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intelligence had ample warnings of the attacks, Russell says. “It adds up to a fair- ly detailed picture.” Russell also questions whether an air- liner hit the Pentagon, pointing to the lack of big jet wreckage and the relatively small size of the impact. “It looks like something else hit the Pentagon.” Another thing that looks wrong is the implosion- like collapse of a building adjacent to the Trade Center housing CIA offices and per- haps incriminating documents, he specu- lates. Judging by the increasing Internet vol- ume, skepticism of the official version of 9/11 appears to be growing, Russell says. A San Francisco webmaster is talking about a convention to bring people togeth- er to compare notes, he says. “There seems to be more people getting interested in it. It’s not cooling down.” “I’m always combing the Internet” for 9/11 information says Bevin Gilmore of Eugene. Gilmore says the “shocking” lack of an in-depth, independent investigation of the incident and any punishment for FBI and CIA officials who failed to uncover the plot has made her very suspi- cious. “Until we have more information, it’s really the only plausible thing to be suspicious.” Gilmore points to a Project for the New American Century report by top adminis- tration officials a few years ago that she says appeared to call for a Pearl Harbor like event to galvanize the American pub- lic for war in the Middle East. Gilmore, who had three cousins who escaped the Trade Center, says the official version of what happened sounds too fan- tastic to believe. “It was not believable in the real world,” she says, comparing it to a Hollywood script. DENIERS The establishment has almost univer- sally rejected these 9/11 theories simmer- ing in the underground media. Often the mainstream media has simply ignored the theories rather than giving them exposure by trying to debunk them. In France, the French press debated ignor- ing the popular book L’Effroyable Imposture (The Horrifying Fraud) before the book’s popularity forced detailed sto- ries refuting its claims. The Pentagon called the book too “stupid” to merit a response. Even the alternative press has largely refused to bite on the conspiracy theories. David Corn, a columnist with The Nation, dismisses the theories of government involvement as “absurd.” Corn says the CIA is not capable enough, evil enough or gutsy enough to be involved in such a complicated plot involving the murder of so many Americans. Norman Solomon, director of the — Michael Meacher , former British environ- mental minister, quoted in The Guardian 9/8. “With the worst kind of cynicism, George W. Bush continues the hallucinatory link of Iraq to the deaths of our loved ones on Sept. 11 … Calling the invasion of Iraq ‘one of the swiftest and most humane military campaigns in history’ is not just a lie, but a damned lie. Between 6,000 and 10,000 civilians have been killed — two to for a homosexual agenda in public schools. Humans appear to have a deep psycho- logical attraction to conspiracy theories, judging by the huge popularity of conspir- atorial movies and books. Experts and psychologists have offered a variety of explanations. There’s a need to explain major events with major plots. Conspiracies thrive where rumor is the only real source of news. The powerless look for ways to explain their plight. Scapegoats are popular. There’s enough reality to fuel the theories. When reality sounds like science fiction, conspiracies offer more plausible explanations. They fill a void left by the decline of religion. Conspiracies are a way to deal with the frightening reality of random death. There’s a drive to feel in the know and important. Humans look to make sense out of confusing events. Facts that disagree can be explained away as part of the con- spiracy. Conspiracy theories have lead to ‘THE DEBATE IS WHETHER THEY ALLOWED IT TO HAPPEN OR MADE IT HAPPEN. THAT’S THE ONLY DEBATE. ’ MARK ROBINOWITZ Institute for Public Accuracy (IPA), writes a left-leaning media criticism column pop- ular with many alternative papers and dis- misses the theories of government com- plicity as “preposterous.” While Bush “certainly exploited” 9/11 to pursue his war agenda, Bush did not wake up on Sept. 11 knowing what was going to hap- pen, Solomon says. “There’s zero evi- dence of that, none, nada.” Solomon says the conspiracy theories are a distraction from the more frightening and difficult to solve problem that the U.S. has an “entire political economy based on militarism, a military industrial media complex.” Rather than dwell on such speculative conspiracies, people should be concerned about real life scandals such as the six to seven thousand civilians killed in Iraq by the war, Solomon says. “That’s incontro- vertible.” David Zupan works with the IPA from SPEAKINGOUT “The so-called ‘war on terrorism’ is being used largely as bogus cover for achieving wider U.S. strategic geopolitical objectives … Given this, it is not surprising that some have seen the U.S. failure to avert the 9/11 attacks as creating an invaluable pretext for attacking Afghanistan in a war that had clearly already been well planned in advance … The overriding motivation for this political smokescreen is that the U.S. and the U.K. are beginning to run out of secure hydrocarbon energy supplies.” Eugene and directs the Northwest Media Project. “It’s important to stay focused on a vision of a peace and a just world and we need to not get distracted,” he agrees about the conspiracy theories. Zupan is a leader in organizing a local Peace Justice and Media Conference Oct. 9-12. Zupan says conference organizers rejected a push by Robinowitz for a panel focused on 9/11 conspiracy theories because the theories lacked credibility and were outside the focus of the conference. Sept. 11 skeptics bristle at the dismissal of their theories. “They haven’t done their own research to prove that we’re wrong or that we’re crazy,” Robinowitz says. “Disprove anything I say.” Russell says he doesn’t object to the conspiracy theory label. “There’s no ques- tion it’s a conspiracy theory, and some conspiracy theories are true and some are false, and I think there’s a lot of evidence for this one.” Russell says he suspects some of the more outlandish theories about 9/11, for – Mark Robinowitz example that Bush is actually a reptilian space alien, are misinformation planted by government agents to discredit true theo- ries. “I have to believe it’s a conspiracy,” Russell says. Gilmore says questioning the official 9/11 line is patriotic. “You can’t be an American and say I don’t want to know about this,” she says. “We’re sending off soldiers to die for our country and you don’t want to ask questions.” DEEPLY HELD Conspiracy theories didn’t start with 9/11, they’re as old as the Republic and, perhaps, Homo sapiens. The first human explanations of creation and natural disas- ters through a pantheon of plotting gods were conspiracy theories. When the U.S. first began, conspiracy theories of witches, Free Masons and Papists were rife. In modern-day Oregon, anti-gay ballot meas- ures have targeted an alleged conspiracy some horrible injustice in human his tory: the Spanish Inquisition, the Holocaust and McCarthyism to name a few. Many are now saying Bush’s weapons of mass destruction conspiracy theory lead to thou- sands of unneeded deaths in Iraq. But conspiracies can also be true. Julius Caesar was assassinated by a con- spiracy. The Gulf of Tonkin incident was blown up to push the U.S. into the Vietnam War. The CIA helped overthrow popular governments in Chile and Iran. The Watergate scandal was a conspiracy against democracy. Polls show that as many as three out of four Americans still doubt the official explanation for the Kennedy Assassination 40 years later. An official report from an independent inquiry into 9/11 is due out next year, but few doubt it will settle the matter. Forty years from now, will 9/11 questions have finally been put to rest? ew W O R D S O F W I S D O M F R O M T H O S E I N T H E K N O W. three times the number who died on 9/11. To deny the reality of these deaths is not only dishonest to the innocent people of Iraq, but to the Americans in whose name we are waging the ‘war on terror.’” $200 billion. It now looks like it will exceed that. Contrary to the impression given by Bush, the bulk of the $87 billion will go to military-related activ- ities, much of which will profit companies close to his administration.” — David Potorti , primary author, September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows: Turning Our Grief into Action for Peace. “Bush says he’s doing this to avenge the victims of 9/11 and to make us safer. But with the course he is taking us on, children are not yet born who will be fighting over this. This isn’t about keeping us safe, but because he wants to keep himself and his cronies rich.” — Rita Lasar , member, Peaceful Tomorrows, formed by surviving families of 9/11. “Former White House economic advisor Lawrence Lindsay was ridiculed for estimating a year ago that the invasion would end up costing health care, education and veterans benefits to pay for this war. And for what? Answer the ques- tions, Mr. President.” — Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), leader of anti-war opposition on Capitol Hill, during consideration of a Defense Authorization bill. — William Hartung , director, and Rida Berrigan , senior researcher, World Policy Institute Arms Trade Resource Center. “This administration led this nation into a war based on a pretext that Iraq was an imminent threat, which it was not. The secretary of state presented pictures to the world he said were proof. Today, despite having total control in Iraq, none of the very serious claims that the adminis- tration made to this Congress, to this nation, and to the world have been substantiated . . . Where are the weapons of mass destruction? Indeed, what was the basis for the war? We spend $400 billion for defense. Will we spend a minute to defend truth? The American people gave up their “This administration’s arrogance has begun to produce a major citizen response — potentially as broad as any since the height of the 1960s. We saw this most visibly before the Iraq War. Many who spoke out then are beginning to work toward the 2004 election. Those of us who marched and spoke out now need to reach out to friends, neighbors, and communities about the stagger- ingly destructive implications of a world where the powerful do whatever they choose.” — Paul Rogat Loeb , columnist and author, Soul of a Citizen: Living with Conviction in a Cynical Time. SEPTEMBER 11, 2003 13
