Wisconsin academic: 9/11 report a fraud

[spillthebeans]

Monday, November 20, 2006
Wisconsin academic: 9/11 report a fraud
When I first said "hello" to Kevin Barrett, I was somewhat taken aback. The tall, bearded lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison was seeing students in his office and struck me as soft-spoken, almost laid-back. He just didn't "seem" controversial.

But there is no doubt he has attracted a fair amount of controversy. Sixty-one Wisconsin legislators have said he should stop teaching. So has the governor. The university has received more than one thousand emails from alumni, many saying they'll stop donating unless Kevin Barrett goes.

Barrett belongs to a small but vocal group of academics who are writing and publishing ideas which charge the U.S. government played a role in the 9/11 attacks. He argues that members of the Bush administration knew about the attacks ahead of time, and at the very least, allowed them to occur. The purpose -- to give the United States an excuse to go to war, or as he has written, "...to found a new imperial 1000-year Reich like the ones the Nazis dreamed of."

"It's now very clear," he told me. "The official 9/11 report is a complete fraud." Barrett says a close examination of the twin towers falling shows puffs of smoke, a sign the buildings were pre-planted with explosives, and the collapse of the towers was a controlled demolition.

"It's offensive, not only to America, but offensive to the victims of 9/11," said Scott Suder, one of the Wisconsin legislators calling for Barrett's ouster.

Somewhat to my surprise, I learned that Barrett wasn't bringing a whole lot of his own conspiracy ideas into his lectures. His semester-long course -- "Islam, Religion and Culture" -- spends a week on conspracy theories about 9/11, but Barrett said he doesn't introduce any of his own written work. He said he cites other academicians with similar ideas, such as Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed of the University of Sussex, Brighton, in the United Kingdom.

Students I spoke to were skeptical about what Barrett believes, but felt the controversy has been overblown. Sophomore Aaron Zwicker told me, "It's scary we could lose a professor like Professor Barrett, who I consider to be one of my best lecturers right now, because of stuff he hasn't realy talked about that much in class."

University officials we spoke to clearly wish this story would go away, but they have stood behind Barrett, saying that he's not teaching a political ideology and that feedback on his course has been positive.

While university officials are standing for academic freedom and independence, the political tension shows few signs of dissipating. Barrett, who holds a temporary appointment at the school, told me he plans to re-apply to teach similar classes in the future.

"I hope to be back in the fall, and as Douglas McArthur said, 'I shall return,'" Barrett said with a smile.
Posted By Keith Oppenheim, CNN Correspondent: 2:56 PM ET

http://edition.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/anderson.cooper.360/blog/2006/11/wisconsin-academic-911-report-fraud.html

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. So much for free speech

and the teaching of assorted and alternative ideas at the college level.

Of course, this is meant to make any other academic think more then twice before ever even discussing 9-11 with their students. How can we not discuss 9-11 in our schools? Unless of course, it's the official government version of 9-11.

[savemefromdumbya]

2. they used to burn witches in the old days

they really do want to cover the 9/11 thing up don't they?

[mirandapriestly]

3. I guess the irony is lost on them.

9-11 was planned to put a third reich like system into place is happening to him by the people who are trying to silence him.

[Lasthorseman]

4. Just say it outright

every day in passing conversation. Covert agencies of the US government made 911 happen. They planted the thermite to cut the main support beams in 1,2 and most are not sure about seven.
And I just saw Al Gore's an Inconvienient Truth. Imagine for a moment how much brighter humanity would be today had the 2000 election not been fixed.

[petgoat]

6. I have a friend who uses a cell phone as a prop when he's

standing in a grovery line, or riding a subway.

He pretends to be discussing with a friend how to
talk a co-worker out of her loony conspiracy
theories. Ears perk up.

"That was studied thoroughly, and there was nothing
to it. The report cost $20 million."

...

"What do you mean, the steel was destroyed? Giuliani
was a federal prosecutor! He knows better than that."

...

"Well they got samples first, didn't they?"

...

"None of the core steel shows heating above 250 degrees
C? Who says?"

...

"The report says? Well you tell her this obsession of hers
is becoming an embarrassment, and maybe she'd better think
about taking some time off and getting her head right. Tell
her George Bush is a man of God and would never harm Americans
in any way. I gott go."

[spillthebeans]

10. that's funny

I wonder if a hardcore neocon follower gave him endorsement

[FourScore]

5. This part is offensive to me in this report:

"It's offensive, not only to America, but offensive to the victims of 9/11," said Scott Suder, one of the Wisconsin legislators calling for Barrett's ouster.


Have they really asked the victims or victims' families or the rescue workers what they think? Have they seen "9/11: Press for Truth"? I think the family members who are calling for an independent investigation would like to see more REAL reporting on the anomalies of 9/11, and stop making brave citizens like Kevin Barrett seem like whacky conspirators.

[vincent_vega_lives]

7. Its Amazing

How so many liberal arts professors are also 'experts' in demolition and structural engineering as well.

Who knew? :shrug:

[wildbilln864]

8. It doesn't take an expert to...

know they're covering something up!

[John Q. Citizen]

9. Even more amazing was that those liberal arts Profs were right about the

"pancake theory" and the "experts" were wrong.

Who knew?

(Well actually a lot of people knew. The skeptics knew) But not the Gullibles. They bought the pancake theory and then the second "kerosine core melt down" theory, just like they will buy the third and the fourth theories as they come out. For them, there is no theory the Government can come up with that could possibly be false. Kinda sad, but true. The Gullibles have an unconscious worship of authority that knows no bounds. Which is why they try so hard to emulate the attitudes, opinions, and personality traits of those in authority.

[petgoat]

11. Not one structural engineer came forward to challenge the

ludicrous pancake theory, and when NIST discarded it, not one could
be found to defend it.

Something is seriously wrong in this country. Professionals are just slaves in gilded cages.