9/11 CultWatch

Wake Up And Smell The Coffee - And Reinvestigate 9/11

Congratulations to Ian Henshall and all those at Reinvestigate 9/11.  

Some 13 months after it was first attempted (for the seventh anniversary of 9/11 in September 2008) they have finally succeeded in placing a Reinvestigate 9/11 advert in the Independent. At this rate, they may get a new investigation by 2025! If you want to see the advert, its page 26 of todays paper if anyone is interested. Its easy to spot - its the page in smaller type than the rest of the newspaper. 

It is very clear that Reinvestigate 9/11 is very much Mr Henshall's baby. Stating the groups case in The Indy has been somewhat tempered by giving part of the advert over to an a section promoting Henshall's book, and another section advertising his coffee business. Clearly when we started taking adverts on the 9/11 Cultwatch blog we started a trend!

Reading the (advert free) articles about the truth movement in the new Notes From The Borderland, I can't help wondering if we are missing a trick. Perhaps we should emulate Mr Henshall and Reinvestigate 9/11's approach? A section devoted to my stepbrother's french polishing business perhaps? Adverts from Larry O'Hara's chiropodist, or that nice Vietnamese lady who does Heidi Svenson's nails once a month? 

Wake up everyone - it is time to smell the fair trade coffee! (And to call for a new investigation into 9/11!)

'What The World's Been Waiting For..........'

Ok, so that's slightly over the top as a heading, but here's issue 9 of Notes From the Borderland, the UK's premier magazine of parapolitics, as published at the October 2009 Anarchist Bookfair in London.

What's in the magazine?  Well, try this for size:

1. Showing we are not afraid of debate, 3 pages are handed over to the J7 Campaign.  
2. Larry O'Hara then responds in detail, exposing the weaknesses of 7/7 'truth' activism.
3. Heidi Svenson spots Annie Machon in Canada and a curious exhibition on Blackpool sea-front
4. Paul Stott examines Make Wars History, a new political campaign or the 9/11 'truth' movement remixed for a different audience?
5. Beyond the 9/11 Cult. NFB publishes a hard-hitting interview with two refugees from the 9/11 'truth' movement - Louise Evans and Mick Meaney. Read about their experiences.  

And that a detailed examination of the BNP's electoral success and the need for anti-fascists to revise their strategy, a critique of the Anarchist Studies Network, book reviews and an update on previous NFB stories, and we think this issue provides something for (almost) everyone. 

Notes From the Borderland costs £4, is available from the NFB website, stacks of good bookshops such as Housmans and Freedom in London and parts of the Borders chain. Be informed. 

The British Ostriches

I have just got round to reading Richard Watson's "The Rise of the British Jihad", which appeared in Granta issue 103, last summer.

Watson focuses largely on the former al-Muhajiroun group, 7/7, and Operation Crevice, with some interesting diversions into Pakistan. There are problems - I suspect Watson has relied far more heavily on Hassan Butt as a source than he declares, and he drops a clanger by giving us a pen portrait of Butt that includes his May 2008 arrest by Greater Manchester Police, but not his admission to have been making up his supposed terrorist past. Nor does Watson appear to have grappled with Nafeez Ahmed's work on either 7/7 or Operation Crevice.

For those interested in 7/7 conspiracy theories, Watson's interview with Dr Mohammed Naseem is all too brief, but his experience of meeting mosque leaders and discussing Jihadi terrorism is fascinating. Whilst it is perhaps not surprising that many ignore the supposition that the 7/7 bombers did find religious inspiration and justification for their actions (a myopia that has also infected parts of the British left) the degree to which Watson encountered conspiracy theory is less surprising:

"And conspiracy theories abound: large numbers of people simply do not believe that Muslims are involved in terrorist plots; they prefer to see the various plots as being part of a wider global anti-Islamic conspiracy, usually involving the Jews."

Richard Watson "The One True God, Allah: The Rise of the British Jihad" p.82 (Granta 103, 2008)

For All You Controlled Demolition Theorists.....

Tune in this evening for a one hour documentary on Channel 5. Megastructures: Built From Disaster, at 8pm.

The gist of the write-ups for this programme are that it will examine how engineering has been influenced by catastrophic events such as the attack on the  Twin Towers. Which of course is somewhat out of skilter with 'truth' arguments that significant figures in the world of architects and engineering don't actually believe the twin towers were brought down by planes at all.

If the 'truthers' are correct, why then, are architects and building plans taking what happened on 9/11 into account? 

More on Jack Jones

The recently published authorised history of MI5 by Christopher Andrew, raises one or two interesting issues.

One of the press stories that broke with publication concerned former trades unionist Jack Jones, and his alleged links with the KGB. Anyone familiar with the post-MI5 trajectory of 9/11 'truthers' David Shayler and Annie Machon will be aware of the times they either hinted at, or openly made this assertion. Most notoriously Ms Machon planted a real red baiting piece in the Mail of 30/1/2005 linking together not just Jack Jones and the KGB, but Tony Benn and the issue of Polaris submarine secrets as well. 

Curiously this tale did not go onto appear in Machon's book 'Spies, Lies and Whistleblowers'. At the time it was easy to speculate whether Jack Jones or Tony Benn's lawyers had fired a shot across Ms Machon's bows. Now of course another possibility emerges - she simply stepped aside for the official history of MI5, not wanting to steal Christopher Andrew's thunder?

Lame In Leeds

The rise of 'truth' activism in Yorkshire has provoked a 9/11 Cultwatch supporter in the white rose county to contribute a small report on some of the murky waters truthers are swimming in over in West Yorkshire.   During a pub crawl in Leeds over the weekend we stumbled into The Victoria near the town hall to find a benefit gig in progress for the 'truth' movement. From what was on display the pub appeared to be a holding pen for every variety of conspiracy nut on the planet. There was a bloke flogging '9/11 Inside Job' t-shirts, DVD's on how the weather is being used as a weapon, stuff on Barack Obama's real Kenyan origins, the secret Nazi-Jewish plot that controls America, postcards about how global warming is a myth, all sorts of racist and loopy stuff. I picked up a great poster with 'No-one is modifying the weather!' on. How's that for an early Christmas present! Most of the leaflets on the tables were in the name of the British Constitution Group and the Whole Truth Coalition  and they were giving out a free newspaper called 'the UK Column'. It surprised me how right-wing a lot of the stuff they were putting out was. The paper was full of articles about Marxists in Westminster seeking to undermine the family, promote homosexuality and permanently damage Britain's currency, which needs to be linked to the Gold Standard again apparently. We need to combat these ideas - there are enough right wing ideals in this society as it is. Whilst it is tempting to stress how peripheral a lot of these individuals and groups are it was noticeable that people who are obviously from the wing of the 9/11 truth movement least in touch with reality managed to put on a well-organised gig in a city centre pub plus a full day of meetings in one of the back rooms. The place was packed as well. I also noticed one of their upcoming meetings, 'Parliament on Trial', is advertised in the latest issue of Private Eye (pg. 35) so they have a few bob to spend as well.   Yorkshire Kid