Footage recorded on 9/11 of the apparent demolition of the World Trade Center seems to be verified by independent sources.

Also, large amounts of smoke are clearly seen emerging from WTC 2 just prior to it's collapse, even though it's collapse is said to have started 80 stories above street level.

Firefighter recollections can be verified here:

http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/context.jsp?item=a1028explosionsheard...

I stated in a previous blog that there is a direct correlation between a movement’s potential for producing change and the level of skullduggery the state will direct against it.

So far we have been lucky: we have only had to contend with disinformation, intimidation, infiltration, smear by association and so on. The more effective we become, however, the more drastic and potentially violent the US government’s response. The attempt to paint Luke in NY as a "terrorist" may be a sign of things to come.

Many 911 truth activists are newbies to the activism scene in general. Many have never handed out flyers, let alone engaged in illegal – but non-violent – direct action, such as shutting down a meeting between oligarchs or chaining themselves to the headquarters of a media outlet. I am one of these “newbies”, but I'm also a sucker for history. I consider it vital that we take a look at those who have come before us and learn from their successes and failures.

America has a little-known history of extremely violent action by the state against labor activists. To take merely a handful of examples from a twenty year period:

Last night President Bush gave a speech explaining why he vetoed the Iraq Accountability Act - not surprisingly he pulled out his old war drum - 9/11:

In Washington last week, General Petraeus explained it this way, "Iraq is, in fact, the central front of all al Qaeda's global campaign." Al Qaeda -- al Qaeda's role makes it -- the conflict in Iraq far more complex than a simple fight between Iraqis. It's true that not everyone taking innocent life in Iraq wants to attack America here at home, but many do. Many also belong to the same terrorist network that attacked us on September the 11th, 2001 and wants to attack us here at home again. We saw the death and destruction al Qaeda inflicted on our people when they were permitted a safe haven in Afghanistan. For the security of the American people, we must not allow al Qaeda to establish a new safe haven in Iraq.

While it has been common practice for this president and his administration to invoke 9/11 when it suits their political needs, the usage of 9/11 as a drum to garner support for the war had seemed to be on the decline - but apparently it is still in play when they are so far backed into a corner. Perhaps the main difference in using 9/11 as a war drum in the past and doing so today is that this same drum now makes an increasingly different noise.

For many Americans admitting the Iraq war was a failure of this administration has been too taboo, much in the way that admitting 9/11 was a failure of this administration has been. But as the American people gradually come to the realization that the Iraq war is indeed a failure, the 9/11 drum itself rings with this same sound. While in the past the banging of the 9/11 drum might spark patriotism and pride gained through surviving adversity, its new sound rings true - the Bush administration failed at the Iraq war, and failed us on 9/11 - but that is just what the drum is starting to sound like at the moment.

The next step in this progression will come as the American public comes to see the Iraq war not as a failure, but instead as a treasonous war for the benefit of the largest players in the military industrial complex. Once this perception is more commonly held the 9/11 war drum will take that form as well. Perhaps Bush's frequent association of 9/11 with Iraq will come back to haunt him when the public ties the realities of Iraq in with the realities of 9/11? People will begin looking at 9/11 and wondering if perhaps it too was not a failure as they had once so innocently thought of the Iraq war.

So George, keep banging your 9/11 drum for the Iraq war - the American public is finally starting to hear what song you've really been playing.

Excerpt from;

War and the Police State: Complicity of the American People

by Donna J. Thorne
http://globalresearch.ca

Fear, the Nemesis of Rationality

One cannot analyze the dynamics of a post 9/11 society without examining one of its principal characteristics: fear, anxiety, dread, apprehension… in a word, Terror. To those who benefit from its proliferation, fear is a currency, a commodity, and a powerful marketing tool. If one is aware of the devices by which leaders have garnered power and support for any given war or agenda historically, one can easily discern the same machinations at work today. A key ingredient to any successful war rally or acquisition of power is the exploitation of fear through the manipulation of perception.

On September 11, 2001, corporate media and the government elite launched an aggressive political and media campaign upon and against the American people. With Madison-Avenue expertise, purveyors of fear heightened our perception of imminent threat by inundating the airwaves with continual, repetitive, easily-learned sound-bytes, words brimming with emotionally-charged meaning, "…Bin Laden, Taliban, Axis of Evil, Saddam Hussein, Terror-Threat, Terrorist…" with just enough intensity to successfully persuade the American people to procure security at any cost.

Comprehensive and firmly-entrenched fear is the means by which the current administration manages to sell the "War of Terror" and, allowed to flourish, has solidified mechanized cooperation from the masses as our leaders appeal to the most basic of all human needs-- security.

The groundwork has been laid. Today, newly identified "threats" are announced with almost predictable regularity. Now firmly embedded in the collective unconscious of America, fear is employed to rationalize unprecedented dictatorial powers in the White House, to justify the erosion of privacy and the stripping of human rights once sacredly guarded by the Constitution. Yet, what should one expect from an administration whose platform is built upon a substratum of fear, except for fear itself?

Fear attempts to silence dissenters. As the Truth Movement gains momentum and amasses credibility, the fear profiteers have begun heralding yet another "threat" to National Security - inquiring minds. This is both good news and bad news. We are no longer ignorable. Fearing exposure, the Czars of Propaganda know that "Truthers" must be branded and discredited if government corruption and corporate fraud is to flourish unabated. This said, prepare for an intensified Smear-and-Fear Campaign. Any group or individual who vocally questions the official story of 9/11 or who exercises the right to demand Government accountability will be labeled "Anti-American and Anti-Patriotic"...

Continued...
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=THO20070421&...