Conspiracy Kooks?
by Carol Wolman, MD., April 27, 2004

"Reality is a thin line between denial and paranoia."- author unknown
"It is no measure of health to be sane in an insane society." -- Krishnamurti
Dear Friends,

Most Americans, including many liberals and critics of the Bush administration, have bought the official story that 9-11 was perpetrated by Al Qa'eda, and the only questions to be asked have to do with the failure of intelligence. Those who question this story and want to investigate other possibilities are dismissed as "conspiracy kooks".

As a practicing psychiatrist, I hear many stories from my patients about how they are being conspired against. Some of the stories are psychotic paranoia, others are all too real. A woman being abused by her spouse, for instance, is truly being persecuted, and the perpetrator may have the whole family convinced that she is "crazy". I would be remiss if I didn't take her story seriously.

I recommend a website, http://www.oilempire.us/denial.html that examines the extent to which the liberal press has supported the party line on 9-11and suppressed or marginalized skeptics. Below, I have reprinted a review by historian Howard Zinn of a new book, The New Pearl Harbor- Disturbing Questions about the Bush Administration and 9/11 by David Ray Griffin- "an eminent philosopher and theologian".

I have my own list of disturbing questions about 9-11, which any reputable DA would find basis enough to investigate a possible conspiracy on the part of the Bush bunch. No doubt my questions overlap a lot with Griffin's, and I think they bear repeating.

1) As the 9-11 Commission has pointed out, there were many, many egregious lapses of intelligence and failures to follow through on intelligence, prior to 9-11. Doesn't this indicate a pattern of permissiveness toward, if not complicity with, Al Qa'eda?

2) There are many instances of prior inside knowledge about 9-11 on the part of unnamed higher-ups, ranging from personal precautions and warnings to friends, to insider stock trading, to preparations for a large press corps at an elementary school where Bush was visiting that day. Who knew what, when? Prior knowlege amounts to aiding and abetting.

3) Bush's behavior on that terrible day is bizarre and inexplicable, and no attempt has made to explain or even question it. He was clearly not surprised by the news of 9-11, was not in charge of his own movements or of the country, and acted in a cowardly manner. Who was pulling his strings?

4) Many accounts of the actual attack have been questioned by reputable investigators, including who was on board the planes, what really hit the Pentagon, what caused the twin towers, and especially Building 7 which was never hit, to collapse, why did America's air defenses stand down, and on and on. These questions deserve investigation.

5) The behavior of the administration since the attack has been suspicious in many ways. They allowed a planeload of Bin Laden relatives to leave when all other flights were shut down. They have exploited 9-11 to invade two countries which were already on their agenda because of oil interests. They have also used it to pass legislation which shreds the Constitution and allows the institution of a fascist state. They have obstructed an investigation every way they can.

6) Many witnesses from within the administration have risked their jobs and reputations to come forward and testify that their bosses are lying, and that there is much more to the story than we have been told.

Americans have a right to the truth about 9-11. Co-conspirators are traitors, and deserve the maximum penalty.

Let us not allow the terrible mess they are making in Iraq to distract us from exposing their misdeeds and lies at home.

In the name of the God of truth, Carol Wolman

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A breakthrough on the Left - Howard Zinn
http://www.oilempire.us/denial.html

"David Ray Griffin has done admirable and painstaking research in reviewing the mysteries surrounding the 9-11 attacks. It is the most persuasive argument I have seen for further investigation of the Bush administration's relationship to that historic and troubling event."
-- Howard Zinn

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The New Pearl Harbor
Disturbing Questions about the Bush Administration and 9/11
by David Ray Griffin, Foreword by Richard Falk
http://www.interlinkbooks.com/New_Pearl_Harbor.html

From a skeptical vantage-point, but also taking to heart the classic idea that those who benefit from a crime ought to at least be investigated, Griffin, an eminent philosopher and theologian, brings together an account of the national tragedy that is far more logical than the one we've been asked to believe. Gathering stories from the mainstream press, reports from other countries, the work of other researchers, and the contradictory words of members of the Bush administration themselves, Griffin presents a case that leaves very little doubt that the attacks of 9/11 need to be further investigated.
The disturbing questions emerge from every part of the story, from every angle, until it is impossible not to seriously doubt the official story, and suspect its architects of enormous deception. Long a teacher of ethics and systematic theology, Griffin writes with compelling and passionate logic, urging readers to draw their own conclusions from the evidence outlined. The New Pearl Harbor rings with the conviction that it is possible, even today, to search for the truth; it is a stirring call that we demand a real investigation into what happened on 9/11.
David Ray Griffin has been a professor of philosophy of religion and theology at the Claremont School of Theology in California for over 30 years. He is co-director of the Center for Process Studies there and the author or editor of over 20 books.