Tag Archives: Flight 77

Diverse voices make Vancouver Hearings messy but intriguing

June 19, 2012

By Craig McKee

There was definitely no “party line” at the 9/11 Vancouver Hearings.
The opinions offered by 19 presenters over three days were diverse, with some openly disagreeing with each other both in their presentations and in question-and-answer sessions. Some may feel that the lack of a common front at these hearings was a problem; I don’t think that’s true.
One thing that was clear from the outset was that organizers Jim Fetzer (pictured above) and Joshua Blakeney were making no effort to emulate last September’s Toronto 9/11 Hearings – apart from the quasi-judicial structure. Where Toronto was safe and controlled, Vancouver was unpredictable Continue reading

Pushing boundaries: 9/11 Vancouver Hearings embrace controversy


June 14, 2012

By Craig McKee

In Toronto, we saw the conservative approach to examining 9/11 evidence. In Vancouver we’re going to see something quite different.
In stark contrast to last September’s Toronto Hearings into the Events of September 11, 2001, the 9/11 Vancouver Hearings will pursue the truth wherever that leads, according to co-organizer Joshua Blakeney. The stated mission of the hearings, which start tomorrow, is to “push the boundaries of 9/11 truth.”
In an interview this week, Blakeney, Canadian correspondent for Press TV and staff writer at Veterans Today, said the Vancouver Hearings will explore a number of areas that Toronto wouldn’t touch or only briefly addressed.
One is the question of whether a plane crash was faked at the Pentagon. Another is whether there is merit in some of the more Continue reading

‘Propaganda team’ uses contrived fight to derail 9/11 Truth movement

Ryan, Chandler, Legge and the rest would have us believe this is a picture of a plane crash.

May 21, 2012

By Craig McKee

It has been a very good year for the small but relentless group that wants evidence of a faked plane crash at the Pentagon on 9/11 taken off the table.
The group has scored a series of victories in recent months that have hurt the Truth movement and created a “lowest-common-denominator” approach to evidence and to building the case against the official story.
The clique in question includes Kevin Ryan, David Chandler, Jonathan Cole, Frank Legge, Jim Hoffman, Victoria Ashley, Chris Sarns, Justin Keogh, Michael Wolsey, Gregg Roberts, Erik Larson, and several others who have become “respectable” members of the movement (we know they are because they regularly endorse each other and cite each other’s “research”).
For a decade, we’ve seen an orchestrated and determined effort by this small clique to steer the 9/11 Truth Continue reading

Two quit in protest after Zarembka dumped from Consensus 9/11 Panel

The objective of the Panel is to create a bank of points refuting elements of the official story.

May 2, 2012

By Craig McKee

Two members of David Ray Griffin’s Consensus 9/11 Panel have quit in protest following the dismissal of fellow member Paul Zarembka.
Journalist and author Barrie Zwicker and Pilots For 9/11 Truth core member Shelton Lankford resigned from the Panel last week in solidarity with Zarembka (author of The Hidden History of 9-11) and over disagreements the three have with Griffin and Panel co-founder Elizabeth Woodworth about how the project is being administered.
“I felt Paul’s treatment was kind of a last straw,” Lankford said in an interview. “For me the Consensus Panel process was functioning as a gatekeeper, and evidence deemed controversial was not going to be Continue reading

Gage concedes his entry into 9/11 Pentagon ‘quagmire’ has been divisive


By Craig McKee
Richard Gage admits that his pronouncements on the Pentagon research of Citizen Investigation Team have done more harm than good.
Since he first waded into the debate two-and-a-half years ago, the founder of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth has taken plenty of heat from people on all sides of the question of whether a 757 hit the Pentagon on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. Gage now feels he should never have gotten involved – and most people agree with him.
“Entering into and rendering a recommendation and then withdrawing that recommendation ended up really stirring the pot Continue reading

Hollywood 9/11 feature to favour human drama and ‘safe’ evidence


By Craig McKee
Can you make an “uplifting” Hollywood movie about 9/11? Should you try?
If your goal is to encourage people to question the official story, should you focus on the human cost of this horrific event with an eye to making the film a successful piece of dramatic entertainment? What evidence should be examined and what should be left out to avoid controversy within the Truth movement and condemnation from the media?
These questions haven’t been simple ones for first-time screenwriter Howard Cohen, who has written the script for A Violation of Trust (original title: Confession of a 9/11 Conspirator). The setting is the first day of a fictitious new Continue reading

The fog of words: how we inadvertently reinforce the 9/11 official story


Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill – Buddha
Words are more treacherous and powerful than we think – Jean-Paul Sartre

By Craig McKee

Words can be used to reveal many truths. They can also obscure the truth, even in ways their users do not intend. Once a particular word used in a particular context has penetrated our consciousness, it’s very hard to dislodge.
Case in point, a favourite term of the 9/11 Truth movement: the “official conspiracy theory” or OCT. This refers to the official story proffered by the government and the “mainstream” media: 19 fundamentalist Muslims led by Osama bin Laden decided one day to punish America for being too darned free.
But it’s not a conspiracy theory. It’s not a theory at all. That’s because the people who created the story know damned well it’s not true. Continue reading

Sanctions in Gallop 9/11 lawsuit send a message: seek justice at your own risk


By Craig McKee
The message is loud and clear. Go after justice for 9/11 in the courts, and not only will you lose, you’ll be punished.
That’s what April Gallop and her lawyer, William Veale, found out as their lawsuit against former vice-president Dick Cheney, former secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld, and former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Richard Myers concluded with a final slap in the face. This came in the form of a $15,000 fine levied against Veale for filing a “frivolous” appeal (the appeal had already been turned down in April of last year).
The decision was handed down by a three-judge panel headed by Justice John M. Walker, who just happens to be George W. Bush’s cousin – proving that the American justice system has a twisted sense of humour at times. Continue reading

When did they know? 35 truthers on how they awakened to the 9/11 lie

January 11, 2012

By Craig McKee

Myth: Most “conspiracy theorists” thought 9/11 was an inside job from day one, because these types of people always imagine elaborate conspiracies even though the evidence rarely backs them up. Most are paranoid and obsessive.
Reality: Many if not most of the members of the 9/11 Truth movement took months or years to begin doubting what we have been told. Those who have become leaders of the movement tend to be intelligent and well educated, and they were open-minded enough to consider evidence that we hadn’t been told the truth by the government or the media.
I decided to pose a question to some of the most notable members of the movement to find out exactly when they twigged that 9/11 was an inside job and not a terrorist attack perpetrated by fundamentalist Muslims. Here’s the question I sent them:
“When did you come to believe that the 9/11 official story was false and that 9/11 was an inside job – and what piece or pieces of information convinced you?”
For the purpose of this article, I’m defining “truth leaders” as being people who have been active in the movement in some visible way – spreading the word either by organizing activities or by researching and writing about or making films about 9/11 to raise awareness. It does not connote an endorsement of their various positions on 9/11.
I was fortunate to receive responses from the majority of the best known truth activists I wrote to. These included David Ray Griffin, Barrie Zwicker, Barbara Honegger, Mike Gravel, Rob Balsamo, Cynthia McKinney, and 30 others listed below. All responses are original and were sent to me by the respondents with the exception of Balsamo’s, which he offered from a previously posted statement.
As you will read, the respondents’ backgrounds run the gamut. There are academics, authors, pilots, engineers, chemists, architects, journalists, politicians, musicians, filmmakers, lawyers, soldiers, and citizen researchers and activists of all kinds. There is a former U.S. senator, a former congresswoman, a high-level NASA executive, a policy analyst in the Reagan White House, and a Nobel Peace Prize nominee.
It’s an impressive group to say the least. In assembling it, I deliberately did not restrict myself to people I most agree with – or who most agree with each other. I sent the question to as many members of the Truth movement as I could. I’m not interested in entertaining criticism that one person or another should have been excluded. I think it’s much more interesting to read responses from people with disparate views. The length of the answers varies greatly, and cuts were kept to a minimum.
Here are the participants in this order:
David Ray Griffin, Barrie Zwicker, Cynthia McKinney, William Veale, Barbara Honegger, Mike Gravel, Craig Ranke, Rob Balsamo, Cindy Sheehan, Niels Harrit, Shelton Lankford, James Fetzer, James Hufferd, Adam Syed, George Ripley, Adam Ruff, Sheila Casey, Bruce Sinclair, Elizabeth Woodworth, Josh Blakeney, Aldo Marquis, Frances Shure, Maxwell C. Bridges, Anna Yeisley, Mark Gaffney, Giulietto Chiesa, Paul Zarembka, Ken Freeland, Jonathan Mark, Dwain Deets, Massimo Mazzucco, Nelisse Muga, Matthew Witt, Simon Shack, Graeme MacQueen.
And here’s what they said:
 David Ray Griffin (Retired theology professor; past nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize for his 9/11 work; founder, Consensus 9/11 Panel; author of 10 books on 9/11)
In the fall of 2002, one of my students at the Claremont School of Theology told me that a visiting professor said that 9/11 was an inside job and asked if I wanted to meet him. I said yes, and after talking with him, I told Continue reading

The 9 biggest 9/11 stories of 2011: old fights and new directions


By Craig McKee
Paul Simon stepped to the microphone at Ground Zero and something amazing happened.
The legendary singer/songwriter had been asked to sing the non-threatening Bridge Over Troubled Waters at the ceremony for 9/11’s 10th anniversary ceremonies in New York, but he didn’t. Instead, he launched into a haunting version of another classic that begins, “Hello darkness, my old friend.” Simon had decided that the most appropriate statement for this occasion would come from Continue reading