According to Michael Isikoff at Newsweek, "The White House is staging a high-level exercise Saturday (today) to test responses to the prospect of a massive domestic terrorist attack involving IEDs (improvised explosive devices)—the same deadly roadside bombs that have been used by insurgents against the U.S. military in Iraq...."

"As part of the exercise, the officials will be handed a thick binder which lays out a scenario involving simultaneous terror attacks by “sleeper cells” of 20 to 25 individuals each dispersed in five cities across the country: New York, Washington, Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles. The officials will then be tested on how they direct their respective agencies to respond. “We’ve designed this to overtax the system, to push the system beyond the breaking point,” said one senior administration official familiar with planning for the event, who declined to be identified talking about it before it takes place...."

Edward Jay Epstein has an editorial in today's Wall Street Journal that deals with details of the alleged Al Qaeda plot on 9/11 and the CIA's contention that the plot was contained to a small group of Al Qaeda insiders, contrary to what a Spanish investigation into an alleged Madrid cell is saying. It's complicated, but consider this sliver of skepticism that concludes the piece:

"Yet if Mr. Garzon is correct about the Spanish connection to 9/11, it is not only the effectiveness of the CIA's interrogation of its al Qaeda prisoners that is called into question. The information from Binalshibh, KSM and other detainees was used to fill in the missing pieces of the jigsaw, and those gaps concerned the contacts the 9/11 conspirators might have had with others wishing to harm America. By saying that no one else was involved--not in Spain, Iran, Hezbollah, Malaysia, Iraq, the Czech Republic or Pakistan--these detainees allowed the 9/11 Commission to complete its picture of al Qaeda as a solitary entity.

Deniz Yeter has prudently identified a warning from a former Bush official of a potential false flag terror operation by the Bush administration as a pretext for war with Iran. This is worth reading and following, as potential additional evidence that 9/11 was an inside job.

Yeter writes:

"Hillary Mann Leverett, the former National Security Council Director for Iranian and Persian Gulf Affairs under the Bush administration from 2001 to 2004, until she left the administration, has issued a sober warning to the public concerning Bush's intentions with Iran.

In an interview on CNN, on February 12, she accused the Bush administration of "trying to push a provocative, accidental conflict" from Iran as a pretext to justify "limited strikes" against the country's crucial nuclear and military infrastructures, as opposed to "an all-out invasion like what happened with Iraq.""

Yeter also notes Brzezinski's recent remarks, which are worth repeating here:

Well, it wouldn't be another day without another progressive media outlet attacking 9/11 Truth. This one is so patronizing it will make your blood boil. This time it's Peter Michaelson at Buzzflash:

"Can we persuade conspiracy buffs to drop their 9/11 speculations and join forces with the legions of the left? It would certainly be advantageous to have them by our side as we struggle to defeat our common foes on the right.

The standard theories and beliefs of 9/11 conspiracy buffs are well known and need not be repeated here. What needs telling, though, is the nature of the source of their adamant convictions. Perhaps a tour of the shaky substructure of their belief system can return them to their senses.

Here's a brief but concise riposte to the progressive media types -- Cockburn, Monbiot, Rothschild -- who have been chirping about 9/11 skepticism. This blog is credited to Michael Dudley, who apparently is at the University of Winnipeg:

"And it is these influential liberals in question, not 911 skepticism, that is doing great damage to progressive causes -- and not just because they appear to be turning progressives against each other. Their own rigidity, dogmatism and intolerance for dissent will only serve to undermine all they would otherwise hope to accomplish -- in terms of the environment and social equity -- and for one fundamental reason: Quite contrary to Monbiot's assertions, it is the war on terror that is the primary "displacement activity" burying progressive causes, not 911 skepticism.

Attention Truthers in Arkansas:

Thomas H. Kean, the former chairman of the 9/11 Commission, will speak today at the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock.

Kean’s lecture, “Are We Ready? A Report Card for Post-9/11 America,” is part of the Lyon College President’s Council series. The lecture, from 7:30 to 9 p.m., follows a cocktail reception from 6-7 p.m.

Larry King is hosting Rudy Giuliani this evening. Please email your questions, or try to call the show.

Maybe ask him how he knew the WTC tower was going to collapse, and admitted such on TV?

Or, if you prefer a more LIHOPish question, ask him about the faulty Motorola radios that probably cost the lives of over 300 firefighters.

If you're going to try to get through, you may have to disguise your question (or at least frame it in terms of his frequent invocations of 9/11). You should also have in front of you the actual transcript of what he said on 9/11:

"We were operating out of there when we were told that the World Trade Center was gonna collapse."

The MSM is really trying to destroy the credibility of Cesar Borja, I suspect because his case is a very public test of the government's willingness to admit the air was toxic on 9/11 and for some time after. By publicizing that Borja did not spend as much time as thought at Ground Zero, I believe the implication is that his lung disease is somehow not related to 9/11.

'NYT' Disputes Media -- And Politicians' -- Accounts of 9/11 'Hero'
Source: Editor & Publisher
Published: February 12, 2007 11:00 PM ET

NEW YORK In a major Tuesday article, The New York Times casts doubts on recent accounts -- by everyone from rival New York Daily News to President Bush and Sen. Hillary Clinton -- of an alleged hero of 9/11, a New York City police officer named Cesar A. Borja.

Coroner: Not Sure If 9/11 Toxins Killed Borja

Last Edited: Saturday, 10 Feb 2007, 9:37 PM EST
Created: Saturday, 10 Feb 2007, 9:37 PM EST

MyFoxNY.com -- New York City's chief medical examiner found that a rare lung disease killed retired cop and 9/11 first responder Cesar Borja.

However, he can't exactly what caused Borja's illness.

His family believes toxic air at Ground Zero is to blame. Borja was among the first responders who worked at Ground Zero following the Sept. 11 attacks.

Borja's death inspired President Bush to earmark $25 million to help pay medical expenses for first responders.

Cesar Borja died Jan. 23. His son, Ceasar Jr., attended the president's State of the Union address with Sen. Hillary Clinton.

UPDATE: The Washington Post actually refers to this trial as a "9/11 Trial" in its headline.

German-Syrian believed to have known 9/11 hijackers sentenced to 12 years

"DAMASCUS, Syria: A German-Syrian dual national believed to have known the Sept. 11 hijackers received a 12-year prison sentence Sunday from a Syrian court, a Syrian human rights group said.

The Higher State Security Court on Sunday sentenced Mohammed Haydar Zammar to life in prison for membership in the banned Muslim Brotherhood organization. But the court immediately commuted the sentence to 12 years, the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria said in a written statement."

While the crime here is apparently belonging to a "banned" organization, the way AP reports this story fails to identify the fact that the "September 11 hijackers" in question are "alleged" terrorists until tried properly. The AP story says,

The following are excerpts from the recent Counterpunch article, "Cheering Movers and Art Student Spies," by Christopher Ketcham. The article itself takes up about 10 pages, so what follows is a selective representation, beginning with the tale of the five Israelis in a van arrested on 9/11.

"From inside the vehicle the officers, who were quickly joined by agents from the FBI, retrieved multiple passports and $4,700 in cash stuffed in a sock. According to New Jersey’s Bergen Record, which on September 12 reported the arrest of the five Israelis, an investigator high up in the Bergen County law enforcement hierarchy stated that officers had also discovered in the vehicle “maps of the city … with certain places highlighted. It looked like they’re hooked in with this”, the source told the Record, referring to the 9/11 attacks. “It looked like they knew what was going to happen when they were at Liberty State Park.”

An editorial just appeared at OpEd that outlines in a fairly lucid way some of the reasons we need another investigation of 9/11. If you are a veteran of 9/11 Truth, much of the editorial will be familiar to you; however, newbies should definitely read it, for a brief overview of some issues.

Some of you may also be interested in this section toward the end of the editorial:

"Dennis Kucinich is now the Chair of the new Subcommittee on Domestic Policy under the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Prior to the 2006 elections in a piece for Truthdig, Dennis Kucinich stated the following:

Here's a wacky development. Apparently, Emilio Estevez may be starring in Oliver Stone's next 9/11 movie.

Estevez, of course, is brother of 9/11 Truther Charlie Sheen.

The script for Stone's movie is being written by the same guy who brought us The Path to 9/11.

The new Stone movie is called Jawbreaker, and is based on a CIA memoir by Gary Bernsten.

The Jewish Daily Forward has an article on Rabbi Michael Lerner and his contribution to David Ray Griffin's recent collection:

A 9/11 Gov’t Conspiracy? ‘I Wouldn’t Be Surprised,’ Says Tikkun Editor

Rabbi Michael Lerner, the longtime activist and editor of Tikkun magazine, has published an essay saying he is open to the possibility that the American government may have been behind the September 11 terrorist attacks.

“I would not be surprised to learn that some branch of our government conspired either actively to promote or passively to allow the attack on 9/11,” Lerner wrote in an essay published in the new book, “9/11 and American Empire: Christians, Jews, and Muslims Speak Out.” Lerner added that he would also not be surprised if it turned out that the attacks were not the result of a government conspiracy.

Giuliani Files "Statement of Candidacy"

By LIZ SIDOTI

WASHINGTON Feb 5, 2007 (AP)— Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor whose popularity soared after his response to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, moved closer to a full-fledged campaign for the Republican presidential nomination on Monday.

Bring it on, Rudy. Now 9/11 Truth can show up at every rally, speech, or barbecue you hold anywhere in America. More airtime for you, more airtime for us.