by Home home
may indicate government awareness and possible
foreknowledge of a 9/11 style attack. However, the
conspiracy theorists claim some, within the so called 'Deep
State,' not only knew 9/11 was going to happen, they
planned it to further their own interests.
In June 2001, one of the conspiracists own leading lights,
William Cooper, seemingly predicted the scapegoating of
Osama bin Laden in a 'false flag' terror attack. Speaking on
his popular underground radio show, three months before
9/11, Cooper questioned how, despite the 1996 formation of
a dedicated joint Justice Department, FBI & CIA 'Bin Laden'
unit (the 'Bin Laden Issue Station' or 'Alec Unit'[76]), a CNN
news team were able to interview him in his supposedly
secret layer. Peter Arnett conducted the interview in March
1997, with further interviews undertaken by a number of
journalists in the lead up to 9/11.[77]
169
A Dangerous Ideology
Cooper, a former Naval Intelligence Officer, posited that
either the U.S. security services, in their entirety, were
completely useless, or they weren't looking for him at all.
Cooper felt it was the latter:[78]
“I'm telling you be prepared for a major
attack. But it won't be Osama bin
Laden..........whatever's gonna happen that
they're gonna blame on Osama bin Laden
don't you even believe it.”
[William Cooper 1943 - 2001]
Security service ineptitude still remains a possibility.
However, is it plausible that one of the most wanted
terrorists on Earth could evade capture by the global
intelligence and security community while, at the same time,
conducting interviews with U.S. news crews and other media
organisations? Conspiracy theorists don't think so.
In the immediate aftermath of 9/11 Cooper continued to
voice his opinion, accusing elements within the Bush
administration and the wider political establishment of mass
murder and treason. Bill Cooper was shot dead by officers
from the Apache County (Arizona) Sheriff's Department, less
than two months after 9/11. Conspiracists question the
circumstances surrounding his death.[79]
According to the truthers, one of the tell-tale signs of a 'false
flag' attack is the speed with which the official narrative
emerges. 'Who dunnit' often precedes 'what happened,' they
say. They argue we shouldn't jump to conclusions. Moreover,
investigators certainly shouldn't. When they do, it suggests
at least some degree of prior knowledge and may well
indicate a predetermined narrative. Before we accept any
official explanation, we should check the evidence ourselves.
Don't let anyone, especially state media, tell you what
happened. Make up your own mind.
The mainstream media (MSM) were reporting Osama bin
Laden and al Qaeda as the prime suspects within seconds of
the plane hitting the South Tower. UA Flight 175 struck
WTC 2 at 09:03.[101] Thirty seven seconds later Jon Scott,
Fox news anchor, said:[100]
170
A Dangerous Ideology
“This has to be deliberate folks....we just
saw on live television as a second plane
flew into the second tower of the World
Trade Center. Now, given what has been
going on around the world, some of the key
suspects come to mind, Osama bin Laden
for one.”
What followed was a flurry of conjecture from all the major
news networks claiming Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda
were behind the attacks. By 09:17, 14 minutes after WTC 2
was hit, CBS news correspondent Jim Stewart reported the
following:
“The intelligence community for some time
has been warning in a steady drum beat
[Ryan] that Osama bin Laden has not been
heard from now, frankly, since the
beginning of the year, the USS Cole incident
rather, and they have been wondering when
and if he will strike again, and they only
believed it was a matter of time, and I
believe that today that is going to be their
first suspicion. [but] We have no confirmation
of that. I must underline, there's no
confirmation that this is a terrorist attack
number one or, number two, that Osama bin
Laden involvement, but I can tell you right
now that is what they are thinking that is
the working premise.”
At 09.29, President Bush made the following public
statement:
“Today, we've had a national tragedy. Two
airplanes... have crashed... into the World
Trade Center... in an apparent terrorist
attack on our country.”
At 10.05. NBC state department correspondent, Andrea
Mitchell, reported that Osama bin Laden may have been
involved in the attacks:
“This very interesting information.....from the
171
A Dangerous Ideology
FBI......They have been operating a massive
exercise......all of their top teams......were in
Monterey California for the last two days,
scheduled to fly back today. All of those
people are out of place. It's fair to say,
according to sources we've talked to......,
that FBI operations and rescue operations
are really in chaos right now because they
can't reach their officials in New York. All of
their phone lines are down and now you've
got all of their experts stuck in Monterey
California......there is a real breakdown of
the FBI anti-terror coordination team which
is of course the principle team that would
lead any effort.....I think it is far too
early........even [for] the best experts in the
government to figure this out.......Their
immediate reaction, in a case like this,
would be to look towards Osama bin
Laden.......simply because he has proved,
with the embassy bombings in Africa that he
is the one terror leader who is capable of
this kind of highly coordinated attack.”
Speaking on CNN, At 12.39, Republican Senator John
McCain characterised the attacks as “an act of war. ” Two
minutes later Senator Orrin Hatch told CNN 'Both the FBI
and our intelligence community believe that this is bin Laden's
signature.'
This was quickly followed at 13.04 by a President Bush's
statement from Barksdale Air force Base:
“Freedom itself was attacked this morning
by a faceless coward and freedom will be
defended.......the United States will hunt
down and punish those responsible for
these cowardly acts.”
In his later address to the American public, speaking at
20.30, President Bush said:
“The search is underway for those who are
behind these evil acts...we will make no
172
A Dangerous Ideology
distinction between the terrorists who
committed these acts and those who
harbour them.”
<
br /> At the same time, several members of Congress informed
CNN they had been briefed that the administration was
confident the attacks were carried out by Osama bin Laden
and al Qaeda. Before the day was out, President Bush
recorded in his journal “The Pearl Harbour of the 21st
century took place today...We think it's Osama bin
Laden.” [102] For reasons we will discuss shortly, using the
Pearl Harbour analogy is particularly significant.
According to the conspiracy theorists, it is preposterous to
believe the administration were not only able clarify what
happened, when and how, but also who masterminded the
extremely complex plot, within a matter of hours. However,
they add, if you planned the whole thing yourself that would
explain your apparently astounding deductive powers. In any
event, as far as the public were concerned, by the end of the
day the case was solved.
Despite years of investigation and debate, there has been
little deviation from the narrative rolled out in the first few
hours.
Oddly, the supposed terrorist mastermind denied any
involvement. In a statement published shortly after the
attacks Osama bin Laden (OBL) said:[103]
“The U.S. Government has consistently
blamed me for being behind every occasion
its enemies attack it. I would like to assure
the world that I did not plan the recent
attacks, which seems to have been planned
by people for personal reasons. I have been
living in the Islamic emirate of Afghanistan
and following its leaders' rules. The current
leader does not allow me to exercise such
operations.”
Usually, terrorists are all too eager to claim responsibility for
killing people, even if they haven't. Yet Osama bin Laden, far
from gloating over his 'victory,' as you might expect, seeing
173
A Dangerous Ideology
as he had never been shy of claiming responsibility before,
distanced himself from 9/11. Former Assistant Secretary of
the Treasury, Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, was among many crazy
conspiracy theorists who found Osama bin Laden's denial
rather perplexing. He wrote:[104]
“Obviously, if bin Laden had outwitted not
only the National Security Agency, the CIA,
the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the
FBI, but also all 16 US intelligence agencies,
all intelligence agencies of Washington’s
NATO puppet states, Israel’s Mossad, and in
addition the National Security Council,
NORAD, US air traffic control, and airport
security four times on the same morning, it
would be the greatest feat in world history,
a movement building feat that would have
made al Qaeda the most successful anti-
imperialist organization in human history,
an extraordinary victory over “the great
Satan” that would have brought millions of
new recruits into al Qaeda’s ranks. Yet the
alleged “mastermind” denied all
responsibility.”
While the U.S. and global mainstream media were
enthusiastic to report Osama bin Laden 'did it,' scarcely a
mention was made of the fact he refuted the allegation.
According to some mainstream thinkers OBL wasn't the
mastermind, just the money behind the attacks. This
conflicts somewhat with the 9/11 Commissions opinion that
the funding of the attacks was “..of little practical
significance.” Others claim that Bin Laden was merely a
figurehead for a loose coalition of Islamist extremists, we call
'al Qaeda.'
This chimes with loony conspiracy theorist views that al
Qaeda never existed until Western intelligence agencies
helped to create it. The concept of the centrally coordinated,
international terrorist cell network was simply a 'bogey man'
created to give children (and their parents) nightmares, and
the 'military industrial intelligence complex' an ever elusive,
perpetually profitable, enemy.
174
A Dangerous Ideology
Robin Cook, the British Foreign Secretary at the time of the
attack, was one of the conspiracy scatterbrains who thought
this was the case. He later refused to support his
government's subsequent call for war in Iraq in 2003. Citing
a lack of legal authority or supporting evidence to justify
war, his resignation speech is considered by many to be one
of the greatest oratories ever delivered in the post WWII
British Parliament.
Cook, privy to intelligence assessments at the time of 9/11,
remained a critical back bench MP and wrote an article in
2005 which cast doubt upon the official al Qaeda
'mythology.' In the immediate aftermath of the London 7/7
atrocity, He wrote: [119]
“.....Bin Laden was, though, a product of a
monumental miscalculation by Western
security agencies. Throughout the 80s he
was armed by the CIA and funded by the
Saudis to wage jihad against the Russian
occupation of Afghanistan. Al-Qaida,
literally 'the database', was originally the
computer file of the thousands of
Mujahideen who were recruited and trained
with help from the CIA to defeat the
Russians.”
Four weeks later, aged 59, Cook unexpectedly died while out
walking with his wife in the Scottish Highlands. Despite
being a physically fit man, he suffered a fatal heart attack
and fell down a hillside where he was initially assisted by
another hill walker. He was flown to hospital 30 minutes
after his fall. His wife did not to accompany her husband to
hospital. The third person at the scene of his death has
never been identified.
Many conspiracy theorists point out that there isn't any
evidence that OBL had much to do with the attacks.
Certainly nothing that would stand up in court. Soon after
9/11 the Secretary of State Colin Powell, having also called
the attack “an act of war,” publicly declared the evidence
proving OBL's guilt would soon be released. The very next
day he changed his mind and said, “most of it [the evidence]
175
A Dangerous Ideology
is classified.”
In October 2001, then British Prime Minister, Tony Blair,
issued a report which made a number of allegations that
secret intelligence revealed how al Qaeda and bin Laden were
behind 9/11. However, because this intelligence was 'secret,'
it amounted to little more than an unsubstantiated claim.
When pressed on the actual evidence, Blair said, “This
document does not purport to provide a prosecutable case
against Osama bin Laden in a court of law.”
Although Osama bin Laden remained on the top of the FBI's
most wanted list, he wasn't wanted in connection with 9/11.
In 2006 Rex Tomb, Chief of Investigative Publicity for the FBI
said, “The reason why 9/11 is not mentioned on Osama bin
Laden’s Most Wanted page is because the
FBI has no hard
evidence connecting bin Laden to 9/11.” This single
statement abandons the state’s account entirely. However,
those who accept the official story have pointed to the video
'evidence' in which Osama bin Laden does apparently claim
responsibility.
In early November 2001, Tony Blair brought the West's
attention to another video interview with OBL. This time
undertaken by Al Jazeera’s Kabul correspondent Tayseer
Allouni in October. The hour long interview was transcribed,
and excerpts used to 'prove' Osama bin Laden's guilt.
Writing in the UK broadsheet the Telegraph, journalist David
Bamber used the transcripts to report that OBL had
admitted culpability. However, his article, entitled 'Bin
Laden: Yes I did it'[126] contains no evidence of any such
admission.
Blair, never one to miss a band wagon, leapt on the media
coverage a few days later to exclaim that OBL said he had
'instigated' the attacks. Perhaps encouraged by his friend’s
certainty, this led President Bush to call it a “confession of
guilt.” CNN later reported that bin Laden admitted
orchestrating the attacks when he said:
“If inciting people to do that is terrorism and
if killing those who kill our sons is terrorism,
then let history be witness that we are
176
A Dangerous Ideology
terrorists.”
Osama apparently felt the attacks were justified, he
egotistically spoke about the inspiration his fatwas had on
the hijackers. However, at no stage did he claim actual
responsibility. Numerous further interpretations were issued
by the White House and reported in the media, each
providing more 'proof' of OBL's 'admission.' However, add the
conspiracists, numerous Arabic language experts have
pointed out the transcripts themselves were wrong.[127]
Prof Gernot Rotter, professor of Islamic and Arabic Studies
at the Asia-Africa Institute at the University of Hamburg
said:
'The American translators who listened to
the tapes and transcribed them apparently
wrote a lot of things in that they wanted to
hear but that cannot be heard on the tape no
matter how many times you listen to it.'
OBL did claim responsibility for the bombing in Khost, in a
video made between mid-November and late December 2001,
which was verified. He appeared gaunt and frail with a long
white beard and had poor left side mobility. Following
another discovery by U.S. Special Forces in a private home
