Chapter 110: Impossible On Several Levels


"Those towers blew up!" said Sherlock.
"When you say it's impossible," said Mycroft, "what, exactly, do you mean?"

"The official story of the September 11 attacks is impossible on several levels," replied Sherlock. "It doesn't even fit the known facts of the case."

"In what way?" asked his brother.

"Those towers blew up!" said Sherlock. "And the whole world saw video of it happening -- over and over and over. But within minutes, we were being told they had collapsed.

"They didn't collapse -- they disintegrated. Most of the steel and concrete turned to dust and blew away in the wind. Nothing like it has ever happened, before or since, absent explosives. And yet we are supposed to believe these extraordinary 'collapses' were the natural results of the buildings being hit by airplanes, and the resulting fires.

"Building 7, which was not hit by any plane, disintegrated in much the same way, later in the day. And we are supposed to believe that this 'collapse' was also natural, and caused by burning office furniture.

The Pentagon: "a round hole no bigger
than a cruise missile"
"We are also supposed to believe a jumbo jet hit the Pentagon, making a round hole no bigger than a cruise missile, and that the entire airplane -- wings, engines, tail, everything -- disappeared through that hole and entered the building, where it was vaporized by a fire so intense that it left no idenfiable parts behind. But at the same time we are supposed to believe that the hijackers were identified by DNA found inside the Pentagon.

"How could a fire hot enough to vaporize metal possibly leave human tissue intact? And how could the hijackers' DNA be matched, unless they had previously given DNA samples? The entire story is preposterous, Mycroft. And yet, it remains in circulation. How do you suppose that happens? By accident?"

"If it's not an accident," replied Mycroft, "then it must be very well coordinated. It must encompass whole governments -- not just the parties in power but the opposition parties as well. Otherwise, surely it would be the biggest issue in every election campaign. It must also encompass all manner of security agencies, and even independent investigators."

"Now you're starting to catch on," said Sherlock.

"I am not!" retorted his brother. "I am pointing out the flaw in your argument."

"But please consider the facts." argued Sherlock. "The official story fails because it does not explain the available evidence. But it would fail even if there were no available evidence. Even if we had never seen video of the towers crumbling, even if we had never seen photographs of the hole in the Pentagon, the story would still ring false."

"How so?" asked Mycroft.

Six of the 'suicide hijackers'
were still alive after the attacks.
"We were told," replied Sherlock, "that some of the passengers on the doomed flights made cell phone calls to their family members. These calls allegedly gave us the only descriptions of the hijackers. And yet -- as was well known to those working in telecommunications at the time -- cell phones of the day were non-functional at high altitudes. This alone should have put an end to the story. But instead the story was changed, and the calls were said to have been made from air phones.

"Never mind that some of the recipients of these calls had said, 'I knew who it was because I recognized the number on my call display.' None of these people would have recognized the number of an air phone, let alone misinterpret it as the cell phone of a loved one. But that didn't matter. It didn't even matter that the planes in question had no air phones. The story stood, and was spread around the world, while those who challenged it were dismissed as lunatics.

"The FBI released the names and photos of the 19 so-called hijackers. Where did these names and photos come from? Within a few days, half a dozen of these 'suicide hijackers' turned up alive and well. Some said their passports had been stolen, and to any thinking person it was obvious that a massive deception had taken place. But the FBI never wavered. It didn't question the identities of any of the so-called hijackers, or anything else about the story -- at least not in public. Why not?"

"We were told all this was thoroughly investigated," said Mycroft.

"You were told a great many things that were not true," replied Sherlock, "things that could not possibly have been true, things that were known to be untrue at the time. How do you suppose that happened? By accident?"

"You're sounding more and more like a conspiracy theorist," said Mycroft.

Philip Zelikow, who supervised
the 9/11 whitewash, is an expert
in public myth-making.
"Nonsense!" replied the detective. "I am only pointing out the facts. The man who directed the 'investigation' was Philip Zelikow, an expert in public myth-making. Unknown to the public, this supposedly independent investigator had very close ties to the White House.

"Zelikow had been part of the 'transition team' which helped put George W. Bush in office, despite his apparently having lost the presidential election of 2000. He had written a book with Bush's National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice. He had come to the attention of certain political insiders by writing a paper about catastrophic terrorism, and the political uses to which it could be put.

"Before the investigation even began, Zelikow had crafted an outline of its final report. In the outline, he laid out the entire story, chapter by chapter, complete with section headings and sub-headings. Then he assigned different writers to write specific sections. Nobody ever saw all the evidence. Nobody ever knew the whole story except Zelikow, and his contact in the White House, Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove.

"The entire '9/11 Commission' was a fraud. Five of the nine commissioners are now on record as saying they didn't get the true story. And that doesn't count one of the original would-be commissioners, who resigned before the whitewash ever got rolling.

"Architects and engineers say the towers could not have collapsed as we were told they did. Pilots say no one could have flown a jumbo jet on the flight path that allegedly struck the Pentagon. Emergency workers at the World Trade Center say they heard bombs going off prior to the buildings 'collapsing.' And in the case of Building 7, some say the area was evacuated several minutes before the explosions began.

"Yet, those who believe Zelikow's impossible story are called experts, and those who question it are ignored if not slandered. And why? By accident? Hardly.

"Are the governments, news media, and security experts engaged in a conspiracy to mislead the public? That may depend on your definition of conspiracy. It's plain that they are working together to mislead us. But are they planning every deceitful move in secret meetings? I don't think so.

"Furthermore, as your own experience shows, it is possible to be engaged in the deception unwittingly. Certainly some of those who have helped to spread these lies were in the same position as you, and did so under the impression that they were speaking the truth. But not all, Mycroft, not by any means."