Dallas County News: 9-11 Truth movement has first meeting
By: Amber Williams
09/13/2007

The president, George W. Bush, was reading children's stories in a Florida elementary classroom when he got the whisper in his ear about the devastation of the World Trade Center towers in New York City, and then the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. early that Tuesday morning on Sept. 11, 2001, when the nation woke up from a somber, easy sleep.
It took four terrorist-driven hijacked jets turning national monuments into military targets for the alarm to sound across the states. While most Americans were settling into their desks at work, American Flight 11, carrying 92 people, crashed into the first World Trade Center tower at 8:46 a.m. Eastern Daylight time, at 9:03 a.m., 17 minutes later, United Airlines Flight 175, carrying 65 people, pummeled into the second tower About 40 minutes later, after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration shut down all the New York airports, the tunnels and bridges accessing the New York City and all other domestic flights were landed, a third jet bulleted into the Pentagon.
By the time the president put the U.S. military on "high alert status," at 10 a.m., the damage was done, and thousands were already dead. By 10:28 a.m., all three buildings experienced collapse, the twin towers were completely reduced to dusty death and rubble, and a third hijacked jet crashed into a Pennsylvania field. More than 3,000 lives were lost on that day six years ago, six of whom were Iowans.

Everyone remembers where they were, what they were doing and how they felt when they heard the news. The events of 9-11 have left many people with questions to which they remain desperate for answers. As a result, groups have been forming throughout the country, each state housing the same group with a variety of names, but the one in Dallas County is called "911 Truth of Central Iowa." It had its first meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 10, at the Adel Public Library meeting room.
Hosted by Adel resident Dr. James Hufford, a geography professor at Des Moines Area Community College, the first meeting was sparsely attended, with only a handful of local intrigues. However, with more meetings to come, they hope not only to increase membership, but to take action in uncovering the truth, unburying the facts and leading to resolution regarding the mystery of the 9/11 attacks.
"Was it the super-plan of a super-genius hunkered in a cave halfway around the world... or was it a plot orchestrated by secret agencies of our own government for their own sad purposes?" asks the 911 Truth flyer, inviting people to the first meeting.
"This is not an organization; this is a movement," Hufford told the group, calling them the "jury" for the U.S. government. "In this case, they are trying to take over the world and throw away our Bill of Rights."
He continued that every movement begins with only a few people, and it has to start somewhere. By the end of the meeting he asked that each attendee bring a guest or two to the next one, scheduled for the same time and place on Monday, Oct. 8.
The 9-11 Truth movement originally started in Kansas City by executive director Janice Matthews. The first in Iowa is headed by a man named Chris Noth, in Davenport. The central Iowa group - the second in Iowa, started in Adel - plans to meet monthly, and interested parties are welcome to attend throughout central Iowa, as the meeting place may change to draw more crowds in the future.
Over coffee and cookies, Richard Renfrow, Robert Harkrader and Liz Rasmussen, all of Adel, and Nita Garvin of West Des Moines watched a video called, "9-11 Press for Truth," which outlined the facts of the case, the "conspiracy theory" provided by the Bush administration as to what happened, and the actions taken by families of 9-11 victims, who pushed the government for more answers.
The video, which challenged not only the Bush administration's investigation of the crime and possible motives behind covering it up, but also the insufficient media coverage that allowed valuable facts to buried, questions to go unanswered and terrorists to go free.
Why was there no military response to stop the planes? Why was there such delayed, or lack of, response from Bush to address the citizens on the matter? Who financed the attack? Why did military action shift from Afghanistan and Osama Bin Laden to Saddam Hussein in Iraq? How did the terrorists pull off the attack without getting caught in the process?
These are some of many questions asked and unanswered in the video by the "Jersey Girls," a group of widowed mothers in the New York area who challenged the government, pressing them for investigations, leading to the eventual "9-11 Commission Report," which they then deemed unsatisfactory at answering these questions.
However, although speakers in the video accuse the media of "burying the truth" in the back pages under fluffy headlines, those media tidbits are primary sources cited by Paul Thompson, who was credited by the video as uncovering the truth by analyzing every piece of information found in the stack of mainstream news. Thompson was responsible for the development of "The Terror Timeline," a comprehensive chronicle of the events leading up to 9-11, the attacks themselves and the nation's response since.
After the video, the group had their own responses.
"I think there was a cover up, but I don't know what the cover up was," said Harkrader. "There's a small chance our government turned its head when they knew things were going to happen... perhaps for the opportunity to make war."
"I'm a patriot, and I don't want to believe a lot of this crap, but if you can back this up with facts..." said Rasmussen. "I'm convinced there were evasions and lies, but I don't know if I want to go beyond that.
Garvin agreed, calling the Bush administrations' elusive tactics when confronted about the alleged cover up, "sins of omission." She has worked with The World Can't Wait, a Bush impeachment act involving 27 states, including the District of Columbia, but not including Iowa.
"Iowa isn't involved - people here are about as dead between the ears as can be," said Garvin, citing other states that have drawn up articles of impeachment through their state legislatures.
"None of this has any meaning unless you take action," she continued. "9-11 Truth can't just sit around and talk and read books and watch videos. We need to join other groups."
The rest of the group agreed. Although Hufford requested everyone to read books and gather as much information as possible before the next meeting, writing members of Congress and even sending an invitation to Iowa's Capitol Hill are all part of his agenda for 9-11 Truth.
"I'm going to write to Governor Culver, and ask him or one of his representatives to attend one of our meetings," Hufford said. "It will require more courage than probably anything he's ever done."
However, Garvin has her doubts that there will be any response from Iowa General Assembly or the governor, and Renfrow eluded to the futility of their efforts as a whole.
"I think the government has done such a wonderful job of covering this up that it will never be uncovered," he said.
Rasmussen struggled the most with the theories presented in "9-11 Press for Truth." She admitted she has her doubts about the president, but that does not diminish her love and respect for democracy.
"I may not respect the man, but I respect the office," she said. "I came here tonight simply to find out what 9-11 Truth was all about... For me to accept that, I have to accept that our government is totally corrupt, and I'm not ready to accept that," which Hufford said is true for many.
Hufford urges people to have an open mind, despite the taboo nature of Truth 9-11 and "the stigma attached, making attendance difficult for many people."
"The official story from the administration is a conspiracy theory, too, and it's full of holes, but there's another one that is the truth," Hufford said. "Our goal is to find out the truth, then link up with other groups and approach those who are accountable."