubai, De forente arabiske emirater. Få måneder senere, i september, mottok han også behandling på et militærsykehus i Peshawar i Pakistan under oppsikt av pakistansk etterretning.

AT DET FINNES OMSTENDIGHETER og vitneutsagn som strider mot aspekter ved den offisielle historien, har ledet enkeltindivider og grupperinger til å søke andre forklaringer på hva som skjedde den 11. september 2001. Det har derfor etablert seg en veritabel underskog av teorier om hva som egentlig skjedde i USA for fem år siden. Teoriene springer i mange og kryssende retninger. En sammenligning av ulike syn blir presentert i boken The New Pearl Harbor – Disturbing Questions about the Bush-Administration and 9/11 (2004), av David Ray Griffin, Professor i teologi ved Claremont School of Theology i Claremont, California. Et viktig grunnperspektiv han legger fram i boken er at ansvaret for angrepene den 11. september langt på vei kan legges på tidligere medlemmer av den neokonservative tenketanken Project for a New American Century (PNAC), som nå er nøkkelpersoner i Bush-administrasjonen. I dokumentet Rebuilding Amercia’s defenses: strategies, forces and resources for a New American Century (2000), forfattet av PNACs medlemmer hevdes det at:
«Og videre, transformasjonsprosessen [av det amerikanske militæret], selv om den bringer med seg revolusjonære endringer, blir sannsynligvis langvarig i fraværet av en katastrofisk og katalyserende hendelse – som et nytt Pearl Harbor.»
Tittelen på Griffins bok henviser til PNACs utsagn om at omformingen av det amerikanske militæret hadde behov for «et nytt Pearl Harbor». Griffin ser dette sitatet i lys av det rettslige prinsippet om motiv, eller hvem som gagner på en forbrytelse, og konkluderer med at 11. September nettopp var en slik katalyserende hendelse som Bush-administrasjonen hadde behov for. For Griffin er det derfor sannsynlig at USA arrangerte en slik hendelse for å skaffe et påskudd for å invadere Irak og Afghanistan og legge begrensninger på borgerrettighetene i USA med innføringen av The Patriot Act. At de har valgt å invadere land i Midtøsten ser han bare som en forlengelse av samarbeidet USA allerede hadde med makteliten i Saudi-Arabia, pakistansk etterretning (ISI), Taliban-regimet samt regimer i Sentral-Asia. Og for Griffin er agendaen i Midtøsten og Sentral-Asia ganske konkret: den handler om å kontrollere både produksjon og transport av olje gjennom rørledninger og tankskip.
Griffin peker ikke på en eller flere bestemte skikkelser som arrangerte angrepene den 11. september. Han henviser kun til at det finnes ulike meninger om dette spørsmålet. Spekulasjoner om hvem som har skylden legges av noen på etterretningsorganisasjoner som NSA, FBI og CIA. Andre mener det var Det hvite hus. En tredje gruppe mener at det var enkeltskikkelser som Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Jed Bush, George Tenet og Donald Rumsfeld som var de virkelige arkitektene bak angrepene. Eller det kan dreie seg om andre mulige kombinasjoner av gjerningsmenn og organisasjoner som samarbeidet. Nicholas Levis sorterer i sitt notat «Hva er ditt ’HOP’-nivå?» perspektivene på angrepene i fire hovedtyper:
a) Den offisielle historien: At Osama bin Laden var ansvarlig, at flyene ble kapret av 19 muslimske fundamentalister og at det Det hvite hus ikke mottok noen advarsler.
b) Inkompetanseteorien: Aksepterer den offisielle historien, men klandrer Det hvite hus, FBI, CIA, NSA og andre for ikke å ha fulgt opp de mange advarslene. Denne linjen ble fulgt, med mye tildekking og kompensering i 11. September-kommisjonens rapport.
c) LIHOP («Let It Happen on Purpose», «lot det skje med vilje»): Denne finnes det en rekke variasjoner av. Handler hovedsakelig om at deler av USAs myndigheter og den private sektor var oppmerksom på kaprernes planer, men ikke gjorde noe for å stanse dem, da 11. September passet godt overens med politiske målsetninger.
d) MIHOP («Made It Happen on Purpose», «fikk det til å skje med vilje»): USAs myndigheter eller private krefter planla og utførte angrepene.
Fellesnevneren for skeptikerne er at de mener minst ett av elementene i den offisielle framstillingen av 11. September er uriktig. For de som tror på den radikale MIHOP-hypotesen er det et viktig holdepunkt at Tvillingtårnene, inkludert bygning 7, raste ned som et resultat av kontrollert nedriving med eksplosiver, og at dette var en innsidejobb. Den bygningstekniske delen av denne påstanden blir imidlertid direkte motsagt i en rapport på rundt 10 000 sider skrevet av National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) som hevder det var drivstoff fra passasjerflyene som forstyrret tårnenes struktur, og at det var dette som omsider forårsaket kollapsen. Når det gjelder den tredje bygningen som kollapset, WTC 7, uten å bli truffet av fly, kan ikke NIST tilby en adekvat forklaring på hvorfor den raste sammen. Professor i fysikk ved Brigham Young University i Utah, Steven E. Jones tilbakeviser NISTs påstander om Tvillingtårnene (se også Griegs artikkel). Han henviser for eksempel til at øyenvitner har observert stål ved alle de tre skyskraperne som var smeltet (stålet ble i noen tilfeller funnet glødende flere uker etter angrepet) og bøyet på en måte som bare kan ha blitt forårsaket av hva han betegner som forhåndsplasserte «cutter charges». Ifølge Jones bestod slike ladninger av thermite, HMX eller RDX, og disse blir bare brukt til eksplosjoner som skjer ved kontrollert nedriving. Et annet viktig poeng for Jones er at brannene i bygningene og drivstoffet fra passasjerflyene (maksimumstemperaturen for flybrennstoff er 1000 grader Celsius) ikke produserte tilstrekkelig varme for å smelte stålet (krever mellom 1550-1990 grader Celsius) i de 1-1½ timene det tok før Tvillingtårnene kollapset. Påstandene til Jones støttes av dataingeniøren Jim Hoffman. Etter video- og fotoanalyses av hendelsene konkluderer Hoffmann med at alle tre bygningene falt nærmest symmetrisk, nær hastighet i fritt fall og rett ned på sitt eget fundament. Ifølge Hoffmann er derfor hastigheten på kollapsen, pulveriseringen av betongen til et «melaktig» pulver og tilstedeværelsen av horisontale røykutbrudd observert langs siden av WTC7 vanlig når forhåndsplasserte eksplosiver blir brukt på bygninger.

MANGE TROR IKKE LENGER på den offisielle forklaringen, men er overbevist om at tårnenes kollaps var en innsidejobb – enten at myndighetene «lot det skje» eller «fikk det til å skje».
Mange som fester sin lit til andre hypoteser, har forent krefter i paraplyorganisasjonen 9/11Truth. – en ad hoc organisasjon som skal eksistere helt til de uløste spørsmålene rundt 11. September er blitt besvart. 9/11Truth har samlet et tverrsnitt av samfunnet, medlemmer med ulike politiske sympatier, som driver felles organisasjons- og lobbyvirksomhet. Samarbeidet er hovedsakelig konsentrert om møtevirksomhet, demonstrasjoner, mediekampanjer, produksjon av opplysningsfilmer, nettforum, nettpublisering og konferanser. Også i Storbritannia har det også oppstått en slags lokal variant av 9/11Truth, kalt JulySeventhTruth, der organisasjonen søker å finne ut hva som skjedde under terroraksjonene i London 7. juli 2005.
9/11Truth stiller spørsmål ved hvorfor ingen jagerfly rakk å avskjære de fire flyene som ble kapret. 9/11Truth søker svar på er om ikke Bush-adminstrasjonen lyver da de sier at de ikke visste om terrorangrepene på forhånd. Dessuten om etterretningsorganisasjoner som FBI, CIA og NSA bevisst unnlot å etterforske spor og henla bevis som kunne avsløre flykaprerne før 11. september. 9/11Truth arrangerte en større konferanse i Chicago 2.-4. juni under mottoet 9/11 Revealing The Truth, Reclaiming our Future. Pressetalsmannen for NY9/11Truth, Les Jamieson, er daglig til stede Sør på Manhattan der han hver søndag er med på å arrangere demonstrasjoner på Ground Zero eller seminarer i St. Mark’s Church som presten Frank Morales har stilt til rådighet. Jamieson har følgende å svare til Le Monde Diplomatique sine spørsmål:
– Representerer 11. September et nytt påskudd for å arrangere krig?
– Nei. Det har hendt før i Tyskland, med ildspåsettelsen av Riksdagen. De ansvarlige kledde tyskere ut som kommunister og fikk det til å se ut som om russerne satt fyr på tyskernes parlamentsbygning. Det samme gjorde tyskerne med Polen. Der kledde de ut fanger som tyske soldater og skøt dem. På denne måten fikk de det til å se ut som om polske soldater skøt på tyskere – og brukte det som en unnskyldning til å invadere Polen. Og her i USA har det nettopp kommet ut i offentligheten at myndighetene planla en lignende falsk operasjon, Operasjon Northwoods: En plan ble utformet i 1962 av den øverste militærledelsen i USA. Planen var å arrangere terroristangrep i innlandet og på kysten av Florida hvor amerikanere skulle bli drept, et passasjerfly skutt ned, en båt senkes – og all skyld skulle legges på kubanerne. Så dette er ikke nytt, det har blitt gjort før.
– Hvor kynisk kan en regjering bli?
– Det var også en løgn som igangsatte Vietnam-krigen – hendelsene i Tonkin-gulfen. Det ble laget rapporter om at vietnamesiske kanonbåter skøt på amerikanske skip i Tonkin-gulfen. Men disse rapportene var fiktive. President Lyndon B. Johnson og utenriksminister Robert McNamara utnyttet disse rapportene til å vedta resolusjonen om Tonkin-gulfen i Kongressen – som i realiteten var en krigserklæring. 50 000 amerikanerne endte opp døde, hundretusener ble berørt på tragisk vis. Plantegiften Agent Orange ble brukt til å forgifte gårder og landbruket. Dette er hva som skjer når regjeringer og makteliten bak arrangerer kriger. Det finnes virkelig et nivå av ondskap, en forakt for menneskeheten. Således kunne Henry Kissinger en gang si om krigen mellom Irak og Iran: «jeg håper de dreper hverandre», eller: «Olje er altfor viktig til å overlates til araberne.»
– Er det på lignende vis mulig å antyde at det kan ha vært en skjult gruppe knyttet til regjeringen, en «stat i staten» som planla og forårsaket 11. September?
– Ja. Man må huske på at det finnes private grupper med agenter, private hærer som eksisterer utenfor synsfeltet til og uten innsyn fra Kongressen. De utfører skjulte operasjoner dypt inne i CIA, og har kuttet all kontakt med den amerikanske regjeringen som på sin side ikke har noen innsikt i hva som foregår. Dette har foregått siden 50-tallet. Da Dwight Eisenhower forlot sitt presidentembete sa han at man skulle være årvåken overfor den overmektige kontrollen til det militær-industrielle komplekset. Til denne dag har vi fremdeles en skyggeregjering, en usynlig regjering og vi mener denne jobber sammen med elementer innen etterretningsorganisasjonene MI5, MI6 og kanskje Mossad. MI5 og CIA jobber definitivt sammen for å oversette agendaen til den internasjonale makteliten.»
– Du er ikke redd for å bli stemplet som konspirasjonsteoretiker?
– Betegnelsen «konspirasjonsteori» må også forstås som en strategi fra massemediene og enkelte i makteliten for å så tvil om denne typen informasjon. Faktum er at det tvert imot finnes en rekke eksempler på reelle konspirasjoner gjort av myndighetene. For eksempel var Iran-Contras affæren et resultat av en stor konspirasjon som muliggjorde salg av narkotika for å kjøpe våpen til Contras. Og vi har BCCI-skandalen i 1991 – en enorm bankskandale. Dessuten valget i Florida i 2000 og Ohio i 2004. Studerer man disse tingene oppdages gigantiske konspirasjoner. Eller hva med alle løgnene som ledet til invasjonen av Irak? Vi ble fortalt at det definitivt fantes masseødeleggelsesvåpen, og at Saddam forsøkte å kjøpe «gul kake» fra Niger. Det hele var løgn og bedrag. Slike hendelser krever en konspirasjon! Den amerikanske regjeringens offisielle versjon av hva som hendte den 11. September er en skandaløs konspirasjonsteori, den er ikke til å tro! I vår organisasjon er vi detektiver og etterforskere. Vi setter sammen en teori og er faktisk svært stringente med å finne den best mulige analysen. JAMIESON ER IKKE ALENE om slike teorier. Deltakelsen fra mange samfunnslag og ressurspersoner knyttet til 9/11Truth har satt spor etter seg innen forskning og artikler. En gruppe innen virksomheten som kaller seg Scholars for 911Truth beskriver seg som «en ikke-partisk organisasjon bestående av vitenskapelig ansatte, studenter og fagpersoner i felt som historie, vitenskap, militærfag, psykologi og filosofi. Alle er dedikert til å eksponere løgner og avsløre sannheter bak 11. September». Den ble grunnlagt av filosofiprofessor James H. Fetzer og fysikkprofessor Steven E. Jones – bevegelsens fremste ekspert på tvilingtårnenes kollaps. Sistnevnte er bokaktuell i september som bidragsyter i antologien 9/11 & American Empire: Intellectuals Speak Out (2006). I boken redigert av David Ray Griffin og Peter Dale Scott, bidrar også Ola Tunander, professor ved Fredsforskningsinstitutet i Oslo (PRIO) med artikkelen «The War on Terror and Pax Americana» (se utdrag under).
Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed skrev en av de første trykte bøkene som stilte spørsmål ved den offisielle beretningen om 11. September – The War on Freedom: How and Why America was Attacked, September 11th, 2001 (2002). Her kan man finne dybdekritikk av den amerikanske utenrikspolitikken som både ledet opp til og som fulgte 11. September.
Paul Thompson, i Scholars for 9/11Truth, er forfatter av The Terror Timeline, A Comprehensive Chronicle of the Road to 9/11 and America’s Response. Dette er en omfattende samling resyméer av nyhetsartikler fra pressen vedrørende terrorangrepene 11. september 2001. Thompson arbeider i Center for Cooperative Research. Et annet mye omtalt medlem av Scholars for 9/11Truth er David Ray Griffin. Foruten bøker om teologi, religion og filosofi har han skrevet The New Pearl Harbour (2004) og 9/11 Commission Omissions and Distortions (2005). I sistnevnte bok pÃ¥viser Griffin 115 omrÃ¥der hvor rapporten til granskingskommisjonen av 11. September enten har unnlatt Ã¥ vurdere viktige bevis eller utlede fundamentalt uriktige konklusjoner fra foreliggende bevis. Griffin er ogsÃ¥ viktig drivkraft i organisasjonen MUJCA-net – et diskusjonsforum for kristne, jøder, muslimer og andre troende som er skeptisk til den offisielle forklaringen om 11. September. Organisasjonens leder er den intellektuelle legen og imamen Faiz Khan som jobber pÃ¥ et jødisk sykehus i New York. I essayet The Paralysis of Discourse; The Incompetence of Academia, and The Need for an Accurate Diagnosis argumenterer han for at 11. September igangsatte en sprÃ¥klig og begrepsmessig forenkling av hva det vil si Ã¥ være muslim og araber – spesielt nÃ¥r muslimer verden over skulle stilles til ansvar for handlinger et lite mindretall terrorister hadde gjort. Khan mener flykaprerne mest trolig var «falske» muslimer, dvs. at de er like muslimske i sin tro som den amerikanske utenrikspolitikken er amerikansk. At skylden for terrorangrepene legges pÃ¥ noe sÃ¥ diffust som «militant islamistiske nettverk», mener han er en ansvarsfraskrivelse fra USA siden sistnevnte har samarbeidet med pakistanske ISI og Saudi-Arabia for Ã¥ bygge dem opp.
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