Reply #87: Responses [View All]

Did it not actually also benefit organisations other than the Bush administation? For example Al Qaeda and Islamist radicalism in general? It certainly raised their media profile. How many times had you heard the name Osama bin Laden before 9/11? I don't know myself, but I think I had heard the name before (in connection with the development of Islamist radicalism in general and the bases in Afghanistan), but it wasn't one that tripped off my tongue.

Certainly it makes sense that they had some sort of working relationship and that the US was using Osama and he was using them.

Paul O'Niell, a member of the cabinet, NSC and war cabinet, has said clearly that the US was planning to manipulate events to justify a war in Iraq by means other than 9/11 (an incident where a US fighter was shot down over the no-fly zone in Iraq). If Rummy knew he was going to do 9/11, why was he planning to arrange another incident just a few months before?

First, who said Rummy "did" 9/11? Second, clearly there was pressure within the administration to create a new Pearl Harbor that would justify invading the middle east. So maybe someone took Rummy's idea a little too far. Your point here hardly rules out that the US aided in the 9/11 attacks.

Given that the Neocons clearly wanted to invade Iraq, not Afghanistan (Wolfowitz actually argued against invading Afghanistan at the key meeting of the war council), why was Al Qaeda framed? If the evidence is fake, why not frame Iraqi intelligence?

This is complicated, but basically Al Qaeda had agents in the US they could use for the attacks, 9/11 was probably planned for a while, the CIA and other entities wanted to go into Afghanistan, it would have been much harder to frame Iraq, 9/11 was big enough to jusitfy a broad range of retaliations. I think the anthrax attacks were meant to implicate Iraq. Some of the 9/11 events were faked, but it is hard to fake the Al Qaeda patsies that were in place for a long time.

As for help, the key question I'm asking is in what form and from when?

I think the "help" came from the very beginning with getting the hijacker patsies into the US and setting them up. The help also consisted of wiring up the WTC towers for demolition, making sure the air force was distracted/ineffective, probably flying the actual planes, etc. I think the "help" was very extensive, and that the Al Qaeda agents were really there for show and had little to do with the actual attacks.

I think the significant help started after the attacks began and I've pointed to facts that indicate this.

Could you please be a little more specific here?

I think I have at least shown that there is another explanation for the facts under discussion on the site.

There are always other possible explanations, but which facts under discussion?

If the WTC was demolished by explosives, how come the wrong tower fell first?

What do you mean the wrong tower fell first?