I'm Sooo Tired of This Crap
I wrote an essay on this topic a little while ago, but I was just forwarded yet ANOTHER conspiracy video from a friend. So I thought I should finally post it up. Sources are at the bottom. Sorry, the footnotes didn't carry over from my Word file.
The 9/11 Conspiracy Theories
-Brad Engmann-
In every major event in the 20th Century, there have been two reports on what transpired. There has been the official government report which is usually verified by news organizations, and there is the “conspiracy investigation.” These include most notably the JFK assassination, the US involvement in WWII, the Holocaust, and even the thought of aliens landing on Earth’s soil at Roswell. Most recently, there was a terrorist attack on America which highlighted the nation’s weaknesses and insecurities, destroyed and/or damaged major icons of American power, and left thousands dead in its wake. Such horrible events took place on September 11, 2001.
Bush famously remarked with a bullhorn, standing atop the rubble of the World Trade Center “I can hear you! The whole world hears you! And soon the people who knocked down these towers will hear all of us!” A catastrophe had just occurred, and the American people were waiting for a guiding light in the seemingly hopeless darkness which pervaded the country. George W. Bush seized the opportunity, and in a vigor and unbridled straightforwardness characteristic of his presidency, he led the United States into conflict in far regions of the world to “combat the terrorists” in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan.
The legacy of George W. Bush, despite his pre-election lack of enthusiasm, has been of foreign policy, particularly that stemming from the events which took place on that fateful day. The question which many authors and journalists ask, however, is how precisely this all came to be. They assess the interests of “conquest” and “imperialism” to be commensurate with the position of the current administration. They feel that it is very convenient for Bush, whom they consider to be a fairly untested politician, to suddenly have an excuse to push his agenda upon the world community. Resultant of this sentiment, they have begun to pose questions, since to them the whole situation seems to be an extension of Bush and his cronies. Such “revisionists” have developed theories from their research into 9/11, and have managed to convince themselves and many others that the whole tragedy was orchestrated by a junta administration for the purpose of self-advancement. I intend to prove that their “investigation” is wholly unscientific, and relies on bits and pieces of information to pull together a very flimsy web designed exclusively to substantiate the authors’ preconceived notions.
The predominant culprit behind all of this frenzy has been a French author by the name of Thierry Meyssan. His book, translated into English as The Appalling Fraud, reached the bestseller list in France almost immediately.1 He followed this up with a book called Pentagate which goes into detail in exposing the “lies” behind Flight 77’s disappearance and supposed crash into the Pentagon. These, including the compilation entitled 9/11: The Big Lie, have sold in the hundreds of thousands in France so far.2 While a plethora of conspiracy theories have surfaced surrounding 9/11, Meyssan’s have proven to be the most pervasive so far. Sites which rebroadcast his work, and further “develop” his contentions include www.whatreallyhappened.com, and www.the7thfire.com. Apparently these works have infiltrated the public mindset so extensively that according to a Forsa survey, as reported by Der Spiegel, 30% of Germans could believe that the US ordered the attacks on 9/11 on itself.3
The Nature of Conspiracy Beliefs
There are a variety of hypotheses which surround 9/11. All of these assume complicity by the United States, or at lease some rogue elements of the government. They accuse the Bush Administration of taking an active role in the tragedy of 9/11 because of the realization that it could advance an aggressive foreign policy. However, while at first glance to the uninformed reader, these might appear to be quite convincing, they may easily be dissected when the scalpel of crucial scrutiny is applied.
Many conspiracy theorists prefer to rely on what I have termed the “why isn’t there?” form of logic. Postulations which depend on the lack of something, in their minds, have more bearing than the actual evidence which exists. Rather than analyzing what does affirm the official report, individuals such as Meyssan prefer to view the absence of what they think “should” be there. This is an ongoing trend which has been followed by legions of deniers.
Fred Leuchter, in his famous Holocaust denial report, went to Auschwitz and took many very unscientific samples from the gas chambers to be chemically tested for cyanide. The tests came up negative. He also questioned why certain structures, such as a wooden door in the chambers existed. Rather than carefully ruminating on the history and the science involved, as well as the numerous other documented instances of Nazi atrocities, Leuchter concluded that an aspect the Holocaust could not have taken place in Auschwitz. As a consequence, he, and the numerous others who utilize his “report” can justify their lack of belief in this genocide. His myopic perspective never deviated from what “wasn’t there” and considered the plethora of evidence which was there.
Meyssan, in his book, as well as countless other deniers, “revisionists” and conspiracy theorists have preferred to focus on selective bits and pieces of evidence, oftentimes knowingly excised out of context from reports which generally contradicted their findings. Additionally, here in the case of 9/11, as well as in all instances of a supposed government cover-up, it is assumed that the governmental “powers that be” can touch literally everything and everyone. It is natural, to conspiracy theorists, that the government plants evidence, and manipulates witness testimony in order to achieve a result. This, of course, causes all official accounts, as well as evidence presented, to be completely discredited by someone who smells a conspiracy. This is the principal reason why the broader picture isn’t examined by people such as Meyssan, but rather individual “holes” or inconsistencies.
When Meyssan’s claims are evaluated with full consideration of the weight of evidence presented, they quickly disintegrate. Little evidence is provided to demonstrate that the US knew about 9/11 ahead of time, except for brief quips from news clippings, and an overall picture of diplomatic ties which are murky at best. However, rather than get into the minutiae of the trade links from the White House to the Saudi Government for example, I intend to look at Meyssan’s assertions, then simply the facts of the matter as they took place as they are much less subject to interpretation.
Meyssan’s Claims
There are a variety of claims which are presented in Meyssan’s 9/11: The Big Lie. These essentially are centered on the notion that the United States administration is culpable for what transpired on September 11, 2001. There are many conspiracy theories, including those listed below.
Meyssan envisions a general conspiracy involving the US intelligence community. He states that officials across the globe heard about 9/11 ahead of time, and that US officials, being directly involved with the terrorist groups, orchestrated the entire event. He justifies this by stating that numerous intelligence associations knew about the events beforehand, and that there was a myriad of warning signs.
To help flesh out his beliefs, Meyssan begins his book by “unraveling what really happened” to Flight 77. He employs a series of photographs to show how the plane could not possibly have crashed into the Pentagon. Furthermore, he offers no alternative theories, aside from demanding the US government explain where the missing plane was. He also speculates that it must have been something such as a hard-tipped missile rather than an airplane.
Meyssan alludes to Building 7, of the World Trade Center, which he states was “imploded” as opposed to being destroyed due to fire. This has been rallied around by activists all over the internet as well. Finally, Meyssan states that the World Trade Center twin towers could not have possibly been hit by the hijackers, due to the fact that a complicated maneuver would have been required to do so. He therefore contends that homing beacons within the centers must have been placed, and the plane was guided in by remote control. These, and many others are the foundations of his point.
Direct Culpability
In order to justify the thought that the United States government was involved in perpetrating such devious acts upon its own population, Meyssan and his cohorts offer up a number of examples which indicate knowledge beforehand. While many of these are explained in depth later, the single largest aspect of the 9/11 conspiracy theory has been the actual destruction of the buildings.
Meyssan wrote a short book entitled Pentagate. Much of this is included in 9/11: The Big Lie. This, no insinuations about it, outright states that a plane DID NOT crash into the Pentagon. To corroborate his story, Meyssan shows a series of photographs, and poses a number of questions. The first he asks, is why was the UFO not shot down before it reached the Pentagon? He claims that it could have easily been picked up on RADAR and intercepted.4 The answer is because there are different means of identifying planes by air traffic control.
According to a Washington Post article, there are two main types of RADAR for commercial airliners. These are primary and secondary. The latter is the dominant one as it uses the plane’s transponder to locate it in the skies. The hijackers turned this off. Secondary is the stereotypical type which bounces a beam off of the plane. Unfortunately, since primary was almost never used, and it cost a large sum to maintain, a number of commercial air traffic control stations did not have theirs activated, including the one responsible for Flight 77. Also, “The aircraft disappeared just nine minutes after the FAA was notified that a plane had hit the World Trade Center, and 12 minutes before the second plane struck, a period of general confusion.”5 Communication was bad, so additional traffic control centers weren’t monitoring their primary radar, and hence, could not even try to locate it in the clutter. All of the traffic controllers followed procedure, and the state of overall lack of information did not allow people to locate the plane until it was too late to scramble fighters.
Meyssan also states that there are “five batteries of missiles installed on top of the Pentagon.”6 This is simply not true according to Rear Admiral Craig Quigley who states that he has never heard of such defenses.7 Thus, the Pentagon did not know of an airliner coming towards it because of lack of air traffic control communications, and even if it did find out, then fighters might not have been diverted fast enough. Also, if the Pentagon had seen an airliner hurtling towards it, it could not have deployed its phantom defenses.
Conspiracy theorists point to the Pentagon pictures and ask “why isn’t the hole bigger,” and “where is all of the debris?” They question the building’s damage as well. Meyssan says, “the plane only destroyed the first ring of the building” despite its massive weight and velocity. This is also untrue. It damaged three rings severely, and caused the structure to collapse very quickly.8 As per the debris and the damage, Snopes.com, a leading authority on debunking conspiracy theories, provides numerous photos which illustrate vastly higher levels of damage and debris which Meyssan chooses not to show you in his book.9 Debris was found in and around the crash site.
The crater is another subject of dispute. Meyssan superimposes an image of the plane atop a picture of the impact hole.10 These photos are his sole evidence, in addition to a manipulation of witness testimony to conclude it was a missile, rather than a plane which hit the Pentagon, especially since Meyssan has never interviewed anyone, or visited the site himself. Der Spiegel, a German magazine, reports otherwise. According to Mete Sozen, “a specialist in reinforced concrete construction at Purdue University in Indiana… the body of the aircraft would have provided about as much resistance as a sausage casing,” had it impacted at over 500mph into a bomb reinforced building such as the Pentagon. Debris was found, but there wasn’t that much due to the fact the approximately 20% of the plane’s weight was fuel.11
Testimony was also strategically used by Meyssan, as indicated by Der Spiegel. For example, the many people who actually witnessed the plane impacting the Pentagon were not included whatsoever. However, what was included was this comment by journalist Mike Walter in reference to the object: “It behaved like a cruise missile” At first glance it is damning, but provides no support to Meyssan when viewed in full. Walter’s entire quote read “[I] saw the aircraft fly toward the building and accelerate in a "soft curve." Then, says Walter, "it went into a dive and hit a light pole. Shortly after that, it slammed into the Pentagon. The wings collapsed, I heard the explosion, and then I saw the fireball. The guy who was flying it knew what he was doing. It behaved like a cruise missile.”12
Another example of destruction may be found in WTC building 7. Herein, the building housing a number of important government centers, including the CIA, was completely destroyed by “collapsing in upon itself.”13 Meyssan, as well as a number of other conspiracy theorists accuse the US government as having imploded the building. However, FEMA recently released a report that indicated the buildings construction, in addition to a large quantity of fuel present was to blame.14 It was built atop a Con-Ed substation, and the probable cause of collapse was fire destroying steel floor supports. This blaze was allowed to continue due to the more imminent danger response at the twin towers by FDNY. Debris from WTC 1&2 destroyed a significant portion of the façade, and fires were left to burn for hours feeding off of emergency generator fuel.
As almost a laughable aside, Meyssan states that maneuvering the planes into the twin towers would have been too difficult for an amateur pilot. Therefore, he states that it would have been possible to remote guide them in, since remote flying technology does exist, notably in the government’s cited Global Hawk program.15 Unfortunately for him, he fails to mention that this technology was fitted for UAVs, and would never be found on a commercial aircraft.
One key statement is that quoted by GW Bush in a news conference in which he said that he heard of the first attack before going in to read with 2nd grade students at an elementary school. “I was sitting outside the classroom, waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower.”16 Meyssan states that this is proof that Bush was screened images filmed by US intelligence because he says that the video of the first plane hitting the tower wasn’t available until much later.
This, however, is not a valid assertion. According to a CNN timeline, the first crash occurred at 8:45am, and the second took place at 9:03.17 According to even a heavily biased anti-Bush source, the first images of the WTC attack were broadcast at 8:48am, thereby giving him plenty of time to be aware of what he thought then was an accident.18
Another contention which the author presents is that of the supposed usage of secret service codes to send the message “Air Force One is next.” Such a threat precipitated extra degrees of security for the president. This, according to Meyssan’s sources, used code language only people close to the president could have known.19 Here, the logic was that people within the administration must have issued the threat. However, when actually viewing his references, the author cites a lesser known “alternative news organization” called “World Net Daily” which has already overly elaborated on the claims. It cited Naval and Marine Corps Intelligence, as well as DoD, and a variety of other codes which were used. Unfortunately for their reporting staff, these claims cannot be verified anywhere else. MSN.com in conjunction with Slate, citing many reputable reports, including quotations from CBS, and articles from the Sept. 27th Washington Post, indicated that despite initial confusion, apparently “Sources say White House staffers apparently misunderstood comments made by their security detail.”20
Next, chronologically, Mr. Meyssan implements some numbers about the FBI’s investigation into the hijackers. On page 55, he locates “inconsistencies” in the number of hijackers on each flight, then accuses the FBI of outright lying about the passenger manifests. He provides no sources for review here. However, he cites that the Saudi government made a press release that a number of names on the FBI’s list had “no connection to 9/11.” Additionally, Meyssan claims that some of the hijackers are still alive and well, including one who gave an interview, Waleed M. Al-Shehri.21 While Mueller, director of the FBI, admitted in 2001 that some of the hijackers identities were in doubt,22 the Bureau has since reversed its position, stating that it stands by its list. This was further substantiated by the 9/11 Commission finding that Al-Shehri was actually the brother of another confirmed hijacker. Also, all of them had studied together at university.23 Here, Mr. Meyssan’s information has proven to be outdated, and even if it were true, what would this inconsistency prove?
So far, Thierry Meyssan has been striving to tie the US government with the hijackers. Another report he uses has so far been unverified. It involves Osama Bin Laden using the American military hospital for dialysis treatment in Dubai, during July of 2001.24 This in his mind illustrates complicity. However, despite the fact that this was only revealed by a staff member there, it has still taken hold in the conspiracy realm. According to Snopes.com Bin Laden himself even said that his kidneys were in good condition, and he did not visit the hospital. Additionally, staff personnel have said that the hospital was much too small to “sneak someone in.”25
Another point which is made by Meyssan is that of a Naval Officer who was arrested in Canada by the name of Mark Vreeland. The individual was supposed to have predicted 9/11 ahead of time by writing a note to his jailers prior to 9/11 which supposedly predicted its events. That note may be seen here: http://fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/01_28_02_vreeland.jpg
This note is said to contain information ahead of time about the attacks. However, upon looking at it, such garnered information would only be relevant in hindsight. It is for the most part nonsensical. A court inquiry later found no basis whatsoever to his claim, but individuals like Meyssan cling to it as indisputable evidence of US aforethought.26
Another odd occurrence which took place was that in an Instant Message providing company called Odigo, based in Israel, two employees received cryptic notices about impending attacks on America prior to the attacks.27 While these were immediately reported to the FBI, and an investigation was held, the sources were unknown. According to truthorfiction.com, another online myth-busting site citing an IDG report, the messages were non-specific, and it’s likely that it was a random message due to the fact that the employees had no connection to 9/11 whatsoever.28
Meyssan writes about what he deems “insider trading” because airline stocks dropped prior to 9/11. This is in complete ignorance of the fact that the airline industry was ALREADY in financial turmoil.29
As far as manipulation of fact, Der Spiegel points out that Meyssan claims that prior knowledge of 9/11 was certain because web addresses such as www.wtc2001.com were registered prior to that date. However the website pertains to the World Track Championships.
An Overall Conspiracy
Meyssan also claims that foreign intelligence services were aware of 9/11 ahead of time, and they provided advance warning.30 Cooperativeresearch.com provides a good list of these.31 There were a variety of claims that there was a “big attack” looming. Also some research indicated that there was a possibility of an attack coming from the air, such as “In 1999, British intelligence gave a secret report to the US embassy. The report stated that al-Qaeda had plans to use ‘commercial aircraft’ in "unconventional ways", ‘possibly as flying bombs.’” Also, Egyptian intelligence reported that there were possibly terrorists in flight school, according to CBS. In conjunction with this, as verified by the 9/11 Commission, FBI agents had been reporting on possible terrorist activity, including Colleen Rowley, and the infamous “Phoenix Memo.”32
Information leading to the attacks was very much present. Anyone in hindsight could easily piece together all of the materials and paint a very vivid picture as to what was going to happen on 9/11. The Commission Report admits this. It begins Chapter 8 with the title “The System Was Blinking Red” and opens with the line “As 2001 began, counter-terrorism officials were receiving frequent but fragmented reports about threats. Indeed, there appeared to be possible threats almost everywhere the United States had interests- including at home.”33 This is not indicative of a conspiracy, as Meyssan suggests. It was endemic of a very inefficient system with misplaced priorities. The 9/11 Commission report intended to revamp that. Stating that the information was plainly obvious indicates a lack of understanding for how the US intelligence community functioned at that time.
Meyssan poses the question: “who would profit off of 9/11?” His answer is the US government and the defense and energy lobbies which control it.34 He alludes to connections between the US government and the Carlyle Group, as well as to the Saudi government. The author also states that the US supported terrorism and Bin Laden during the 80s by giving the mujahadeen weapons to fight the Soviets. He fails to place these events into context. There are going to be political and financial ties between countries which trade heavily with each other. Also, what took place during the Cold War does not mean that sentiments are the same. Political relationships change. Meyssan does not make a convincing case of collusion over terrorism because he simply says that there have been historic connections between multiple parties.
To conclude, it is apparent that Thierry Meyssan wrote his book without going into detailed research of the topic. He was simply looking for information to support his thesis that the United States of America would willfully injure its own population to justify international war. He refers to CIA deception ideas which were completely discarded in the 60s to give an excuse invade Cuba such as Northwoods35 to attempt to validate this. However, all of his theories are pure conjecture which may be easily pushed aside by fact. Especially in the Pentagon example, he doesn’t focus on the wreckage which was found, including the black boxes,36 but rather on why there “isn’t more.” All of Meyssan’s research is superficial.
On another note, from my own personal observations, the US government has never been able to historically keep a secret. In spite of all of the conspiracy theorists' ideas about men in black silencing the truth, just look at history. The bombing of Cambodia, and the Iran-Contra scandal are examples. Smaller covert military operations and back room deals have been exposed by people in and out of the administration because at some point people are going to talk about what happened. Meyssan fails to offer his own explanation for what really happened on 9/11 and selectively manipulates facts to suit his agenda. He postulates that a giant monolithic organization as the US government will be able to create such a massive amount of quiet collusion which stands the test of major news organizations, as well as government and independent investigators. There are many people who would love to bring down the Bush administration, and just one hard fact indicating a US plot to attack itself would be made national in minutes. Unfortunately the only people who have come forward are those with no investigative experience and an obvious grudge against the establishment. Based on my analysis, the only thing the author exposed in his book was his antipathy to the Bush administration. Although inadvertently, at least he got the English title right.
Sources:
1BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1907955.stm
2CNN statistics http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/06/26/france.book/
3DOMINIK CZIESCHE, JÜRGEN DAHLKAMP, ULRICH FICHTNER, ULRICH JAEGER, GUNTHER LATSCH, GISELA LESKE, MAX F. RUPPERT Der Spiegel Magazine http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,265160,00.html
4Meyssan, Thierry. 9/11: The Big Lie 2002, Carnot Publishing London p. 17
5Phillips, Don. Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node&contentId=A32597-2001Nov2
6Meyssan, p. 18
7Nichols, Bill. USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2001/09/11/security.htm#more
8http://wrench.ssl.umd.edu/pentagon.html
9http://www.snopes2.com/rumors/pentagon.htm
10Meyssan, p. 22
11Der Spiegel http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,265160-6,00.html
12iBid
13Meyssan p. 35
14http://www.fema.gov/pdf/library/fema403_ch5.pdf
15Meyssan, p. 34
16Meyssan, p. 38
17CNN http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/09/11/chronology.attack/
18http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/main/essayaninterestingday.html
19Meyssan, p.44
20http://slate.com/Default.aspx?id=1008371&
21Meyssan p.54
22BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1559151.stm
239/11 Commission Report, Chapter 7. p.232
24Meyssan p. 107
25http://www.snopes.com/rumors/kidney.htm
26CBC Canada http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/conspiracytheories/speculation_printer.html
27Meyssan p. 148
28http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/01/09/28/010928hnodigo.html
29USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/educate/college/careers/news26.htm
30Meyssan p. 148
31http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/main/essaytheytriedtowarnus.html
32CNN http://archives.cnn.com/2002/LAW/05/27/inv.moussaoui.phoenixmemo.fbi/
339/11 Commission Report p. 254
34Meyssan p. 56
35Meyssan p. 143
36DoD http://www.dod.mil/news/Sep2001/n09142001_200109142.html
The 9/11 Conspiracy Theories
-Brad Engmann-
In every major event in the 20th Century, there have been two reports on what transpired. There has been the official government report which is usually verified by news organizations, and there is the “conspiracy investigation.” These include most notably the JFK assassination, the US involvement in WWII, the Holocaust, and even the thought of aliens landing on Earth’s soil at Roswell. Most recently, there was a terrorist attack on America which highlighted the nation’s weaknesses and insecurities, destroyed and/or damaged major icons of American power, and left thousands dead in its wake. Such horrible events took place on September 11, 2001.
Bush famously remarked with a bullhorn, standing atop the rubble of the World Trade Center “I can hear you! The whole world hears you! And soon the people who knocked down these towers will hear all of us!” A catastrophe had just occurred, and the American people were waiting for a guiding light in the seemingly hopeless darkness which pervaded the country. George W. Bush seized the opportunity, and in a vigor and unbridled straightforwardness characteristic of his presidency, he led the United States into conflict in far regions of the world to “combat the terrorists” in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan.
The legacy of George W. Bush, despite his pre-election lack of enthusiasm, has been of foreign policy, particularly that stemming from the events which took place on that fateful day. The question which many authors and journalists ask, however, is how precisely this all came to be. They assess the interests of “conquest” and “imperialism” to be commensurate with the position of the current administration. They feel that it is very convenient for Bush, whom they consider to be a fairly untested politician, to suddenly have an excuse to push his agenda upon the world community. Resultant of this sentiment, they have begun to pose questions, since to them the whole situation seems to be an extension of Bush and his cronies. Such “revisionists” have developed theories from their research into 9/11, and have managed to convince themselves and many others that the whole tragedy was orchestrated by a junta administration for the purpose of self-advancement. I intend to prove that their “investigation” is wholly unscientific, and relies on bits and pieces of information to pull together a very flimsy web designed exclusively to substantiate the authors’ preconceived notions.
The predominant culprit behind all of this frenzy has been a French author by the name of Thierry Meyssan. His book, translated into English as The Appalling Fraud, reached the bestseller list in France almost immediately.1 He followed this up with a book called Pentagate which goes into detail in exposing the “lies” behind Flight 77’s disappearance and supposed crash into the Pentagon. These, including the compilation entitled 9/11: The Big Lie, have sold in the hundreds of thousands in France so far.2 While a plethora of conspiracy theories have surfaced surrounding 9/11, Meyssan’s have proven to be the most pervasive so far. Sites which rebroadcast his work, and further “develop” his contentions include www.whatreallyhappened.com, and www.the7thfire.com. Apparently these works have infiltrated the public mindset so extensively that according to a Forsa survey, as reported by Der Spiegel, 30% of Germans could believe that the US ordered the attacks on 9/11 on itself.3
The Nature of Conspiracy Beliefs
There are a variety of hypotheses which surround 9/11. All of these assume complicity by the United States, or at lease some rogue elements of the government. They accuse the Bush Administration of taking an active role in the tragedy of 9/11 because of the realization that it could advance an aggressive foreign policy. However, while at first glance to the uninformed reader, these might appear to be quite convincing, they may easily be dissected when the scalpel of crucial scrutiny is applied.
Many conspiracy theorists prefer to rely on what I have termed the “why isn’t there?” form of logic. Postulations which depend on the lack of something, in their minds, have more bearing than the actual evidence which exists. Rather than analyzing what does affirm the official report, individuals such as Meyssan prefer to view the absence of what they think “should” be there. This is an ongoing trend which has been followed by legions of deniers.
Fred Leuchter, in his famous Holocaust denial report, went to Auschwitz and took many very unscientific samples from the gas chambers to be chemically tested for cyanide. The tests came up negative. He also questioned why certain structures, such as a wooden door in the chambers existed. Rather than carefully ruminating on the history and the science involved, as well as the numerous other documented instances of Nazi atrocities, Leuchter concluded that an aspect the Holocaust could not have taken place in Auschwitz. As a consequence, he, and the numerous others who utilize his “report” can justify their lack of belief in this genocide. His myopic perspective never deviated from what “wasn’t there” and considered the plethora of evidence which was there.
Meyssan, in his book, as well as countless other deniers, “revisionists” and conspiracy theorists have preferred to focus on selective bits and pieces of evidence, oftentimes knowingly excised out of context from reports which generally contradicted their findings. Additionally, here in the case of 9/11, as well as in all instances of a supposed government cover-up, it is assumed that the governmental “powers that be” can touch literally everything and everyone. It is natural, to conspiracy theorists, that the government plants evidence, and manipulates witness testimony in order to achieve a result. This, of course, causes all official accounts, as well as evidence presented, to be completely discredited by someone who smells a conspiracy. This is the principal reason why the broader picture isn’t examined by people such as Meyssan, but rather individual “holes” or inconsistencies.
When Meyssan’s claims are evaluated with full consideration of the weight of evidence presented, they quickly disintegrate. Little evidence is provided to demonstrate that the US knew about 9/11 ahead of time, except for brief quips from news clippings, and an overall picture of diplomatic ties which are murky at best. However, rather than get into the minutiae of the trade links from the White House to the Saudi Government for example, I intend to look at Meyssan’s assertions, then simply the facts of the matter as they took place as they are much less subject to interpretation.
Meyssan’s Claims
There are a variety of claims which are presented in Meyssan’s 9/11: The Big Lie. These essentially are centered on the notion that the United States administration is culpable for what transpired on September 11, 2001. There are many conspiracy theories, including those listed below.
Meyssan envisions a general conspiracy involving the US intelligence community. He states that officials across the globe heard about 9/11 ahead of time, and that US officials, being directly involved with the terrorist groups, orchestrated the entire event. He justifies this by stating that numerous intelligence associations knew about the events beforehand, and that there was a myriad of warning signs.
To help flesh out his beliefs, Meyssan begins his book by “unraveling what really happened” to Flight 77. He employs a series of photographs to show how the plane could not possibly have crashed into the Pentagon. Furthermore, he offers no alternative theories, aside from demanding the US government explain where the missing plane was. He also speculates that it must have been something such as a hard-tipped missile rather than an airplane.
Meyssan alludes to Building 7, of the World Trade Center, which he states was “imploded” as opposed to being destroyed due to fire. This has been rallied around by activists all over the internet as well. Finally, Meyssan states that the World Trade Center twin towers could not have possibly been hit by the hijackers, due to the fact that a complicated maneuver would have been required to do so. He therefore contends that homing beacons within the centers must have been placed, and the plane was guided in by remote control. These, and many others are the foundations of his point.
Direct Culpability
In order to justify the thought that the United States government was involved in perpetrating such devious acts upon its own population, Meyssan and his cohorts offer up a number of examples which indicate knowledge beforehand. While many of these are explained in depth later, the single largest aspect of the 9/11 conspiracy theory has been the actual destruction of the buildings.
Meyssan wrote a short book entitled Pentagate. Much of this is included in 9/11: The Big Lie. This, no insinuations about it, outright states that a plane DID NOT crash into the Pentagon. To corroborate his story, Meyssan shows a series of photographs, and poses a number of questions. The first he asks, is why was the UFO not shot down before it reached the Pentagon? He claims that it could have easily been picked up on RADAR and intercepted.4 The answer is because there are different means of identifying planes by air traffic control.
According to a Washington Post article, there are two main types of RADAR for commercial airliners. These are primary and secondary. The latter is the dominant one as it uses the plane’s transponder to locate it in the skies. The hijackers turned this off. Secondary is the stereotypical type which bounces a beam off of the plane. Unfortunately, since primary was almost never used, and it cost a large sum to maintain, a number of commercial air traffic control stations did not have theirs activated, including the one responsible for Flight 77. Also, “The aircraft disappeared just nine minutes after the FAA was notified that a plane had hit the World Trade Center, and 12 minutes before the second plane struck, a period of general confusion.”5 Communication was bad, so additional traffic control centers weren’t monitoring their primary radar, and hence, could not even try to locate it in the clutter. All of the traffic controllers followed procedure, and the state of overall lack of information did not allow people to locate the plane until it was too late to scramble fighters.
Meyssan also states that there are “five batteries of missiles installed on top of the Pentagon.”6 This is simply not true according to Rear Admiral Craig Quigley who states that he has never heard of such defenses.7 Thus, the Pentagon did not know of an airliner coming towards it because of lack of air traffic control communications, and even if it did find out, then fighters might not have been diverted fast enough. Also, if the Pentagon had seen an airliner hurtling towards it, it could not have deployed its phantom defenses.
Conspiracy theorists point to the Pentagon pictures and ask “why isn’t the hole bigger,” and “where is all of the debris?” They question the building’s damage as well. Meyssan says, “the plane only destroyed the first ring of the building” despite its massive weight and velocity. This is also untrue. It damaged three rings severely, and caused the structure to collapse very quickly.8 As per the debris and the damage, Snopes.com, a leading authority on debunking conspiracy theories, provides numerous photos which illustrate vastly higher levels of damage and debris which Meyssan chooses not to show you in his book.9 Debris was found in and around the crash site.
The crater is another subject of dispute. Meyssan superimposes an image of the plane atop a picture of the impact hole.10 These photos are his sole evidence, in addition to a manipulation of witness testimony to conclude it was a missile, rather than a plane which hit the Pentagon, especially since Meyssan has never interviewed anyone, or visited the site himself. Der Spiegel, a German magazine, reports otherwise. According to Mete Sozen, “a specialist in reinforced concrete construction at Purdue University in Indiana… the body of the aircraft would have provided about as much resistance as a sausage casing,” had it impacted at over 500mph into a bomb reinforced building such as the Pentagon. Debris was found, but there wasn’t that much due to the fact the approximately 20% of the plane’s weight was fuel.11
Testimony was also strategically used by Meyssan, as indicated by Der Spiegel. For example, the many people who actually witnessed the plane impacting the Pentagon were not included whatsoever. However, what was included was this comment by journalist Mike Walter in reference to the object: “It behaved like a cruise missile” At first glance it is damning, but provides no support to Meyssan when viewed in full. Walter’s entire quote read “[I] saw the aircraft fly toward the building and accelerate in a "soft curve." Then, says Walter, "it went into a dive and hit a light pole. Shortly after that, it slammed into the Pentagon. The wings collapsed, I heard the explosion, and then I saw the fireball. The guy who was flying it knew what he was doing. It behaved like a cruise missile.”12
Another example of destruction may be found in WTC building 7. Herein, the building housing a number of important government centers, including the CIA, was completely destroyed by “collapsing in upon itself.”13 Meyssan, as well as a number of other conspiracy theorists accuse the US government as having imploded the building. However, FEMA recently released a report that indicated the buildings construction, in addition to a large quantity of fuel present was to blame.14 It was built atop a Con-Ed substation, and the probable cause of collapse was fire destroying steel floor supports. This blaze was allowed to continue due to the more imminent danger response at the twin towers by FDNY. Debris from WTC 1&2 destroyed a significant portion of the façade, and fires were left to burn for hours feeding off of emergency generator fuel.
As almost a laughable aside, Meyssan states that maneuvering the planes into the twin towers would have been too difficult for an amateur pilot. Therefore, he states that it would have been possible to remote guide them in, since remote flying technology does exist, notably in the government’s cited Global Hawk program.15 Unfortunately for him, he fails to mention that this technology was fitted for UAVs, and would never be found on a commercial aircraft.
One key statement is that quoted by GW Bush in a news conference in which he said that he heard of the first attack before going in to read with 2nd grade students at an elementary school. “I was sitting outside the classroom, waiting to go in, and I saw an airplane hit the tower.”16 Meyssan states that this is proof that Bush was screened images filmed by US intelligence because he says that the video of the first plane hitting the tower wasn’t available until much later.
This, however, is not a valid assertion. According to a CNN timeline, the first crash occurred at 8:45am, and the second took place at 9:03.17 According to even a heavily biased anti-Bush source, the first images of the WTC attack were broadcast at 8:48am, thereby giving him plenty of time to be aware of what he thought then was an accident.18
Another contention which the author presents is that of the supposed usage of secret service codes to send the message “Air Force One is next.” Such a threat precipitated extra degrees of security for the president. This, according to Meyssan’s sources, used code language only people close to the president could have known.19 Here, the logic was that people within the administration must have issued the threat. However, when actually viewing his references, the author cites a lesser known “alternative news organization” called “World Net Daily” which has already overly elaborated on the claims. It cited Naval and Marine Corps Intelligence, as well as DoD, and a variety of other codes which were used. Unfortunately for their reporting staff, these claims cannot be verified anywhere else. MSN.com in conjunction with Slate, citing many reputable reports, including quotations from CBS, and articles from the Sept. 27th Washington Post, indicated that despite initial confusion, apparently “Sources say White House staffers apparently misunderstood comments made by their security detail.”20
Next, chronologically, Mr. Meyssan implements some numbers about the FBI’s investigation into the hijackers. On page 55, he locates “inconsistencies” in the number of hijackers on each flight, then accuses the FBI of outright lying about the passenger manifests. He provides no sources for review here. However, he cites that the Saudi government made a press release that a number of names on the FBI’s list had “no connection to 9/11.” Additionally, Meyssan claims that some of the hijackers are still alive and well, including one who gave an interview, Waleed M. Al-Shehri.21 While Mueller, director of the FBI, admitted in 2001 that some of the hijackers identities were in doubt,22 the Bureau has since reversed its position, stating that it stands by its list. This was further substantiated by the 9/11 Commission finding that Al-Shehri was actually the brother of another confirmed hijacker. Also, all of them had studied together at university.23 Here, Mr. Meyssan’s information has proven to be outdated, and even if it were true, what would this inconsistency prove?
So far, Thierry Meyssan has been striving to tie the US government with the hijackers. Another report he uses has so far been unverified. It involves Osama Bin Laden using the American military hospital for dialysis treatment in Dubai, during July of 2001.24 This in his mind illustrates complicity. However, despite the fact that this was only revealed by a staff member there, it has still taken hold in the conspiracy realm. According to Snopes.com Bin Laden himself even said that his kidneys were in good condition, and he did not visit the hospital. Additionally, staff personnel have said that the hospital was much too small to “sneak someone in.”25
Another point which is made by Meyssan is that of a Naval Officer who was arrested in Canada by the name of Mark Vreeland. The individual was supposed to have predicted 9/11 ahead of time by writing a note to his jailers prior to 9/11 which supposedly predicted its events. That note may be seen here: http://fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/01_28_02_vreeland.jpg
This note is said to contain information ahead of time about the attacks. However, upon looking at it, such garnered information would only be relevant in hindsight. It is for the most part nonsensical. A court inquiry later found no basis whatsoever to his claim, but individuals like Meyssan cling to it as indisputable evidence of US aforethought.26
Another odd occurrence which took place was that in an Instant Message providing company called Odigo, based in Israel, two employees received cryptic notices about impending attacks on America prior to the attacks.27 While these were immediately reported to the FBI, and an investigation was held, the sources were unknown. According to truthorfiction.com, another online myth-busting site citing an IDG report, the messages were non-specific, and it’s likely that it was a random message due to the fact that the employees had no connection to 9/11 whatsoever.28
Meyssan writes about what he deems “insider trading” because airline stocks dropped prior to 9/11. This is in complete ignorance of the fact that the airline industry was ALREADY in financial turmoil.29
As far as manipulation of fact, Der Spiegel points out that Meyssan claims that prior knowledge of 9/11 was certain because web addresses such as www.wtc2001.com were registered prior to that date. However the website pertains to the World Track Championships.
An Overall Conspiracy
Meyssan also claims that foreign intelligence services were aware of 9/11 ahead of time, and they provided advance warning.30 Cooperativeresearch.com provides a good list of these.31 There were a variety of claims that there was a “big attack” looming. Also some research indicated that there was a possibility of an attack coming from the air, such as “In 1999, British intelligence gave a secret report to the US embassy. The report stated that al-Qaeda had plans to use ‘commercial aircraft’ in "unconventional ways", ‘possibly as flying bombs.’” Also, Egyptian intelligence reported that there were possibly terrorists in flight school, according to CBS. In conjunction with this, as verified by the 9/11 Commission, FBI agents had been reporting on possible terrorist activity, including Colleen Rowley, and the infamous “Phoenix Memo.”32
Information leading to the attacks was very much present. Anyone in hindsight could easily piece together all of the materials and paint a very vivid picture as to what was going to happen on 9/11. The Commission Report admits this. It begins Chapter 8 with the title “The System Was Blinking Red” and opens with the line “As 2001 began, counter-terrorism officials were receiving frequent but fragmented reports about threats. Indeed, there appeared to be possible threats almost everywhere the United States had interests- including at home.”33 This is not indicative of a conspiracy, as Meyssan suggests. It was endemic of a very inefficient system with misplaced priorities. The 9/11 Commission report intended to revamp that. Stating that the information was plainly obvious indicates a lack of understanding for how the US intelligence community functioned at that time.
Meyssan poses the question: “who would profit off of 9/11?” His answer is the US government and the defense and energy lobbies which control it.34 He alludes to connections between the US government and the Carlyle Group, as well as to the Saudi government. The author also states that the US supported terrorism and Bin Laden during the 80s by giving the mujahadeen weapons to fight the Soviets. He fails to place these events into context. There are going to be political and financial ties between countries which trade heavily with each other. Also, what took place during the Cold War does not mean that sentiments are the same. Political relationships change. Meyssan does not make a convincing case of collusion over terrorism because he simply says that there have been historic connections between multiple parties.
To conclude, it is apparent that Thierry Meyssan wrote his book without going into detailed research of the topic. He was simply looking for information to support his thesis that the United States of America would willfully injure its own population to justify international war. He refers to CIA deception ideas which were completely discarded in the 60s to give an excuse invade Cuba such as Northwoods35 to attempt to validate this. However, all of his theories are pure conjecture which may be easily pushed aside by fact. Especially in the Pentagon example, he doesn’t focus on the wreckage which was found, including the black boxes,36 but rather on why there “isn’t more.” All of Meyssan’s research is superficial.
On another note, from my own personal observations, the US government has never been able to historically keep a secret. In spite of all of the conspiracy theorists' ideas about men in black silencing the truth, just look at history. The bombing of Cambodia, and the Iran-Contra scandal are examples. Smaller covert military operations and back room deals have been exposed by people in and out of the administration because at some point people are going to talk about what happened. Meyssan fails to offer his own explanation for what really happened on 9/11 and selectively manipulates facts to suit his agenda. He postulates that a giant monolithic organization as the US government will be able to create such a massive amount of quiet collusion which stands the test of major news organizations, as well as government and independent investigators. There are many people who would love to bring down the Bush administration, and just one hard fact indicating a US plot to attack itself would be made national in minutes. Unfortunately the only people who have come forward are those with no investigative experience and an obvious grudge against the establishment. Based on my analysis, the only thing the author exposed in his book was his antipathy to the Bush administration. Although inadvertently, at least he got the English title right.
Sources:
1BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1907955.stm
2CNN statistics http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/06/26/france.book/
3DOMINIK CZIESCHE, JÜRGEN DAHLKAMP, ULRICH FICHTNER, ULRICH JAEGER, GUNTHER LATSCH, GISELA LESKE, MAX F. RUPPERT Der Spiegel Magazine http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,265160,00.html
4Meyssan, Thierry. 9/11: The Big Lie 2002, Carnot Publishing London p. 17
5Phillips, Don. Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node&contentId=A32597-2001Nov2
6Meyssan, p. 18
7Nichols, Bill. USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2001/09/11/security.htm#more
8http://wrench.ssl.umd.edu/pentagon.html
9http://www.snopes2.com/rumors/pentagon.htm
10Meyssan, p. 22
11Der Spiegel http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,265160-6,00.html
12iBid
13Meyssan p. 35
14http://www.fema.gov/pdf/library/fema403_ch5.pdf
15Meyssan, p. 34
16Meyssan, p. 38
17CNN http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/09/11/chronology.attack/
18http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/main/essayaninterestingday.html
19Meyssan, p.44
20http://slate.com/Default.aspx?id=1008371&
21Meyssan p.54
22BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1559151.stm
239/11 Commission Report, Chapter 7. p.232
24Meyssan p. 107
25http://www.snopes.com/rumors/kidney.htm
26CBC Canada http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/conspiracytheories/speculation_printer.html
27Meyssan p. 148
28http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/01/09/28/010928hnodigo.html
29USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/educate/college/careers/news26.htm
30Meyssan p. 148
31http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/main/essaytheytriedtowarnus.html
32CNN http://archives.cnn.com/2002/LAW/05/27/inv.moussaoui.phoenixmemo.fbi/
339/11 Commission Report p. 254
34Meyssan p. 56
35Meyssan p. 143
36DoD http://www.dod.mil/news/Sep2001/n09142001_200109142.html