Why the 9/11 War Games Matter (4/12/07)
It must be easier to mislead than to lead. This would explain why some in the media discuss the parts of a controversy that have little or no relevance and overlook what matters most. It is a good way to sweep a controversy aside.
Recently, Jonah Goldberg, in a column took Rosie O'Donnell to task for stating that the fall of the towers at the World Trade Center was "the only time fire has gone through steel." Since fire can go through steel, Goldberg was correct.
He should have stopped there. He went on to deride the theory that explosives caused World Trade Center 7 to fall down and implied that anyone who supports this theory is as uninformed as O'Donnell and that we are all hung up on "grassy knoll" ideas.
But Goldberg himself is not well-informed about Building 7. First of all, many experts have concluded that in order for fire to melt steel, it must be sustained, extremely hot and widespread. But even more importantly, the federal government's own agencies, the Federal Emergency Management Administration and the National Institution of Science and Technology, acknowledge that they cannot explain the reason for the fall of Building 7.
So Goldberg has attacked those who oppose the official 9/11 theory that al Qaeda acted alone by selecting the weakest link among us, Rosie O'Donnell. Since he blathers in his column, he hasn't the time to admit his own weaknesses. Could his attacks be a diversion?
If we could agree that the buildings (World Trade Centers 1,2 and 7) were all brought down by controlled demolitions, there may be more to the story than the idea of government conspiracy. Given the huge fires caused by the planes crashing into the towers, there was a risk the fires could overwhelm the area if not contained. It likely became clear early on that the brave firefighters could not control them.
Courts have long recognized a draconian option available in this set of circumstances: demolishing the buildings to stop the fire from spreading. The owner of the trade center, Lawrence Silverstein, or someone else with the authority to make this decision, may have decided that a demolition to stop the spread of fire would save more lives than allowing the fire to go on. Such a decision makes sense if made early - indeed, the first building to fall, Building 2 fell fifty-seven minutes after its attacking plane.
If true, this would make Silverstein a hero. So why has he not said as much? If he revealed the presence of explosives at the World Trade Center buildings, he could tip off would-be terrorists that other large buildings have them.
This theory may or may not be true but few in the media have pointed out this reasonable possibility. Also, little has been said about far stronger proof of government wrongdoing on 9/11.
We should ask how these hijacked planes avoided interception and shoot-down. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) intercepted sixty-seven planes in the one-year period before 9/11. But somehow the FAA lost track of these ones.
In fact, FAA chief Jane Garvey said that her staff thought there were as many as eleven planes in the sky at once! This is no coincidence when facts show that Vice-President Dick Cheney knew ahead of time that wargame exercises were scheduled for 9/11 and that the head of the National Security Council, of which he is a member, knew about the attacks of 9/11 ahead of time.
Aside from the implausible theory that the head of the National Security Council, Condoleeza Rice, and others, failed to tell Cheney of the credible threats they received, we have a problem. When we consider that Cheney was in charge of the wargame exercises that polluted the FAA screens, we have a recipe for disaster.