MEDIA ROOTS- The upcoming anniversary of September 11th brings little solace for the millions of citizens worldwide who have serious questions concerning the official account of what happened that day.

Usually when there is a monumental failure in our government’s ability to protect our nation, a complete investigation immediately ensues. Yet in the case of the 9/11 tragedy, Bush opposed any probe into the attacks for well over a year until mounting pressure from the victim’s family members forced him to address the issue.

Once the 9/11 Commission was finally formed, Philip Zelikow was put on as its executive director. Zelikow also penned the controversial Bush Doctrine, a policy which allowed preemptive invasion of any country in the world if potential for a future threat existed.

Chairman of the commission, Thomas Keane, later charged in a book that the commission was “set up to fail.” Furthermore, Bush and Cheney refused to testify to the Commission separately and under oath. Crucial witness testimony and evidence was also deliberately withheld from most of the commission members.

However, once the Commission’s report was done, the history books had been written and the case had been closed. 9/11 was a surprise hit on our country. Nobody in any level of government saw it coming and NORAD, our North American air defense command, scrambled jets into the skies for two hours in a state of confusion while planes were being hijacked and crashed into iconic government buildings. The intense jet fuel fire that ensued in both towers caused the steel to weaken at the points of impact, causing both towers to completely crumble into dust.

The assault on 9/11 was a colossal and completely unpredictable blow. Case closed.

Or is it?

Now more than ever, there are groups of thousands of architects, engineers, pilots, scientists, scholars, victim’s family members, politicians, celebrities, and concerned citizens all calling for a real, independent investigation of the attacks.

Last year actor Charlie Sheen came out with a public request to sit down with Obama to review key evidence and to implore him to re-open the investigation, which he calls a whitewash.

Richard Gage, founder of architects and engineers for 9/11 truth, has given hundreds of presentations all over the world and has signed up over 1,000 building professionals who are collectively calling for an independent technical investigation of the causes of the WTC buildings collapse. They reject the federal government’s conclusions that two airplanes alone brought the buildings down without the aid of pre-planted explosives.

One of the key points in Gage's presentation is World Trade Center 7. Many people don't know that a third building called World Trade Center 7 fell on 9/11, which was located more than a football field away from the twin towers and contained offices for highly secure government agencies such as the IRS, CIA, Secret Service, Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Office of Emergency Management for Mayor Giuliani. Building 7 was never hit by an airplane and had only small fires across a few floors, yet fell in the exact same manner as a controlled demolition.

Gage claims that the government’s official NIST report admits that they cannot explain the total collapse or freefall of all three buildings, while also admitting that they did NOT test for explosive residue despite evidence (from hundreds of eyewitness accounts from first responders and people who escaped the buildings) that explosives and incendiaries were present.

In a crime scene investigation, all physical evidence is taken into account, regardless of what the implications may be. But in this case of the World Trade Center destruction, there has been a definitive finding of unexploded military grade incendiaries found in the dust. This explosive material is called nanothermite and is made in high-tech government laboratories. These findings were just published in a peer reviewed paper in the Open Chemical Physics Journal and adds credibility to those who claim explosives are the true cause of the three collapses.

According to The New York Times 80% of Americans thought President Bush was at least hiding something regarding 9/11. In light of the swelling ranks of scientists, engineers, architects, and brave government officials who are speaking out on 9/11 armed with irrefutable new evidence, the time is NOW for a true investigation. The family members deserve the truth. 9/11 was the pretext for Bush’s domestic and foreign policy and still serves as the rallying cry for the current administration’s continuation of illegal wars and curtailment of our civil liberties. We must not let another year go by without confronting the elephant in the room.

Written by Abby Martin