Challenge to publisher of Skeptic Magazine

The following is the text of an email sent to Michael Shermer who appeared on the Colbert Report today:

Mr. Shermer "The 9/11 Commission Report" is fatally flawed.

Just this week Dr. Lynn Margulis (recipient of the National Medal of Science, America's highest honor for scientific achievement) called the events of September 11, 2001 “this new false-flag operation, which has been used to justify the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as unprecedented assaults on research, education, and civil liberties”.

As a consulting engineer since 1987, I have advised top officials in Albania, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Latvia, Pakistan, Russia, Tanzania, and the United States. I've also worked for the World Bank, USAID, U.S. Department of Energy (where I managed 26 teams to conduct the National Power Grid Study), District of Columbia Public Service Commission, the Iowa Corporation Commission, and for the U.S. private sector.

I've been skeptical of the official version of 9/11 since early 2002. I've summarized my findings in a slide presentation. I have a blog. And this Saturday we're having a "9/11 Teach-In" in Arlington.

I challenge the Skeptics Society to find fault with my conclusions.

Enver Masud
Founder and CEO
The Wisdom Fund
www.twf.org

'9/11 Teach-In' on September 8 in Arlington, VA

The Wisdom Fund—www.twf.org presents "9/11 Teach-In".

WHERE: NRECA Conference Center, 4301 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA
FREE PARKING: Garage under NRECA building—entrance on Taylor Street. Entrance open 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM only—exit by 10:00 PM.
METRORAIL: Get off at Ballston on the Orange Line. Go one block West, and two blocks South to the NRECA building—entrance on Taylor Street. Conference rooms are on the left .
ADMISSION: $10

Media Sponsor: WPFW 89.3 FM—a Pacifica Station, Washington, DC

VIDEO: 'How The Towers Fell'

Richard Gage, AIA, Architect gives a technical analysis of the World Trade Center controlled demolition on September 11, 2001.

Israel and the 9/11 cover-up

Prominent scientist calls 9/11 'false-flag operation'

A prominent American scientist, Dr. Lynn Margulis, has called the events of September 11, 2001 “this new false-flag operation, which has been used to justify the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as unprecedented assaults on research, education, and civil liberties”.

Dr. Margulis was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1983 and served as Chairman of the Academy’s Space Science Board Committee on Planetary Biology and Chemical Evolution.  In 1999, President Bill Clinton presented Dr. Margulis with the National Medal of Science, America's highest honor for scientific achievement.

$4.5 billion bet on 'another 9/11 within 4 weeks'

History Channel presents '9/11 Conspiracies: Fact or Fiction'

It doesn't take long to figure out whose side the History Channel is on. According to the History Channel "The 9/11 Commission Report" is not a conspiracy theory—the other theories are. Those speaking in support of "The 9/11 Commission Report" are "Experts"—others are not so designated.

Beyond the obvious bias the History Channel makes no effort to explain why Bin Laden is not wanted for 9/11 by the FBI, the lack of Arab names on the passenger lists, why airplane parts at the Pentagon were not matched to their serial numbers, why the government refuses to release photos from Pentagon cameras and the film it confiscated from the Sheraton Hotel and the nearby gas station, the presence of molten metal in the basement of World Trade Center 1 and 2, the lack of any government explanation for the speed with which World Trade Center 1, 2, and 7 collapsed, . . .

Mainstream journalist questions the 'truth' about 9/11

Robert Fisk, a highly respected journalist on the Middle East, admits he is "increasingly troubled at the inconsistencies in the official narrative of 9/11. It's not just the obvious non sequiturs: where are the aircraft parts (engines, etc) from the attack on the Pentagon? Why have the officials involved in the United 93 flight (which crashed in Pennsylvania) been muzzled? Why did flight 93's debris spread over miles when it was supposed to have crashed in one piece in a field? . . .

"If it is true, for example, that kerosene burns at 820C under optimum conditions, how come the steel beams of the twin towers – whose melting point is supposed to be about 1,480C – would snap through at the same time? (They collapsed in 8.1 and 10 seconds.) What about the third tower – the so-called World Trade Centre Building 7 (or the Salmon Brothers Building) – which collapsed in 6.6 seconds in its own footprint at 5.20pm on 11 September?"

NIST Fire Science Division Chief calls for independent review

"James Quintiere, Ph.D., former Chief of the Fire Science Division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), has called for an independent review of NIST’s investigation into the collapses of the World Trade Center Towers on 9/11" writes Alan Miller in opednews.com.

General strike proposed for September 11, 2007

Airlines sue FBI, CIA for access to 9-11 investigators

VIDEO: The Israeli connection

Watch for another 9/11-WMD experience

A number of pundits have concluded that the reason the Democrats have not brought a halt to Bush’s follies is that they expect Bush’s unpopular policies to provide them with a landslide victory next year.  

There is a problem with this reasoning. It assumes that Cheney, Rove, and the Republicans are ignorant of these facts or are content for the Republican Party to be destroyed after Bush has his warmonger-police state fling. “After me, the deluge.”

Isn’t it more likely that Cheney and Rove have in mind events that will, once again, rally the people behind President Bush and the Republican Party that is fighting the “war on terror” that the Democrats “want to lose”?

Bin Laden confession tape product of U.S. sting operation

Maher Osseiran, writing for the Muckraker Report, claims that the Bin Laden confession videotape is "the result of a sting operation run by U.S. intelligence, with the help of Saudi intelligence, and that bin Laden could have been captured on the date he was taped, September 26, 2001, ten days prior to the war in Afghanistan."

Others claim that the person in the tape is not Bin Laden — see "Fatally Flawed: The 9/11 Commission Report", Slide #6.

Pilots, aviation professionals critical of official account

A new Pilots and Aviation Professionals page was launched today.  The new page features more than 30 commercial and military pilots, and more than 20 other aviation professionals, who are critical of the official account of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, and the crash of Flight 93 in Pennsylvania.

VIDEO: '911 and the British Broadcasting Conspiracy'

"911 and the British Broadcasting Conspiracy" is a "documentary by Adrian Connock and David Shayler about the BBC's selective and distorted 911 coverage. With particular reference to the Conspiracy Files programme aired on BBC Two on February 18th 2007."

Compare Pentagon and Brazil plane crash pictures

The difference is remarkable. There's a glaring scarcity of wreckage at the site of the Pentagon crash. The wreckage of the Airbus 320 that crashed into a building in Sao Paulo, Brazil on July 18, 2007 is visible, and recognizable.

Arlington County Fire Chief Ed Plaugher—at a Dept. of Defense News Briefing with Assistant Secretary Victoria Clarke on September 12, 2001—when asked: "Is there anything left of the aircraft at all?" said: "there are some small pieces of aircraft ... there's no fuselage sections and that sort of thing."

It is estimated that the Airbus 320 was moving across the runway at three to four times the normal aircraft landing speed before it crashed.

Engineering firm co-founder seeks new investigation

J. Marx Ayres, former member of the California Seismic Safety Commission and the National Institute of Sciences Building Safety Council, and co-founder of one of the largest building engineering firms in Los Angeles, has signed the "Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth" petition requesting a new investigation of 9/11.

In his statement, Mr. Ayres wrote, “I support the work of Dr. Steven Jones. He has provided a scientific foundation for the collapse of the three World Trade Center (WTC) towers. I read the FEMA September, 2002 report, prepared by the American Society of Civil Engineers, and initially accepted their theory of the collapse of WTC 1 and 2. As more information became available on the web, I was motivated to research the subject in a more rigorous manner. I have carefully studied the Jones 2006 paper, “Why Indeed Did the WTC Buildings Completely Collapse?” and concluded that it is a rational step-by-step study that meets the accepted standards for scientific building research. His critical reviews of the FEMA, NIST, and 9/11 Commission reports are correct.”

Request for Correction filed with NIST

A Request for Correction, filed by the Muckraker Report assisted by Attorney Jerry Leaphart, challenges NIST on "numerous issues that are believed to be major obstructions standing in the way of the government issuing an independent, non-biased, truthful report on how WTC7 collapsed on September 11, 2001." NIST has not responded.

NIST "expects to release its draft report for public comment by the end of the year."

NIST exploring 9/11 "blast events" for WTC-7

"A new eyewitness inside WTC-7 on the morning of 9/11 heard explosions before either of the Twin Towers collapsed. He was summoned to the Office of Emergency Management Operating Center (OEMOC), also known as "Rudy's Bunker," on the 23rd floor of the building. The center had been especially prepared for the Mayor and other officials to gather in case of a terrorist attack or other emergency. Some have wondered why Giuliani did not go to the OEMOC but instead remained some distance from the World Trade Center."

Vancouver Courier covers 9/11 truth conference

Americans still believe Saddam responsible for 9/11

According to a Newsweek poll: "Even today, more than four years into the war in Iraq, as many as four in 10 Americans (41 percent) still believe Saddam Hussein’s regime was directly involved in financing, planning or carrying out the terrorist attacks on 9/11, even though no evidence has surfaced to support a connection."

Would the towers collapse the way they did without . . .

If one were to agree with the 9/11 Commission, and/or the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), that the collapse of 1 and 2 World Trade Center was caused solely by aircraft impact and resulting fire, would the towers collapse the way they did?

To obtain an answer we posed this question to Jeff King—a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who worked as an electro-mechanical engineer. His response:

"You would have to make worst-case assumptions about the extent of the initial damage, especially to the core, and make the most generous assumptions about the effects of heating to somehow get the initiation of a collapse. And even if you could push the envelope enough to get it to fail, it would still have to start with gradual bending and crumpling type failures. This would be at much less than free-fall speed and would have to involve a lot of bending and twisting, and the initial acceleration would have been much more gradual than was actually observed.

"Even if you can push the assumptions enough to get collapse initiation (which NIST does by relentless tweaking of the parameters in their computer model), it is very difficult to get the collapse to continue to propagate down the tower. This is especially true without that initial acceleration since the first floor to give way won't be hitting the next floor fast enough to plausibly break it loose."

Engineers and architects question 9/11 report

Patriots Question 9/11 has added a new page: 140+ Engineers and Architects Question 9/11. The engineers and architects join:
• 100+ Senior Military, Intelligence Service, Law Enforcement, and Government Officials
• 130+ Professors
• 100+ 9/11 Survivors and Family Members
• 70+ Entertainment and Media Professionals
who question 9/11.

Polls show:
• Only 16 percent of Americans say the government is telling the truth
• 50% of New Yorkers question "The 9/11 Commission Report"
• One in three Americans say the U.S. aided 9/11
• 70 million Americans support a new 9/11 investigation

Why do so many Americans question "The 9/11 Commission Report"? Examine the multimedia presentation "Fatally Flawed: The 9/11 Commission Report."

Purdue creates 'simulation' of WTC attack

The Purdue "simulation depicts how a plane tore through several stories of the World Trade Center north tower within a half-second and found that the weight of the fuel acted like a flash flood of flaming liquid, knocking out essential structural columns within the building and removing fireproofing insulation from other support structures."

Mete Sozen, Purdue's Kettlehut Distinguished Professor of Structural Engineering, says: "To estimate the serious damage to the World Trade Center core columns, we assembled a detailed numerical model of the impacting aircraft as well as a detailed numerical model of the top 20 stories of the building".

Since the simulation is of the "top 20 stories" for "3/4 seconds real-time", don't look for this model (even if correctly defined) to explain the collapse—about 102 minutes later in roughly 10 seconds—of the 110-story North tower of the World Trade Center.

And don't look for an improved model to explain the collapse any time soon.

Since the Purdue simulation of the "3/4 seconds real-time . . . took about 80 hours using a high-performance computer", a simulation of the 102 real-time minutes from impact to collapse, using Purdue's computers, could take 652,800 hours—((102 x 60 / 0.750) x 80) hours, or about 75 years.

The number of assumptions necessary for such a simulation, and cumulative, computational errors, would render the final result worthless.

Expert reports DU at Pentagon—from a cruise missile

According to Online Journal, Leuren Moret, expert witness at the 2004 Tokyo International Tribunal for War Crimes in Afghanistan, and former Environmental Commissioner of the City of Berkeley, CA, is expected to report finding elevated radiation readings downwind from the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. on September 11, 2001.

Online Journal writes: "Two days after 9/11, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirmed that the crash site rubble was radioactive and that it was probably depleted uranium (DU) contaminating the Pentagon crash site rubble. The entry and exit holes through the Pentagon crash site were the signature of a kinetic energy penetrator, such as a Cruise missile, and the term "punch-out hole" was written by crash site investigators over the exit hole. This is a military term used for kinetic energy penetrators. Major Doug Rokke, former Director of the Gulf War I DU Cleanup Team, reported that an email from the Pentagon 30 minutes after impact confirmed a Cruise missile hit the Pentagon on 9/11."

Leuren Moret is expected to speak at the Vancouver 9/11 Truth Conference on June 22-24, 2007.

Google Video, YouTube remove "911 Mysteries"

About two weeks ago, Google Video and YouTube, removed links to "911 Mysteries"—"considered by millions to be an important and effective commentary on the events of September 11, 2001." Avatar LLC have asked Google and YouTube to restore the links.

Former Denverite says 9/11 work has made him a target

A former Federal Emergency Management Agency videographer accused of killing his wife in Denver is seeking political asylum in Argentina, claiming the U.S. government wants him silenced for what he saw in the smoldering ruins of the Twin Towers after 9/11.

Falwell 'owed over one million dollars' to Florida flight school

Daniel Hopsicker writes: At the same time the Rev. Jerry Falwell was accusing pagans, abortionists, feminists, gays, lesbians, the ACLU and People For the American Way of sharing responsibility for the 9/11 attack the televangelist owed over one million dollars in unpaid loans to the owner of the terror flight school in Florida which trained Mohamed Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi, the MadCowMorningNews has learned.

"The Rev. Falwell’s second curious association at the Venice Airport," writes Hopsicker, "involves a dummy front company working at terror flight school Huffman Aviation in Venice Florida which moved, amid great controversy, to the Baptist minister’s hometown of Lynchburg VA., where the firm was mysteriously awarded a five-year contract to run a large regional maintenance facility at the airport, beating out a respected and successful local firm with 40 employees and a multi-million dollar balance sheet."

Huffman Aviation is reported to have provided aviation maintenance services for Caribe Air—a CIA proprietary air carrier.

Rosie O'Donnell books 9/11 show

On her blog, in response to a question about having experts appear on the show from both sides of the WTC 7 issue, Rosie responded “the show has been booked.” No word on when the segment will air or which experts will appear on the show.

"Rosie O’Donnell smells a cover-up, and has been using her seat on her morning talk show, 'The View,' to raise questions."

VIDEO: Flight 93 crash site

This rare footage of the Flight 93 crash site shows little or no evidence of a Boeing 757. The widely scattered debris is consistent with theories that the plane was shot down.

Draft report on 7 WTC collapse in 'next couple of months'

Michael E. Newman, NIST Public and Business Affairs, says the draft report on the collapse of 7 World Trade Center should be "available for public comment in the next couple of months."

The 9/11 Commission Report makes no mention of the collapse of this 47-story building.

On April 16, 2007, a major Italian network (Canale 5) aired a show claiming that Building 7 was deliberately taken down with the use of explosives.

'Loose Change' shown on airline

Virgin Atlantic airline is showing Loose Change—the most viewed 9/11 documentary.

'Debunking 9/11 Debunking'

David Ray Griffin's new book, "Debunking 9/11 Debunking: An Answer to Popular Mechanics and Other Defenders of the Official Conspiracy Theory," is now available.

CIA's Tenet sees Arab names on manifests, we don't

Scott Pelley, during his "60 Minutes" interview of former director of the CIA, George Tenet, said: "At the CIA headquarters, as the towers burned and the Pentagon was hit, Tenet got the aircraft passenger manifest; Hazmi and Mihdhar were listed."

Examine the passenger lists released by the Associated Press, and see if you can find Hazmi and Mihdhar, or any other Arab names. To our knowledege these are the only lists made public.

Kevin Barrett to interview 9/11 'hijacker' Waleed Al Shehri

Dr. Kevin Barrett, the University of Wisconsin lecturer—"hounded by Steve Nass and 61 state legislators, and handed a death threat by Bill O’Reilly" was denied a tenure-track position at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater—is heading for Casablanca, Morocco to interview still-living 9/11 "hijacker" Waleed al-Shehri.

Waleed says the 9/11 Commission’s photo and biography are his, and that he’s the guy who trained in Daytona Beach.

Osama Bin Laden's role in 9/11 remains unconfirmed. Rex Tomb, the FBI's Chief of Investigative Publicity, is reported to have said, "the FBI has no hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11."

'The laws of physics simply don't allow it'

Richard Gage, founder of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth, said: "First they come up with the "pancake theory", then they changed it to the "column failure theory". We don't believe that either of those theories are supported by the available evidence. . . .

"The only theory that is supported by the evidence is controlled demolition with explosives," Gage says. "You could never get a collapse event of that speed through 80 floors of intact steel structure. The laws of physics simply don't allow it."

News media challenged at WETA event

Enver Masud, founder of The Wisdom Fund and 911sig, challenged the news media to review the PowerPoint presentation "Fatally Flawed: The 9/11 Commission Report," and investigate the questions it poses.

The opportunity arose at the screening of the new WETA series "America at a Crossroads" held today at George Washington University. The event was hosted by Robert MacNeil. The panelists included former Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Perle, Michael Isikoff of Newsweek, and Calvin Sims of the New York Times.

Mr. Masud stated that the collapse of Building 7 of the World Trade Center is not even mentioned in "The 9/11 Commission Report." The fact that it collapsed in less than seven seconds, and that we still don't have an official explanation for its collapse has not been investigated by major news media.

Mr. Masud also taped a two minute video comment on 9/11 for the "America at a Crossroads" website. To view it go to the video diaries, go to the map, and click on New Delhi, India.

Mr. Masud was the keynote speaker on October 13, 2001, at the 27th Annual Sir Syed Day commemoration hosted by the Aligarh Alumni Association, USA. His talk was titled: "America at the Crossroads: Might v.Right, Confrontation v. Dialogue".

Dan Rather: 'building was deliberately destroyed'

Dan Rather, at the time anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News, while showing a videotape of the collapse of Building 7, said: "For the third time today, it's reminiscent of those pictures we've all seen too much on television before - a building was deliberately destroyed."

Others report explosions, and being told that the building was going to come down.

Like Diane Sawyer, Dan Rather walked away from the big story.

Rosie O'Donnell delves into 9/11

Rosie O'Donnell who co-hosts The View, an ABC day time series, has begun delving into 9/11.

Diane Sawyer walked away from her biggest story on 9/11

Diane Sawyer walked away from what may have been her biggest story on September 11, 2001—arguably the biggest story of her career.

Diane Sawyer was on network television interviewing an eyewitness to the collapse of 7 World Trade Center. The eyewitness is seen telling Diane on ABC News Live Coverage: "At Building 7 there was no fire there whatsoever, but there was one truck putting water on the building, but it collapsed completely."

At 5:20 PM, 47-story Building 7 of the World Trade Center collapsed in less than seven seconds. The news media buried the story. The 9/11 Commission buried the story. To this day we have no official explanation of the collapse of the 47-story 7 World Trade Center—"a draft report will be released by early 2007" according to the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Diane Sawyer is an award-winning investigative journalist, and it is reported that she "will take over for Charlie Gibson as anchor of ABC's World News after the 2008 presidential election."

ANNOUNCEMENT: 9/11 Speaker

ENVER MASUD, founder of The Wisdom Fund, is available to make a slide and film presentation on fatal flaws in the official, September 11, 2001 conspiracy theory—"The 9/11 Commission Report."

Mr. Masud, an engineer, has worked for the World Bank, USAID, U.S. Department of Energy, District of Columbia Public Service Commission, the Iowa Corporation Commission, and for the U.S. private sector.

He is the author of "The War on Islam" (135,000+ copies in circulation, 4th edition with publisher), and contributing author of "9/11 and American Empire: Christians, Jews, and Muslims Speak Out" and "Islam: Opposing Viewpoints."

In 1995, Mr. Masud wrote the "The Truth About Islam" which was published in newspapers and magazines, and thousands of copies have been downloaded from The Wisdom Fund at http://www.twf.org. This 600-word message been called "the best, short introduction to Islam."

He is the recipient of the 2003 Award of Excellence from the American Federation of Muslims of Indian Origin, and also the recipient of the 2002 Gold Award from the Human Rights Foundation, based in South Africa, where he gave 20 talks in 9 days to audiences ranging from 400 to over 1000. In the U.S. he has been on television, radio, given talks and keynote speeches—a total of more than 75 appearances.

As a consulting engineer since 1987, Mr. Masud has had many opportunities to make presentations to top officials in Albania, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Latvia, Pakistan, Russia, Tanzania, and the United States.

Mr. Masud has been writing about the clash between the U.S. and the Muslim world since 1991, and about 9/11 since April 2002. He has a 9/11 blog at http://911sig.blogspot.com, and recently gave presentations on 9/11 in the U.S. and in India.

His presentation on 9/11 condenses the major flaws in the official version of 9/11 to a few slides, source documents, and films. The presentation may be delivered in as little as 30 minutes, or in a more intensive, day-long session depending on the audience and their interests.

Within a 50-mile radius of Washington, DC, there is no charge for the presentation. For other locations—domestic or international— we will make arrangements depending on the sponsor and their situation, but no fee is expected.

Details of Mr. Masud's qualifications are available at http://www.twf.org/bio/EMasud.html. The Wisdom Fund is a nonprofit, tax-exempt corporation registered since 1995 in the Commonwealth of Virginia, USA.

To schedule a presentation, write to staff@twf.org, with "9/11 Speaker" in subject line.

VIDEO: 9/11 hero William Rodriguez speaks out

William Rodriguez, janitor at the World Trade Center, was the last man out, honored by President Bush, and is reported to have been offered millions to keep his mouth shut. He turned it all down to speak out on what he saw and heard on 9/11. He has been covered by mainstream news media around the world, but shunned by mainstream U.S. news media.

'Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, Marc Grossman, and Dennis Hastert will go to prison' if Sibel Edmonds testifies

Sibel Edmonds, who has been gagged by the U.S. government, is alleged to have said, "Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, Marc Grossman, and Dennis Hastert will go to prison for a long time" if she is permitted to testify.

Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft argued that "the very subject of her lawsuit was a state secret. To air her claims in front of federal judges would jeopardize national security."

Sibel's supporters are "asking people to call [Rep] Henry Waxman's office (202-225-3976, Capitol switchboard 800-828-0498) to demand public hearings into the case of former FBI translator and whistleblower, Sibel Edmonds."

More about Sibel's case against the U.S. government in Vanity Fair.

Khalid Sheik Mohammed: 9-11 mastermind?

"I'll Believe It When We See Some Evidence" wrote Robert Fisk (The Independent March 3, 2003) regarding the capture of the alleged 9-11 "mastermind" Khalid Sheik Mohammed. A transcript of KSM's alleged confession, taken in secret and without cross-examination, is inconclusive.

Katharine Schrader of the Associated Press writes: "Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's claims that he was responsible for dozens of successful, foiled and imagined attacks in the past 15 years relies on a loose definition of the word 'responsible.' . . . They view the claims as at least in part a rallying cry to bolster his image and that of al-Qaida in the only venue Mohammed has left: a military courtroom from which the public is barred. . . . One official cautioned that many of Mohammed's claims during interrogation were 'white noise' - designed to send the U.S. on wild goose chases or to get him through the day's interrogation session.

"Mohammed said his statement was not made under duress. But Mohammed and human rights advocates have alleged that he was tortured, and legal experts say that could taint all his statements."

Morons and magic: a reply to George Monbiot

"Morons and magic" is Prof. Griffin's reply to an article in the Guardian by George Monbiot. Prof. Griffin's book "Debunking 9/11 Debunking: An Answer to Popular Mechanics and Other Defenders of the Official Conspiracy Theory" is expected in April.

Also worth reading is an article by Bill Christison who writes: "After spending the better part of the last five years treating these theories with utmost skepticism, I have devoted serious time to actually studying them in recent months, and have also carefully watched several videos that are available on the subject. I have come to believe that significant parts of the 9/11 theories are true, and that therefore significant parts of the 'official story' put out by the U.S. government and the 9/11 Commission are false."

National magazine prints David Ray Griffin's article

In a rare display of courage by major U.S. news media, Rabbi Lerner, editor of TIKKUN magazine, has printed author David Ray Giffin's 12000 word article "The American Empire and 9/11" in the March/April 2007 issue.

According to Prof. Griffin the evidence—which he presents in this article and in several books—"leads to the conclusion that 9/11 was a false-flag operation orchestrated by the Bush administration for primarily imperial reasons."

Prof. Griffin adds: "If this conclusion is correct, then exposing the falsity of the official account of 9/11 should be high on the agenda of all people committed to reversing the present policies of the U.S. government, for at least four reasons.

"First, 9/11 has provided the pretext for at least most of the malevolent and destructive policies carried out by the Bush-Cheney administration since that day. . . .

"Second, the truth about 9/11 is one truth that the American people would not tolerate. . . . American people simply would not allow an administration to stay in power after learning that it had orchestrated the attacks of 9/11.

"Third, the orchestration of the attacks of 9/11 goes far beyond any previous instance of 'high crimes and misdemeanors' that have previously been cited as cause for impeachment. . . .

"Finally, to reverse the policies of the Bush-Cheney administration will require more than simply removing this administration from office—something that could be legitimately done for any number of reasons. The attacks of 9/11 were orchestrated to further the project of creating an American empire of truly global scope and, as we saw earlier, this has been a long and bipartisan project. Differences have involved strategy, emphasis, and demeanor more than the goal itself. The replacement of the Bush-Cheney administration by a Democratic administration for some reason other than 9/11 would probably simply result in a reversion to the subtler, more sophisticated, and hence more effective form of imperialism that the United States previously exercised."

What did Israel know in advance of 9/11 attacks?

Christopher Ketcham, a freelance journalist who has written for Harper's and Salon, writes in a 7000 word article in CounterPunch: "The questions [regarding the Israeli 'moving company workers' celebrating the 9/11 attack on the New Jersey waterfront, and 'more than 120 young Israeli citizens, posing as art students'] are disturbing enough to warrant a Congressional investigation. . . . Yet none of this information found its way into Congress's joint committee report on the attacks, and it was not even tangentially referenced in the nearly 600 pages of the 9/11 Commission's final report."

Ketcham adds: "What is perhaps most damning is that the Israelis' celebration on the New Jersey waterfront occurred in the first sixteen minutes after the initial crash, when no one was aware this was a terrorist attack."

A former CIA counterterrorism officer told Ketcham: "There was no question but that [the order to close down the investigation] came from the White House. It was immediately assumed at CIA headquarters that this basically was going to be a cover-up so that the Israelis would not be implicated in any way in 9/11. Bear in mind that this was a political issue, not a law enforcement or intelligence issue. If somebody says we don't want the Israelis implicated in this - we know that they've been spying the hell out of us, we know that they possibly had information in advance of the attacks, but this would be a political nightmare to deal with."

According to Ketcham the media and U.S. government have been silenced by "the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), which operated in tandem with the two most highly visible powerhouse Israel lobbyists, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)."

"It's plausible that the intelligence prompting the shutdown of the [Islamic] Holy Land Foundation came from 'art student' spies in the Richardson area", writes Ketcham.

Official 9/11 report team refuses to debate critics

"The Muckraker Report canceled its effort to hold a National 9/11 Debate. . . . After hundreds of letters, e-mails, and phone calls, not one of the 9/11 Commissioners or the government scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology" agreed to participate in the debate scheduled for March 10 in Charleston, South Carolina.

BBC reported WTC 7 collapse before it happened

It appears that BBC reported the collapse of 7 World Trade Center about 23 minutes before it collapsed. What was their source? Read the BBC's explanation, and a rebuttal.