Rating: 
Summary: All the Questions in One Place - Finally!
Review: This is the book I've been waiting for since the first nagging doubt, why didn't they scramble the F-16s by 8:30 a.m.? Why that look on GWB's face while reading the goat story in the Florida classroom?
Griffin cites all his sources (the compendious footnotes alone are worth the price of the book!) and to his credit does NOT draw the obvious conclusions, but simply recommends a full investigation, hopefully by the heretofore comatose press. (Where are you, Woodward & Bernstein?)
For any reader who is dead set on getting Bush out of the presidency, this book is a must-read. Beyond that: buy several! Give them to your library, your friends, your family! Do it now!
Rating:
Summary: DISTURBING QUESTIONS INDEED
Review: "Life is short, and the list of conspiracy theories is long," says this author. So, why does he ask us to spend time on yet another supposedly far-out tale? A good initial reason is that he is David Ray Griffin, known from his other works to be an extremely meticulous and disciplined scholar and researcher. Carefully scrutinizing the evidence of the attacks of 9-11, the official explanations, and the work of critics, he presents the reader with numerous and disturbing questions. Some of the most important ones are: FAA regulations and standard procedures require that when a plane goes off course and/or radio contact is lost, flight controllers must contact the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), which immediately orders high-speed jet fighters from the nearest airbase to intercept the errant plane and signal it visually to follow them down. If the plane fails to comply, with high-level permission it may even be shot down. Why were these procedures not followed with the first plane when it was known to have been hijacked, 25 minutes before the first attack on the Twin Towers? And especially when the second plane was known to be heading toward to New York at the time the first one hit? Were the towers actually brought down by controlled demolitions? Why was so much of the evidence spirited away before investigators could examine it? How could the Pentagon, with on-site missiles always at the ready, and a third hijacking known, have been unguarded nearly an hour after the first crash? Why would the attacking aircraft have executed an extremely difficult maneuver to hit the 80-foot-high wall on the west wing, where civilians were doing renovations, instead of crashing into the 29-acre roof where it could have done much more damage? Why does a photo taken before the facade fell show a 15-18 foot hole? How could a Boeing 757 with a 125-foot wingspan have disappeared into this hole? Why was there no burned-out shell? Why have the videotapes taken by the service station across the street, immediately confiscated by the FBI, not been released? What about the expert witnesses who claimed to have heard or seen a small military plane or missile instead? Why did the fourth plane crash, given that the passengers were taking control, and that among them was reportedly a pilot? How about witnesses who saw jet fighters in its vicinity, who heard explosions? Why was some of the wreckage a mile away from the downed plane? Was this the one plane that WAS shot down? Why did President Bush sit calmly talking with schoolchildren, knowing that his country was under major attack and that he would logically be a prime target? There are essentially two mega-theories to account for these and many other problems with the official story: the incompetence theory and the complicity theory. This level of incompetence, Griffin points out, is simply incredible. But the more logical theory, that the attacks succeeded despite astronomical odds because high-level Bush administration figures deliberately allowed them, is so disturbing that administration spokespersons simply dismiss it out of hand, preferring to abuse the critics rather than confront the evidence. And for three years the media, too, have shown very little interest in such confrontation. As Griffin has shown elsewhere, such brushing-aside of evidence takes place on a wide scale in issues where peoples' worldview is threatened, and deep wishes or fears take over their thinking. But at stake are the erosion of our civil liberties and the uncontrolled imperial adventuring that have followed the disasters of 9-11. Griffin does not claim to have the final answers, only to have made a strong case that an independent, well-funded investigation is desperately needed. He makes his case a hundred times over.
Rating:
Summary: Disturbing Questions Indeed
Review: "Life is short, and the list of conspiracy theories is long," says this author. So, why does he ask us to spend time on yet another far-out tale? A good initial reason is that he is David Ray Griffin, known from his other works to be an extremely meticulous and disciplined scholar and researcher. Carefully scrutinizing the evidence of the attacks of 9-11, the official explanations, and the work of critics, he presents the reader with numerous and disturbing questions. Some of the most important ones are: FAA regulations and standard procedures require that when a plane goes off course and/or radio contact is lost, flight controllers must contact the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), which immediately orders high-speed jet fighters from the nearest airbase to intercept the errant plane and signal it visually to follow them down. If the plane fails to comply, with high-level permission it may even be shot down. Why were these procedures not followed with the first plane when it was known to have been hijacked, 25 minutes before the first attack on the Twin Towers? And especially when the second plane was known to be heading toward to New York at the time the first one hit? Were the towers actually brought down by controlled demolitions? Why was so much of the evidence spirited away before investigators could examine it? How could the Pentagon, with on-site missiles always at the ready, and a third hijacking known, have been unguarded nearly an hour after the first crash? Why would the attacking aircraft have executed an extremely difficult maneuver to hit the 80-foot-high wall on the west wing, where civilians were doing renovations, instead of crashing into the 29-acre roof where it could have done much more damage? Why does a photo taken before the facade fell show a 15-18 foot hole? How could a Boeing 757 with a 125-foot wingspan have disappeared into this hole? Why was there no burned-out shell? Why have the videotapes taken by the service station across the street, immediately confiscated by the FBI, not been released? What about the expert witnesses who claimed to have heard or seen a small military plane or missile instead? Why did the fourth plane crash, given that the passengers were taking control, and that among them was reportedly a pilot? How about witnesses who saw jet fighters in its vicinity, who heard explosions? Why was some of the wreckage a mile away from the downed plane? Was this the one plane that WAS shot down? Why did President Bush sit calmly talking with schoolchildren, knowing that his country was under major attack and that he would logically be a prime target? There are essentially two mega-theories to account for these and many other problems with the official story: the incompetence theory and the complicity theory. This level of incompetence, Griffin points out, is simply incredible. But the more logical theory, that the attacks succeeded despite astronomical odds because high-level Bush administration figures deliberately allowed them, is so disturbing that administration spokespersons simply dismiss it out of hand, preferring to abuse the critics rather than confront the evidence. And for three years the media have shown very little interest in such confrontation. As Griffin has shown elsewhere, such brushing-aside of evidence takes place on a wide scale in issues where peoples' worldview is threatened, and deep wishes or fears take over their thinking. But at stake are the erosion of our civil liberties and the uncontrolled imperial adventuring that have followed the disasters of 9-11. Griffin does not claim to have the final answers, only to have made a strong case that an independent, well-funded investigation is desperately needed. He makes his case a hundred times over.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling and Disturbing
Review: David Ray Griffin raises credible and disturbing questions about the Bush Administration's response to the incidents on 9/11. He poses no definitive answers to the questions he raises, which, in my mind, increases his own credibility. His purpose is to raise the questions. I hope that this book will be taken seriously by the press and those in authority to discover what actually happened on that tragic day.
Rating:
Summary: Important Questions and a Serious Book
Review: Up until late 2003 I was an unrepentant hawk and supporter of the Bush administration's foreign policies. What has always seemed odd to me, however, is that the Bush administration's basic account of that tragic events on 9/11/01 has never been questioned. Indeed, anyone that even implied an alternative explanation was immediately attacked as unpatriotic or insane and probably both. I sought out this book when I became outraged at how the Bush administration was apparently stonewalling the 9/11 commission. What is clear is that there are many troubling questions about 9/11 that remain unanswered and that the Bush administration does not want to answer those questions. At a minimum, the administration is guilty of negligence and a cover-up of that negligence. It is also clear that they exploited 9/11 to implement their pre-9/11 agenda. Worst of all, it is possible that they were complicit in the terrorists attacks. I don't know that the worst possible scenarios explored in this book are true. The author is careful to point out that the book does not reach definitive conclusions. I hope, however, that some of our Democrat politicians and the docile press will read this book. Perhaps it will help them find their backbones. They have failed us. By not demanding answers to hard questions they have so far let the Bush administration get away with an outrageous cover-up (at the very least).
Rating:
Summary: Asks the Right Questions/Logical and Well Argued
Review: David Ray Griffin, long known for his contributions to the fields of philosophy and theology, turns his logical mind and keen powers of analysis on the official story of the events of 9/11 and finds it, frankly, incredible. Griffin has performed an invaluable public service by writing this book, and at no small risk to his reputation. By exposing the flaws in the official version of these events he raises the possibility that mainstream journalists find too terrible to contemplate: that elements of the U.S. government, and possibly even the President, were complicit in bringing these events about. To those (and they are many) who would dismiss such a suggestion out of hand, I would recommend taking this book seriously. Griffin is no wild-eyed fanatic, and one could not accuse of him of making unwarranted logical leaps. He treats this topic with the same care and rational rigor exhibited in his philosophical works. This book is not so much an indictment of the Bush Administration as a call for a serious public investigation (and not a mere whitewash) of events that have been used to justify unprecedented infringements upon the civil liberties of Americans at home and imperial adventures abroad. Ultimately, such an investigation (were it ever to occur) would likely lead to impeachment. If the evidence points in the direction that Griffin's analysis suggests, the current government of the United States is guilty of the highest crimes imaginable. It is vital to our democracy that this book receive the widest possible readership, and that the public demand answers to these questions.
Rating:
Summary: An Important Book
Review: On the eve of Richard Clarke's testimony to the 9-11 Commission, this book adds an invaluable source to evaluate the testimony you hear (and the testimony you don't hear...no one in the Bush administration will testify under oath.) Robert Bamford, in his book, Body of Secrets, already revealed a plot by the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the 1960s to stage terrorist attacks against American citizens by murdering them on the street, hijacking planes, and blaming these acts on others. It is important to question the reasons that Bush tried to stall an investigation into 9-11 for more than a year, budgeted less than 5 million on that investigation, while the Republican Congress was willing to waste approximately 70 million taxpayer dollars investigating Clinton's stupidity. The neo-cons planned an invasion of Iraq for years, and when 9-11 occurred, they wanted to immediately blame Iraq, and were willing, it seems, to let Osama get away with murder so that they could immediately launch an attack on Iraq. Clarke reveals this in his book, Against All Enemies. The March 21, 04 WSJ finally has an article which also notes the lies from the administration about events on that day. Better late than never. Read this book, Clarke's book, the WSJ article, and ask yourself why we have been lied to over and over by Bush.
Rating:
Summary: Necessary reading
Review: This book should be essential reading to anyone interested in understanding the events of 9/11/01. Its value is to be found in the questions it raises regarding government conduct in relation to the terrorist attacks. While the author admits that much of the information is drawn from other sources, it is no less important for that fact. What I found most interesting were the contextual analyses of the 9/11 timeline that argue strongly for Bush administration complicity in the attacks. On 9/11, when I first heard of the attacks, the first historical analogy that came to mind was the German Reichstag fire, and how that "terrorist" act, later shown to be staged by the Nazi authorities, led to the passage of the Enabling Act and Hitler's ascent to dictatorial power. I have seen nothing in Bush's 9/11 conduct, from pushing the Patriot Act to waging aggressive war, that has persuaded me that any analogy other than this is more appropriate.
Rating: 
Summary: Another in long line of latecomers to 9/11 research
Review: For three years, while most of the world was either ignorant, intentionally silent or deceptive, or cowed into meek acceptance of various official versions of what took place on 9/11, many courageous journalists, researchers, academics and activists dared pursue the shocking realities behind the greatest government crime in modern history. These 9/11 reseachers have been subjected to constant media attacks, but have bravely forged on. Griffin's book, while certainly useful, sources some of the work of many of the earliest 9/11 researchers (who, to this day, deserve greater recognition). This reader suggests that you look at Griffin's sources, along with the work of other groundbreakers whose work is on the Internet, such as Michel Chossudovsky, Michael Ruppert (whose own book is upcoming), Dan Hopsicker, and investigators of physical evidence.
Rating:
Summary: We've Met the Enemy, He Is Us
Review: Griffin's book is the ultimate wake-up call for America. It's time to "take the bull by the tail and look the facts in the face" (W.C. Fields) and admit "we've met the enemy, and he is us" (Pogo). It's time to take a close look at the official story of 9-11, which is demonstrably false--a Big Lie presumably concocted by those who wanted to drag us into endless war by staging a phoney "New Pearl Harbor". It was the disaster film to end all disaster films, a cinemetographically stunning commercial for the long-planned war in which 3000 extras played the role of collateral damage. The facts are stunningly clear. The hijackers' mission could not have succeeded without stand-down orders issued by the top of the U.S. military command. The WTC was taken down with explosives in classic controlled demolitions, as FEMA well understood but couldn't come right out and say. The fifteen-foot diameter hole in the Pentagon was obviously caused by a missile, not a 125-foot wide by 40-foot-high 757. And the flight in Pennsylvania that "crashed" was shot down BECAUSE the passengers were regaining control of the plane. One of them was a pilot, and live hijackers would be inconvenient. Those guys weren't Muslim fanatics. They went to a lap-dance club the night before, for Allah's sakes! The Saudi muscle guys came over on CIA snitch visas, as a CIA source involved in the subsequent coverup, I mean "investigation", informed me, and they were garden variety thugs, not martyrs. Keeping all of the above in mind, Bush's weirdly nonchalant behavior at the school in Florida--a location the whole world knew about, from which he would have been quickly evacuated if the nation were really under attack--makes a bit more sense. As does the coverup of Mossad involvement that Justin Raimondo so eloquently discusses in The Terror Enigma. Mossad, like Pakistan's ISI, got key subcontracts, doing certain things that it would be hard to get Americans to do. Face it, folks. The Emperor forgot to put his clothes on before he strode off to war. Read Griffin's book, then start agitating for a real 9-11 investigation. Before we start spreading "democracy" in the Middle East, we should think about re-establishing it at home.
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