this New York Times article does not prove anything one way or the other. If people want to assume that the position of the fuel tanks caused the fires - without any scientific proof - that is fine, but the New York Times did not do a forensic investigation and the article is not inconsistent with the conclusion of the FEMA report which (again) states:
'The specifics of the fires in WTC 7 and how they caused the building to collapse remain unknown at this time. Although the total diesel fuel on the premises contained massive potential energy, the best hypothesis has only a low probability of occurrence. Further research, investigation, and analyses are needed to resolve this issue.'
If you look at the footage of the WTC 7 collapse, the building is not engulfed in flames, it is difficult to tell how much of the smoke surrounding it comes from WTC 1 & 2. WTC7 fell into its own footprint in a precisely vertical fashion. It looked exactly like a standard controlled demolition. There might be a good explanation for that, but absent a proper investigation, all views are just speculation.
Anyway, the key point of the original article was not about the physical evidence, but the fact that a top former Bush adminsitration official is taking the position that 9-11 was an 'inside job' - that is what was 'news'.
Joe W.
>From: Paul <paul_ at igc.org>
>Reply-To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
>To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
>Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] 'bogus' WTC Collapse story
>Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2005 09:30:32 -0400
>
>Yes, people were annoyed at the flagrant way the FEMA report swept the
>Guliani issue under the carpet (of course the champion for perniciousness
>was the EPA reporting). But to come back to the point, here is one example
>of hundreds of the widespread knowledge of Number 7 World Trade Center.
>This fellow only had to use google!
>
>NY TIMES 12/20/2001 City Had Been Warned of Fuel Tank at 7 World Trade
>Center
>http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F3081FFC3B5A0C738EDDAB0994D9404482&incamp=archive:search
>
>"Fire Department officials warned the city and the Port Authority of New
>York and New Jersey in 1998 and 1999 that a giant diesel fuel tank for the
>mayor's $13 million command bunker in 7 World Trade Center, a 47-story
>high-rise that burned and collapsed on Sept. 11, posed a hazard and was not
>consistent with city fire codes. The 6,000-gallon tank was positioned about
>15 feet above the ground floor and near several lobby elevators and was
>meant to fuel generators that would supply electricity to the 23rd-floor
>bunker in the event of a power failure. Although the city made some design
>changes to address the concerns - moving a fuel pipe that would have run
>from the tank up an elevator shaft, for example - it left the tank in
>place. But the Fire Department repeatedly warned that a tank in that
>position could spread fumes throughout the building if it leaked, or, if it
>caught fire, could produce what one Fire Department memorandum called
>"disaster."
>
>
>
>
>
>Joseph W. writes:
>>In fact:
>>What did the government do to investigate the unprecedented collapse of a
>>steel frame building from fires? It gave FEMA the sole discretion to
>>investigate the collapse, even though FEMA is not an investigative agency.
>>
>>FEMA's BPAT, the only official organization that reported on Building 7's
>>collapse, was completely indecisive. Their report stated:
>>
>>'The specifics of the fires in WTC 7 and how they caused the building to
>>collapse remain unknown at this time. Although the total diesel fuel on
>>the premises contained massive potential energy, the best hypothesis has
>>only a low probability of occurrence. Further research, investigation, and
>>analyses are needed to resolve this issue.'
>>
>>The report was published in May of 2002, just after the last building
>>remains had been scrubbed from Ground Zero.
>
>___________________________________
>http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
_________________________________________________________________ Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today - it's FREE! http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/