The September 11 Affair Was A Media Event

       No, I do not mean that "it didn't really happen."  Of course it really happened.  Thousands of innocent human beings were killed, in shocking, confusing, terrifying, painful, and violent circumstances.

       Nor do I mean that "it was hyped" by the media, in the sense that they made it more important than it was.  It was every bit as important as they reported it, and people in America and around the world were rightly shocked, and wanted -- and needed, and deserved -- to know as much as they possibly could about what had happened, and why, and to whom, and by whom.  It was indeed a Pearl Harbor moment in the experience of America and the world.

       Nor do I think that "Bush knew."  His behavior on that day -- flying from Florida to this and that military base, and insisting that he be returned to the White House before the end of the day -- shows the kind of improvisation that is consistent with a man responding to genuinely surprising events.

       (I do not think that he was caught absolutely flat-footed, because I think that he was privy to various information that made him aware that "something" might happen "somewhere, sometime soon," but that was not actionable.  The result would have been, I think, only a heightened sense of tension or fear on his part.  Just my opinion.)

       It was a media event.

       Nothing wrong with that;  of course it was a media event, in the sense that almost by definition, the print and electronic media are the means by which we know most of the things that are going on around us all the time.  Presidential elections, earthquakes in Haiti, nuclear accidents in Japan, publications of books, and popularity of entertainers are all media events in this benign and necessary sense.

       But I think, and I think I have evidence, that September 11 was a media event in the more sinister sense, the sense that you picked up when you read my title.  The sense that something was . . . staged.

       In any great historical event, the true facts and real meanings are established in a natural process that begins in uncertainty and remains incomplete, as people come forward to examine the evidence, share their memories and impressions, and listen to one another, trying to make sense of things, with the expectation that something like "the whole story" will emerge.  This process of understanding can take years.

       That did not happen on, or after, September 11.  Instead, a spin dynamic took over; immediately.  The center of this spin dynamic appears to have located within the advisory councils of the American media from the very early moments of the event -- rather than from, say, the White House, the Congress, or the military.

       Here is a part of the story of how the spin was made to work.  It begins with a narrative that supports and leads to a purpose.

       1.  Set the main focus of the story with your narrative.  Within a few hours, pundits were telling us that it was the work of "Osama bin Laden," and to this day probably ninety percent of Americans "know" that "Bin Laden did it."  What they do not know is that the FBI had no evidence to charge Bin Laden with the crime of September 11, and never did charge him with that crime in the years that followed.  Why then do we know that Bin Laden Did It?  Here's why.  One or two "experts" who were given air time on a news program said so with confidence on the very first day.  And the rest, they say, is history.  But it is spun history.  Scripted history.

       2.  Inject false elements, if necessary, to sustain the narrative.  Within a few hours, we were shown pictures of Palestinian women in their burkas chattering and cheering at the news of the falling towers.  What we were not told was that this "news" was in fact old archival film footage of some Arab women somewhere cheering about something else, and had nothing whatsoever to do with the days events, at all, period.  This mis-impression was never corrected, and indeed could not be, since it could not possibly have been an honest mistake.  Someone was deliberately feeding malicious disinformation to the media.

       3.  Ignore facts and information that contradict the narrative.  According to the narrative, each of the twin towers suddenly collapsed as a result of the heat from the aircraft fires.  Each one went from being a sturdy 110-story building, to becoming clouds of dust and a pile of rubble, in less than twenty seconds.  Many skyscrapers have suffered from fires more severe and more sustained;  they have never collapsed like this before or since.  Architects and engineers know why they do not collapse:  they have been carefully designed not to.

       It also happened that a third skyscraper at the World Trade Center, Building 7, collapsed in the same way on the same day, but this time with no aircraft fires.  There was no explanation; none at all.  Within a few hours, it was forgotten by the media, and therefore by the people.  Also, there was never an official  investigation:  it is as if it never happened.

       4.  Avoid any serious investigation.  The debris and evidence was cleared away from Ground Zero very quickly, and the steel was sold off to China.  The government resisted efforts to investigate any of the day's events for years, and when they reluctantly did so, the investigation was shackled, limited, misled, and under-funded.  I believe the word I am looking for here is charade.

       "Nothing to see here . . . move right along."

       5.  Move to the real purpose of the event.  The whole point of the September 11 event was to galvanize public support for a series of wars in the Middle East.  Never mind that the nineteen terrorists with box-cutters were mostly Saudi nationals; and they were dead.  But they were "from caves in Afghanistan" -- Tora Bora, as we were all told and all dutifully recall -- and therefore Afghanistan must be punished, by an invasion and occupation that would -- incidentally, of course -- control oil and gas pipeline routes, as well as changing the management of the ancient, fabled -- and lucrative -- opium poppy fields.

       6.  Admit no foreknowledge; accept no responsibility.   No one had any idea that they would use planes against buildings, according to our National Security Advisor, Condoleeza Rice.  And of course the United States had done nothing to provoke anything, as she also said:   "I think the word of the United States has been as good as gold in its international dealings and its agreements."   Condi, Condi,  what history books have you been reading?  Do you "Remember the Maine"?  Do you remember the Shah?  No, we are always the innocent, poor victim, good guys.  We have always been as good as gold in our international dealings and agreements.

       7.  Ridicule the doubters of the narrative.  If you are not with us, you are against us.  You don't understand terrorism.  You are not patriotic.  You are irresponsible.  You are an appeaser.  You are naive.  You are a liberal.  You are a conspiracy theorist.  You are listening to nut jobs.  You scare me.  Etc.

       This seven-part scenario has been running for ten years, non-stop.  It has the full co-operation of the controlled media in the United States, and it has entered the belief-system of Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, Christians and Jews and agnostics and apathetics.

       The truth is, some people knew.  And they knew that they could control the press, and the reactions of the people, and the actions of the government well enough -- not perfectly, but well enough -- to get what they wanted.   This is scary, because it indicates that there are secret killers in high places.

       Folks are afraid to look under the covers.  I know the feeling, and I don't really blame them.  My parents' generation did not want to know who killed President Kennedy.  I think they were afraid to know.

       But, not knowing, they and their kids got the War in Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia anyway.  And they didn't know why.  And still don't.

       And we and our kids have the War in Afghanistan-Iraq-Pakistan-Libya-Somalia-Yemen.  And we think we know why.  But we don't.

       Don't ask questions.  Don't associate with people who ask questions.  If you want to know what's really going on, just plug in; trust the media; be like your friends.  Shall we order out pizza with our Netflix tonight? Pepperoni, or mushroom-and-olive?  Both?  Okay.

       The media lords have all the best ideas.  They own the theater, the scripts, and the copyrights.  They are buying out the competition, or burning it down.  We are the audience, and we mostly sit and listen.  We know when we are supposed to cheer, and cry, and clap, and wait until intermission before going to the restrooms.

       If we are lucky and talented, they may invite us up on stage to read a few lines.  "It was so exciting! It was the most meaningful day of my life!"

       Audience, and actors.  Is there a third alternative?

*       *       *

Here you can find an interesting interview with Paul Craig Roberts.

You may enjoy this video at Corbett Report.