September 11th, Five Years On...

Five years later, many questions still linger about what exactly happened on that day. This morning, Amy Goodman of DemocracyNow! even hosted a debate between the film makers of Loose Change (challenging the official views on 9/11 with the most freely downloaded internet film on the topic) and editors of Popular Mechanics, who have attempted to debunk various "conspiracy theories" surrounding the events of that day in an article and recently published book (remember that the Official Story is also a conspiracy theory, one that 2/3 of New Yorkers believe is untrue).

Although it makes for an interesting exchange, below you will find better material for mental fodder. The first, Jim Hoffman's site, deals much more effectively with questions raised by Popular Mechanics. The others deal with many other possible theories, but the best ones tend to be those that focus only on facts, on what we know, not on what might have happened. (The following three links are also to the right.)

9/11 Research

9/11 Truth

Scholars for Truth

Among the best attacks on the official story have been by Brigham Young physics professor Steven Jones (who was just last week placed on paid leave for his research on 9/11 and WTC collapse problems in the official view) and David Ray Griffin who has published three books on omissions and distortions from the 911 commission. These, along with Hoffman's, are among the best supported studies although some within the 911 Truth Movement and 911 Scholars for Truth (linked above and to side) disagree and debate alternative notions. (A future post will deal with 9/11 and academic freedom.)

Despite differences within the skeptical community, one thing emerges clearly: that the government's reports and commissioned studies, while having the edifice of objectivity and a ring of officialdom, are inaccurate, incomplete, and implausible. In the coming days, we can look into many of the problems with the official views in addition to what is discussed here today.

As far as 9/11 as pretext for American policy, that, too, has been well documented. The Project for the New American Century, a right wing think tank founded by the Bush administration war planners in the Clinton years, forshadowed much of what has come to pass in the wake of what they called "A New Pearl Harbor." Remember that language was conveniently employed in the days after 9/11 while Americans grieved and history was used to provide new context for preemtive war and Pax Americana. Given the importance of the 9/11 attacks in this light, we need to carefully scrutinize the events of that day and be ever vigilant of possible false flags. (More background concerning LIHOPS, MIHOPS, etc., in the days ahead.)

And last, but certainly not least, for those, like about half of the American public, that still believe Iraq was connected to Al Qaeda and 9/11, here's yet another report showing otherwise, this one by the U.S. Senate (hardly a bastion of lefty conspiratorialists). Someone should tell the troops...about 80% of them still believe in this nonsensical fiction according to a Zogby poll done earlier this year.

Ah Ha!

We should remember these things this Monday, 9/11, with all the speeches and political posturing going on. The Bush administration worked hard to connect unrelated things to gather public support for their war, which began on the morning of September 11th, 2001. That support is now waning and the only card left to play is terror. If the only thing we have to fear is fear itself, it seems we as a nation have our work cut out for us this election season. The antidote to fear is knowledge. Let's seek it.