by Len Hart, The Existentialist CowboyConan Doyle's character Sherlock Holmes said: "When you have eliminated the impossible whatever remains however implausible must be the truth!" This must be too easy. The significance of this single sentence is apparently lost on several generations of Americans who will believe all kinds of weird stuff for which there is no evidence whatsoever.
Michael Shermer, for example, has made a living as a career 'skeptic' but on the topic of 911, his record is no better than that of the most gullible Americans who defend Bush's official conspiracy theory with more lies and violations of
Occam's Razor. Like the average American, Shermer bought into at least two bald-faced lies advanced by the Bush administration. Shermer failed to apply the 'burden of proof''; he did not bother to question fatal contradictions that discredit the Bush administration as they, in fact, disprove the 'official conspiracy theory' of 911.
Only the guilty are sufficiently motivated to cover up a crime. By contrast, the innocent have nothing to cover up! In some cases, the innocent may be motivated to discover the truth even as guilty criminals work to subvert their efforts. The guilty, by contrast, are motivated to work covertly and/or overtly to cover up, hide evidence and/or lie! The innocent have nothing to hide but nothing to gain and, often much to lose, with lies and cover ups. Simply, the innocent have no motive to cover up anything.
Bush ordered physical evidence of mass murder and/or high treason destroyed. Bush opposed the creation of the 911 Commission and worked to subvert it when it was created. It was Bush who warned against 'outrageous conspiracy theories' when, in fact, it was his administration that offered up the most outrageous conspiracy theory of them all: a ludicrous story that reads like a re-write of Ala Baba and his 40 thieves. It is the pernicious legacy of 911 that it was exploited by Bush, the GOP, the U.S. right wing to silence dissent, to silence America.
If Bush covered up and/or obstructed the investigation of the crime of 911 in any way, then he is guilty of acts of obstruction of justice intended to hide the truth in ways that would protect him or his 'friends' or both. 'Obstruction of justice' was one of several serious allegations against Richard Nixon, leading to articles of impeachment, eventually his ignominious resignation.
Certainly, the crime of 911 should have been investigated while the trail was still warm; a legitimate President would have ordered it, insisted upon it. The trail has grown cold, an outcome desired by an administration that opposed the creation of a 911 commission and put limits on it as a condition of its creation!
The evidence includes the unprecedented nature of what happened that day, the eyewitness testimonies of people present at the site, and the physical evidence demonstrated by photographs and videos. 1, 2 Evidence for explosives is also given through proof by contradiction in that seven years of ever-changing government reports could not provide a non-explosive story for destruction of the WTC buildings. 3, 4, 5 More recently, peer-reviewed scientific papers show that energetic materials were present at the WTC, as indicated by the environmental data and the dust from Ground Zero. 6, 7, 8The forensic investigation of explosions typically aims to determine who had the means, opportunity and motive to accomplish the explosive event. 9 When that approach is taken with the WTC, we can see that those who had the greatest means and opportunity also had the greatest motive. For example, we've seen that certain tenant companies that occupied the WTC towers not only had the opportunity, but they also had the means in terms of access and expertise, to place explosives in the buildings. 10 We also know that the security companies that were responsible for planning and implementing the security plan for the towers, after the 1993 bombing, appeared to have benefited from the attacks. 11 Additionally, the companies reviewed were connected to each other through certain powerful people and organizations, and had all done major work for the Saudi Arabian government. --KEVIN RYAN, Demolition Access to the WTC Towers: Part Four - Cleanup
In the days and weeks following 911, Bush ordered the destruction of 911 evidence --on its face obstruction of justice!
Other than subsection 1512(c), there are three federal statutes which expressly outlaw the destruction of evidence in order to obstruct justice: 18 U.S.C. 1519 prohibits destruction of evidence in connection with federal investigation or bankruptcy proceedings, 18 U.S.C. 1520 prohibits destruction of corporate audit records, and 18 U.S.C. 2232(a) prohibits the destruction of property to prevent the government from searching or seizing it.None of the three are RICO or money laundering predicate offenses.334 There are no explicit statements of extraterritorial jurisdiction for any of them, but the courts are likely to conclude that overseas violation of their provisions are subject to prosecution in this country. None of them feature an individual conspiracy component, but all of them are subject to general federal law governing conspiracy, principals, accessories after the fact, and misprision.335 Obstruction of Investigations by Destruction of Evidence (18 U.S.C. 1519). Where subsection 1512(c) condemns obstruction of federal proceedings by destruction of evidence, Section 1519 outlaws obstruction of federal investigations or bankruptcy proceedings by such means. Section 1519’s language suggests that it reaches only executive branch investigations and does not extend to Congressional investigations or judicial investigations such as those conducted by a federal grand jury. It declares: Whoever knowingly alters, destroys, mutilates, conceals, covers up, falsifies, or makes a false entry in any record, document, or tangible object with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the investigation or proper administration of any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States or any case filed under title 11, or in relation to or contemplation of any such matter or case, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.
Although its “relation to or contemplation of” clause may admit to more than one construction, the section’s elements might be displayed as follows:I. Whoever II. knowingly III. A. alters, B.destroys, C. Mutilates
-- Obstruction of Justice: an Overview of Some of the Federal Statutes that Prohibit Interference with Judicial, Executive, or Legislative Activities
The Bush conspiracy theory of 911 is shot-through with holes, unexplained anomalies and outright lies. Certainly, a definitive list of every falsehood, every distortion, every misstatement is beyond the scope of any article I might put on this blog. What may be done, however, is to categorize them --the three most obvious and fatal holes, the three legs without which the tripod will not stand.
A 757 did NOT crash into the Pentagon!
Johnny Cochran said: "If it does not fit, you must acquit!" Likewise, if there is no wreckage, the Bush cover story falls apart. Similarly, if there is no wreckage traceable to a 757, then you must discard the Bush official conspiracy theory. The house of cards has already collapsed.
If a 757 had crashed the Pentagon, the wings would have been found on the Pentagon lawn. They were never found!
If a 757 had crashed the Pentagon, two huge titanium/steel alloy engine rotors, each about 12-15 ft in diameter, would have been recovered; they were, after all, designed to withstand the intense heat inside jet engines. Those rotors were never found.
If a 757 had crashed the Pentagon, wreckage totaling about 60 to 80 tons would have been recovered, and, as was the case at Lockerbie and every other airliner crash, re-assembled as a part of a real investigation. Upon orders from George W. Bush no such investigation was ever undertaken.
Only one engine compressor rotor was found. It is about
one third the size of each of two rotors that would have been found had a 757 crashed the Pent. High rez photos of this single rotor are available on the intenet.
It is --however --just about the right size to have been left behind by a U.S. Global Hawk, a payload carrying missile that was, in fact, flown from the west coast to Australia (where it was landed) all completely by remote control. [
The U.S. Global Hawk, at right, painted to look like an AA airliner]
If Arab hijackers were known by name and additionally 'known' to have been on board Flt 77, it is reasonable to conclude, therefore, that they were autopsied as were other victims. In fact, there are no Arab names whatsoever on the only official, admissible document relating to the crash of Flt 77: the official autopsy report.
What about a passenger list? It proves nothing; anyone can type up a list of names at any time, even after the fact. If, as the Washington Post reported, Hani Hanjour did
not have a ticket, how did he get on board? What evidence is there that any hijacker at any time ever boarded any aircraft that was said to have been connected with 911.
Bottom line: there is absolutely no evidence that Hani Hanjour or any alleged 911 hijacker ever got on board Flight 77. None! No wonder Bushco was reluctant to press this case. No wonder Bushco overtly obstructed justice! No wonder Bushco seemed overly eager to shut everyone up! They succeeded in doing so because the GOP has a horrible record with respect to public education and because the U.S. media is concentrated in very, very few hands. Last time I checked, American mass media was concentrated in the hands of about six or seven huge corporations. These corporations are not likely to expose the murderous hoax that was 911.
The wings and tail are huge surfaces areas --certainly bigger than the tiny hole said by official conspiracy theorists to have been the impact point! The hole would not have accommodated the fuselage, let alone the wings and tail which might have broken off to be found on the lawn. Nor was there any significant damage that might have been attributed to either wings or tail section or both. Neither was there evidence of wings or tail section!
There was a 'punch out' hole in the inner ring but could not have been made by a 757! Oddly, there is apparently no debris remaining of whatever it was that made the punch-out hole in the inner ring. I am quite sure that whatever it was, Bush ordered that it be carted off and destroyed.
Even if the plane had 'shredded' --as some have claimed --'80 tons of plane is still 80 tons of debris'.
"Wings that should have been sheared off by the impact are entirely absent. There is also substantial evidence of debris from a much smaller jet-powered aircraft inside the building. We conclude with a high degree of certainty that no Boeing 757 struck the building. We also conclude with a substantial degree of certainty that a smaller, single-engined aircraft, roughly the size and shape of an F-16, did, in fact, strike the building." (Source)
Detailed analysis of the debris field, physical damage, and other factors in the alleged impact of a Boeing 757 on the Pentagon building on the morning of September 11, 2001 reveals an almost complete absence of debris expected from such an event. (Elliott 2003) The initial (pre-collapse) hole made by the alleged impact on the ground floor of Wedge One of the building is too small to admit an entire Boeing 757. In order to decide whether or not a Boeing 757 (or aircraft of comparable size) struck the Pentagon on the morning in question, a comprehensive review of all the debris and other physical evidence is hardly necessary. It turns out that a study of the wings alone suffices for the purpose....
The analysis presented here is based entirely on standard and/or official sources, such as the engineering report issued under the auspices of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), as directed by an army engineering officer as chair. (ASCE 2003)--The Missing Wings, A Comparison of actual and expected wing debris resulting from the impact of a Boeing 757 on the Pentagon building (revised Dec 19, 2004), A. K. Dewdney, G. W. LongspaughWe are lead to believe that not only did the 757 penetrate the outer wall, but continued on to penetrate separate internal walls totaling 9 feet of reinforced concrete. The final breach of concrete was a nearly perfectly cut circular hole (see left) in a reinforced concrete wall, with no subsequent damage to the rest of the wall. (If we are to believe that somehow this aluminum aircraft did in fact reach this sixth final wall.)--A Boeing 757 did not hit the Pentagon, Michael Meyer, Mechanical Engineer
No wreckage traceable to a 757 was ever recovered at the Pentagon. Something was carted off surreptitiously under a blue tarpaulin but I doubt seriously that the four or five white-shirted wimps were toting some 60 to 80 tons of wreckage that would have been left behind by a crashed 757. Whatever they were carrying 1) it's origin would not be revealed; 2) it was light enough to carried aloft by several skinny guys in pristine white shirts; 3) it could not possibly have come from a 757.
Bushco efforts to confront and/or confound critics of the Pentagon crash are increasingly ludicrous. The fuselage of Flt 77, they say, vaporized. Any reputable engineering department and any reputable engineering website will confirm the fact that the Aluminum will not vaporize at temperatures less than 11000 degrees F. NASA is on record stating that 11000 degrees F is 1000 degrees hotter than the surface of the Sun! At the same time, Bushco defenders say that both passengers and hijackers were DNA identified. But DNA literally 'melts' (the term used in the scientific literature) at various temps between about 400 to 500 degrees F.
Now --if the temperatures were sufficient to vaporize the airliner fuselage, no DNA tests would have been possible. Simply, either the fuselage vaporized or the DNA tests were made. Bushco advocates cannot have it both ways. I only cite this as an example of the ludicrous extremes to which defenders of the official conspiracy theory have devolved, what extremes and contradictions they are willing to embrace to defend what is clearly several acts of high treason and mass murder that any reasonable, intelligent person will conclude was ordered and supervised by Bush, his administration and his co-conspirators in private industry, the Military-Industrial Complex and, quite possibly, the so-called 'Jewish Lobby'.
Aluminum Does Not Penetrate Hardened SteelThe criminals who perpetrated 911 exploit GOP subversions of education, especially the Bush/Perry regimes in Texas. When crimes of the magnitude of 911 are committed, it is only the GOP which benefits from its neglect of education, especially science, physics, logic, skepticism.
Only a controlled demolition looks like a controlled demolition. And WTC 7 looks like a controlled demolition because it was 'pulled' just as Silverstein himself said it was. And if it was 'pullled', it had to have been 'prepped', that is, explosives planted and wired perhaps weeks in advance of the so-called 'terrorist attacks'.
There is --in fact --not a shred of evidence to support the ludicrous theory that it fell as a result of piddly random fires that might have been pissed out!
For those who are not yet ready to make the commitment to obtain and read a book on 9/11, but who wish to learn more, a ten-minute solution is available. It only takes a few minutes to view video on the Internet of the collapse of Building 7, the 47 story skyscraper located immediately north of the WTC complex about 300 feet from the North Tower. Viewers will note the almost vertical collapse of the building. Only controlled demolitions have achieved vertical collapses of upright steel structures.After viewing the video, many will agree with Dan Rather who said on CBS News that very evening that the collapse of Building 7 was “reminiscent of those pictures we’ve all seen too much on television before when a building was destroyed by well placed dynamite to knock it down.”--Ronald Bleier, WTC Building 7 – The 911 Smoking Gun?
I deny that there is any credible evidence to support the theory that an airliner with a soft aluminum body could or can penetrate the dense steel outer 'cladding' of the WTC. And --if by a miracle it did --it most certainly could not have penetrated the dense inner core conveniently omitted from 'official theories'! This 'omission' is not competent if by accident; it is a crime if the omission is deliberate! In any case, it's existence disproves the official lies.
Purdue University 'Forgot' About a Dense Core at WTCThe most notorious instance of omission of this core is a You Tube video which claims to have been produced by Purdue University. The 'copy' on You Tube claims to be 'realistic' and 'factual' but, in fact, is neither! It depicts a soft-bodied aluminum airliner slicing through the dense steel cladding. In the version I watched, the CORE had been omitted entirely, a case of 'truth by animation'. I deny that this 'toon is realistic or factual. I challenge Purdue to cite a single peer-reviewed paper in which soft aluminum has penetrated hardened steel at any speed. Show me the science and spare me the 'toons.
I carry a Swiss army knife. The blades are made of hardened steel --
not Aluminum. That's because Aluminum is not likely to penetrate anything that I might want to cut. Soft Aluminum airliner bodies, likewise, were never designed to penetrate hard, dense steel and 911 is most certainly
not the test case that proves it does, will or ever has. Since the Wright brothers aircraft of any sort have been made of lighter weight and softer materials. Airliners are not made of hard, dense steel but aluminum --lighter, less dense, softer. Wenger and Victorinox
are not likely to begin the manufacture of aluminum bladed Swiss Army knives any time soon.
Defenders of Bush's ludicrous weird, witch doctor science, however, have an 'explanation'. They say that 'kinetic energy' allows soft aluminum to penetrate hard steel!
Nonsense! They have watched too many roadrunner cartoons in which the wily coyote falls off a cliff, penetrates the hard ground leaving a hole in the shape of his silhouette! The real world is not a Road Runner 'toon nor is it a fantasy of Purdue under-graduates.
The truth is that gains in kinetic energy are absorbed by the softer body. In this case, a real airliner striking a tough steel cladding would have been shredded, those parts striking the hard steel would absorb the increased kinetic energy due to velocity and would literally fold up; those pieces striking spaces
between the steel columns would penetrate only the empty spaces. Were the building solid steel, the soft Al body would simply fold up and fall down to street level.
Try hurling a ball of modeling clay at a metal garage door. If you are Mickey Mantle reincarnated you might knock down the door if it is merely propped up or poorly attached. But you will
never, ever
penetrate the door itself. Try it! There is no record of anyone penetrating a metal garage door with a ball of non-hardening modeling clay.
Another experiment. Replace the lead slug of a 30 caliber round with one of aluminum. Fire that round at a steel beam comparable to those at the WTC. Let me know if it ever penetrates the steel! Lotsa luck! I don't expect to hear from anyone performing this experiment nor will I ever read a 'peer-reviewed' paper validating such an experiment.
Soft aluminum fuselages, likewise, will
never slice through the girders themselves as the official conspiracy suggests or states.
If the official conspiracy theory of 911 were true, then Condo Rice would have had no motive to lie to Congress.
By the time I saw 'ground zero' for myself, every scrap had been carted off! I peered into a deep and pristine hole! An individual cannot cover up his/her crimes on this scale. But Bushco --his administration of fellow crooks like Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld --covered up the crime of 911 in 'full view of the world'. The American 'sheeple' bought it!
Instead, Shermer has discounted Bush critics as 'conspiracy theorists' despite the fact that the official theory puts forward a weird and highly unlikely conspiracy involving 19 Arab hijackers who were, we are told, coordinated from deep inside a cave in Tora Bora. It was a bad re-write of the old Popeye cartoon: 'Ali Baba and his 40 Thieves'.
The official conspiracy theory thus meets Conan Doyle's standard by which bunkum and bullshit is exposed and assessed. Every key point in the theory is utterly impossible.
Nothing in the official story is possible or plausible. It could not and did not happen. It is a lie, a cruel and tragic hoax. It was, in fact, an act of high treason in which officials of 'our' government conspired to wage war upon and murder citizens of the United States.
In summary: to believe the official conspiracy theory, you must discount or ignore numerous laws of elementary, high school physics:
- You must believe that kerosene fires will melt steel though this has never happened or been duplicated in a lab.
- You must believe that Hani Hanjour can duplicate for real Criss Angel's most famous 'trick' --that of walking through solid glass or, better, David Copperfield who walked through the Great Wall of China.
I know how Copperfield pulled it off but --you have to admit --there were more witnesses to his feat than there were witnesses to Bush's 911. And when Copperfield walked through the Great Wall no life was sacrificed for the sake of mere illusion or worse --control of world oil supplies!
Let's consider a few of these anomalies that render the official theory not only impossible but ludicrous. The belief in it should embarrass anyone claiming to be a skeptic, humiliate any 'scientist' failing to point out the astronomically improbable succession of miracles that are required for such a thing to happen.
To believe Bushco's 'not ready for Vegas' routine:
- You must believe that a 757 can crash into the Pentagon and disappear without a trace.
- You must believe that soft aluminum can penetrate hard steel despite the fact that if that were so Wenger would make the blades of its Swiss Army knives of Aluminum.
- You must believe that for some weird and un-recorded reason airlines decided to press into service flights that had not been scheduled to fly (mothballed) for some six months.
- You must believe that Arab hijackers were either 'raptured' or jumped out of Flt 77; there are absolutely no Arab names on the official autopsy report.
- You must believe the aluminum body of a 757 vaporized as no scrap traceable to an airliner of any sort was ever found at the Pentagon.
- You must believe that Hani Hanjour got on board without a ticket and without creating any kind of suspicion prior to his boarding. Perhaps he made himself invisible!
- You must believe that Hani Hanjour, like David Copperfield, walked through a closed door! NTSB data released via an FOIA proves that the cabin door was never opened during the flight. How did Hani get in? For that matter --how did he get on board? There is, in fact, no evidence whatsoever that he did! Nor is his name or the names of any other 'terrorist/Arab' to be found on the only official list of passengers --the OFFICIAL autopsy report.
- You must believe that Flt 77 managed to manifest itself in two places at the same instant: NTSB puts Flt 77 at some 200 ft above the Pentagon at the time of impact.
- You must believe that because no fuselage traceable to a 757 was ever found at the Pentagon, it must have 'vaporized' in the heat.
- You must believe that the source of that heat was greater than that on the surface of the sun itself --some 10000 degrees F.
And while believing that the fuselage vaporized, you must also believe that victims were DNA identified. But --how is that possible? DNA literally melts at varying temps between about 400 to 500 degrees F.
So --which is it? Were they DNA ID'd? Or
did the Aluminum fuselage vaporize?
Which is it?It cannot be both ways! In fact, it is neither! This merely proves how utterly ludicrous is this theory and more so because seemingly 'intelligent' people believe this utter crap!
Silverstein had Method, Motive and Opportunity. About New York --WTC 7 was not struck by airliners; yet its collapse was reported by the BBC before it occurred. But why did it collapse? It was prepared well in advance as any CD expert will tell you is required. Who else but Silverstein could have taken out the insurance policy on this property?
If WTC 7 Was a Controlled Demolition, so were the Twins!
Silverstein is even on video saying that he gave the order to pull it! Indeed --it was pulled immediately upon his order. That means that the building had been prepped, perhaps, for weeks. I would like to have read his policy. What, precisely, was covered? Was the building ensured against deliberate controlled demolition. If so, he could have ordered it 'pulled' at any time at his convenience. I doubt any company would write such a blank check. The policy, I am quite sure, covered 'acts of God' --but 'terrorism'? Perhaps! It most certainly would not have covered a fraudulent act of deliberate demolition for the purpose of collecting the insurance money. There is a term for that:
As I recall, his insurance policy was worth $billions$ which have by now, I am sure, been paid.
The above outline of absurdities re: 911 should have been taken up by real skeptics. That Michael Shermer took up the task of defending myth, lies, absurdities and anti-science, speaks volumes.
Shermer built his career upon the conflict between creationism and evolution, light work for anyone with a normal IQ. Making fools of people like Sarah Palin is hardly a challenge for anyone capable of graduating 9th grade. Shermer tripped up with regard to 911 because he failed to abide by the only dictum which defines true skepticism:
! Shermer failed the very first task of the skeptic and that is: demand proof! At the very least --evidence!
A review charged that Shermer 'offers very little in the way of direct evidence against creationism'! It is not the job of a skeptic to offer evidence against anything! It is the job of the skeptic to doubt, question and challenge. It is the job of the skeptic to demand proof and evidence for the absurd, outlandish, outrageous conspiracy theory that was promoted by the Bush administration. It is also the job of the skeptic to ask of those who peddle theories: who benefits if we buy this crap? Why and how do they benefit?
Those who assert must prove
I challenge Bush's supporters to prove their assertions. Those peddling or putting forward theories must be prepared to prove and/or support them with demonstrable fact. Bushco has never proven anything with regard to 911. Ergo: there is no reason to support or believe him or anything said by anyone in his administration. Bush supporters not only cannot prove, they have no evidence that supports the official theory. It's utter bunkum from the get go.
Again --Doyle's character --Sherlock Holmes --said:
Sadly, millions of Americans believe a pack of lies because they just 'can't handle the truth!"
