The article below examines recent developments in the UK 9/11 'Truth'movement, in particular the actions of leading figures such as David Shayler, Annie Machon and Belinda McKenzie. It is taken from the new issue of Class War, which can be purchased in Freedom and Housmans in London, plus many Borders stores.
Mad, or Bad
Long term readers of Class War will be aware of the ex(?) MI5 spy David Shayler. Since leaving the security services after making the remarkable discovery that MI5 is a reactionary organisation that breaks the law at will, Shayler and his former partner Annie Machon have adopted a succession of guises in order to earn a not so honest crust.
When posing as public figures, civil libertarians and anti-war activists wore off, in 2005 both suddenly joined the 9/11 ‘Truth’ movement. For those lucky enough not to have entered these ever decreasing circles, truth activists basically believe the 9/11 attacks (and even the 7/7 one’s in the UK) were ‘inside jobs’ carried out by an ever shifting cast of suspects that at different times includes the US government, the UK government, Israel and indeed pretty much everyone except for Al Qaeda.
Even though Machon’s 2005 book “Spies, Lies and Whistleblowers – MI5 and the Shayler Affair” regards 9/11 as an attack by Islamist terrorists that demonstrated the need for a modernised, more efficient security service, the conspiraloons of the ‘truth’ movement took both Shayler and Machon to their collective bosom. Something they may now regret………..
In August 2007 Shayler announced to a stunned audience in Glastonbury that he was the Messiah, something he repeated shortly afterwards at a London press conference attended by several leading 9/11 ‘truth’ activists. Oddly Shayler’s personal benefactor, Belinda McKenzie, who heads the ‘Highgate Hub’ group of 9/11 activists, appeared to tolerate this poor man’s David Icke with a sort of bemused indifference.
Eventually the 9/11 truth movement rallied its forces, attempting to either censor references to Shayler’s actions on their webforums, (Tony Gosling leading the way here) or to denounce those raising the issue as in some way abusing the mentally ill (author Ian Henshall pushed this line).
There are two problems with this – firstly it ill becomes the ‘truth’ movement to censor references to the actions of a former MI5 officer, especially when they are so keen to accuse everyone else of cover-ups, dishonesty and denial.
The second question is perhaps the bigger one – is Shayler actually ill, and if so does he himself genuinely believe he is the Messiah? He is certainly far from convincing in this role – footage of Shayler at his London press conference, especially when not aware he is being filmed, indicates not a man possessed with Messianic zeal, but instead suggests a nervous actor trying to remember his lines. Indeed Shayler quickly becomes crabby when asked awkward questions or heckled - people suffering from mental illness rarely have the sort of self-awarenesss Shayler still possesses.
But what of his former partner in crime, Annie Machon? By February Ms Machon was shacked up with the big cheese in the Dutch 9/11 truth movement, and was increasingly looking to ‘spread the message’ internationally. Then came the clumsy announcement, which surprised most ‘truth’ activists’, that the Highgate Hub, Ms Machon and co were to resign their positions from the UK and Ireland 9/11 Truth Movement, and to concentrate their work on the new ‘Make Wars History’ (MWH) campaign. More importantly Belinda McKenzie was taking her cheque book as well………..
Taking your lead from Bob Geldof’s pathetic ‘Make Poverty History’ may seem a strange way to start a campaign, but MWH is one of these campaigns that starts off badly, seems destined to peter out in the middle and then get worse before it falls down completely. Astonishingly they believe that International Law can be used to stop war (have they not noticed the invasion of Iraq?) and that not only should Britain and America’s political elite be tried with war crimes, but that this is a realistic objective.
The end result of this nonsense appears to be very little, but early signs indicate a movement based not around mass activism, direct action or popular protest, but one based around the arguments of lawyers and legal experts. As Annie Machon well knows, the state can more than deal with that…………..
For more on the dangers of the 9/11 Truth movement, we strongly recommend the website www.911cultwatch.org.uk
Secondly Class War readers may wish to note that two long term critics of the ‘truth’ movement, Paul Stott and Larry O’Hara, are currently researching a book on the truth movement. The authors can be contacted c/o London Class War.
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