Its eleven years since the world changing events of 11 Sept 2001, used to justify wars abroad and erosion of civil liberties at home.
9/11 was used to justify the Iraq war with claims of Al Qaeda links with Saddam Hussein, later shown to be entirely false. (1)
World wide opinion polls indicate a highly sceptical public attitude to the Washington account of 9/11. (3)
Last year’s 9/11 opinion poll in the UK conducted by ICM on behalf of www.reinvestigate911.org showed only 7% of respondents believe they have been told the whole story of the 9/11 attacks. (4), (5)
The media in the NATO countries have failed to look into the many unanswered questions feeding public disquiet. Recent revelations have confirmed collusion between the New York Times and intelligence agencies (6).
Meanwhile most members of the 9/11 Commission have now distanced themselves from its findings. (16)
Here are some of the unanswered questions.
Could 9/11 have been nipped in the bud by the CIA’s then secret Osama Bin Laden unit who identified at least two of the alleged 9/11 hijackers as they entered the US, or the FBI’s three field offices which were refused permission to investigate individuals connected with the attacks?
Was 9/11 really such a surprise, as claimed by the Bush Administration? Not so according to newly released CIA documents (7), (8). Bush received several CIA intelligence warnings that attacks were ‘imminent’ in the summer of 2001. Yet Bush ignored them and took no defensive measures. Why?
Richard Clarke, (9) Bush’s anti-terrorism co-ordinator, has accused the CIA of deliberately withholding information that could have prevented the attacks. Ali Soufan, at the time the FBI’s lead Al Qaeda expert, has also criticised the CIA for blocking investigations of suspects prior to 9/11 (10). Why would the CIA and senior FBI administrators have made these decisions?
The events of the day have led to many independent experts posing still unanswered questions.
Andreas von Buelow, German intelligence expert and one time Defence Minister echoes the voices of many US military experts and Gore Vidal writing in The Observer. Von Buelow asks why, “for 60 decisive minutes, the military and intelligence agencies let the fighter planes stay on the ground?” (11)
There has been no detailed explanation for the unprecedented collapse of three multistorey steel frame buildings, World Trade Centre 1, 2, and 7 at near free fall speed, landing neatly in their own footprints. Most of the planes’ jet fuel was burnt off in the initial impacts and Building 7 was not even hit by a plane. The buildings were explicitly designed to withstand a high speed jet impact. (12) (13)
Reinvestigate 911, along with many 9/11 families, first responders, firefighters, pilots, scientists, architects, military officers, CIA and FBI whistleblowers, are calling for an independent re-investigation into 9/11. (14) (15)
For more information: www.reinvestigate911.org
Ian Henshall is the author of 911 The New Evidence. His first book 911 Revealed (co-author Guardian columnist Rowland Morgan) was serialised in the Daily Mail and he has appeared regularly on Talksport.
