SEPTEMBER 11 AND THE CONSPIRACY THEORISTS
By Avi Davis

One of the more fascinating features of every September 11 over the past seven years, has been the extent to which the 9/11 deniers are given their moment in the limelight.  This is the time of the year when every crank who has an alternative theory about the most heinous attack the United States has endured since the Second World War, is given a chance to speak his mind.   You know them by now - the conspiracy theorists, the anti-American agitators and even certain libertarians who believe that the 9/11 was an inside job - “ an operation”  conducted by the U.S. military- industrial complex , a government coordinated attack made to justify a Middle East invasion or simply the work of  the Mossad and its American Jewish collaborators.

One of the best known of the deniers is former Minnesota Governor and wrestling pro Jesse Ventura.  Ventura recently appeared at the Rally for the Republic Convention, a shadow convention for Libertarian supporters of Ron Paul.   Since his days as the United States’ most controversial governor, the maverick politician now makes his home in Mexico.     “ How could those buildings fall at the speed of gravity - if you put a stopwatch on them both of those World Trade Center buildings were on the ground in ten seconds - how can that be?" asked Ventura at the  Convention. "Never before in the annals of history has a fire caused a steel structure building to fall to the ground like these two did."

Ventura said he was convinced the collapses of the towers and WTC building  were too similar to the controlled demolitions of Las Vegas hotels. He apparently has experience with explosives from Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL training and believes unequivocally the buildings were deliberately imploded.

Ventura was not alone in his views at the Ron Paul convention.   Among Paul’s many admirers were  advocates of the Controlled Demolition Hypothesis  The most detailed statements of this hypothesis have come from physicist Steven Jones, software engineer Jim Hoffman, theologian David Ray Griffin and author Webster Griffin Tarpley.

On September 22, 2005 Jones presented his views on the collapse of the World Trade Center towers and World Trade Center 7 at a Brigham Young University seminar attended by about 60 people. Pointing to the speed and symmetry of the collapses, the characteristics of dust jets, and reports of molten metal in the debris, Jones suggested that the evidence defies the mainstream collapse theory and favors explosive demolition. He called for further scientific investigation to test the controlled demolition hypothesis and the release of all relevant data by the government.Shortly after the seminar, Jones placed a paper "Why Indeed Did the WTC Buildings Collapse?" on the Physics Department web site.

He subsequently defended the research twice more at BYU, also at Idaho State University, Utah Valley State College, University of Colorado at Boulder and University of Denver, the Utah Academy of Science, Sonoma State University, University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Texas at Austin.

Jones' paper has been completely debunked by his own peers both for its content and its claims to scientific rigor. Jones' early critics included members of BYU's own engineering faculty.  Shortly after he made his views public, the BYU College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences and the faculty of structural engineering issued statements in which they distanced themselves from Jones' work. They noted that Jones' "hypotheses and interpretations of evidence were being questioned by scholars and practitioners," and expressed doubts about whether they had been "submitted to relevant scientific venues that would ensure rigorous technical peer review."

Jim Hoffman has had his day in spotlight  as well.   In a 2006 DVD collaboration, 9/11 Guilt: The Proof is in Your Hands, Hoffman produced a section entitled 'Proving Controlled Demolition of World Trade Center Building 7 and the Twin Towers. In his presentation, Hoffman offers five "features" and then five 'proofs' of demolition along with some pointed graphics. " "The Twin Towers were exploded as no buildings have been before or since and about seven hours later World Trade Center Building 7 was imploded in a classic, conventional demolition."

Christian theologian David Ray Griffin’s account of 9/11  is The New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions About the Bush Administration and 9-1.   In the book Griffin presents pieces of evidence and arguments which he believes support a conclusion that the Bush Administrtion was complicit in the September 11 attacks. Griffin also cites and analyzes the claims of others who believe the collapse of the World Trade Center was a controlled demolition.  Although Griffin previously cited researchers claiming American Airlines Flight 77 did not hit the Pentagon, his focus in the book is on the alleged demolition of the World Trade Center.

Griffin would subsequently publish The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions And Distortions.   Anyone reading Griffin’s book will immediately come to the conclusion that the author, like most conspiracists, starts with a conclusion and only then finds the evidence to support it – and not the other way around.   The book, in other words,  is not written as a dispassionate examination of facts, but as a polemic and tirade against  perceived enemies.

Many of these works recycle conclusions popularized by the granddaddy of  all 9/11 conspiracy theorists -  French journalist and political activist Thierry Meyssan. Meyssan  wrote L'Effroyable Imposture (9/11: The Big Lie), a bestseller in France and many other parts of the world .   Meyssan argues that such attacks were organized by a faction of what he calls "the US military industrial complex" in order to impose a military regime on the United States. The book was translated into 28 languages and received acclaim throughout Euorpe.  It was followed by Le Pentagate , a book published on line, which argues  that the attack against the Pentagon was not carried out by a commercial airliner but a missile.  The  book became a No.1 bestseller in Iran, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Morocco.  For several years, Meysaan has been advocating a United Nations investigation into the 9/11 attacks.   Unsurprisingly,is only support has so far come from the U.N.’s Arab members.

It is interesting then  to take a peek at the Muslim world and see how it has processed 9/11 conspiracy theories.  According to a collection of videos assembled by  MEMRI, the Middle East Monitoring Reaserach Institute, the Muslim world is replete with major celebrities, political figures and society leaders who believe that 9/11 was an inside job and are not shy about stating it in public. Iranian President  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad consistently peppers his speeches with references to the fact that both 9/11 and the Holocaust were fabricated events and has called for an International Commission of Truth Seekers  to reveal what really occurred on 9/11.  On September 26, 2007  Mehdi Kalhor, Media Advisor to Ahmadinejad repeatedly reinforced  the Iranian line that Zionists were responsible for  the 9/11 attacks. 

On March 19, 2008 former Senior Egyptian diplomat Abdallah Al-Ash'al  stated on Egyptian television  that  George W.  Bush and Ariel Sharon carried out the 9/11 attacks.  On July 24, 2008 Egyptian Actor Khaled Saleh claimed on Egyptian television that there were a number of good aspects to what occurred on 9/11 – namely that Americans would finally learn that such a thing as fear exists in the world.   On July 31, 2008,  Indian Muslim cleric Zakir Naik stated on Indian television that  9/11 was carried out by George Bush himself.  And on September 8, 2008 Egyptian Researcher Muhammad Al-Said Idris claimed on Egyptian television that because the immediate response to the  attack was so prompt and ordered, the rescuers must have known of the coming tragedy in advance.

So on and on it goes.   One thing that I have learned about conspiracy theorists over the years is that no matter what evidence you adduced, no matter how dispositive or  incontrovertible,  they can never be swayed from their  unshakeable belief in the original conspiracy.  Years ago,  I had an argument with a colleague about the JFK assassination. He was a committed conspiracist to the point where he would not read anything that offered any kind of refutation of the prevalent conspiracy theories.  He explained to me, in all seriousness, that he wouldn’t read those books, because their refutations were themselves part of the conspiracy.   There is a sociopathic element to such posturing, an innate psychological need to identify or create enemies as the focus of one’s own psychological troubles.

But as far as 9/11 is concerned, the issue transcends individual mental disturbance.  The attacks on the United States that day proved that the American hinterland was vulnerable  But that vulnerability made many anti-Americans believe that the idea of America itself  is vulnerable  - which has in turn engendered even more furious attacks.    To prove the point, it might pay to remember that the man who started it all  - Thierry Meyssan - has called  the  existence of the United States the gravest danger to world  peace and  consistently attacks what he calls“the US global supremacy project.”    In  2005,  he presided over the Axis for Peace 2005 Colloquium, which gathered over 130 participants from 37 nations in order to discuss the international situation and call  for people’s mobilization in favour of international law and world peace and against the neoconservative trend.
So are conspiracy theorists and deniers rational  and dispassionate observers of our times, free of political baggag , whose opinions and research we can believe in and trust?
You be the judge.

The Western Word - An International Weekly Digest   9-12-2008