With US political leaders Democrat and Republican alike rushing to embrace the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, and an eager media receiving the Commission's 567-page report as the whole story, the history we can stand upon forevermore, everyone who cares about the fate of American democracy will want to know something about what those pages actually say. <P>The Commission's account, by popular reckoning, has made an impression with its heft, its footnotes, its portrayal of the confusion of that sobering day, its detail, its narrative finesse. Yet under the magnifying glass of David Ray Griffin, eminent theologian and author of The New Pearl Harbor (a book that explores questions that reporters, eyewitnesses, and political observers have raised about the 9/11 attacks), the report appears much shabbier. In fact, there are holes in the places where detail ought to be thickest: Is it possible that Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld has given three different stories of what he was doing the morning of September 11, and that the Commission combines two of them and ignores eyewitness reports to the contrary? Is it possible that the man in charge of the military that day, Acting Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Myers, saw the first tower hit on TV, and then went into a meeting, where he remained unaware of what was happening for the next 40 minutes? Is it possible, as the Commission reports, that the FAA did not inform military that the fourth airplane appeared to have been hijacked-contrary to both common sense and the word of FAA employees? Is it possible that the Report, upon which are based recommendations for overhauling the nation's intelligence, fails to mention even in a footnote the most serious allegations made public by Coleen Rowley, FBI whistleblower and Time person of the year? <P>David Ray Griffin's critique of the Kean-Zelikow report makes clear that our nation's highest leaders have told tales that wear extremely thin when held up to the light of other eyewitness reports, research, and the dictates of common sense-and that the Commission charged with the task of investigating all of the facts surrounding 9/11 has succeeded in obscuring, rather than unearthing, the truth.
The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions And Distortions
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
The 9/11 commission report "simply cannot be trusted," concludes this retired Claremont School of Theology professor. Following up on his call for an official investigation in The New Pearl Harbor (2004), Griffin revisits the cataclysmic events and deconstructs the government's probe. He offers two mind-numbing versions of an "alternative conspiracy theory": that the Bush administration "deliberately" failed to prevent the attacks or, more chillingly, "was actively involved in the planning and execution of the attacks." Why? To spur the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan and the occupation of their valuable oil and natural gas resources. Embracing the complicity theory, Griffin claims the 9/11 Commission's report, labeled the Kean-Zelikow Report here to underline the White House allegiances of its Republican chairman and director, was neither thorough nor non-partisan but rather a "cover-up" designed to back up the Bush administration's view of the day's events. Among the problems Griffin says the commissioners fail to address are discrepancies in the hijackers' identities; the behavior exhibited by President Bush and his Secret Service contingent in Florida; and the charges of obstruction by higher-ups made by FBI agent Coleen Rowley and other mid-level officials. In fact, "revisionism" was the Commission's major goal, argues the author, since the report reconstructs the timelines of the hijackings, officials' teleconferences and the plane crashes to absolve the military of mishandling jet fighters' intercepts of the doomed passenger aircraft. Supported by news media reports, government documents and readily available secondary sources, Griffin's research raises valid questions about the Commission's political aims and investigative methods. But unless future Woodwards and Bernsteins dig up evidence to the contrary, the author's theories about a government role in the 9/11 plot will remain pure speculation.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
"David Ray Griffin establishes himself, alongside Seymour Hersh, as America's number one bearer of unpleasant, yet necessary, public truths." -- Richard Falk<br /><br />"David Ray Griffin's is one of the finest minds at work in the pursuit of truth about 9/11." -- Barrie Zwicker, Canadian media critic and commentator<br /><br />"David is a national treasure.... A must-read for citizens everywhere asking the hard questions about 9/11." -- Meria Heller, radio host<br /><br />"[A] brilliant analysis of the 9-11 issue..." -- Apollonian, Vanguard News Network<br /><br />"[B]oth convincing and chilling." --Rosemary Radford Ruther, HopeDance Magazine
"Through an incisive and carefully documented review, David Ray Griffin skillfully refutes the findings of the 9/11 Commission and questions the official 'bipartisan' account of what happened. He shows how the dramatic events of September 11 were used by the Bush Administration, through media disinformation, to mislead public opinion, with a view to justifying the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq under the banner of the global 'war on terrorism.'" ---- Michel Chossudovsky, Centre for Research on Globalization/University of Ottawa
>"Once again, a President of the United States reluctantly appointed a commission to investigate a calamitous event in American history and once again, a commission created more questions than it provided answers. David Ray Griffin's latest book amply explains why the 9/11 Commission can now be placed in the same category as the Warren and Tower Commissions as dissemblers and varnishers of the truth." -- Wayne Madsen, syndicated columnist, investigative journalist
>"It is rather obvious that the 9/11 commission aimed more to bring closure than to investigate the anomalies surrounding the event. For the dominant media in the US they have largely succeeded. All the more reason why it is important that its failure even to mention these anomalies not go unnoticed. For those who still seek the truth and hope for a serious investigation of the facts, Griffin's careful analysis of the report is essential reading." --John B. Cobb, Jr., Professor of Theology, Emeritus, Claremont School of Theology
"Through an incisive and carefully documented review, David Ray Griffin skillfully refutes the findings of the 9/11 Commission and questions the official 'bipartisan' account of what happened. He shows how the dramatic events of September 11 were used by the Bush Administration, through media disinformation, to mislead public opinion, with a view to justifying the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq under the banner of the global 'war on terrorism.'" ---- Michel Chossudovsky, Centre for Research on Globalization/University of Ottawa
>"Once again, a President of the United States reluctantly appointed a commission to investigate a calamitous event in American history and once again, a commission created more questions than it provided answers. David Ray Griffin's latest book amply explains why the 9/11 Commission can now be placed in the same category as the Warren and Tower Commissions as dissemblers and varnishers of the truth." -- Wayne Madsen, syndicated columnist, investigative journalist
>"It is rather obvious that the 9/11 commission aimed more to bring closure than to investigate the anomalies surrounding the event. For the dominant media in the US they have largely succeeded. All the more reason why it is important that its failure even to mention these anomalies not go unnoticed. For those who still seek the truth and hope for a serious investigation of the facts, Griffin's careful analysis of the report is essential reading." --John B. Cobb, Jr., Professor of Theology, Emeritus, Claremont School of Theology
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
60 of 62 people found the following review helpful
By Grilch
Format:Paperback
Like many, I was absolutely slack-jawed while reading Griffin's Book "The New Pearl Harbor". The claims of conspiracy in the 9-11 attacks were unbelievably controversial yet appeared to be very solidly reasoned and researched, and backed up by numberous sources. But then the Commission Report came out and, after reading it, that volume seemed so mammoth and exhaustive that Griffin's book seemed light and sketchy by comparison. While I was still troubled by many suspicious aspects of the attacks, I was much more satisfied with the official explanation that the whole thing was the result of a simultaneous, catastrophic failure of virtually every civilian and military system that was supposed to protect the U.S. from terrorist attacks.
But now Griffin has returned to pull back the curtain to reveal how this supposedly impartial and unbiased commission really conducted their business. The author lays bare their phony cloak of nonpartisanship, their selective examination of only the evidence that supports their foregone conclusions, and their failure to hold anyone in power accountable for what happened. Griffin writes chapter after chapter that patiently and methodically picks apart the methods and conclusions of the comission; what they missed, what they ignored, what they distorted. By the end of the book the 9-11 Commission Report seems like nothing but a shoddy cover-up.
I'd be willing to consider the possibilty that Griffin has got it all wrong but the extent to which you would have to twist and torture the facts and the evidence to explain your way out of the author's incisive conclusions leaves me very persuaded. David Ray Griffin has been called a conspiracy nut (and worse) but I have yet to see any detailed and/or compelling rebuttal to his extensive research. And until I do, I remain convinced of a large scale cover-up and I will never again trust my government to truthfully account for a national tragedy. I invite you to read this book and convince me otherwise.
But now Griffin has returned to pull back the curtain to reveal how this supposedly impartial and unbiased commission really conducted their business. The author lays bare their phony cloak of nonpartisanship, their selective examination of only the evidence that supports their foregone conclusions, and their failure to hold anyone in power accountable for what happened. Griffin writes chapter after chapter that patiently and methodically picks apart the methods and conclusions of the comission; what they missed, what they ignored, what they distorted. By the end of the book the 9-11 Commission Report seems like nothing but a shoddy cover-up.
I'd be willing to consider the possibilty that Griffin has got it all wrong but the extent to which you would have to twist and torture the facts and the evidence to explain your way out of the author's incisive conclusions leaves me very persuaded. David Ray Griffin has been called a conspiracy nut (and worse) but I have yet to see any detailed and/or compelling rebuttal to his extensive research. And until I do, I remain convinced of a large scale cover-up and I will never again trust my government to truthfully account for a national tragedy. I invite you to read this book and convince me otherwise.
285 of 316 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is arguably the most important landmark in the investigation into 9/11 available on the book market so far. It is a very important, but also truly disturbing, book. For it shows to the reader in meticulous detail that the official investigation led by Thomas Kean and Philip Zelikow into the story about 9/11 presented by the White House has omitted and distorted so many facts that it can never seriously be accepted as the true account of what happened on 9/11.
Only very few people have read the 576 pages of the Kean/Zelikow report and tested the quality of the book. It is therefore of great value that Professor emeritus David Ray Griffin has carried out this task and described in detail how sensitive facts regarding mysterious or even illegal behaviour by senior US executives had been supplied in sworn testimony to the Kean/Zelikow commission by members of the FBI but then ignored in the Kean/Zelikow book. Griffin also explains that no mention, let alone explanation, is given of the collapse of WTC 7 or of the BBC report that six of the 19 hijackers were still alive.
While Griffin explicitly suspects that the Bush administration and the Pentagon have covered up the true 9/11 story, he never claims to know it himself but asks for a new and truly independent investigation. It is this latter feature which greatly contributes to the credibility and importance of this courageous book. I use this book with my history students to illustrate how history can be distorted through omissions and distortions. I warmly recommend this book to all those who are interested in both 9/11 and the subsequent cover up.
Dr. Daniele Ganser, Center for Security Studies, Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland
Author of NATO's Secret Armies. Operation Gladio and Terrorism in Western Europe (Frank Cass, London and New York, January 2005)
Only very few people have read the 576 pages of the Kean/Zelikow report and tested the quality of the book. It is therefore of great value that Professor emeritus David Ray Griffin has carried out this task and described in detail how sensitive facts regarding mysterious or even illegal behaviour by senior US executives had been supplied in sworn testimony to the Kean/Zelikow commission by members of the FBI but then ignored in the Kean/Zelikow book. Griffin also explains that no mention, let alone explanation, is given of the collapse of WTC 7 or of the BBC report that six of the 19 hijackers were still alive.
While Griffin explicitly suspects that the Bush administration and the Pentagon have covered up the true 9/11 story, he never claims to know it himself but asks for a new and truly independent investigation. It is this latter feature which greatly contributes to the credibility and importance of this courageous book. I use this book with my history students to illustrate how history can be distorted through omissions and distortions. I warmly recommend this book to all those who are interested in both 9/11 and the subsequent cover up.
Dr. Daniele Ganser, Center for Security Studies, Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland
Author of NATO's Secret Armies. Operation Gladio and Terrorism in Western Europe (Frank Cass, London and New York, January 2005)
77 of 82 people found the following review helpful
By Kennedy Joss
Format:Paperback
First I will briefly review Griffin's book, then respond to the 1-star reviewers on this site.
The thumbs-up and thumbs-down:
There are points at which it seems Griffin's theological background does him a disservice, because the tale he spins comes across poorly as a homily. Too often Griffin argues manipulatively, and uses rhetorical tricks unbefitting someone claiming to write a dispassionate expose of the facts. Evermore sad, these machinations are largely unnecessary--Griffin's points ARE rivetting, taken in their entirety. Griffin's scholarship IS generally sound. The connections he makes are, for the most part, logical and difficult to refute. Griffin should have stuck to the facts, acknowledged where his points leave room for debate, and allowed his laying out of the evidence to chew upon readers resistant to the upshot. Griffin too frequently uses cymbals when a metronome would do.
All that said, I have yet to read a solid rebuttal of Griffin's manifesto, or anything countering the inertia built up by his relentless blizzard of facts. I have seen people deflect specific hailstones of Griffin's, but no one has yet succeeded in outshouting the storm.
As for the knee-jerk naysayers: I'm sorry, but saying "US government complicity in 9/11 is impossible because it would be just too, too mean and evil of them!" is not a fact-driven argument. None of us are psychic, or psychologists worthy of mapping all possible rationalizations government members might entertain for complicity in 9/11. Perhaps they believe they are front-ending an inevitable war, amounting to fewer casualties in the long run. We know that the Project for the New American Century put forth an unapologetic call for taking over virtually all of the Middle East, and to hell with civilian casualties and American lives spent in the effort. In short, arguing that "US complicity in 9/11 is too evil to be possible" is a childish, emotion-driven, historically blind sentiment that has no place in a serious review of the facts.
Second, Snopes.com does not offer a thorough discussion of the Pentagon crash. It does not address the issue of confiscated cameras, nor the absence of airplane fuselage or engines or the appropriate number of bodies, nor the dearth of black box recordings, nor the fact that the jetfighter-swoop into the building was supposedly carried out by a pilot whose instructors declared him unfit to fly straight.
Third, the connection Griffin draws to specific Isreali companies and factions (who would hardly have the interests of the Israeli people at heart) is in no way an indictment of "Jews" as a whole, and to suggest otherwise is absurd. Crying "anti-Semitism" in this case is the rhetorical equivalent of arguing that any implication of corruption in, say, The Christian Coalition or The American Family Association amounts to throwing all Christians everywhere to the lions, or any implication of corruption of an American company amounts to hatred of all Americans. Silly, unfair, and pedestrian in the extreme.
Fourth, arguing that "US complicity could not have been possible because SOMEONE would have blabbed" shows an inattention both to how military works (soldiers take orders without question), and to what has happened to people who have tried to "blab." Examine, for example, the wholesale ruin and discrediting of whistleblowers and critics like Paul O'Neill, Richard Clarke, Sibel Edmonds, Colleen Rowley, Ambassador Wilson, UN inspector Scott Ritter, Karen Kwiatkowski, Rep. Murtha, etc. etc. There has to be an audience and haven for "blabbers" for any sane person to take that risk, especially when exposing something so explosive.
Fifth: the argument about the 3 towers (including WTC 7, never struck by a plane) being brought down with explosives is not just about the fact that they DID collapse, but about HOW they collapsed. The South tower fell first, though its fire was nearly out, and the burning fuel almost completely confined to the outer surface of the building. The towers fell inward at freefall speed, generating huge amounts of powdered dust from the top, in easily removable, neat sections. All of these conditions, historically, have only taken place in cases of controlled demolition. FEMA refused to allow engineers to inspect the evidence, and had the steel shipped off for recycling within an astonishingly brief period.
Finally, one need not be convinced of all of Griffin's conclusions to appreciate the damage Griffin does to the credibility of the 9/11 Commission Report. Any outright dismissal of this book without a solid attempt to engage the bulk of Griffin's points is an intellectually lazy, sycophantic move that is itself worthy of dismissal.
The thumbs-up and thumbs-down:
There are points at which it seems Griffin's theological background does him a disservice, because the tale he spins comes across poorly as a homily. Too often Griffin argues manipulatively, and uses rhetorical tricks unbefitting someone claiming to write a dispassionate expose of the facts. Evermore sad, these machinations are largely unnecessary--Griffin's points ARE rivetting, taken in their entirety. Griffin's scholarship IS generally sound. The connections he makes are, for the most part, logical and difficult to refute. Griffin should have stuck to the facts, acknowledged where his points leave room for debate, and allowed his laying out of the evidence to chew upon readers resistant to the upshot. Griffin too frequently uses cymbals when a metronome would do.
All that said, I have yet to read a solid rebuttal of Griffin's manifesto, or anything countering the inertia built up by his relentless blizzard of facts. I have seen people deflect specific hailstones of Griffin's, but no one has yet succeeded in outshouting the storm.
As for the knee-jerk naysayers: I'm sorry, but saying "US government complicity in 9/11 is impossible because it would be just too, too mean and evil of them!" is not a fact-driven argument. None of us are psychic, or psychologists worthy of mapping all possible rationalizations government members might entertain for complicity in 9/11. Perhaps they believe they are front-ending an inevitable war, amounting to fewer casualties in the long run. We know that the Project for the New American Century put forth an unapologetic call for taking over virtually all of the Middle East, and to hell with civilian casualties and American lives spent in the effort. In short, arguing that "US complicity in 9/11 is too evil to be possible" is a childish, emotion-driven, historically blind sentiment that has no place in a serious review of the facts.
Second, Snopes.com does not offer a thorough discussion of the Pentagon crash. It does not address the issue of confiscated cameras, nor the absence of airplane fuselage or engines or the appropriate number of bodies, nor the dearth of black box recordings, nor the fact that the jetfighter-swoop into the building was supposedly carried out by a pilot whose instructors declared him unfit to fly straight.
Third, the connection Griffin draws to specific Isreali companies and factions (who would hardly have the interests of the Israeli people at heart) is in no way an indictment of "Jews" as a whole, and to suggest otherwise is absurd. Crying "anti-Semitism" in this case is the rhetorical equivalent of arguing that any implication of corruption in, say, The Christian Coalition or The American Family Association amounts to throwing all Christians everywhere to the lions, or any implication of corruption of an American company amounts to hatred of all Americans. Silly, unfair, and pedestrian in the extreme.
Fourth, arguing that "US complicity could not have been possible because SOMEONE would have blabbed" shows an inattention both to how military works (soldiers take orders without question), and to what has happened to people who have tried to "blab." Examine, for example, the wholesale ruin and discrediting of whistleblowers and critics like Paul O'Neill, Richard Clarke, Sibel Edmonds, Colleen Rowley, Ambassador Wilson, UN inspector Scott Ritter, Karen Kwiatkowski, Rep. Murtha, etc. etc. There has to be an audience and haven for "blabbers" for any sane person to take that risk, especially when exposing something so explosive.
Fifth: the argument about the 3 towers (including WTC 7, never struck by a plane) being brought down with explosives is not just about the fact that they DID collapse, but about HOW they collapsed. The South tower fell first, though its fire was nearly out, and the burning fuel almost completely confined to the outer surface of the building. The towers fell inward at freefall speed, generating huge amounts of powdered dust from the top, in easily removable, neat sections. All of these conditions, historically, have only taken place in cases of controlled demolition. FEMA refused to allow engineers to inspect the evidence, and had the steel shipped off for recycling within an astonishingly brief period.
Finally, one need not be convinced of all of Griffin's conclusions to appreciate the damage Griffin does to the credibility of the 9/11 Commission Report. Any outright dismissal of this book without a solid attempt to engage the bulk of Griffin's points is an intellectually lazy, sycophantic move that is itself worthy of dismissal.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
The 9/11 Commission
I gave this book a #1 rating, and here is why. Also, Please remember that this is MY opinion and mine alone. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Suzanne M. Fleming
5.0 out of 5 stars
" in god we trust " ?
i'm compelled to give this read 5 stars ( with a cherry on top).
the writer has done his homework without room for nonsensical ambiguity --- his case is clear / laymen... Read more
the writer has done his homework without room for nonsensical ambiguity --- his case is clear / laymen... Read more
Published 7 months ago by abran paso
5.0 out of 5 stars
Research Material, Time has proven the quality of this publication.
This publication is valuable, historical research for 9/11 deception examples.
The over-all thesis of this publication by David Ray Griffin has maintained the main... Read more
The over-all thesis of this publication by David Ray Griffin has maintained the main... Read more
Published 10 months ago by boatsmac
5.0 out of 5 stars
THE MOST EXTENSIVE CRITIQUE OF THE COMMISSION'S FINAL REPORT
Retired theologian David Ray Griffin nowadays devotes his time to 9/11; he has written many other books, such as The New Pearl Harbor Revisited: 9/11, the Cover-Up, and the... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Steven H. Propp
1.0 out of 5 stars
get your facts straight before you publish, please
I've already posted a reply to another review about Hani Hanjour's piloting skills and the so-called "precision" attack on the Pentagon, so I'll stick here to a couple of other... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Terrell Miller
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Compelling Read
This is a sober, straight forward attempt to review the original testimony to the 9/11 Commission and compare it to the text of the ultimate report, highlighting discrepancies and... Read more
Published on February 27, 2011 by John H. Macdonald
5.0 out of 5 stars
Truth is stranger than fiction
What I loved about this book is the fact that unlike disturbing questions like in his "The New Pearl Harbor" which I to have read... Read more
Published on February 24, 2011 by Phil7845
5.0 out of 5 stars
An absolute MUST READ
Brings out the true evidence and real conclusions of what really took place and by Whom.Not what you think or have been lied to
Published on April 28, 2010 by Stewart Lamotte
5.0 out of 5 stars
the truth of 9-11-01
This is an amazing source of information if looking into the events of 9-11-01. Griffin is a wonderful investigator.
Published on December 17, 2009 by C. West
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant expose of a state-sponsored cover-up
Having previously read "The New Pearl Harbor", I was already fully convinced that 9/11 was a false flag operation. Read more
Published on October 3, 2009 by Martin Hanson
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 26
books:
See all 26 books this book cites
- Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror by Richard A. Clarke on 9 pages
- House of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties by Craig Unger on 5 pages
- The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (The American Empire Project) by Chalmers Johnson on 5 pages
- Intelligence Matters: The CIA, The FBI, Saudi Arabia, and The Failure of AMerica's War on Terror by Graham Senator Bob with Jeff Nussbaum on 5 pages
- Body of Secrets: How America's National Security Agency Has Achieved Global Reach by James Bamford on page 270, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
See all 26 books this book cites
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