"The 9/11 Mystery" by Iftekhar Khan

Iftekhar Khan, columnist, "The News" (Pakistan)

Fleeting moments

Originally published by The News 

As the 11th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Centre nears, are we any closer to unravelling the mystery as to who carried them out? Conspiracy theories abound, no widely convincing outcome of the attacks has so far emerged. The report of the official inquiry commission published by the US government has been wanting in many aspects. It is more verbiage, regarding high-sounding government organisations and how they reacted after the crisis, than a persuasive document.

Although many books have been written on 9/11, five of them stand out because of their lucidity and rationale: Thierry Meyssan’s 9/11 – the Big Lie, David Ray Griffin’s Debunking 9/11 Debunking, Webster Griffin Tarpley’s 9/11: Synthetic Terror Made in USA, and Barry Zwicker’s Towers of Deception: The media cover-up of 9/11. The event of the magnitude of 9/11 that changed the way of life of the multitude round the world hasn’t been investigated to public satisfaction, nor its perpetrators pointed out conclusively.

If the authors of these books unequivocally agree on a single point, it is that demolition material was used to bring the Twin Towers down within their own perimeters in a symmetrical manner. Instead of analysing the steel bars found in the debris for the telltale residual marks if detonating material had been used or not, the bars were carted away overseas for melting.

However, the Taliban regime in Afghanistan was quickly blamed for the devastating attacks and the US demanded to hand over Osama bin Laden, who it thought was the ideologue of the regime and mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. When the Taliban insisted that the US provide evidence of Bin Laden’s involvement in the attacks, the superpower considered it an affront by the cave-dwellers and invaded their rugged land.

The above brings us to Osama bin Laden, ostensibly killed by the US Navy Seals in Abbottabad in May 2011. The mythical crusader blamed for masterminding attacks on the most guarded places in the world fell prey to the Seals’ bullets and went down without a whimper. Craving for quick publicity and a quicker buck, former Navy Seal Matt Bissonette has authored a book, No Easy Day, in which he has presented his firsthand account of the raid on bin Laden’s hideout in Abbottabad.

The point to argue is why the Seals killed Bin Laden, the highest-value target, instead of capturing him alive. The victim didn’t know he had been located, nor did he know any operation to eliminate him was afoot. Hence, the time factor, which is of great essence in such operations, was in favour of the Seals. Laden alive would have been a billion-dollar man since billions had been poured into Afghanistan to locate and punish him. He could have been interrogated at Guantanamo or Bagram, a confession of his culpability extracted from him and produced in US courts to decide his fate.

Nevertheless, if the decision to kill Bin Laden had been made, his remains could have been flown to the US for morticians to restore his face and body, and to embalm them. Thus, a mummified Bin Laden could have been placed in the national museum for people to know that billions of their tax money spent on waging wars hadn’t gone waste. Instead, according to Bissonette who carried a measly $200 to bribe his way through if the mission failed but wore night-vision goggles worth $65,000, contented himself only with photographing Bin Laden with a digital camera.

The “photographs are now under lock and key in the White House,” claimed the writer. Only the American voters may ask President Obama to show pictures of Bin Laden’s killing as proof before they vote for him in the next election.

The writer is a freelance columnist based in Lahore.

Talking To The Invisible Chair of 9/11 Truth

Saman Mohammadi is one of the most eloquent Muslim voices of 9/11 truth. Here is the latest from his "Truth Excavator" blog.

Talking To The Invisible Chair of 9/11 Truth

"I would just like to say something, ladies and gentlemen. Something that I think is very important.  It is that, you, we -- we own this country. We -- we own it.  It is not you owning it, and not politicians owning it. Politicians are employees of ours. And  -- so -- they are just going to come around and beg for votes every few years.  It is the same old deal.  But I just think it is important that you realize that you're the best in the world. Whether you are a Democrat or Republican or whether you're libertarian or whatever, you are the best. And we should not ever forget that. And when somebody does not do the job, we got to let them go. Okay, just remember that.  And I'm speaking out for everybody out there." - Clint Eastwood, from his speech at the 2012 Republican National Convention.

The reaction to Clint Eastwood's speech at the RNC has been mainly negative. But I have a different and more positive view of the speech.

In an era of prepared and polished speeches given by emotionally pulverized politicians it is refreshing to see a man on the biggest national stage in America speak from his heart. It is a rare sight. We never get to hear honest speeches in the house of illusions that is Western politics. 

There is nothing like an honest speech from the heart, regardless of how it is delivered. People say Eastwood's rugged speech was hard to watch. Really? Why is it hard to watch a patriot give a real speech from the heart? It's much more painful to watch fake men like Obama and Romney give fake but polished speeches about absolute bullshit. Obama gives nothing but empty platitudes so an empty chair suits him perfectly. Emptiness is the essence of his heart and soul.

Eastwood reminded all Americans, no matter their party loyalties, that politicians are employees who are there to perform a public service, and who must be questioned, not worshiped. He also introduced an important concept into the collective psyche: Invisible Obama. 

On the biggest questions, issues, and controversies of the day, President Obama and the entire Western political class has been invisible. They are invisible on the issue of 9/11 truth; Indefinite detention of political dissidents; Transnational banking fraud, and so many other political scandals. They might as well not be there. They are not leaders of a grand civilization but political pimps of a dying one.

In his speech, Eastwood addressed an invisible President Obama on an empty chair. It worked well with the audience, but not with the viewers at home. It was a gutsy move, though. And if you think it is hard to carry on a make-believe conversation with an invisible Obama, it's much harder to talk to the real Obama in person. From what I've read, Obama is not "mentally there." He is not open, and that is not a good leadership quality, especially when your country is in a crisis.

In this article, I've taken Eastwood's approach of speaking to an invisible man on an empty chair and applied it to 9/11 truth. Imagine if "9/11 truth" was an invisible chair of truth in a room full of invisible lies, legends, fantasy, and falsehoods. What follows is my dialogue with this invisible chair.

II. Lifting The Cloak of Invisibility: Talking To The Invisible Chair of 9/11 Truth

Excavator: Invisible 9/11 truth, who sits on your golden throne? How can an individual who is on the stage of life and the journey of self-discovery carry on a conversation with you? And why are you rejected by the spellbound audience as unreal and invisible? Are they right? Am I speaking to a non-entity? Are the rumours of your existence just crazy rumours or are you real?

Invisible 9/11 Truth Chair [ITC]: Oh, I'm real alright. But to answer your question in more depth, it depends on who you ask in the audience. Some doubt my existence and call you crazy for pointing me out in the room. And there are some others such as enlightened sufis who consider me an empty truth on an invisible chair. They pay me no mind. They know I exist, but I mean nothing to them because they view me as an inferior form of truth. So they treat me as invisible because they have their eye on a higher truth.

Excavator: A higher truth? Interesting. So you are a lesser truth compared to other invisible, greater truths? If so, then what is your relationship to them? Do your foot stools open or block the gateway of the visible world to a richer reality? And do your foot stools open the door of death in the mind? If so, why? Why not move away from the entrance and let the door close shut in our house of reality? Even if it is a constructed reality, why ruin the intellectual infrastructure of a perfectly good house? Why let in the wind of death into the quiet rooms of the sleeping guests?

Is this house of reality not good enough for you? Does it stink with lies? But what house doesn't stink with lies on this plane of existence? And is not the sweet smell of lies better than the rotten smell of death? Why replace the sweet smell with the rotten smell? You are just a chair. You can stand the smell of death. But what about those who sit on you? They were lying on the floor of legends and lies with content and calm before they awoke and saw you in the corner of the room. You expect them to stop lying down with bliss in their hearts and sit up straight on a cold, wooden chair, frozen with terror?

ITC: I cannot speak for the souls who choose to sit on me over another chair, whether invisible or not, and whether in this or that house. They are free to come and go as they please. As for the charge that my poor little foot stools jam the doorway to the outside world and bring in the wind and smell of death into the house, all I can say is what kind of house do you want to live in? A house that is filled with illusions and stops the terror of death at the door? If a house of illusions, shadows, and moral corruption is good enough for you then be my guest.

Or do you want to live in a house that takes as its foundations all the facts of existence and life? Which house is the healthier house? The wind of death will enter your little house any way because there is no escaping this wind. You can either welcome this wind as a guest or it will knock down the foundations of your false house with the velocity that only the force of nature is capable of.

Excavator: Enough talk of death. Let's change the subject. What if newly awakened souls realize that you are only a small chair of truth with only a smattering of gold covering? What if they look into the distance and see there is a bigger chair in the house down the street? Which chair should the soul sit on? What do you advise a soul to do in this situation? 

Should those who walk on the path of self-discovery in the night sit on you at the end of their painful journey at the break of dawn? Or are you too cold and hard for their tired legs, souls, and arms? Why shouldn't they sit on a chair that is soft and has rainbow coloring? If it gives them joy and relief, then why not sit on the chair where the sun's radiant light shines upon it rather than a chair that stands in the bitter shade?

ITC: Every soul has its own preference. I am not an envious chair. I do not ask to be sat on. I represent life to one soul and death to another. Some souls choose the shadow of death in place of the sun of life for their own reasons. Some see no sun in this life but only the shadow of death. Of course, it is easy to mistake the two. For instance, in a room coloured by falsehoods and deceptions one loses sight of what's real; of what's the light and what's the shadow. But I cannot decide for the soul. It depends on its own sense of perception, intelligence, judgment, and other factors. Some souls do not like the air and quality of real chairs so they mark them as invisible, as they did with me at first.

Excavator: What do you make of the charge that you are a conspiracy chair?

ITC: That is a funny charge against me. Before I was the invisible chair. I was not to be even considered. I was not in the room. I was non-existent. But the force  of reality imposed itself, forcing the half-awake audience and its spiritual managers to at least recognize that I exist. 

It is a funny charge because I can't be both an invisible chair and a conspiracy chair. I am a visible chair of truth. Since my accusers have conceded on the point of my existence, they must take me seriously. But they don't. I'm pushed to the side of the room. They say only the fringe lunatics gather around me. But is truth fringe? Is justice fringe? Is God fringe? Is the global movement for world peace and universal brotherhood fringe? How can I be fringe when souls the world over discover me and stand by me? I am the furthest thing from a conspiracy chair and a fringe chair.

Excavator: Okay. You're not a conspiracy chair. That has been established. I want to move on. Where do you stand in the hierarchy of the invisible world of chairs? Are you the only invisible chair of truth? And what about the visible world? Is the visible electric chair on death row your cousin? Is the visible chair of torture your cellmate in the invisible prison? 

ITC: I am sorry but I cannot assist you in the journey to the invisible world of chairs or show you the way. I have said too much already. I cannot answer your questions. They are for you to discover at your own pace. It takes regular spiritual exercises to reach the level of understanding that you seem to be aiming for.

Excavator: Fair enough. I'll ask you more specific questions. Many of the people who sit on you are described as "truthers." What do you think of them? And who else sits on you? Do you expect a president of the US empire to sit on you? Is not his ass of lies too big for you? He will break you down to pieces, will he not? And what about God? Is he the pilot and are you the chair in the cockpit?

ITC: God is too big for me. And he is not a sitter. As for the "truthers," they know I exist because they can see and feel me. They cannot be persuaded that I am invisible and unreal by the managers of public thoughts and perceptions. They are not crazy because I am not the chair for the mentally handicapped.

Excavator: One final question. What did you think about Clint Eastwood's fictional encounter with an invisible Obama represented by an empty chair at the RNC?

ITC: It was a neat dramatic invention by a master director through which Obama's empty soul was revealed to the American people on a big stage.

Excavator: Okay. Thank you for your time.

Egypt's new president "doubts al-Qaeda role in 9/11"

Add Mohamed Morsi to the lists of heads of state who openly support 9/11 truth. Presidents Ahmadinejad of Iran, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, former PM Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia, and Fidel Castro of Cuba preceded him. -KB

Top Egyptian presidential candidate doubts al Qaeda role in 9/11

by Ben Birnbaum, The Washington Times

Mohamed Morsi

Egypt’s likely next president has long called for the U.S. to hold a “scientific conference” to determine the real culprits of the Sept. 11 attacks, having cast doubt on al Qaeda’s role in 9/11 for years.

“The U.S. administration has never presented any evidences on the identity of those who committed that incident,” longtime Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi is quoted as saying in a 2007 posting on Ikhwanweb, the Islamist group’s official English website.
“The Muslim Brotherhood and others demanded a transparent trial with clear evidence and to have court rulings,” he said after the sixth anniversary of the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. “We confirm that this isn’t a defense to those who committed these actions, but we only seek the truth.”

Mr. Morsi last week won the most votes in the first round of Egypt’s presidential election, and he is heavily favored to win a runoff this month against secular former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik.

He is not the only candidate to have floated conspiracy theories about the Sept. 11 attacks: Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh - a former Brotherhood figure who finished fourth in last week’s race - said last year that he believed 9/11 was “part of a conspiracy.”

Mr. Morsi’s remarks underscore the challenges the U.S. likely will face in a Brotherhood-dominated Egypt. The group’s Freedom and Justice Party won 47 percent of the seats in Egypt’s parliamentary elections and is expected to play a dominant role in crafting a new constitution.

A call for proof

While condemning the 9/11 attack “regardless of its doer,” Mr. Morsi lambasted the U.S. response to them, calling the Bush administration “the world’s terrorism leader” and accusing it of getting “in line with Israeli occupation forces in aggression, injustice, encroaching lands and raping women.”

According to the Brotherhood website’s characterization of his 9/11 remarks, Mr. Morsi said the U.S. invaded Afghanistan and Iraq “due to the U.S. administration claims that the doers of the 11 September attacks [were] Muslims, without proving such a thing until now.”

In 2008, Mr. Morsi called on the U.S. to provide “scientific” proof for its account of events.

“We have officially demanded a fair trial for 9/11 suspects and the issuance of a detailed scientific report about the attacks, but the U.S. administration did not respond till now,” Mr. Morsi told Ikhwanweb.

“This requires a huge scientific conference that is devoted to analyzing what caused the attack against a massive structure like the two WTC towers,” he said, referring to the World Trade Center. “Should this happen, we will stand firmly against whoever committed this horrific crime against innocent civilians.”

However, Osama bin Laden, the late al Qaeda leader, admitted his terror group’s involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks in a videotaped message in October 2004...   (read complete story)

(False! Bin Laden repeatedly denied responsibility for 9/11, deplored the attacks,  called them un-Islamic, and blamed "some people with their own agenda" and "American Jews" for the attacks in repeated statements before his death in December, 2001.)

More "Outrageous Conspiracy Theories" Turn Out to Be True

Egyptian "Islamic Extremist Terror Attacks" Were Inside Jobs

"That and the New Years Eve attack on the Coptic Church in Alexandria, which many were already speculating was an inside job (pointing to the lack of government interest in investigating a major attack) both appear to now be confirmed, at least assuming the documents are authentic (and all indications are that they are). The revelations will likely spark another call to move legally against regime leaders for their crimes." Jason Ditz, antiwar.com

Once again, several "outrageous conspiracy theories" have turned out to be true. Which raises the million-dollar question: If the American people stormed the White House, the Pentagon, CIA headquarters, and (above all) AIPAC and JINSA headquarters, and liberated the documents therein, might they find papers confirming what we already suspect about 9/11, based on the lack of government interest in investigating a major attack, among a great many other reasons? And is this what it would take to move legally against regime leaders for their crimes? If so, count me in - I'm ready to storm these places, and if necessary die while doing so, as soon as you-all are. -Kevin Barrett


Docs: Egypt Security Bombed Churches, Resort

Collection of Official Docs Reveals Various Mubarak-Era Crimes

by Jason Ditz, March 08, 201

Just days after the Egyptian protesters attacked the state’s internal security headquarters and rescued reems of documents about Mubarak-era crimes that were about to be destroyed http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41927204/ns/world_news-mideast/n_africa/, some of the dirtiest such deeds are starting to come to light. And even for the notorious Mubarak regime, they’re surprisingly bad.

Sex tapes, documents detailing broad surveillance of Egyptian dissidents and transcripts of telephone conversations between the dissenters and their family members, sure, but the biggest of what has come out so far reveals something far worse: official government involvement in the Alexandria church bombing and in a 2005 resort bombing.

Its the sort of allegation that would normally seem too extreme to have any credibility, but they’re detailed in official documents as absolute facts.The Sharm al-Sheikh terrorist attacks of July 2005 were blamed on local Bedouins, but the documents instead reveal they were plotted by Interior Minister Habib el-Adly to target a business rival of Hosni Mubarak’s son Gamal.

That and the New Years Eve attack on the Coptic Church in Alexandria, which many were already speculating was an inside job (pointing to the lack of government interest in investigating a major attack) both appear to now be confirmed, at least assuming the documents are authentic (and all indications are that they are). The revelations will likely spark another call to move legally against regime leaders for their crimes.

Egypt Security documents reveal False Flag attack on Church (blamed on Moslems)

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/03/07/2102847/egypt-unsure-what-to-do-about.html

Monday, 03.07.11

Egypt unsure what to do about trove of security documents

BY HANNAH ALLAM AND MOHANNAD SABRY

MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

CAIRO -- Less than a month after the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's caretaker government faces a new crisis: what to do about thousands of documents that protesters seized from State Security Agency offices over the weekend.

The military-led interim authority has demanded that the classified files kept by Mubarak's dreaded internal spy agency be returned. Instead, they're being scattered throughout Egypt, with files turning up on Facebook and Twitter hourly, forcing the government to respond to them and raising fears among some activists that their value has been reduced for any future prosecutions for torture and kidnapping.

Some of what the documents contain is salacious and sinister.

One file includes a sex tape purportedly involving a Kuwaiti princess and a prominent Egyptian businessman. Another paints Egypt's highest-ranking cleric as a womanizer.

Israa Abdel Fattah, 32, a labor organizer and blogger, shared her file with McClatchy and marveled at the thoroughness of the surveillance. The file included detailed transcripts of e-mails sent from her Gmail account and phone conversations with her ex-husband. The feeling of violation was indescribable, she said.

"I knew they were watching me, but I never imagined they knew all this information about me," she said. "My friends tried to take me out to dinner that night. They tried to make me laugh, but I couldn't. I told them I should be alone, so I took my papers and went home."

Perhaps the most controversial document to surface was one that purports to lay out State Security's involvement in a church bombing on New Year's Day in Alexandria. The bombing killed 21 people and wounded 80, the worst violence against Egypt's Coptic Christian minority in more than a decade.

The legitimacy of the document hasn't been determined, but its distribution touched off protests Sunday in Cairo by hundreds of Coptic Christians.

Copts, especially those in Alexandria, had suspected state involvement in the bombing, noting that a stepped-up security force that was supposed to have protected the church had vanished before the bomb exploded.

According to the document, one of eight said to discuss attacks on churches, State Security used a jailed Islamist to help organize the plot, including details on the church's entrances and exits. The document was dated Dec. 2, 2010, and was addressed to the interior minister. It referred to the church bombing as "Mission No. 77."

Georgette Qilini, a Copt who served in the Egyptian parliament, said Mubarak's information minister ordered television stations to stop inviting her to speak after she suggested on the air that State Security was involved in the explosion.

"Maybe they were involved," Qilini said Monday. "We visited the church after the incident and we didn't believe the official story. There are still many, many questions, but I don't have any documents."

There are also several files that back State Security officers' reputation for torture. In one letter stamped "top secret" in 2008 and made available on Facebook, a senior official wrote that detainees suffered "injuries" while in State Security custody. He complained that questioning had to be delayed until the wounds had healed.

Questions abound. Why, for example, would such a serious plot as the church bombing be outlined in a document that was found so quickly? Why were some documents shredded and others not?

Egyptian State Security Archives Yield Evidence of False Flag Attacks

http://reason.com/blog/2011/03/08/egyptian-state-security-archiv

Stephen J. Smith | March 8, 2011

As Jesse Walker reported on Saturday, angry protesters stormed various State Security buildings throughout Egypt over the weekend after hearing reports that officials were destroying files that could shed light on various abuses over the years. While Human Rights Watch yearns for a "procedure" for publishing the documents that were saved from State Security's shredders, Egyptians opted for the WikiLeaks model. Scans of files have been appearing on Facebook and image hosting sites like Yfrog ("problematic," says HRW), and the Twitter hashtag #AmnDawla has been flooded with discussions and links to the documents since Friday.

Documents published so far, assuming they're real (and the Obama administration seems to be acting as if they are), have unearthed everything from Skype snooping to a whole room full of compromising sex tapes. But perhaps the most incendiary files posted have been those tying the Interior Ministry to attacks supposedly perpetrated by terrorists. Disgraced former Interior Minister Habib el-Adly had already been widely suspected of being involved in the New Year's Eve Coptic church bombing, but the appearance of a file on "Mission No. 77" seems to confirm regime critics' most damning accusations. McClatchy says that the document describes how State Security used a jailed Islamist to carry out the attack (which had been attributed to al-Qaeda), and, perhaps more ominously, they claim that there are at least seven more files on church attacks among the pilfered documents.

Aside from the New Year's Eve attack, which was already under scrutiny before the storming of State Security offices, the documents also point to a similar conclusion with regards an earlier bombing in the seaside resort of Sharm El-Sheikh. The 2005 attack, which killed 88 and was initially blamed on Bedouin terrorists, was actually a plot by el-Adly and Gamal Mubarak to get back at one of Gamal's business rivals, according to a leaked document (partial English translation here).

And beyond these two attacks documented in the leaked files, questions have been raised about the Nag Hammadi church attack in early 2010. The allegations were apparently serious enough that an Egyptian official felt the need to deny the rumors to American diplomats, while at the same time conceding that the official explanation for the attacks "doesn't seem to fit."

Up until now, claims of terrorism have been the most effective way for Arab dictators to get sympathy and support from the US. (The Yemeni regime, which is now teetering on the edge of collapse, saw its aid double after the Christmas 2009 attempted underwear bombing.) American policy in the region has been predicated on the Faustian bargain that we overlook Arab dictators' shoddy human rights record and continue to prop them up in exchange for stability and a hard line on Islamic terrorism. But the Egyptian State Security archives suggest that not only were the Mubaraks not delivering an end to Islamic radicalism, but the regime itself may have been the source of much of Egypt's terrorism and sectarian strife.

Clashes in Egypt blamed on diehards of the former regime

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/egypt-govt-warns-of-counterrevolution-20110310-1bopf.html
Egypt govt warns of 'counter-revolution'

Jailan Zayan

March 10, 2011 - 11:19AM

AFP

Egypt's new government warned on Wednesday of a "counter-revolution" following a series of deadly political and religious clashes blamed on diehards of the former regime.

The government said it "is fully committed to the interests of the people and to implementing the goals of the revolution; and it will stand firm against plans for a counter-revolution," according to state news agency MENA.

Meanwhile, the newly appointed cabinet met with the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to propose a law criminalising threatening behaviour, MENA said.

A statement later said the cabinet had discussed "developments in the country, specifically the acts that have hindered daily life, acts of thuggery, incitement, intimidation and tensions affecting national unity".

Accordingly, it has "ordered the swift return of police forces, in their full capacity, back to the streets" and "urged citizens to cooperate with the police".

On Tuesday, clashes killed at least 13 in Cairo, the health ministry said.

Bloody fighting broke out late on Tuesday in the working-class Cairo district of Moqattam when Muslims confronted Christians who had been blocking a main road in protest at the burning of a church last week in the provincial town of Sol, south of Cairo.

The attack on the church came after clashes between Copts and Muslims that left two people dead.

Father Boutros Roshdy of a Moqattam church said at least seven Coptic Christians were among the dead on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the epicentre of anti-regime protests that toppled president Hosni Mubarak, attackers armed with knives and machetes waded into hundreds of pro-democracy activists on Wednesday, witnesses said.

Stone-throwing skirmishes raged, and activists were gathering sticks and stockpiling rocks to defend themselves.

By early evening, the army had restored order in the square, dismantling tents pitched by protesters shortly after anti-regime riots erupted on January 25, and detaining several protesters, MENA said.

The violence, widely blamed on remnants of Mubarak's regime, revealed the security vacuum created by police, who disappeared from the streets during January protests that led to Mubarak's resignation. ...