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[EDITOR'S NOTE: This diary in NO WAY represents the view of this website. In fact, the editors consider this kind of crap counterproductive when there is so much of SUBSTANCE to criticize the government for. Simply put, there is NO QUESTION that al-Qaeda hijacked planes and slammed them into the WTC which then brought the buildings down. Claims that it was controlled demolition are just plain crap and those of us who lived through it resent these BS claims.]

9/11 Truth Manifesto

Joel S. Hirschhorn

For evidence that America’s political system is a criminal conspiracy, open your mind to piles of new analyses that prove beyond doubt that the official 9/11 story is a lie. Years of a bipartisan cover-up of 9/11 lies make it much more than one horrendous past event. It endures in infamy as a symptom of a corrupt and dishonest government.

Every day we pay for what 9/11 and its cover-up have burdened us with, including the costly Iraq war and the erosion of the rule of law and constitutional rights. Power elites have suppressed the truth because they fear what will happen when the public understands that 9/11 was not accomplished solely by foreign terrorists.

Technically sound analyses of what happened at the World Trade Center have unequivocally shown that the official 9/11 story is not credible (www.ae911truth.org). Truth seekers have met their burden of proof; the government has not met theirs. Simply put, controlled demolition brought down three buildings, not fires from the impact of planes on two of them. Not only was the US government involved, it has also conspired to hide the truth from the public. Why? Republican and Democratic politicians and power elites fear that 9/11 truth will remove what little public trust remains in government. The truth will produce political instability, perhaps breaking the two-party stranglehold on our political system. And it should. And it must, if we are to finally obtain the deep political reforms our nation desperately needs.
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[EDITOR'S NOTE: The content of this diary is largely based on unsubstantiated 9/11 conspiracy theory material, and as such in no way reflects the opinions of the editorial staff. Given that we know al-Qaeda planned the 9/11 attacks largely as they happened (we knew that plan back in 1996), and given that al-Qaeda is open about not only carrying them out but also about wanting to do more such attacks, the editor's feel that the answer to who carried out the attack is pretty blatantly obvious: al-Qaeda.

I would add that we feel this kind of conspiracy theory detracts from the real scandals: 1.) the Republican Party refused to back President Clinton when he went after Osama bin Laden; 2.) Bush ignored clear warnings from both the Clinton Administration and the intelligence community that 9/11 was imanent; and 3.) the exploitation of 9/11 to further a right wing, anti-Constitution agenda and the invasion of Iraq.]

Painful 9/11 Truth

Joel S. Hirschhorn

Many technical analyses cast doubt on the official explanation of the collapse of three World Trade Center buildings, including those presented by an impressive new group: Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth. More difficult than discovering the truth, however, is convincing most of the public to accept the bitter truth.

Americans easily block out painful truths. Powerful societal forces keep much of the population distracted and uninterested in complex issues. Entertainment-oriented mainstream media contribute to mass ignorance. And the political establishment often buries the truth, uses propaganda and manipulates citizens. Intelligent, strong-willed people can fight all these.
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The Democrats, angry at 5 years of Republican lies, scandlas and failure since 9/11, are coming out swinging, making national security a prime issue. Here is Howard Dean's most recent fundraising letter for the DNC:

You can't trust Republicans on national security -- and two things proved it yesterday:

1) In a powerful interview that aired yesterday, President Bill Clinton took on the extremist Republican propaganda about 9/11 -- and Fox News tried to cover up the fact that the Bush administration downgraded terrorism as a priority before September 11th and has failed to eliminate Osama bin Laden since the attacks.

2) An explosive report on the still-classified National Intelligence Estimate states that the "invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since the Sept. 11 attacks" -- and Republicans have been trying to cover it up.

This is what we're fighting against every day -- an administration covering up of the Bush failure of 9/11 and covering up an honest look at the war in Iraq and the war on terror.

You know that Democrats have a real plan for destroying Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda, fixing the mess in Iraq, and really securing us at home.
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The regional French newspaper, L'est Republicain has published a report from the DGSE (France's intelligence agency), claiming Saudi intelligence have reason to believe Osama died of typhoid. Of course, Jacques Chirac scrambled to disallow the report ( he says other agencies have not been able to corroborate the Saudi sources ) and the pile on of disallowals and denials were echoed in Saudi Arabia, Great Britain and the US.

'No evidence' of Bin Laden death

Is Bin Laden Dead?

Why death rumours dog Laden?

France to probe bin Laden memo

Officials Doubt Report Of Bin Laden's Death

Bin Laden may feel lure to disprove his "death"

When 51% of the US population believe the war was wrong and 3,000 Iraqis demand the return of Saddam Hussein, what will happen to Bush's warmongering if Osama is indeed dead?

[Karen Bradley, a co-founder of The Democracy Cell Project and well-known advocate of individual grassroots activism, is deeply embedded in Ground Zero at Camp Democracy in Washington this month. I'm taking the liberty of reposting today's report from Karen here on CultureKitchen because her message is an eloquent reminder of some critical but oft-missed points about the power of progressive peacefulness.]

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100, 10, 5 YEARS LATER
by Karen Bradley, democracycellproject.net

Today looks to be gloomy and chilly in our nation's capitol and that works just fine.

Despite the beauty of the Camp Democracy location, with stunning views of both the Capitol and the Washington Monument, we cannot help but be reminded, throughout each day, of the outrages being committed at both ends of the Mall. I often feel squeezed and anxious, choked between splendor and the dream of justice, and the harshest of realities: the knowledge that nothing seems to work.

The past week has been an ongoing unfolding of where we are as peace and justice activists, and the view is sobering. We have had moments of tremendous inspiration and purpose (the press event yesterday morning with the young Iraq vets was deeply moving, mostly because truth to power seems to choke a lot of us up), and moments of shaking our heads, wondering how we can ever get to a place where speaking truth to power will affect more than those few actually speaking.
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This was first published at c u l t u r e k i t c h e n:
today was like any other day.

it was a beautiful day, just as it was two years ago. blue sky, gentle breeze.

the kids were romping and jumping. we took time to play, time to read and time to learn. the house was a mess, we were running low on groceries, and the kids were getting antsy. so we picked up a bit, i left the kids in the playground with our neighbors while i went to the store.

it has been just a day like any other day. still, evan asked:

"are they coming back?"
"is the empire state building still sad?"

this day, two years ago, i was feeling a bit tired, a bit disoriented and, well, a bit lazy. september 10, 2001 marked out first day of homeschooling. i had this great week planned out for our official first week. i had decided not to go to the observatory, just to keep things simple, and just go to the empire state building because it was closer to us.

the "observatory" was the top of world trade center #2.

this year, two years ago, we heard a loud boom. not a sonic boom, but a boom louder than the one a truck would make after hitting a pothole. i thought "that must have been one helluva big truck".

minutes later our baby-sitter walks in and says, did you notice one of the towers is on fire? although we are on a tall building in the east village, we face north. i had to go up to the roof to check it out. i did and came back and we put the tv on. and as the news anchors are trying to make sense of the information being fed to them and the image that was on the screen, the second plane hit. all us saw it, even my kids.
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