Home > Charlie Sheen not the only one questioning 9/11: Scholars have doubts too
Charlie Sheen not the only one questioning 9/11: Scholars have doubts too
by Open-Publishing - Monday 27 March 20064 comments
I was 8 years old when President John Kennedy was shot to death in Dallas in 1963. If grace favors me, I’ll be 62 when documents related to the assassination are released to the public, and 84 when the Warren Commission’s investigative files into the tragedy are finally opened.
That’s a long time to wait for a chance to evaluate the purported truth.
It’s a blot on the presumed sophistication of the people of the United States that any aspect of an event so dramatic and shocking should be kept from us. Perhaps it’s true, to abuse the line from A Few Good Men yet again, that we can’t handle the truth. But there cannot be genuine resolution as long as such critical information remains concealed.
Transformed by 9/11
Since Kennedy’s assassination, Americans have lurched between demanding to know and plugging their ears: The Pentagon Papers, My Lai, the King assassination, Watergate, Iran-contra, the savings-and-loan debacle, Monicagate. Lately, however, it would seem the public’s verdict is in: Don’t tell us. Keep us in the dark. We don’t want to know.
This is the worst possible time for probe-ophobia to grip us. Our nation was irretrievably transformed by 9/11 — and yet there remain troubling questions about what really happened before, during and after that day. Rather than demanding a full and fearless vetting to hone in on the truth and silence the conjecture about 9/11, many Americans remain unwilling to peer into the microscope.
An online cottage industry of theorists, theory debunkers and debunker debunkers has flourished since 9/11. Sometimes the flimsy theories are easy to spot — come on, if the four passenger jets didn’t crash where it appears they did, where did they go? More often, though, the cases aren’t so obvious.
A group of experts and academicians ’devoted to applying the principles of scientific reasoning to the available evidence, `letting the chips fall where they may,’ ’’ last week accused the government of covering up evidence that the three destroyed New York City buildings were brought down that day by controlled demolition rather than structural failure. The group, called Scholars for 9/11 Truth, has a website, www.st911.org.
Unanswered questions
The reflexive first reaction is incredulity — how, one asks, could anyone even contemplate, never mind actually do such a barbaric thing? But before you shut your mind, check the resumés — these aren’t Generation X geeks subsisting on potato chips and PlayStation. Then look at the case they present.
’’I am a professional philosopher who has spent 35 years teaching logic, critical thinking and scientific reasoning,’’ group co-founder and University of Minnesota professor James H. Fetzer told me. ``When I come to 9/11, it’s not hard for me to determine what is going on. This is a scientific question. And it is so elementary that I don’t think you can find a single physicist who could disagree with the idea that this was a controlled demolition.’’
The group asks, for example,
• How did a fire fed by jet fuel, which at most burns at 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit, cause the collapse of the Twin Towers, built of steel that melts at 2,800 degrees? (Most experts agree that the impact of airliners, made mostly of lightweight aluminum, should not have been enough alone to cause structural failure.) How could a single planeload of burning jet fuel — most of which flared off in the initial fireball — cause the South World Trade Center tower to collapse in just 56 minutes?
• Why did building WTC-7 fall, though no aircraft struck it? Fire alone had never before caused a steel skyscraper to collapse.
• Why did all three buildings collapse largely into their own footprints — in the style of a controlled demolition?
• Why did no U.S. military jet intercept the wayward aircraft?
• Why has there been no investigation of BBC reports that five of the alleged 9/11 hijackers were alive and accounted for after the event?
Our current probe-ophobia is due in part to the political landscape: When one party holds all the cards, any call to investigate an alleged abuse of power or cover-up — no matter how valid — will look like a partisan vendetta. Those in power never want to investigate themselves.
Maybe that’s politics; he who holds the hammer drives the nails. But the outrage of 9/11 transcends party affiliation.
We need all the outstanding questions answered — wherever the chips may fall.
Forum posts
27 March 2006, 05:07
It won’t be long before the truth about 9/11 comes out.There are way to many unanswered questions!
The explosions heard and reported at the bottom of the buildings, the clean looking fall of the buildings, the way these planes were not intercepted, the way they let W. stay in that classroom, etc...
They are only now releasing 911 tapes for the relatives to hear. What was on those tapes that they needed to edit out??
9/11 was a very sad day...but not for the reasons our gov’t would like us to believe. They had way too much to gain from this disaster.
27 March 2006, 13:04
There is NO doubt in my mind that 9-11 was in INSIDE JOB! I would bet my LIFE ON IT, that is how sure I am of it! Look at the evidence sheep! There is enough right now to hang Bush and rest! And shame on America and those in power would could have had a REAL investigation on 9-11 and would have been able to STOP ALL this other bloodshed in Iraq and elsewhere! Why in HELL did Americans ever agree to let him pick the commission in first place is beyond me!? And Lee Hamilton SUCKS too! He is the same damn politician that didn’t want "We the People"
finding out about the "October surprise"! And Iran event when Reagan cut a deal with Iranians to keep our hostages to make Carter look bad, so Reagan could win the election! Yes, folks it happened that way! Reagan was guilty of TREASON TOO! Just like Bush Sr. was and just like Bush Jr. is NOW! There is a whole bunch of past politicians and ones now guilty of TREASON! Lee Hamilton, Bush Sr., Bill CLinton(who brokered that Dubai port deal and get NAFTA, WTO and PNTR passed, further bankrupting America) Bush Jr. and the whole EVIL PNAC GROUP TOO! And ANYONE who supports them to is guilty of supporting TREASON AS WELL! 9-11 WAS AN INSIDE JOB! PERIOD! AND WE DAMN SURE HAD BETTER STOP THE NEXT ONE THAT I BELIEVE BUSH AND COHORTS ARE PLANNING NOW! I believe some in FBI and CIA are also involved! Hence, some in FBI stopping John O’Neil from doing his job and also some in judgary too! Look at who gagged Sibel Edmonds? A judge who is probably in on it! Yes, folks there is a huge conspiracy but it is REAL!
29 March 2006, 04:04
I finally saw a CNN ticker with someone questioning the "Official 9/11 Commission Report". Yes, it was Charlie Sheen, whom the rightwing media pundits will attempt to have a field day with. But watch closely. None of their rhetoric will include facts, timelines, or other evidence that could debunk his comments. It will all be emotional, pathetic mudslinging - much like a child does when confronted with something he/she is not yet evolved enough enough to deal with. The truth is slowly coming out and unlike the JFK assassination, this won’t be so easily buried. The internet is often times a vast wasteland of nonsense, but not in this case. Regarding the truth behind 9/11, the internet will most likely be the saving grace as the government hasn’t figured how to control and censor it yet. We want our country back...and we’ll get it!
27 March 2006, 13:28
What desperately needs to happen is for U.S. troops to go into the White House and other offices and frog march out Bush,CHeney, Rummie and Condi, John Bolton and others and arrest them for TREASON! And in leg irons too! That would be poetic justice! And is what is needed! We DON’T need more investigations that take time or are total shams like the 9-11 commission was, NOR an investigation by Senators who are gutless, splineless S.O.B’s some of whom are probably in on it too! We need them out of office and NOW! Before they pull more attacks on U.S. and on other innocent foreigners too! Which they are about to bomb Iran for NO GOOD REASON, other then war mongering Zionists in Israel wants us to, and for oil and Empire building, too! And to place over those people a puppet who answers to Washington like they did in Afghanistan! Just like what Hitler did, only Bush has a bigger arsen! WAKE UP SHEEP! 9-11 WAS AN INSIDE JOB AND IT IS JUST A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE THEY TRY TO PULL OFF ANOTHER ONE! I believe Bush is trying to set U.S. up for an invasion, hence he tried to sell our ports to KNOWN terrorists. Now he wants to sell to a Chinese company scanning our containers too! BECAUSE HE/THEY ARE IN BED WITH THE REAL TERRORISTS, SHEEP! NOW HE WANTS TO CUT THE NATIONAL GUARD HERE AT HOME BY 17,000! ALL THIS PROVES I AM RIGHT! HE WANTS US INVADED! AND IS WORKING TOWARD THAT END! THEY ARE ALL TRAITORS AND THE WHOLE DAMN EVIL NEO-CON PNAC GROUP TOO! AND WE NEED TO DEMAND FROM ALL OUR POLITICIANS IN D.C. THAT THEY PUT AMERICA FIRST, INSTEAD OF ISRAEL OR SAUDI’S(WHO ARE KNOWN TO FUND TERRORISM) OR ANY OTHER COUNTRY BUT PUT AMERICA AND OUR SECURITY FIRST! NOT ISRAEL OR OTHERS!