9/11 Truth Movement

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The 9/11 Truth Movement is a collection of individuals, groups and researchers who disagree with and challenge the governmental, mainstream scientific and media accounts of the September 11, 2001 attacks. This movement is informal, decentralized and occasionally fractious; its members convene through the Internet and national and international conferences.[1][2]

Contents

[edit] Characteristics

The 9/11 Truth Movement embraces a political diversity of members, including "left," "right," pacifists, paleoconservatives, Greens, anarchists, and libertarians. The movement has received much attention from alternative media on the Internet, including talk-radio hosts like Alex Jones who has addressed the presence of the Movement and some of the questions group members claim to be unanswered. Some of the questions asked by activists and researchers in the 9/11 Truth Movement were also put forth by the 9/11 Family Steering Committee [11] to the 9/11 Commission in the hopes they would be responded to during the public hearings. In fact, the 9/11 families were told by the 9/11 Commission that the 9/11 Family Steering Committee's questions would be used as a roadmap by the Commission, and would be answered in the final report. Yet more than half of those questions were never asked, either in hearings or in the Commission Report.[12]

While some group members maintain that the US government was intentionally negligent, allowing blame for 9/11 to remain on Muslim hijackers, others argue that the attacks were engineered by elements within the government, and not by Arabs (in other words, the alleged Arab hijackers were, at most, patsies). These activists argue that the physical evidence of rapid falls of the three WTC skyscrapers could not have occurred as the result of aerial collisions alone, though these arguments have not been widely shared in the civil engineering or scientific communities. Researchers Jim Hoffman and Steven E. Jones propose the concept that pre-planted explosives caused the collapses of the WTC towers - the Controlled demolition hypothesis for the collapse of the World Trade Center - suggesting that only insiders with full knowledge of the attacks could have gained access to and wired the buildings. However, to date their theories and arguments have not been published in an established, peer reviewed science journal. Although Jones has been criticized by his university for publicizing his claims before vetting them through the approved peer review process [13], he continues to remain a focus of public interest for his 9/11 research.

Popular books on the topic include Webster Tarpley's 9/11 Synthetic Terror: Made in USA, David Ray Griffin's aforementioned The New Pearl Harbor, Crossing the Rubicon by Michael C. Ruppert, Inside Job by Jim Marrs, The Terror Timeline by "Paul Thompson", Painful Questions by Eric Hufschmid and The War on Freedom by Nafeez Ahmed. Some of the movement's popular videos have been "The Great Deception" and "The Great Conspiracy" by Barrie Zwicker, "Truth and Politics" and "9/11 and American Empire" by David Ray Griffin, "Loose Change" (2005), "9/11 Mysteries" (2006) and 9/11: Press for Truth (2006). In 2006 actor Charlie Sheen spoke out on the Alex Jones show in support of an independent investigation into the 9/11 attacks, an interview which was subsequently covered by CNN Showbiz Tonight.

The movement has received criticism from a variety of sources. MIT Engineering Professor Thomas W. Eagar states,

These people (in the 9/11 truth movement) use the 'reverse scientific method,'" Eagar said. "They determine what happened, throw out all the data that doesn't fit their conclusion, and then hail their findings as the only possible conclusion."[3]

On Sept. 3, 2006: Time magazine published a lead article, "Why the 9/11 Conspiracies Won't Go Away," noting that

The population of world No. 2 is larger than you might think. A Scripps-Howard poll of 1,010 adults last month found that 36% of Americans consider it "very likely" or "somewhat likely" that government officials either allowed the attacks to be carried out or carried out the attacks themselves. Thirty-six percent adds up to a lot of people. This is not a fringe phenomenon. It is a mainstream political reality.[4]

For more poll data see 9/11 conspiracy theories.

[edit] History

[edit] Origin

Almost immediately after the terrorist attacks, skepticism of the mainstream media account appeared.

The first book on the subject, 9/11 The Big Lie, was published in France in March 2002 by Thierry Meyssan, President of Voltaire Network. He emphasized purported anomalies in the photos of the Pentagon. His work has since been the subject of multiple critiques, which allege Meyssan's book is a form of misdirection.[14],[15], [16][17]).

Around the same time, Bin Laden: The Forbidden Truth was published in France by Jean-Charles Brisard and Guillaume Dasquie, documenting media reports in publications like the Times of India that the US government had told numerous allies it was going to invade Afghanistan several months before 9/11. Up until 2004, Germany produced the largest number of books questioning the official 9/11 narrative; three of them, by Andreas von Bülow, Gerhard Wisnewski and Mathias Bröckers, were best-sellers, as were the aforementioned French works.

In June 2002, the group Unanswered Questions held an event [18] at the Washington National Press Club. Various officials and some 9/11 family members used the event to call for a full investigation and greater transparency around the events of 9/11.

The first work in English was The War on Freedom [19] by Nafeez Ahmed in July 2002, emphasizing geopolitical motives, soon followed by Michel Chossudovsky's book, War and Globalization - The Truth Behind September 11th. In September 2002 Eric Hufschmid's Painful Questions was published, which promotes a controlled demolition thesis of the destruction of the WTC towers.

While these books inspired many activists of the 9/11 Truth Movement, others came to the movement via websites, e-mail and demonstrations. Indymedia websites, for example, also played a role in promoting the questioning of the mainstream media account of 9/11 early on. Canadian journalist Barrie Zwicker aired a series on Vision TV titled "The Great Deception" in January and February 2002, the first televised questioning of the common account that charged a deliberate effort to allow the attacks to happen via suppression of the normal air defense systems over New York and Washington.

Alex Jones predicted that a known terrorist would commit an act of terrorism in 2001 and so he credits himself with predicting the US Government would orchestrate the 9/11 Attacks and blame it on Bin Laden, or some other CIA asset.[5] Jones claims to have made those statements six weeks before the terrorist attacks and called his alerts Operation Expose The Government Terrorists. Thus, Jones been referred to as the progenitor of the movement.[6]

In 2002, Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-GA, became an icon of the movement when she questioned whether George Bush had foreknowledge of 9/11. In November 2003, the 911 Visibility Project held the first coordinated national activism protest for 9/11 truth activists. In March 2004, came the book The New Pearl Harbor by the academic and theologian David Ray Griffin, providing a methodical, deductive framework. In 2004, Michael C. Ruppert's Crossing the Rubicon was published, which identifed potential key insider suspects in the 9/11 attacks and provide an examination of their context: petroleum, geopolitics, narcotraffic, intelligence and militarism. In 2005 Webster Tarpley's 9/11 Synthetic Terror: Made in USA described a link between 9/11 and previous accusations of false flag state-sponsored terrorism such as Gladio or the Red Brigades.

[edit] Evolution

On January 8, 2002 in San Francisco, a rally and march on Senator Dianne Feinstein's office took place to demand a Congressional Investigation of 9/11. A delegation of activists from peace and human rights organizations met with Senator Feinstein's and Senator Barbara Boxer's staffers and raised key questions about 9/11[20]. That month, President Bush and Vice President Cheney asked Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle to limit the investigations to "intelligence failures."[21]

The 911 Visibility Project distributed thousands of STOP the 9-11 COVER-UP signs at the anti-war protests of March 20, 2004, which received national press exposure and served to kick start the national 9/11 Truth Movement. Also in March of 2004, the first International Inquiry into 9/11 [22] was hosted in San Francisco, California, which brought together 9/11 researchers and activists from all over the world for presentations, dialog, and interviews.

To date, activists in the movement have distributed over 6 million "Deception Dollars" (an anti-Bush parody of the dollar bill that includes addresses of websites which claim to aim to prove that 9/11 was an inside job).[citation needed] David Ray Griffin made an address on "9-11 and the American Empire," on April 18, 2005, which was broadcast on C-Span and distributed via radio, community access TV, DVD, and in print. Films have also provided a key method in disseminating information to the public for the 9/11 truth movement. Some of the more successful films have included Loose Change and 9/11: Press for Truth.

The 9/11 Truth Movement received more publicity in the fall of 2005, when former BYU Physics professor Steven E. Jones announced a paper describing his hypothesis that the WTC towers had been intentionally demolished by explosives. This paper garnered a small amount of mainstream media attention, including an appearance by Jones on MSNBC. This was the first such programming on a major cable news station. On September 7, 2006, Jones was placed on paid leave while his university reviewed the scientific basis of his work in this area.[7][8]

On May 16, 2006, the Department of Defense, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by Judicial Watch, released more video of the Pentagon attack, which brought attention to members of the 9/11 Truth Movement.[9] Groups within the 9/11 truth movement including flight77.info, and Scholars for 9/11 Truth, say they are working to get the others of the 70 or more videos[23] of the Pentagon released.

In late 2006, a series of 9/11 events were held in Kansas City [10], Denver, Boulder [11] and Berkeley [12]. These events were described by members of the movement as generally focused on the scientific analyses of the WTC events and critiques of the official reports. Presenters included physicist Steven E. Jones, researcher Jim Hoffman, former UL manager Kevin Ryan, and lecturer, Kevin Barrett.

[edit] 911Truth.org

911Truth.org is a central 9/11 Truth Movement organization that demands new investigations and supports the Controlled demolition hypothesis for the collapse of the World Trade Center. W. David Kubiak[13] and Janice Matthews[14] is the executive director of 911truth.org and Michael Berger is the spokesman.[15]

  • August 30, 2004: The first Zogby International poll it sponsored :"Half of New Yorkers Believe US Leaders Had Foreknowledge of Impending 9-11 Attacks and “Consciously Failed” To Act; 66% Call For New Probe of Unanswered Questions by Congress or New York’s Attorney General"[13][16]
  • Oct. 26, 2004, An alliance of over 114 prominent Americans and 48 family members of those killed on 9/11 who signed the 911Truth.org statement.[17]
  • May 24, 2006: The second Zogby poll it sponsored: a telephone survey of adults nationwide conducted by Zogby International found out, among other things, that 42% of Americans believed that the US government and 9/11 Commission are covering up the events of 9/11 while 48% did not agree. It also found out that 43% were not aware of the collapse of WTC 7.[18]

[edit] Hispanic Victims Group

The Hispanic Victims Group is a group created after the 9/11 attacks and headed by William Rodriguez. The group was a key force behind the 9/11 Commission,[20] and was among the Families Advisory Council for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation[21] The group helped secure an amnesty for undocumented Hispanic workers who perished. Their families were thus able to apply for the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund--with Rodriguez translating and helping them fill out the forms.[22]

[edit] Meetings

[edit] September 9, 2004: "The 9-11 Citizens Commission"

The 9-11 Citizens Commission: The Omissions Hearings was a meeting by a group of United States citizens who were skeptical of the findings of the 9/11 Commission Report, and who purported to launch their own investigation into the events of September 11th, 2001. The meeting took place on September 9, 2004. The event was sponsored by 9/11 Citizens Watch, with support from 911Truth.org and Ny911truth.org. Kyle Hence, co-founder of 911 CitizensWatch, presented the event and Nicholas Levis, co-founder of Ny911truth.org, helped organize the event.

The event was billed as being modeled after the United States Congressional hearings which were conducted by the 9/11 Commission. A group of citizens heard testimony provided by witnesses, authors, experts and whistle blowers. The witnesses gave their testimony after having been sworn in, and were then questioned by the citizen panel. An audience and representatives from the press were also present. In the introduction, Kyle Hence noted that citizen-panelists were not sworn in at the beginning of the 9/11 Commission, and that swearing in had only started after "we made some noise about it, and the press started to ask some questions." The world premiere of Barrie Zwicker's The Great Conspiracy was performed after the end of the hearings and questions.

Citizen-panelists included Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, local Imam and doctor Faz Khan, and father of one of the victims of the 9/11 attacks, Bob Mcilvaine.

A list of participants include:

[edit] June 2006: "9/11 + The Neo-Con Agenda Symposium"

The 9/11 + The Neo-Con Agenda Symposium was held June 24-25 in Los Angeles.

[edit] June 2006: "9/11: Revealing the Truth"

9/11: Revealing the Truth -- Reclaiming Our Future was held in June 2-4 2006, many members of the Scholars for 9/11 Truth met in Chicago, Illinois, for a conference on 9/11 theories, which was covered by some international media.[23][24]

[edit] Other meetings

[edit] Response

  • NIST's created an Official "Questions and Answers".[29]

[edit] Response to response

[edit] Media coverage

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Murphy, Jarrett (2006). The Seekers: The birth and life of the '9-11 Truth movement'. The Village Voice - Education. The Village Voice. Retrieved on 2006-06-09.
  2. ^ Gatehouse, Jonathon (2006). Hijacking the truth on 9/11. MacLeans.ca - Education. Rogers Media Inc.. Retrieved on 2006-06-02.
  3. ^ Walch, Tad (2006). Controversy dogs Y.'s Jones. Utah news. Deseret News Publishing Company. Retrieved on 2006-09-09.
  4. ^ [1]
  5. ^ Alex Jones Predicts 9/11-like Terrorist attack in U.S. on his July 25, 2001 Show at Google Video
  6. ^ http://www.americanscholarssymposium.org/
  7. ^ Walch, Tad. "BYU places '9/11 truth' professor on paid leave", Deseret Morning News, 2006-09-8.
  8. ^ Sullivan, Will. "BYU takes on a 9/11 conspiracy professor", U.S.News & World Report, www.usnews.com, 2006-09-11.
  9. ^ Arthur, Bill. "Pentagon Video Shows Flames, Smoke After 9/11 Attack (Update1)", News and Commentary, Regions, US, Bloomberg L.P., 2006-05-16. Retrieved on 2006-06-09.
  10. ^ http://www.digitalstyledesigns.com/pages/event.htm "Science Applied to the WTC Collapses"
  11. ^ http://www.colorado911visibility.org/ "Research on 9/11: Why the Official Story Cannot Be True -- Scientists Find Overwhelming Evidence of Controlled Demolition"
  12. ^ http://liftingthefog.org/ "Lifting the Fog: The Scientific Method Applied to the WTC Disaster"
  13. ^ a b [2]
  14. ^ http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2006/05/911_truth_i_dont_think_so.html
  15. ^ http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0603/22/sbt.01.html
  16. ^ [3]
  17. ^ [4]
  18. ^ [5]
  19. ^ http://www.scholarsfor911truth.org/ChicagoConferenceJune2006.html
  20. ^ a b http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0325/p03s01-usgn.htm
  21. ^ a b [6]
  22. ^ a b http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00291.htm
  23. ^ a b Canada National Post: A theory that just won't die
  24. ^ 9/11:Revealing the Truth, Reclaiming Our Future. Chicago, June 2-4, 2006
  25. ^ pdf!
  26. ^ http://wtc.nist.gov/
  27. ^ [7]
  28. ^ http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/01/news/conspiracy.php
  29. ^ http://wtc.nist.gov/pubs/factsheets/faqs_8_2006.htm
  30. ^ http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/06-09-11.html
  31. ^ http://911research.wtc7.net/reviews/nist/WTC_FAQ_reply.html
  32. ^ http://www.scholarsfor911truth.org/WhyNISTFactSheetWontDo.html
  33. ^ http://www.scholarsfor911truth.org/NISTandThe%20FootOfGod.html
  34. ^ http://911research.wtc7.net/essays/gopm/index.html
  35. ^ http://911review.com/pm/markup/index.html
  36. ^ http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/august2006/100806popularmechanics.htm
  37. ^ http://911physics.atspace.com/Pages/Debunking%20Popular%20Mechanics.htm
  38. ^
  39. ^ [8]
  40. ^
  41. ^ http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/worldwide/story/0,,1864657,00.html
  42. ^ [9]
  43. ^ [10]
  44. ^ http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0512/S00291.htm
  45. ^ http://www.indymedia.org/es/2005/12/829390.shtml
  46. ^ http://www.voltairenet.org/article135703.html
  47. ^ http://www.911citizenswatch.org/print.php?sid=923
  48. ^ http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20041026093059633
  49. ^ http://www.hesc.com/bulletin.nsf/0/4BFCEC44ACA9BE5F85256DF600528DE6

[edit] External links

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