See the article over at http://www.reason.com/news/show/122604.html

The Banality of Truth

The government finally admits pre-9/11 bumbling

Jeff Taylor | September 21, 2007

On Tuesday Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell told the House Judiciary Committee things that, had a government official said them in the days, weeks, or months following 9/11. would have sparked public outrage—and may have significantly blunted the push for greater police and surveillance powers like the PATRIOT Act.

McConnell told lawmakers that "9/11 should have and could have been prevented."

Specifically, McConnell cited the pilot training sought by hijackers Khalid al Mihdhar and Nawaf al Hazmi and convicted terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui in the United States as an obvious warning sign that was ignored by Washington after feds on the ground flagged the activity.

"For whatever reason, we didn't connect the dots," McConnell said, not quite coming clean on the reasons.

I have obtained a copy of the live footage broadcast by UPN 9 News, WWOR-TV, on 9/11, and it reveals that Michael Hess, along with Barry Jennings, seem to have been out of the building much earlier than NIST stated in their June 2004 Progress Report. In NIST's report, it places the two individuals' rescue between 12:10 and 12:15, but as can be seen in the video, which I have not the means to upload right now, places he and Mr. Jennings out by around 11:30, because he is speaking live on the news (via telephone with a reporter), at 11:34. The video starts at 10:37, and Michael Hess appears 57 minutes into it. The interviewing reporter, Frank Ucciardo, appears several seconds before. We can further estimate how long Michael Hess had been out of the building by reasoning that he was interviewed "on Broadway about a block from city hall", which puts him near the intersection of Broadway and Chambers Street. On Yahoo maps, the shortest route from what used to be the north face of WTC 7 on Barclay to that intersection is four-tenths of a mile. It seems reasonable to assume that it took no less than five minutes (and probably significantly longer) for Mr.

Simply, I need the help of the community to direct me toward the person who took this photograph, as it appears on 911research.com.

http://www.911research.com/wtc/evidence/photos/wtc7fire3.html

I am just hoping that I am a Johnny-come-lately, but I have been unable to find a source for this picture. Whoever answers the e-mails at 911research.com has not gotten back to me. Does anyone know where this picture is from?

Thanks.

I am sure there are people out there who have seen this film. I have just been doing research, actually not about Barry Jennings or Michael Hess, and came across this interview with Michael Hess done by HBO's documentary In Memoriam. The thing is, while it is listed on the site, both links to watch it (as well as all the links for all the videos) failed for me. Can anyone else see it?

http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/9_11/

Go to the interactive site.
Click on 911 and go to staff interviews. Michael Hess is pictured fourth from the left on the top row of pictures. I can't watch the interview. Can anyone? If not, we should write to HBO and try to obtain that interview. It COULD be telling.

I am planning to go to the National Archives in D.C. (actually the branch in College Park, Maryland) to look at this http://arcweb.archives.gov/arc/arch_results_detail.jsp?&pg=52&si=0&nh=65&st=b

Do you guys think it will be worth it? It ostensibly has over 1,400 images. Has anyone else gone to see if there is anything of value in terms of new photographs, especially of damage to wtc 7? I don't want to waste my time and money if anyone can convince me it won't be a fruitful search. It does talk about the photos being of the "aftermath", but I don't know if that means it has pictures from the day or not. Anyway, any recommendations would be appreciated.

Thanks!

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/wtc/cons-flash.html

On NOVA's website for "How the Towers Fell" there is an interview with Dr. Shyam Sunder who makes seemingly unfounded, speculatory excuses for the speed of the collapses, as well as for molten metal dripping from the South Tower (which Dr. Steven Jones has already explained CANNOT be aluminum), and other anomalies such as the puffs of dust, ignoring evidence to the contrary. It's a nice little interview- the interviewer does very little arguing, but does bring up the relevant topics of interest.