Inside the 9/11 Hearings...

Inside the 9/11 Hearings: Uncovering Deception, Demanding the Truth

Global Research News Hour Summer Series Part 1

By Michael Welch, David Ray Griffin, Lance deHaven-Smith, and Kevin Ryan

From September 8 to September 11, 2011, a gathering of researchers, experts and activists converged on the campus of Ryerson University in Toronto to review what was then the most up to date information with regard to the ten year old tragedy.

Throughout the four day event, speakers challenged the views that the attacks were carried out by an outside enemy and that they were successful because of US intelligence failures. The visiting speakers from around the world would point to evidence that the Twin Towers were deliberately brought down using explosives. They would discuss the term ‘conspiracy theory’ and the consequent attempts to marginalize critics of the official story in mainstream media and culture. Crucially, they would make the case for a re-opening of an independent investigation into the attacks.

Does 9/11 still matter?

The 9/11 attacks took place just under twelve years ago. They were carried out under the watch of a different administration in Washington. The world has moved on. What is the point of continuing to reveal the truth about 9/11?

When hijacked airplanes flew into the Twin Towers causing them to collapse, or so the public was led to believe, the administration of then US President George W. Bush announced that the US and in fact the civilized world were under threat from a fanatical terrorist network known as Al Qaeda. The US and its partners would need to reformulate their domestic and foreign policies in order to subdue the terrorist menace in our midst. Fear that an international network of criminal extremists were so dastardly and cunning that they could catch the $40 billion military-intelligence apparatus of the United States completely off guard made it easier to convince its citizens to dispense with many of the freedoms and liberties celebrated by Americans as pillars of their democracy.

Ordinary Americans would be persuaded to subsidize with their tax dollars, and the lives of their sons and daughters in uniform, the military operations taking place in the Middle East, North Africa and abroad in the name of fighting terrorism.

The legend of this menacing outside enemy furnishes the justification for all these draconian measures. If there is to be any measure of success in resisting the allure of expensive and destructive wars, unlawful detentions, and boundless surveillance, it is crucial that the legend of 9/11 which underpins the Global War on Terrorism be carefully examined.

These conversations are excerpted from the DVD “The Toronto Hearing on 9/11: Uncovering Ten Years of Deception” (available to order from Global Research). Part One features three presenters who all spoke on September 8, the first day of the hearings.

Lance deHaven-Smith is a Professor in the Reubin O’D. Askew School of Public Administration and Policy at Florida State University. A former President of the Florida Political Science Association, he is the author, co-author, or editor of 15 books on topics ranging from religion and political philosophy to Florida government and politics. He is the author of Conspiracy Theory in America published last April by University of Texas Press. In his September 8 talk, he addressed what he called ‘State Crimes Against Democracy’ (SCADs).

David Ray Griffin is a retired Professor of Philosophy of Religion and Theology from the Claremont School of Theology in Claremont California. He has written or contributed to twelve books on the topic of the 9/11 attacks including his most recent – 9/11 Ten Years Later: When State Crimes Against Democracy Succeed. He spoke on Day One of the Toronto Hearings on the topic of ‘The Inadequacies of the 9/11 Commission Report.’

Kevin Ryan is a chemist and Laboratory Manager and was the site manager for Environmental Health Laboratories, a division of Underwriters Laboratories, before he was fired in 2004 for publicly questioning the report drafted by the National Institute on Standards and Technology (NIST) on their World Trade Center collapse investigation. He has continued to research the World Trade Center attacks and works as co-editor of the on-line Journal of 911 Studies. In his September 8 presentation, he discusses his assessment of the inadequacies of NIST’s 9/11 investigation.
Efforts are afoot to bring greater awareness of the flaws in the official 9/11 story to a broader public audience this September through a grassroots advertising campaign. For more information, visit RETHINK911.org.

Also be sure to check out Global Research’s complete on-line dossier on 9/11.

Click here to listen to audio:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-toronto-hearings-on-911-uncovering-ten-years-of-deception-part-one/5344014