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Title: The Critics of 9/11 Truth: Do They Have A Case?
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URL Source: http://lewrockwell.com/roberts/roberts324.html
Published: Sep 14, 2011
Author: Paul Craig Roberts
Post Date: 2011-09-14 06:26:10 by Ada
Keywords: None
Views: 350
Comments: 16
The short answer to the question in the title is no. The 9/11 truth critics have nothing but ad hominem arguments. Let’s examine the case against the truthers presented by Ted Rall, Ann Barnhardt, and Alexander Cockburn. But first let’s define who the truthers are. The Internet has made it possible for anyone to have a web site and to rant and speculate to their heart’s content. There are a large number of 9/11 conspiracy theorists. Many on both sides of the issue are equally ignorant. Neither side has any shame about demonstrating ignorance. Both sides of the issue have conspiracy theories. 9/11 was a conspiracy whether a person believes that it was an inside job or that a handful of Arabs outwitted the entire intelligence apparatus of the Western world and the operational response of NORAD and the US Air Force. For one side to call the other conspiracy theorists is the pot calling the kettle black. The question turns not on name-calling but on evidence. The 9/11 Truth movement was not created by bloggers ranting on their web sites. It was created by professional architects and engineers some of whom are known for having designed steel high rise buildings. It was created by distinguished scientists, such as University of Copenhagen nano-Chemist Niels Harrit who has 60 scientific papers to his credit and physicist Steven Jones. It was created by US Air Force pilots and commercial airline pilots who are expert at flying airplanes. It was created by firefighters who were in the twin towers and who personally heard and experienced numerous explosions including explosions in the sub-basements. It was created by members of 9/11 families who desire to know how such an improbable event as 9/11 could possibly occur. The professionals and the scientists are speaking from the basis of years of experience and expert knowledge. Moreover, the scientists are speaking from the basis of careful research into the evidence that exists. When an international research team of scientists spends 18 months studying the components in the dust from the towers and the fused pieces of concrete and steel, they know what they are doing. When they announce that they have definite evidence of incendiaries and explosives, you can bet your life that that have the evidence. When a physicist proves that Building 7 (the stories not obscured by other buildings) fell at free fall speed and NIST has to acknowledge that he is correct, you can bet your life that the physicist is correct. When fire department captains and clean-up teams report molten steel – and their testimony is backed up with photographs – in the debris of the ruins weeks and months after the buildings’ destruction, you can bet your life the molten steel was there. When the same authorities report pumping fire suppressants and huge quantities of water with no effect on the molten steel, you can bet your life that the temperature long after the buildings’ destruction remained extremely high, far higher than any building fire can reach. When the architects, engineers, and scientists speak, they offer no theory of who is responsible for 9/11. They state that the known evidence supports neither the NIST reports nor the 9/11 Commission Report. They say that the explanation that the government has provided is demonstrably wrong and that an investigation is required if we are to discover the truth about the event. It is not a conspiracy theory to examine the evidence and to state that the evidence does not support the explanation that has been given. That is the position of the 9/11 Truth movement. What is the position of the movement’s critics? Ted Rall says: "Everything I’ve read and watched on Truther sites is easily dismissed by anyone with a basic knowledge of physics and architecture. (I spent three years in engineering school.) Wow! What powerful credentials. Has Rall ever designed a high rise steel building? Could Rall engage in a debate with a professor of nano-chemistry? Could he refute Newton’s laws in a debate with university physicists? Does Rall know anything about maneuvering airplanes? Does he have an explanation why 100 firefighters, janitors, and police report hearing and experiencing explosions that they did not hear or experience? Clearly, Ted Rall has no qualifications whatsoever to make any judgment about the judgments of experts whose knowledge exceeds his meager understanding by a large amount. Ann Barnhardt writes: "I gotta tell you, I’ve just about had it with these 9/11 truthers. If there is one phenomenon in our sick, sick culture that sums up how far gone and utterly damaged we are as a people, it is 9/11 trutherism. It pretty much covers everything: self-loathing, antisemitism, zero knowledge of rudimentary physics and a general inability to think logically." She goes down hill from here. Amazing, isn’t she? Physics professors have "zero knowledge of rudimentary physics." Internationally recognized logicians have "a general inability to think logically." People trained in the scientific method who use it to seek truth are "self-loathing." If you doubt the government’s account you are antisemitic. Barnhardt then provides her readers with a lesson in physics, structural architecture and engineering, and the behavior of steel under heat and stress that is the most absolute nonsense imaginable. Obviously, Barnhardt knows nothing whatsoever about what she is talking about, but overflowing with hubris she dismisses real scientists and professionals with ad hominem arguments. She adds to her luster with a video of herself tearing out pages of the Koran, which she has marked with slices of bacon, and burning the pages. Now we come to Alex Cockburn. He is certainly not stupid. I know him. He is pleasant company. He provides interesting intellectual conversation. I like him. Yet, he also arrogantly dismisses highly qualified experts who provide evidence contrary to the official government story of 9/11. Alex avoids evidence presented by credentialed experts and relies on parody. He writes that the conspiracists claim that the twin towers "pancaked because Dick Cheney’s agents – scores of them – methodically planted demolition charges." Little doubt but there are bloggers somewhere in the vast Internet world who say this. But this is not what the professionals are saying who have provided evidence that the official account is not correct. The experts are simply saying that the evidence does not support the official explanation. More recently, an international team of scientists has reported finding unequivocal evidence of incendiaries and explosives. They have not said anything about who planted them. Indeed, they have said that other scientists should test their conclusions by repeating the research. After calling experts "conspiracy kooks," Alex then damns them for not putting forward "a scenario of the alleged conspiracy." Moreover, not a single one of the experts believes the towers "pancaked." This was an early explanation that, I believe, was tentatively put forward by NIST, but it had to be abandoned because of the speed with which the buildings came down and due to other problems. Unlike Rall and Barnhardt, Alex does refer to evidence, but it is second or third-hand hearsay evidence that is nonsensical on its face. For example, Alex writes that Chuck Spinney "tells me that ‘there ARE pictures taken of the 757 plane hitting Pentagon – they were taken by the surveillance cameras at Pentagon’s heliport, which was right next to impact point. I have seen them both – stills and moving pictures. I just missed seeing it personally, but the driver of the van I just got out of in South Parking saw it so closely that he could see the terrified faces of passengers in windows.’" If there were pictures or videos of an airliner hitting the Pentagon, they would have been released years ago. They would have been supplied to the 9/11 Commission. Why would the government refuse for 10 years to release pictures that prove its case? The FBI confiscated all film from all surveillance cameras. No one has seen them, much less a Pentagon critic such as Spinney. I have to say that the van driver must have better eyes than an eagle if he could see expressions on passenger faces through those small airliner portholes in a plane traveling around 500 mph. Try it sometimes. Sit on your front steps and try to discern the expressions of automobile passengers through much larger and clearer windows traveling down your street in a vehicle moving 30 mph. Then kick the speed up 16.7 times to 500 mph and report if you see anything but a blur. Alex’s other evidence that 9/11 truthers are kooks is a letter that Herman Soifer, who claims to be a retired structural engineer, wrote to him summarizing "the collapse of Buildings 1 and 2 succinctly." This is what Soifer, who "had followed the plans and engineering of the Towers during construction" wrote to Alex: "The towers were basically tubes, essentially hollow." This canard was disposed of years ago. If Alex had merely googled the plans of the buildings, he would have discovered that there were no thin-walled hollow tubes, but a very large number of massively thick steel beams. Alex’s willingness to dismiss as kooks numerous acknowledged experts on the basis of a claim that a van driver saw terrified faces of passengers moving at 500 mph and a totally erroneous description in a letter from a person who knew nothing whatsoever about the structural integrity of the buildings means that he is a much braver person than I. Before I call architects kooks whose careers were spent building steel high rises, I would want to know a lot more about the subject than I do. Before I poke fun at nano-chemists and physicists, I would want to at least be able to read their papers and find the scientific flaws in their arguments. Yet, none of the people who ridicule 9/11 skeptics are capable of this. How, for example, can Rall, Barnhardt, or Cockburn pass judgment on a nano-chemist with 40 years of experience and 60 scientific publications to his credit? They cannot, but nevertheless do. They don’t hesitate to pass judgment on issues about which they have no knowledge or understanding. This is an interesting psychological phenomenon worthy of study and analysis. Another interesting phenomenon is the strong emotional reactions that many have to 9/11, an event about which they have little information. Even the lead members of the 9/11 Commission itself have said that information was withheld from them and the commission was set up to fail. People who rush to the defense of NIST do not even know what they are defending as NIST refuses to release the details of the simulation upon which NIST bases its conclusion. There is no 9/11 debate. On the one hand there are credentialed experts who demonstrate problems in the official account, and on the other hand there are non-experts who denounce the experts as conspiracy kooks. The experts are cautious and careful about what they say, and their detractors have thrown caution and care to the wind. That is the state of the debate.
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#1. To: Ada (#0)
Very good article.
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. Lord Acton The human herd stampedes on the fields of facts and the valleys of truth to get to the desert of ignorance. Saman Mohammadi The only difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits. Albert Einstein "...if the military is going to defend our freedoms, then we need freedoms to defend. Our freedoms must be restored before the military can defend them..." Lawrence M. Vance Você me trata desse jeito só porque eu sou preto. Junior (my youngest son)
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The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one. "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." ~ Ben Franklin "For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth, to know the worst, and to provide for it.” ~ Patrick Henry
Roberts is a great person to show-up Repubs, he's reagan administration, editor of wall street journal..."closer to the insider high level govt than you'd ever DREAM OF BEING..& he knows the truth, so... dont be mesmerized by the fag occultists like bush"
"Even to the death fight for truth, and the LORD your God will battle for you". Sirach 4:28
lol anyway the above is how i always framed the issue with idiots, you can literally question their manhood & values. why do they love bush who increases abortion funding & wants to ban guns? The recipient is nearly always speechless.its great. F'n morons
"Even to the death fight for truth, and the LORD your God will battle for you". Sirach 4:28
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The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one. "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." ~ Ben Franklin "For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth, to know the worst, and to provide for it.” ~ Patrick Henry
being an actual conservative who voted for bush, it was easy to see the horrific betrayal & the righteous anger & disgust to call him, & his suporters out.This was particularly around 2003-7.Anyone who 10 yrs later cant see it may be a long lost cause.
"Even to the death fight for truth, and the LORD your God will battle for you". Sirach 4:28
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The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one. "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." ~ Ben Franklin "For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth, to know the worst, and to provide for it.” ~ Patrick Henry
well, it could be worse. at least they dont support the likes of obama, & his commie ideas. ;)
"Even to the death fight for truth, and the LORD your God will battle for you". Sirach 4:28
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The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one. "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." ~ Ben Franklin "For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth, to know the worst, and to provide for it.” ~ Patrick Henry
i was trying to point out the positive, i.e. at least your family doesnt like things like abortion, gun control, taxation, etc. it sounds like the foreign policy & terrorism laws is their main problem.
"Even to the death fight for truth, and the LORD your God will battle for you". Sirach 4:28
People who have absolutely no science background do not understand that there are absolutes in science and in the universe in which we live. Their ignorance is so profound that they think their words and emotions are the deciding factors and can overrule gravity and the temperature at which steel melts. The White House, for example, is full of such people.
I thought they all worked in climate science.
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The relationship between morality and liberty is a directly proportional one. "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." ~ Ben Franklin "For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth, to know the worst, and to provide for it.” ~ Patrick Henry
And there's a bunch of them in climate science, too. LOL!
I'm still waiting for Sean Hannity to explain what happened to World Trade Center Building 7.....
"Everything goes back to the Jewish destruction of our countries. From Third world immigration; to the Federal Reserve and Wall Street thievery; to ever-increasing immoralities, anti-White and anti-Christian crap out of Jewish controlled Hollywood. The dirty rotten Khazar Jews are destroying the nation that allowed this poisonous race to immigrate here. Right along with big media owned by murderous Globalist Jews, you have millions of psychotic little Jews — Zionist bastards who pretty much work across the board as disinfo agents for the State of Israel, which is really Jewry no matter where they live. They fully realize what might happen should the rest of us come to justified conclusions about them, 9/11 and Israel. These Jews have been so amped-up over the years by holocaust propaganda (really meant for brainwashing the Goyim into supporting Israel), so they worry constantly we might all go pogrom on their ass. The Globalist power structure and Khazar Jewry of all sorts want desperately to find a way of silencing those of us Gentiles who have figured out the whole rotten line of Jew Zionist BS, so we don’t awaken the rest. That’s why you have so many backroom efforts and legal initiatives by Jewish politicians to enact Internet censorship nowadays. I’ve been a victim of PC censorship many places on the Internet, myself. But they will not stop me. I will work ceaselessly to awaken as many as possible of my fellow Americans to those responsible for 9/11 before they totally destroy this country for the New World Order and murderous Jewy arrogance. I fully believe 9/11 was an inside job, perpetrated by Zionist traitors in the US government and perfidious MOSSAD operatives from Israel. These evil maniacs will be exposed sooner or later and we will give these rats exactly what is coming to them."
#2. To: James Deffenbach (#1)
#3. To: Eric Stratton (#2)
#4. To: Eric Stratton (#2)
#5. To: Artisan (#4)
#6. To: Eric Stratton (#5)
#7. To: Artisan (#6)
#8. To: Eric Stratton (#7)
#9. To: Artisan (#8)
#10. To: Eric Stratton (#9)
#11. To: Ada (#0)
How, for example, can Rall, Barnhardt, or Cockburn pass judgment on a nano-chemist with 40 years of experience and 60 scientific publications to his credit?
#12. To: ratcat, Ada (#11)
Their ignorance is so profound that they think their words and emotions are the deciding factors and can overrule gravity and the temperature at which steel melts. The White House, for example, is full of such people.
#13. To: Artisan (#10)
#14. To: farmfriend (#12)
I thought they all worked in climate science.
#15. To: Ada (#0)
-Schweizerische Schuetzenzeitung (Swiss Shooting Federation) April, 1941
#16. To: Ada (#0)
-Schweizerische Schuetzenzeitung (Swiss Shooting Federation) April, 1941
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