BOOKS: REVIEWS & VIEWS
11/9
THE BIG LIE

OF THE MANY EVENTS marking the first
anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the most
peculiar one was the book '9/11 The Big Lie',
the English edition of a French best seller.
- 9/11: The Big Lie
- Thierry Meyssan
- Carnot Publishing Ltd.
London, United Kingdom
- 2002, Pp. 236
It asserts that the official version of the
tragedy is a total fabrication of the US
government. The events of 9/11 were
devastating. This book does not try to refute these facts. The book
seriously
challenges the official version of these facts concocted.
In fact, the book brings forth several other ideas backed with
incontrovertible factual and logical evidence. When both these
versions are
juxtaposed, one wonders as to how the Government was restive to
exploit
this human tragedy for advancing its own war agenda.
The Big Lie argues, among other things, that no airliner crashed into
the
Pentagon (the 757 airline) as no piece of the plane is ever recovered
(historic,
in the sense, that after crash for the first time no pieces of the
cashed plane
were founded on American soil). And that the planes that hit the World
Trade towers were steered by remote control and that the towers fell
because of explosives planted in the bases of these towers.
'The Big Lie' of Thierry Meyssan of the Voltaire Network, France, is
based
on the US government documents, statements of the US citizens,
military
junta, observers and independent analysts and commentators.
An attentive observer of international affairs, the author is
intrigued by
the anomalies in the first photographs released after the attack on
the
Pentagon, followed by the confusion and contradictions in official
statements--including those about the events at the World Trade Centre.
He
thus carried out his own investigation, which led him from surprise to
surprise, each more astonishing and terrifying than the last. Most
crucially,
the author contends that these attacks were plotted not by Osama bin
Laden
but by a clique of right-wingers in the US military. Qadar Bakhsh
Baloch The Dialogue
143
In The Big Lie, the author closely examines the details of the events
of
that fateful day and the result is a story which makes one realises
that what
a thing looks is always deceptive. Nothing in his book goes
unsubstantiated--he refers only to official documents published by the
White House and the US Department of Defense and statements made by
leaders to the international press.
The book is categorised into three distinct parts, containing 11
chapters.
The first part, 'The Bloody Stage is Set', comprises of four chapters.
CHAPTER ONE, 'The Pentagon's Phantom Plane', unfolds the attack on
Pentagon, which had signaled the world over that invincibility of the
United
States has become vulnerable even on its own soil.
Firstly, he looks at the events at the Pentagon that day: eyewitness
reports, official statements and new eyewitness reports; transcripts
of
hearings held by the Senate Armed Services Committee and a press
interview with various civilian and military authorities. The author
quotes
different reports on the attack, each contradicting others. Some
extracts for
instance:
On 11 September 2001, shortly before 10:00 AM (the Washington's time),
Secretary Rumsfeld of Defense voiced concern for the families of
injured
and killed, directing operation from his command centre at the
Pentagon.
No mention of the attackers and kinds of attack was made in the
statement.
The following examples from the book highlight the fractures in the
fabrication.
First on the scene Reuter's news agency announced that the Pentagon
had suffered damage from a helicopter explosion which was laterally
corrected by the DoD, saying that a plane was involved.
The security arrangements protecting the Pentagon included:
i. Anti aircrafts defences, five batteries of missiles installed on
the
top of Pentagon;
ii. Two F-16's and F-18's fighter squadrons stationed at Presidential
airbase of Saint Andrew.
Questioned On September 13 by the Senate Armed Services Committee,
the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, was
unable to report on the measures taken to intercept the Boeing or any
other
attack on Pentagon.
"Whereas, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)
issued a press release on 14th
September, claiming that it only
received warning of the hijacking at 9:24 am, and assured that it
had immediately ordered two F-16 fighters from the Langley Air
Force base in Virginia to intercept the Boeing. But the air force
could not locate it."
Should we believe that US military's radar system was incapable of
locating a Boeing within a zone of only a few miles of radius? 9/11
The Big Lie The Dialogue
144
Why did the anti aircraft defense system deployed to protect Pentagon,
let the Boeing approach the Pentagon's inner circle?
Are we really to believe that the armed forces of the United States
remained passive during the attacks (spread over nearly two hours)?
"To recap the official version: a hijacked Boeing eluded the F-16
fighters sent in its pursuit and foiled the anti-aircraft defense
system in Washington. It landed vertically on the Pentagon
parking lot while remaining in a horizontal position. It struck the
façade at ground level. Its nose and fuselage are supposed to have
penetrated into the building. One of its wings, perhaps both of
them, burned outdoors, while the fuselage disintegrated inside.
The fuel, stored in the wings, burned just long enough to start
a
fire in the building, and then was transformed to a puddle which
moved itself to the spot where the plane's nose supposedly came
to a halt. . . .
The official version is only propaganda. But the facts remain
that 125 passengers died at the Pentagon and that an airplane
carrying 64 passengers disappeared."
They say an airliner crashed into the Pentagon, but if so, why isn't
there
the debris of an airliner crash at the scene of the attack on
Pentagon?
The façade of the Pentagon was damaged along 19 meters, but a Boeing's
wingspan is at least 38 meters.
The DoD says that the entire plane and its contents were consumed by
the fire,
which would be the first time that has happened in aviation history,
and would defy
the laws of physics if the fire was caused by jet fuel.
What caused the explosion that damaged the Pentagon?
The damage caused to the interior of Pentagon is too deep and too
collimated to
be from the liquid fuel of an airliner. Only a shaped-charge warhead
can cut a
circular hole in a wall after going through 3-m of poured concrete.
The easiest way to cause the greatest amount of damage to the Pentagon
would
have been that, the Boeing should have dived into the Pentagon roof as
the building
covers the surface of about 29 acres. Instead the terrorist chose to
strike on of the
façade and despite its weight (100 tons) and its speed (between
250-440mph) it only
destroyed the first ring of the building. (It looks as if the
terrorists were on a
courtesy visit).
What became of American Airlines flight 77?
Are the passengers dead?
If so, who killed them and why? If not, where are they?
What does Thierry Meyssan think of having happened at the Pentagon?
Meyssan begins by looking closely at photographs of the section of the
Pentagon reportedly hit by the Boeing 757. If a plane of this size
crashed
into the Pentagon wall, why did it make such a small hole? The hole
may
have admitted the plane's fuselage but certainly not its wings. What
happened to the wings? The fragments one would expect to see scattered
over the area outside the Pentagon wall are not there. Meyssan
concludes Qadar Bakhsh Baloch The Dialogue
145
that the Pentagon was hit not by a large airplane but by a missile
fired from
a plane that roared away.
Because the plane penetrated the Pentagon airspace without being fired
on, Meyssan apprehends that the missile was launched from a US
military
aircraft, transmitting a friendly code and as such could enter
Pentagon
airspace without disturbing the counter-missile protection of the
Pentagon.
In concluding remarks of the first chapter Meyssan raises some
questions
and so lays the foundations of the next chapter.
"If the Bush Administration faked the attack on the Pentagon to
cover up certain internal problems, did it also dissemble
concerning some elements of the attacks that occurred at the
World Trade Center?"
IN CHAPTER TWO, Thierry Meyssan tries to high-light the attacks on New
York World Trade Center (WTC) by sorting interviews and comments from
pilots, engineers and other specialists in the relevant fields. He
tries to prove
that the planes that hit the WTC towers were probably guided to their
targets by radio signals that beamed from inside the towers, and the
buildings fell not simply from the explosion of the planes' fuel but
also
because dynamites had been placed inside the towers. Though all these
points are supported by the remarks of observers or of outside
specialists,
none of them have been investigated mainly because the government
immediately foreclosed the possibility of examining these hypotheses
by
projecting and propagating absolute certitude that the attacks were
conducted by Al Queda, a terrorist organisation.
Besides, twin towers, the 47 story WTC building 7 was leveled in 8
seconds, seven hours after the twin towers came down. As it had
neither
been hit by any plane nor sustained any significant damage from the
"collapse" of the twin towers earlier two buildings away, why did the
building collapsed? The videos clearly show that it was a controlled
demolition. Here is a list of questions that agitate the reader's
mind.
How did the WTC planes manage to hit their targets with such accuracy?
What are the possibilities of radio beacons being activated in the
towers
to guide the planes to their targets?
It would be the first time in history that a fire has ever caused the
collapse of a steel building--the theory fails to account for at least
four other
major phenomena connected with the collapse.
First, the flight 175 hit the south tower at a close angle that caused
most
of the plane's fuel to exit and ignite outside the building. Both the
towers
however collapsed in precisely the same fashion.
Secondly, if jet fuel caused both buildings to collapse, how was it
possible for the south tower to collapse 30 minutes ahead of the north
tower,
given that the north tower was struck 20 minutes before the south
tower? 9/11 The Big Lie The Dialogue
146
Thirdly, why did a fire continue to burn at a constant three thousand
degree temperature below the debris of the WTC for a little over three
weeks, when the lower levels were composed mostly of concrete and,
being
smothered, lacked oxygen to keep the fires alive?
How did the towers collapse?
Experts maintain that explosives could only initiate such a collapse.
Firefighters on the scene say they heard explosions on the ground
level.
What was tower 7?
How did that building collapse, being separate from the twin towers
and
still stable after the attacks?
Did it house a secret CIA base? Is that why it too was destroyed?
Why was there less than the usual number of occupants in the twin
towers on that particular day?
Who initiated the email warning to the occupants of the offices in the
towers two hours before the attacks?
How did US the President George W Bush come to watch the first tower
being hit before his appearance in a classroom in Florida? How is it
that he
saw the first plane hit the northern tower when these were supposed to
be
surprised attacks?
According to his own statement, Andy Card his Chief of Staff,
whispered
in his ear (while sitting in side the class) that the second tower is
also hit.
Chapter two ends with the statement of Bush followed by a question by
the
author:
"The first plane hit the north tower at about 8:45 am and the
second plane hit the southern tower at 9:03 am with the interval of
just 18 minutes. According to his own declaration, the President of
the United States saw pictures of the first crash in Florida school
before the second plane had struck the second tower. It must thus
have been secret images transmitted to him without delay in the
secure communications room that was installed in the elementary
school in preparation for his visit."
This statement of The President Bush generates certain questions. Did
the CIA have foreknowledge of the attack?
If US intelligence services could have filmed the first attack that
means they
must have been informed before hand. And in that case, why didn't they
do
anything to save their fellow countrymen? All this took place under
the eye
of intelligence services that observed but did not intervene.
After seeing the pictures of first hit, what actions were taken by the
President? Why did he take it so normal and a routine matter that he
went
inside the class room to lecture the kids? Was the President
psychologically
incapacitated or was it planned to ignore the happening?
"Could an operation of this nature have really been conceived and
directed from a cave in Afghanistan, and then carried out by a
handful of Islamic militants?" Qadar Bakhsh Baloch The Dialogue
147
CHAPTER THREE, Moles in the White House, reveals some of the clearest
proof
that 9/11 was an act of the US sponsored terrorism comes from a close
examination of the Pentagon Attack.
"The press on 12 and 13 September claimed that, according to
Presidential spokesman (Ari Fleischer) the secret service received a
message from the attackers indicating that they planned to destroy
the White House and Air Force One. Even more surprisingly,
according to the New York Times, the attackers established the
credibility of their call by using the Presidential identification and
transmission codes and other important Government agencies"
(p.43). What so ever the case may be, the business of the codes
reveals that there exists some traitors at the highest levels of the
American state apparatus."
Another fact, which disappeared from the official version, was the
firebreak in white house annex. ABC did broadcast live images of this
fire on 11 September, at 9:42 AM.
The reader, reviewer of the book inquires:
1. What was going in the White House on this particular day?
2. Was there an attempted coup d'etat or at least a "palace coup"
which involved people who knew the Presidency's
transmission and authentication codes?
CHAPTER FOUR projects the performance of FBI and other intelligence
and
security agencies, which constitute the hallmark of the US. The
masterpiece
of their investigation blitzkrieg was locating of the operation leader
"Atta"
who at the last moment left his suitcase full of clues in transit
between the
two connecting flights. The bag contained training videos on piloting
Boeing aircraft, a book of Islamic prayers and an old letter in which
he
announces his intentions to die as martyr. His presence in the
Kamikaze was
further confirmed by his passport, which was found intact in the
smoking
ruins of WTC.
I should ask over here about the probability of the following: Why did
Atta burden himself with baggage when he was about to commit suicide?
Despite all the efforts, America failed to find out any one out of
the four
black boxes of hijacked aircrafts but FBI was lucky enough to discover
Muhammad Atta's passport intact in the smoking debris of WTC. (Fire
melted thousands of tons of steel, but somehow preserved the
passport).
Another amaising element that catches our attention is that although
all
the US agencies were unable to prevent the terrorists from committing
this
crime against humanity even in years, they were somehow able to piece
things together within hours and determine with certainty that these
terrorist attacks were conducted by Osama bin Laden and his Al Queda
network.
The list of 19 hijackers the FBI intelligence designated as the
masterminds or terrorists of 9/11, all are Arab-Muslims of between
25-35 9/11 The Big Lie The Dialogue
148
years age. Out of this list five have been found alive in their own
countries.
Moreover none of the hijacker's name is there in the list of victims
published
by the airline companies on September 13.
The stock exchange was extremely busy in the weeks ahead of the
attacks. Interestingly enough, it involved insider trading targeting
all the
airline companies who had planes hijacked on that day, including
companies who had offices in the WTC buildings and the insurance
companies involved in the post 9/11 claims. The Securities and
Exchange
Commission of Chicago raised an alert after noticing this, which
apparently
prevented insiders from collecting another 2.5 million USD on their
deals.
Given the unprecedented means of investigation at its disposal, the
FBI
should have devoted itself to elucidating each of the contradictions
that
have been raised above.
For instance:
* Should have tracked down the insider financial dealers who had
made the capital gains through the stock of victim airlines few
days before 9/11;
* Should have established what really happened at the Pentagon;
* Should have discovered the source of the message sent to Odigo
warning occupants of the WTC two hours before the attack took
place;
* Why the evidence like the indisputable fact that a number of the 19
supposed hijackers are still alive and well, is being ignored? Seven
of the supposed hijackers turned out to be alive and not even in the
US on 9/11. Three of the hijackers listed at the US Navy base as per
their driving licenses.
IN CHAPTER SIX, the author unfolds the story of preparations and
prayers for
the holy war undertaken in the National Cathedral.
"An unprecedented ceremony took place in the National
Cathedral. President and Mrs. Bush, four former Presidents (Bill
Clinton, George Bush, Sr., Jimmy Carter, and Gerald Ford) and
nearly all of Congressmen got together in prayer. A cardinal, a
rabbi, and an imam all took turns in leading the proceedings. The
most famous TV evangelist in the world, Pastor Billy Graham,
who had converted George W. Bush fifteen years earlier,
pronounced a homily . . .. We also know that God is going to give
wisdom and courage and strength to the President and those
around him. And this is going to be a day that we will remember
as a day of victory. . . .
President Bush then mounted to the pulpit and also delivered
a sermon...prepared by his adviser, the fundamentalist Biblical
scholar Michael Gearson: '...Our responsibility to history is already
clear: to answer these attacks and rid the world of Evil'. . . .
(Pp75-
76) Qadar Bakhsh Baloch The Dialogue
149
The Washington Post would later analyze the metamorphosis
of George W. Bush: 'For the first time since religious conservatives
became a modern political movement, the president of the United
States has become the movement's de facto leader--a status even
Ronald Reagan...never earned'.
At noon on 14 September, following the prayer by the
President of the United States, the 43 states of the Council of
Europe (including Russia) and many other countries on all
continent, observed three minutes of silence in memory of the
victims of the attacks.... Neither the psychological shock, nor the
respect that one might feel for the deceased, can explain this
intense religious fervor...There was moreover no historical
precedent of an American president pronouncing a declaration of
war in a cathedral." (p77)
It may not be out of place to quote the two of the highly influential
Christian
leaders to show that how religious rhetoric serves political and
military interests.
God Almighty has withdrawn his protection from us, because we wallow
in the
search for material pleasures and sex reverend Pat Robertson.
Falwell blamed the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the
federal courts on Fox Channel:
"The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because
God will not be mocked." "And when we destroy 40 million little
innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe those pagans,
and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the
lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative
lifestyle, the ACLU, all of them who have tried to secularize
America, I point the finger in their face and say, 'you helped this
happen."
IN Chapter SEVEN describes the death story of basic human rights
enshrined in
USA constitution through Bill of Rights since 1792. Just 45 days after
the
September 11 attacks, with virtually no debate, Congress passed the
USA
PATRIOT Act. Many parts of this sweeping legislation take away checks
on
law enforcement and threaten the very rights and freedoms. For
example,
without a warrant and without probable cause, the FBI now has the
power
to have access to your most private medical records, your
library records,
and your student records... and can prevent anyone from telling you it
was
done.
The USA PATRIOT Act showers abundant new law enforcement powers on
federal agents. Most of its provisions are not limited to terrorism
offenses,
but instead apply to all federal investigations; among the most far-
reaching
provisions in the law are the following:
* It permits the Attorney General to detain non-citizens based on
mere suspicion, and to deny re-admission to the United
States of
non-citizens (including legal, long-term permanent residents) for
engaging in speech protected by the First Amendment; 9/11 The Big Lie
The Dialogue
150
* It minimises the power of the courts to prevent law enforcement
authorities from illegally abusing telephone and Internet
surveillance in both anti-terrorism investigations and ordinary
criminal investigations of American citizens;
* It expands the authority of the government in both terrorism and
non-terror investigations to conduct so-called "sneak and peek" or
"black bag" secret searches, which do not require notification of the
subject of the search;
* It grants the FBI and, under new information sharing provisions,
many other law enforcement and intelligence agencies broad access
to highly personal medical, financial, mental health and student
records with only the most minimal judicial oversight;
* It permits law enforcement agents to investigate American citizens
for criminal matters without establishing probable cause based on
an assertion that the investigation is for "intelligence purposes";
* It puts the CIA firmly back in the historically abusive business of
spying on Americans by giving the Director of Central Intelligence
broad authority to target intelligence surveillance in the United
States; and
* It empowers the Attorney General to detain a non-citizen if he
believes there are "reasonable grounds to believe" the individual
may be a threat to national security. The suspect may be detained
for seven days before criminal or deportation charges are brought,
but thereafter may be detained indefinitely in six-month increments
without meaningful judicial review.
CHAPTER EIGHT blames bin Laden for 9/11. It tells us how a few hours
after
the terrorist attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon, the Bush
administration
concluded without a supporting evidence, that "Osama bin Laden and his
Al
Queda organisation were prime suspects". The CIA Director George
Tenet
stated that bin Laden has the capacity to plan "multiple attacks with
little or
no warning". Secretary of State Colin Powell called the attacks "an
act of
war" and publically called bin Laden a "suspect". President Bush
confirmed
in an evening televised address to the Nation that he would "make no
distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those
who
harbours them".
The book also uncovers the relationship between Bin Laden, his family,
CIA, the Carlyle Group and the Bush family. It narrates different
operations
conducted by Bin Laden in collaboration with CIA and against the
wishes of
CIA. Ineffectiveness of CIA's actions to punish OBL breeds doubts in
the
reader's mind that OBL is not an enemy but an agent of the USA.
Freezing of
assets and banning of various firms/organisation suspected for any
form of
linkages with OBL on one hand and continued operation of Carlyle Group
Qadar Bakhsh Baloch The Dialogue
151
managing financial assets of Bin Laden Group on the other points to
something different. Chapter ten touches upon the operation "Enduring
Freedom" and unmasks the true face of the "most humane civilization"
which succeeded in imprisoning the "most dangerous terrorists" in the
military base of the Guantanamo Bay (Cuba). These bare footed
terrorists
were brought by plane from Afghanistan after having been dragged and
chained to their seats. Where they are subjected to sensory
deprivation,
blindfolded ness, with muffled ears, and plugged noses. They are
denied
the status of POWs.
Why is the coalition bombing Afghanistan, when none of the alleged
bombers actually came from there, could there be another reason for
USA
presence in that region, like oil?
CONCLUSION
AT THE END Thierry Meyssan concludes his hypothesis that the attacks
were
plotted not by Osama bin Laden but were masterminded from inside the
American state apparatus. Nevertheless this conclusion may shock and
offend many because it pains to contemplate the idea that American
could
cynically sacrifice almost three thousand of their fellow countrymen.
Yes, it
is very much possible, in the past a US Chief of Staff had planned a
campaign of terrorism against their own population.
Author James Bamford in 'Body of Secrets' highlights a set of
proposals on
Cuba by the Joint Chiefs of Staff codenamed Operation Northwoods.
This
document, titled 'Justification for U.S. Military Intervention in
Cuba', was
provided by the JCS to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara on March
13,
1962. Written in response to a request from the Chief of the Cuba
Project,
Col Edward Lansdale, the Top Secret memorandum describes US plans to
covertly engineer various pretexts that would justify a US invasion of
Cuba.
These proposals, part of a secret anti-Castro program, known as
Operation
Mongoose, include staging the assassinations of Cubans living in the
United
States, developing a fake "Communist Cuban terror campaign in the
Miami
area, in other Florida cities and even in Washington," including
"sinking a
boatload of Cuban refugees (real or simulated)," faking a
Cuban air force
attack on a civilian jetliner, and concocting an incident by blowing
up a US
ship in Cuban waters and then blaming the incident on Cuban sabotage.
In the epilogue the author sums up the beneficiaries of the episode as
follow:
* The energy lobby is the main beneficiary of the war in Afghanistan;
* George Bush could denounce the ABM Treaty, which fixed limits to the
weapons development.
* Rather than dismissing the Director of CIA on its apparent failure
on
9/11, the agency funding was increased by 42% to enhance its
capacity to conduct "Worldwide Attack Matrix"; 9/11 The Big Lie The
Dialogue
152
* The military budget of US, which has been steadily reduced since the
dissolution of USSR has undergone to a sudden increase. Over the
five years the US budget will represent more than two trillion dollars
equal to combined total for the twenty-five next biggest armies in the
world;
* Military industrial lobby was the great victor of September11.
Meyssan's final conclusion is that the main purpose of the internal
plot in the US was to get increased funding for the military,
especially
for weapons in space, a prime tool in the hands of US imperialism.
The American Administration is on the way to announce plenty of
"blood, sweat and tears". It remains now to be seen who else than Iraq
will
bear the brunt.