awareness of military cell at faa headquarters on 9/11 from history commons: As people who follow the issue closely are aware, there has been some debate over the involvement of a group of military officers stationed at FAA headquarters–generally referred to as the “military cell”–in the events of 9/11. Although I don’t mean to recap the whole debate here, the basic jist is that the 9/11 Commission claimed that the military were unaware of the hijacking of United 93 until a few minutes before it crashed, but what about the military cell–were they too unaware of what was going on? Yesterday, I was reading through the commission documents we have posted at the 9/11 Document Archive at Scribd, and I came across a transcript of FAA communications on the day of 9/11. You can find the following at page 59 (approximately 9:45 a.m. – 9:50 a.m.):
MR. : Tactical Net–
MR. : And this is Cleveland Center. Who’s up?
MR. : It is the Command Center with about five or six people listening.
MR. : Okay. Mr. [inaudible], the chief, just asked if we have any military up or not? Are we pursuing that? We’d like to be able to track this guy (United 93) so we know what’s going on, especially when we lose a transponder.
MR. : We have been in contact with the military cell here in the building and they’re working the issue. I’m not sure where they are with–
Obviously, this does not prove that the military cell at the FAA was aware of the hijacking of United 93 (still less that they passed it on to other elements in the military), but a contemporary reference stating their involvement is certainly interesting evidence.
nyccan verdict: 80,000 silenced by state supreme court from world of 9/11 truth: Yesterday afternoon [oct8], Justice Edward Lehner of the State Supreme Court rubberstamped Referee Louis Crespo’s recommendation that the decision to establish a local commission to investigate the events of September 11th not be put before the voters on November 3rd.
After showing interest in weighing both sides’ arguments in the hearing, the Judge’s short decision gives no indication of having considered the arguments put forth in the Petitioners’ memorandum of law, nor any acknowledgement of the need for a new investigation, which the City of New York callously dismissed as “irrelevant”.
On a dark day for democracy, the patriotic call for answers by hundreds of 9/11 families, first responders and survivors has been stifled, and the will of the people of New York City once again denied.
Judge Lehner ruled that modifying the petition to make it “legally permissible” would result in it being “inconsistent with the law sought by the signatories of the Petition” despite the fact that all 80,000 signatories agreed by signing the Petition that “If any provision of this law is held to be unconstitutional or invalid for any reason, the remaining provisions shall be in no manner affected thereby but shall remain in full force and effect.”
The deadline for inclusion on the ballot falls just before the election, making it possible to appeal Judge Lehner’s decision. NYC CAN is weighing all options and will make an announcement early next week on this issue, as well as on how it will be moving forward on other fronts. Regardless of the outcome in court, the quest for answers continues full throttle.
3 heroes of 9/11 die of cancer in 5 days from nydailynews: A firefighter and two cops who worked at Ground Zero in the days and weeks after Sept. 11 have died of cancer in the past five days, the Daily News has learned. Family members and advocates are blaming their deaths on toxins released into the air after the twin towers collapsed - and they're urging Congress to act on a bill that would help pay for their medical care. "Everybody is denying that this stuff is connected to 9/11, but it is," said Stephen Grossman, whose son Robert died of cancer on Friday at the age of 44. Robert Grossman was a police officer in Harlem who worked at Ground Zero for several weeks after Sept. 11. "He never once said he was sorry he went down there," Grossman said. "None of them walked away even though they all knew it was really dangerous." The day after Grossman passed away, Firefighter Richard Mannetta, 44, died of cancer. And last Wednesday, 37-year-old Police Officer Cory Diaz died of cancer.
fmr danish pm warned wtc would collapse from paul joseph watson: During a recent interview on Danish television, the former Prime Minister of Denmark admitted that he received a message 5 to 10 minutes beforehand telling him that the south tower of the World Trade Center was going to collapse, prompting questions as to why the victims and rescue personnel inside the building didn’t get the same warning. Poul Nyrup Rasmussen told Denmark’s largest broadcast television network, The Danish Broadcasting Corporation, that before he walked into his office to hold a security meeting on the morning of 9/11, he got advance knowledge of the south tower’s imminent collapse. “I am told that the first tower has completely collapsed….I received a message 5-10 minutes before it physically happened saying there was impending danger the tower would collapse so I knew disaster was coming” said Rasmussen.
olbermann: white house owes apology to 9/11 victims for 'lie' from raw replay: White House spokesperson Tony Fratto told Fox News that the events of 9/11 were unforeseeable and not President Bush’s responsibility. Countdown’s Keith Olbermann points out the numerous times the White House was briefed on suspicious activity and chose to do nothing about it. This video is from MSNBC’s Countdown, broadcast Dec. 18, 2008.
fdny lieutenant said wtc7 'would be taken down' from 9/11 blogger: MSNBC live video during building 7's collapse. Note FDNY lieutenant David Rastuccio's comment at 1:20 that the building had been allowed to fall on it's own but also mentioning a plan that, "it would be taken down".
additions to the 9/11 timeline as of dec22: day of 9/11 & united 23 from history commons: Most of this week’s new entries in the 9/11 Timeline again deal with the day of 9/11, shortly before which NORAD was preparing a major war game. On the day itself, the Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS) called an air defence unit in Atlantic City, just before the first plane hit the World Trade Center, but the phone was not answered. FAA manager Ben Sliney began responding to the crisis around the same time and the air space over New York was closed after the second plane hit. There are also new entries about another phone call from Flight 93, by passenger Andrew Garcia, a suspected hijack in the afternoon that delayed travel by President George Bush, and the lobby of World Trade Center 7, which was ruined by midday.
Another additional entry covers United 23, which was thought to be a potential hijack target on 9/11. The alleged potential hijackers were arrested when they returned to the airport a few days after the attacks, but soon released. Finally, the air force also started using a better radar system in Washington the day after the attacks and the governor of Kentucky was nearly shot down over Washington in 2004.
Originally posted here. If you can spare a dollar or two, please remember that every donation helps.
There have also been some interesting additions to one of the other projects hosted by the History Commons, Neoconservative Influence.
families ask bush to seize land for 9/11 memorial from washington post: It has been more than seven years since 20-year-old Deora Bodley and 39 other passengers and crew died in the fiery crash of United Airlines Flight 93, their hijacked plane disintegrating in a grove of hemlock trees outside Shanksville, Pa. Most of the remains from the tragedy on Sept. 11, 2001, were never recovered, making the bowl-shaped crash site in the western Pennsylvania countryside an unofficial cemetery and, for surviving relatives, sacred ground. But efforts to buy property for a national Flight 93 memorial have bogged down in federal red tape and a protracted land dispute, angering family members and risking plans to hold a dedication ceremony on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. The delays have prompted an advocacy group, Families of Flight 93, to ask President Bush to personally intervene during his final weeks in office to allow the federal government to seize the land needed for the memorial and to allocate part of the money for the project. "He signed the memorial act. He wanted something to be there and to be in place for years and years to come," said Bodley's mother, Deborah Borza, of San Diego. "We have waited so long already. I hold on to being hopeful that between now and January 20, something will happen, something will break free." Landowner Mike Svonavec of Svonavec Inc. of Somerset, Pa., said the National Park Service and Flight 93 groups are "trying to make my company and myself look like the bad guy in this."
conservative prof: 'saddest part' of 9/11 attacks was impact on bush from raw story: "For me, the saddest part about the terrorist attacks of 9/11 is the long-term impact on the presidency of George W. Bush," wrote Tony Campbell, an adjunct professor of political science with Maryland-based Towson University, on The Moderate Voice Monday. Nevermind the 3,000+ Americans who died on Sept. 11, 2001. Or the resulting wars. Or that one of the countries Bush chose to invade had nothing to do with the attacks. Or even the lingering, unanswered questions as to just how exactly the 9/11 attacks were pulled off.
alleged hijacker booked post-9/11 flights from paul joseph watson: Astounding newly released FBI documents (3.98mb PDF) obtained via the Freedom Of Information Act show that alleged 9/11 hijacker Hamza Al-Ghamdihad booked future flights to San Francisco and Riyadh, suggesting that he wasunaware of his eventual fate aboard United Airlines Flight 175, the plane that hit the World Trade Center's south tower.
9/11 redux: 1,000s of illegals in US flight schools from abc: Thousands of foreign student pilots have been able to enroll and obtain pilot licenses from U.S. flight schools, despite tough laws passed in the wake of the 9/ll attacks, according to internal government documents obtained by ABC News. "Some of the very same conditions that allowed the 9-11 tragedy to happen in the first place are still very much in existence today," wrote (519kb PDF) one regional security official to his boss at the TSA, the Transportation Security Administration.
'lone gunmen' producer questions gov't on 9/11 from corbett report: Cast and crew of the X-Files attended "WonderCon 2008" in San Diego this weekend to discuss the upcoming X-Files movie. During the question and answer, one intrepid audience member asked Chris Carter, creator of X-Files and The Lone Gunmen, about the pilot episode of The Lone Gunmen, which eerily predicted the events of 9/11 that took place in New York mere months after the episode aired on tv. Carter, looking slightly flustered, turned the question over to the Lone Gunmen producer, Frank Spotnitz.
flight 93 memorial a tribute to terrorists? from news blaze: The rewriting of 9/11 started almost before the fires stopped smoldering in New York, D.C., and Pennsylvania. It hasn't stopped. And nowhere is it more offensive than in the effort to build memorials to the victims of that horrific terrorist attack. The New York City memorial almost became not a tribute to heroes, but a "Freedom Center," tasked with showing how the United States brought 9/11 on itself, and how peace, love, and the hug-a-terrorist philosophy could avoid other such attacks in the future.
video: bill clinton confronted with 9/11 truth, again! from blacklisted news: Bill Clinton Responded to an "Investigate 9/11" sign during an Austin Rally. As mobs of people in the crowd shouted for the sign to be put down - and still others tore the 9/11 sign away - Clinton told the crowd, "It's an honor to be heckled by people who are afraid of the truth." True doublespeak.
sick 9/11 workers rally in rainy dc for more help from ny daily news: Chanting "$25 million isn't enough!" dozens of sick 9/11 first responders stood in the rain on Capitol Hill Tuesday and urged President Bush to restore funding to help pay their medical bills. Joseph Zadroga, whose son James died of lung disease after working 100 hours at the site for the NYPD, said the government needs to help those who helped the city get back on its feet after the towers fell.
video: "unter falscher flagge"
from 9/11 blogger: The German documentary, "Unter Falscher Flagge" has now been subtitled in English, and is streaming at the film-maker's website... It is filled with new interviews with German 9/11 skeptics Andreas von Bülow, Mathias Bröckers, Manfred Petrisch, Andreas Hauss, and Jochen Scholz. The film also briefly examines London's 7/7 and several possible False Flag incidents in post-9/11 Germany...
"9/11 may have been an insider's job" from unique pakistan: In a significant observation many time UN contributor & international observer Professor Hans Koechler said “9/11 may have been an insider’s job” in response to a question from one of the delegates attending his lecture The 'Global War on Terror - Contradictions of an Imperial Strategy' last night at the Trades Hall in Auckland. “I am not a boy - I am 59. There are many inconsistencies and inaccuracies in the official version of events. Those who could not handle a Cessna pulled off 9/11,” he said.
indonesia’s health minister: bird flu a US bioweapon from paul joseph watson: Indonesia’s Health Minister has implicated the U.S. government in an international conspiracy to develop the bird flu virus into a deadly bio-weapon in a new book which is also endorsed by Indonesia's President. Indonesia has been worst hit by the bird flu virus, with eleven people having died from contracting H5N1 this year. "Indonesia’s uniquely virulent strain of H5N1 gave the country 'bargaining power' according to Indonesia’s Health Minister Dr Siti Fadilah Supari, in her new book called 'It’s Time for the World to Change' and strangely subtitled 'The Divine Hand Behind Avian Influenza,'" reports ABC News Australia.click here for a bbc clip with indonesia's health minister (1.5mb MP3)
discovery of nazi-looted russian treasure? from washington times: Treasure hunters in Germany say they have located a large quantity of gold looted by the Nazis and think they are close to solving one of the most enduring mysteries of World War II - the whereabouts of the fabled Amber Room, the 18th-century chamber decoration Germany stole from the Soviet Union in 1941... "We have not entered the vault yet because we think it may have been booby-trapped. We don't want any mines to blow up, and we need expert help," Deutschneudorf Mayor Heinz-Peter Haustein told The Washington Times.
defense contractor gets 12yrs for bribery from washington post: Brent R. Wilkes, a California defense contractor and prominent GOP campaign contributor, was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison yesterday for lavishing a Republican congressman with money, prostitutes and other bribes in exchange for nearly $90 million in work from the Pentagon. Wilkes, 53, was convicted in November of 13 felony crimes including bribery, conspiracy and fraud for giving the gifts to former representative Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.), who is serving an eight-year prison term for accepting millions in bribes from Wilkes and others.
dhs training nyfd to spy on y-o-u from in these times: In New York City, the Department of Homeland Security is training New York City firefighters to assist in gathering intelligence information during routine inspections and emergencies. In November, the Associated Press reported that in New York, Homeland Security was testing a program called the Fire Service Intelligence Enterprise (FSIE) to help identify “material or behavior that may indicate terrorist activities.”
from telegraph: A scheme to train firefighters in major cities to look out for terrorists has raised fears that their iconic standing in American society could be damaged.
Unlike police, firemen and paramedics do not need warrants to get into homes and other buildings during technical inspections of emergency facilities, making them particularly useful for spotting signs of terrorist planning.
The Homeland Security Department has been secretly testing a pilot scheme in New York in which firefighters are trained to identify suspicious material or behaviour. If successful, the programme will be extended to other large cities.
However, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) says that using firemen to gather intelligence is a step toward limiting people's privacy.
Since the September 11 attacks, Americans have given up some of their privacy rights in an effort to prevent future strikes.
The government monitors telephone calls and emails, and there is much more thorough searching of belongings at airports.
from ap: Part of the scaffolding surrounding a condemned skyscraper at the World Trade Center site fell... injuring two firefighters, fire officials said. It was the same building where two other firefighters died in a blaze last week.
The demolition work on the former Deutsche Bank skyscraper had been suspended after Saturday's fire, but workers on Thursday were still busy removing toxic debris from its remaining 26 stories.
Shortly before 2 p.m., the two firefighters were hit by the falling material.
Fire Department spokesman Frank Gribbon said scaffolding fell from the side of the building facing the World Trade Center site, leaving the two firefighters hospitalized in stable condition, one with a head injury. Initial reports that some construction workers also were injured could not immediately be confirmed.
City officials gave a different scenario, saying that a piece of equipment, not collapsing scaffolding, fell from a high floor of the building and through a sidewalk shed, injuring the firefighters who were standing beneath it.
Fire marshals have been at the partially demolished building this week investigating the cause of the fire.
obscure company is behind 9/11 demolition work from new york times: The John Galt Corporation of the Bronx, hired last year for the dangerous and complex job of demolishing the former Deutsche Bank building at 130 Liberty Street, where two firefighters died last Saturday, has apparently never done any work like it. Indeed, Galt does not seem to have done much of anything since it was incorporated in 1983.
Public and private records give no indication of how many employees it has, what its volume of business is or who its clients are. There are almost no accounts of any projects it has undertaken on any scale, apart from 130 Liberty Street. Court records are largely silent. Some leading construction executives in the city say they have never even heard of it.
That may not be as surprising as it seems. John Galt, it appears, is not much more than a corporate entity meant to accommodate the people and companies actually doing the demolition job at the emotionally charged and environmentally hazardous site at the edge of ground zero.
The video, released early Wednesday evening, is titled "Rudy Giuliani: Urban Legend," and offers testimonials from various members of the organization and family members of firefighters lost in the terror attacks.
“We have the remains of dead heroes at the garbage dump because of Giuliani and his administration and they’re still there today and they won’t remove them,” claims FDNY Deputy Chief Jim Riches on the DVD, which was released to CBS 2 HD before its public debut.
Giuliani's campaign denounced the video, saying that the former mayor had a long history of supporting firefighters' health and safety and that the international union releasing the video only supports Democratic presidential candidates.
“Whenever I hear him talk, I want to scream out to the world and say God he’s so full of it,” adds Rosaleen Tallon, who lost her brother in the attacks.
Tallon is one of several people who lost loved ones and speaks out against Giuliani.
“I’m a conservative. I’m a member of the NRA, I voted for Giuliani, but in this instance he messed up,” says Al Regenhard, whose son was killed.
Those quotes are just the beginning of the video in which firefighters attempt to set the record straight about how they view Giuliani and his leadership on that tragic day.
update: msnbc's countdown reports on 'scathing video' from raw story: "The image Rudy Giuliani would like voters to have is of Giuliani vs. the terrorists, but ... for tonight anyway the story is Giuliani vs. the firefighters."
So opened Wednesday night's broadcast of MSNBC's Countdown, reporting on a scathing video released by New York City firefighters attacking what they call the "urban legend" Giuliani has built around himself in the wake of the 2001 World Trade Center attacks.
Washington Post writerChris Cillizza, appearing on the program, noted that Giuliani responded very quickly to the attack from the International Association of Firefighters because he cannot politically afford to have his 9/11 mystique tainted.
"The question is twofold," Cillizza said. "One, how much does this video catch on? And two, do people believe the messenger? Do they believe Rudy Giuliani, or do they believe the IAFF? And does this tarnish what is the central tenant of Rudy Giuliani's campaign for president?"
The following video is from MSNBC's Countdown, broadcast on July 11.
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