What follows is from a letter which I sent in reply to a fundraising appeal from Eugene Bird, President of the Council for the National Interest Foundation (CNIF), which works to counter the pro-Israel lobby in Washington, mainly through lobbying and ad campaigns. More can be learned about them at http://www.cnifoundation.org. My intention was to argue the importance--the urgency, actually--of reflecting on what we really know about 9/11 before speaking of it as if we have been essentially told the truth. I would not want any of this to be construed as denigrating the organization or its work. -rm

Dear Mr. Bird,

In your recent fundraising letter, you quoted a McCain advisor as describing Senator Obama as, '...a perfect manifestation of a September 10th mindset,' adding that this remark, '...did not sit well with us here at CNIF,' since, 'After the attacks of September 11th, it became very apparent to everyone in the United States that Washington needed to know more about the Middle East in order to understand the root causes of terrorism.'

This statement implies a 'blowback' interpretation of 9/11--that is, one that essentially accepts the Bush administration's account in its identification of the culprits, though characterizing their motives differently (bad foreign policy 'blew back' to the U.S. by provoking Muslims to attack us). And this interpretation we might in turn describe as a manifestation of a 'September 12th mindset'--a mindset born of shock in the immediate aftermath of those events, when the American public was readiest to believe what they were told by people in authority.

Join us next time, 9-11.meetup.com/350

WeAreChangeArizona.org

In Chicago, the Republican Congressional candidate has attacked the Democrat for a campaign ad featuring an Iraq War vet who supports the 9/11 victims families right to answers, and says the Iraq War was based on lies, including Hussein's connection to 9/11. According to the Chicago Tribune, "He also said he does not doubt that Al Qaeda terrorists were responsible for the 9/11 attacks.". "Last June, the Peoria Journal Star reported that Davis wore a black T-shirt proclaiming "Investigate 9/ 11@911truth.org" while sitting at a table at a Peoria library where books, fliers and DVDs supporting conspiracy theories about the 9/11 attacks were on display." "Seals spokeswoman Elisabeth Smith said she didn't "really see what is so controversial" about using Caleb Davis in the ad. Davis, 25, is a Peoria native who spent five months in Iraq as an Army diver and got an honorable discharge in 2004." The reporter and Tribune present the Republican view and also the Democrat side, which apparently supports the OCT as well as the right to freedom of speech, press and to petition the govt.

The James Bamford interview and response reminded me of a dialogue/interview/argument I had with Terry McDermott at the Los Angeles Times Book Fair at UCLA on 4/27/08. Terry McDermott is a journalist and author, who in most MSM circles, is considered to have written the best description of the alleged 9/11 hijackers. He's sort of like a lightweight Vincent Bugliosi of the 9/11 covert op. In that case, maybe he's like more like Gerald Posner- I don't know. At the Book Festival, McDermott had moderated a panel titled "New World Disorder" that also included Mr. Bob Drogin, Ms. Nina Hachigan, Mr. Kevin Phillips and Dr. Michael Shermer. During the Q+A, I had asked a question having something to do with the neo-cons, the Clash of Civilizations, desired chaos and 9/11. After having my question roundly ignored and ridiculed, I decided to follow up a bit more intimately at the book signing with whoever I could from the panel. McDermott was fairly hostile, not quite as hostile as the over-zealous security guard who hovered over the entire interaction, but hostile nonetheless to the fact that I was calling into question the back story to the cover-story he had told so well.