<html><div style='background-color:'><DIV class=RTE><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4>The following was written as a response to Sasha Lilley’s lbo-talk message of 8/2 (with supposed text of 9/11 inquiry program announcement), although we see she later retracted a part of her statement - and to share some information and comments on the subject: </FONT></DIV> <DIV class=RTE><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4>First, we attended the March 26-28/04 "International Inquiry 9/11 - Phase I" at the Herbst Theater in San Francisco but didn't recognize Eric Hufschmid as a presenter or panel member. So we've looked through both the Inquiry internet announcement of confirmed speakers and the event program schedule to determine that he wasn't included or recorded (certainly not “featured”) as a speaker or panelist in the main auditorium presentations, although he is listed in the program as one of the secondary speakers who led discussion groups and film showings in an upstairs room. His video/DVD "Painful Deceptions" (companion to his book "Painful Questions: An Analysis of the September 11 Attack") was shown there but not as part of the main program – more on the video below. We’re pretty sure that he did not participate on the main floor panel discussion toward the end of the Inquiry. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4>Besides “KPFA 94.1 Free Speech Radio, ” the event had 17 sponsors including the Bay Guardian, Global Outlook, Veterans for Peace, Guns and Butter, Marin Peace and Justice Coalition. Maria Gilardin - who co-hosted with Bonnie Faulkner, Sue Supriano, Paul Thompson and Carol Brouillet - made a complete set of tapes of the main program presentations, so I'm checking with her to confirm that there's no Hufschmid speech or tape. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4>The primary point is that the KPFA program <STRONG>“Guns and Butter” didn't ever air, or offer as a premium, anything produced by Hufschmid on KPFA</STRONG>. While Lilley now acknowledges her misstatement on his event appearance (lbo-talk 8/7), claiming confusion with a 9/11 related comedy program on KPFA, <STRONG>she hasn’t retracted or apologized for the attack on Guns and Butter </STRONG>with misinformation that a Hufschmid audio was played and pushed as a premium. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4>Further, the fact that Guns and Butter couldn’t have "rebroadcast (it) on KPFA" because "it" doesn't exist, adds another layer of personal and intellectual dishonesty and laziness on Lilley's part. The way she words her note, “it" refers to the "panel sponsored by KPFA" which, she says, "featured" Hufschmid (who is included in the list of speakers in the version of the announcement in her e-mail). But in fact, and as Joe Wanzala confirms, he's not even listed as an invited and confirmed speaker in the Inquiry website announcement that I downloaded prior to the event, he didn't actually speak or present material to the main assembly and therefore wasn't included in tapes of the event talks. Lilley would have known this if she had the political or intellectual curiosity and integrity to attend the Inquiry sessions or even check the tapes available and those actually broadcasted on KPFA. Instead, she relies on guilt by association and discounting personal credibility. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4>So there's another aspect that needs to be included in this discussion: the discrediting of the 9/11 truth movement, 9/11 skeptics and researchers (who question the official state cover story) by progressives and journalists, like Lilley and Norman Solomon, who enjoy wearing the mantle of free speech and free intellectual inquiry while trashing radicals and anyone who questions the Big Lie or exposes false flag and other undercover, gangster operations of the national security state <FONT size=3>(1)</FONT> - see notes below. Do I need to note that they join with the Bush Administration and right wing in dismissing the 9/11 inquiries – as well as challenges to the origins, nature and manipulations of the “war on terror” - as “conspiracy theory?” If people on the left know that the state operates, for instance, to not only execute, but also cover up the nature and extent of the nuclear devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as we’ve heard recently on "Democracy Now!", why can’t they grok that the state is very capable of perpetrating (or being complicit in) the 9/11 events as a false flag operation to pave the way and provide the political climate and justification for the Afghanistan and Iraq invasions/occupations <FONT size=3>(2)</FONT> and the developing "Homeland" police state? </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4>In this and other respects, we’re with Joe in advocating for unconditional, uncensored and inclusive free speech - that is, let everyone, including the haters and deceivers, have a say to express and expose their views and nature, and let the listeners and readers decide what’s true and mis-represented. And let’s evaluate their truth and accuracy on the issues currently addressed rather than prior statements and shortcomings on other issues.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4>So since Hufschmid in particular is targeted here by Lilley, we’re going to take up his 9/11 viewpoint and contribution. First and without going very far into his website statements and language and whether or not he qualifies as a racist or neo-fascist <FONT size=3>(3)</FONT><FONT size=4>, let’s note for a moment that he at least claims to be a truth seeker with a different view of the Holocaust and the concentration camps (which he apparently doesn't deny but questions their function as extermination centers). Since we are all entitled to this and other forums to express our views and questions of official government and media myths on various issues, we have to concede that this guy and those who agree have a place and time to express their views, rather than simply labeling and dismissing them as “holocaust deniers.” And then of course we and others, including Zionists, have the opportunity to refute that view as bullshit and present the facts confirming the genocide through out Europe.  Remember that Noam Chomsky was viciously attacked for writing an introduction to a book that questions the Holocaust story, as a defense of free speech. We’re not excusing or agreeing with Hufschmid on that issue, but we’re Flat Earth Society members, you have to prove the Earth is a sphere rather than blindly accept that as truth just because everyone says it’s so. </FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4>Now to our point about the disrespect and dismissal of 9/11 skeptics and writers, we have a 9/11 video compilation produced by Ken Jenkins, who also presents the psychological aspects and impacts of 9/11; we reviewed the “Painful Deceptions” excerpt, with material on WTC Building 7 and the Pentagon, and find that (like material researched and produced by others on various questions and aspects of the 9/11 issue) it’s effective and credible in raising questions, examining the events and alternative scenarios and shattering the official versions as contrived and absurd.  For instance, he points to WTC 7 as an emergency, disaster response facility with a reinforced structure; shows the rapid collapse from different angles and explains how/why it was not destroyed by fire or other fallout from the earlier twin towers collapses and why demolition is the more obvious cause of collapse (as in fact was confirmed by the building owner) <FONT size=3>(4)</FONT><FONT size=4>. For just once we’d like the folks who claim we are so short on facts and credibility to take the time and effort to examine and rationally, factually explain the disappearance of WTC 7. </FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4>Another point: most 9/11 skeptics don’t claim to know the answers to the questions they raise as to the official, accepted 9/11 story, which in fact is the only real conspiracy theory without much credibility, but they aren’t afraid to persist in raising the issues, exposing the holes and deceptions in the cover story and calling for a serious and thorough national investigation into what really happened on 9/11, who was behind and benefited from it. We note that Sasha Lilley’s and CS Soong’s academic/intellectually orientated (“ideas in depth”) “Against The Grain” program on KPFA ends with an appeal to the listeners to “Remember, the most important thing is to never stop questioning.” Yet apparently and sadly, for Lilley and many others on the left and right, 9/11 somehow qualifies as one of the no-go-there, sacred exceptions to the rule of legitimate and essential inquiry. What then ultimately separates them from the established state and corporate media guardians, gatekeepers and pundits? </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4>In another message (written off this list) on this subject, the Hufschmid documentary is dismissed as “one of those standard 9/11 conspiracy theories which are long on accusations and suspicions and short on facts.” When Lilley and others join in chanting that mantra and piggyback on the WBAI premium controversy, they are - besides hypocritically contradicting their own stated intellectual and civil liberty values - trashing and censoring not only Hufschmid, not only Guns and Butter and  respected journalists, academics and authors - including David Ray Griffin, Peter Philips, Robert Bowman, Nafeez Ahmed, Paul Thompson, Michel Chossudovsky, Ralph Schoenman, Jim Hoffman, Jim Marrs and Bonnie Faulkner - but all of us who believe in open inquiry and free speech.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4>Bob English and Linda Hewitt </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4>Pacifica/KPFA Listener Members </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=4></FONT></DIV> <DIV><U><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=3>Notes: </FONT></U></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=3></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=3>1. Even Amy Goodman (“Democracy Now!”) balked at conducting a fair, receptive interview of David Ray Griffin, author of <U>A New Pearl Harbor </U>and <U>The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions and Distortions </U>- and at asking obvious, critical 9/11 related follow up questions in yesterday’s interview with former/fired FBI translator Sibel Edmonds. (i.e. “who are those you’ve identified as responsible for suppressing 9/11 information and  investigations?”). </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=3></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=3></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=3>2. In fact we know that prior US wars have been preceded and facilitated by false flag or pre-known-but-allowed attacks: sinking of the Maine, Pearl Harbor, Tonkin Gulf incident.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=3></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=3></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=3>3. From a look at some of his website writings, Hufschmid seems more like an equal opportunity elitist with a low opinion of what he considers the willfully ignorant, uniformed, unwashed masses. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=3></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=3></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, Serif" size=3>4. The precision demolition of WTC 7 as a high-rise, structurally reinforced, specialized structure is significant because it a) had to be planned and prepared well in advance (not a same day reaction to the supposed 9/11 surprise attack); b) has implications as to explosions and collapse of the WTC towers; c) may be part of a 9/11 cover up if the facility had been used as a covert planning and operation center. </FONT></DIV> <DIV></DIV></div></html>