Reconsidering 9/11

Can voices of reason neutralize the kooks?

Tucker Carlson interviews former U.S. Representative Curt Weldon about 9/11

In September of 2006, Matt Taibbi wrote a brilliant and hilarious Rolling Stone article (“The Hopeless Stupidity of 9/11 Conspiracy ‘Theories’”) lambasting self-described 9/11 “truthers” for insisting - in the most obnoxious ways imaginable - that their farfetched beliefs make sense, and that there’s something wrong with the rest of us for failing to see it. Taibbi encapsulated not just their absurdity but how counterproductive it was for them to relentlessly drown out saner voices who also wanted to find out what really happened on that fateful day, and expose whomever should be held accountable. “In fact,” he wrote, “if there were any conspiracy here, I'd be far more inclined to believe that this whole movement was cooked up by Karl Rove as a kind of mass cyber-provocation, along the lines of Gordon Liddy hiring hippie peace protesters to piss in the lobbies of hotels where campaign reporters were staying.”

I doubt they did it intentionally, but I know from personal experience and observation that insufferable windbags fatally undermined a valid fact-finding quest. I was one of “100 prominent Americans and 40 family members of those killed on 9/11” who had signed a petition entitled “911 Truth Statement.” The more reputable signatories were calling soberly for an investigation, whereas a very loud and unlettered subgroup were spewing crazy conspiracy theories. They quickly latched on to the analysis of architects, engineers and demolition experts who concluded that World Trade Towers 1, 2 and 7 collapsed as a result of what could only have been a controlled demolition. That is, the buildings were brought down by explosives, not planes and fire. The “truthers” (including the aforementioned experts as well as laymen who revere them) repeatedly made that claim with fake certainty and utter contempt for anyone who doubted their assertions. Their brand of advocacy was so toxic and pervasive that virtually every prominent analyst and investigative journalist withdrew from what could have been a formidable movement.

Some of the signatories of the “9/11 Truth Statement.”

I agree it looks like explosives made the buildings collapse, but I also know that things aren’t always as they seem. Moreover, I liken myself (and most members of the public) to jurors serving on a trial who have heard various expert witnesses present different and conflicting testimony. Because jurors themselves don’t generally possess expertise that’s relevant to the issue in dispute, they must judge the experts as to their veracity. A juror who goes into the deliberation room and refuses to even address testimony that other jurors say is convincing, is inherently unfit for the job. Likewise, a 9/11 “truther” who fails to consider what New York City firefighters reported about the collapse of 7 World Trade Center (WTC-7), deserves to be mocked as a charlatan, which I have repeatedly done, most recently in Ep. 31 of The Winers.

In a nutshell, the “truthers” primarily cite architects, engineers and controlled demolition experts when they insist WTC-7 collapsed due to explosives, and they simply ignore that firefighters who were there say they had expected for hours that the building would collapse because there was a huge hole in the middle of it due to debris from WTC-1, as well as raging fires in every part of the building that was still (barely) standing. About the only thing 9/11 kooks will say about the firefighters is that they’re too scared to speak out. They’re referring to first responders who risk their lives daily, but are supposedly too timid to reveal how and why their co-workers and relatives lost their lives on 9/11!

To buy what the kooks are arguing is to not only believe the firefighters are staying silent out of fear, but that they’ve concocted an elaborate cover story to help conceal the guilt of those who perpetrated the 9/11 attacks. That sort of lunacy has sabotaged credible inquiries. As Thomas Sowell puts it: “Activism is a way for useless people to feel important, even if the consequences of their activism are counterproductive for those they claim to be helping and damaging to the fabric of society as a whole.”

Thanks to Tucker Carlson’s recent interview with former congressman Curt Weldon, what really happened on 9/11 is now, once again, somewhat of a front burner issue. That’s why our occasional co-host Morgan mentioned it on the April 24 episode. Weldon’s anger strikes me as righteous. After all, he had wanted to testify before the 9/11 commission, and even though he was vice-chair of the Armed Services Committee and a former fire chief, he was denied the opportunity. But Weldon also is among those who believe WTC-7 was brought down by explosives, despite firefighters who contend otherwise. Paradoxically, Weldon, a former a fire chief, presents himself as the firefighters’ representative.

After I excoriated the “truthers” for their failure to address what FDNY Capt. Chris Boyle described as “a hole 20 stories tall…right in the middle of [WTC-7],” several viewers implored me to invite Ryan Dawson to join us on The Winers, and insisted he would set me straight about 9/11. It’s not the first time our audience has clamored for Ryan to be on the show, and I’m familiar with him anyway. Indeed, we follow each other on X. So I’m happy that he’ll be our guest on this week’s episode. But based on three of Ryan’s recent X posts, I’m not sure he and I disagree all that much, if at all.

I don’t have a strong opinion about what caused WTC-1 and WTC-2 to collapse, or about who was responsible for the attacks. So I wouldn’t bet against Ryan opening my eyes to some extent. But when it comes to Building 7, I’m much less open to persuasion, especially if there’s no rebuttal to what New York City firefighters reported about the condition of WTC-7 in the hours preceding its collapse. Here are excerpts from interviews with first responders, followed by a downloadable PDF file that contains many additional eyewitness accounts:

Eyewitness Accounts Of WTC 7 Fires

175KB ∙ PDF file

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Click on the "Download" button to read a very extensive collection of eyewitness accounts.

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