Eric margolis: 9/11. The mother of all coincidences

[mick silver]

http://mycatbirdseat.com/2010/09/eric-margolis-911-the-mother-of-all-coincidences/

[PatColo]

reminded me of Ch. 9 in David Ray Griffin's book, The New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions About the Bush Administration and 9/11 (http://www.amazon.com/New-Pearl-Harbor-Disturbing-Administration/dp/1566565529/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8)

download free PDF here:
http://sandiego.indymedia.org/media/2006/10/119637.pdf


[...]
Problems for a Coincidence Theory

Even more important, critics ot the official account could point out, rejection of the
conspiracy theory exacts a high price. A conspiracy theory usually depends upon the
perception of a pattern, plus a claim that the existence of this pattern is best explained by
supposing that it was brought about through the combined efforts of two or more people.
To reject a particular conspiracy theory of this nature requires either a denial that the
alleged pattern exists or the assertion that the existence of the pattern could be purely
coincidental. It would be hard to deny that the critics of the official account have
discerned a pattern. They have shown that many otherwise puzzling events—before,
during, and after 9/11—can be explained by the theory that high-level officials in the US
government conspired to allow the attacks to occur and then to cover up this fact. Given
that pattern, the price for rejecting this conspiracy theory is to accept a coincidence
theory. And, critics of the official account can point out, the number of coincidences that
would need to be accepted is enormous. A complete list would include the following
coincidences:

1. Several FAA flight controllers exhibited extreme incompetence on 9/11,
and evidendy on that day only.

2. The officials in charge at both NMCC and NORAD also acted
incompetently on 9/11, and evidently on that day only.

3. In particular, when NMCC-NORAD officials did finally order jet fighters
to be scrambled to protect New York and Washington, they ordered them in
each case from more distant bases, rather than from McGuire and Andrews,
respectively.

4. After public statements saying that Andrews Air Force Base had no jet
fighters on alert to protect Washington, its website, which had previously
said that many jets were always on alert, was altered.

5 Several pilots who normally are airborne and going full speed in under
three minutes all took much longer to get up on 9/11.

6. These same pilots, flying planes capable of going 1,500 to 1,850 miles
per hour, on that day were all evidently able to get their planes to fly only
300 to 700 miles per hour.

7. The collapse of the buildings of the World Trade Center, besides
occurring at almost free-fall speed, exhibited other signs of being controlled
demolitions: molten steel, seismic shocks, and fine dust were all produced.

8. The video and physical evidence suggesting that controlled demolition
was the cause of the collapse of the Twin Towers co-exists with testimony
from people in these buildings that they heard, felt, and saw the effects of
explosions.

9. The collapse of WTC-1 and WTC-2 had some of the same features as the
collapse of WTC-7, even though the latter collapse could not be attributed
to the impact and jet fuel of an airplane.

10. Both the North Tower and the South Tower collapsed just as their
respective fires were dying down, even though this meant that the South
Tower, which had been hit second, collapsed first.

11. Governmental agencies had the debris, including the steel, from the
collapsed WTC buildings removed without investigation, which is what
would be expected if the government wanted to prevent evidence of
explosives from being discovered.

12. Physical evidence suggesting that what hit the Pentagon could not have
been a Boeing 757 co-exists with testimony of several witnesses that the
aircraft that did hit the Pentagon was far smaller than a 757.

13. This evidence about the aircraft that hit the Pentagon co-exists with
reports that Flight 77 crashed in Kentucky or Ohio.

14. This evidence co-exists with the fact that the only evidence that Flight
77 did not crash was supplied by an attorney closely associated with the
Bush administration.

15. Evidence that Flight 77 did not return to Washington to hit the Pentagon
co-exists with the fact that when the flight control transcript was released,
the final 20 minutes were missing.

16. The fact that the aircraft that hit the Pentagon did so only after
executing a very difficult maneuver co-exists with the fact that it struck a
section of the Pentagon that, besides containing none of its leaders, was the
section in which the strike would cause the least death and destruction.

17. On the same day in which jet fighters were unable to protect the
Pentagon from an attack by a single airplane, the missiles that normally
protect the Pentagon also failed to do so.

18. Sounds from cell phones inside Flight 93 suggesting that the plane had
been hit by a missile were matched by many reports to this effect from
witnesses on the ground.

19. This evidence that Flight 93 was shot down co-exists with reports from
both civilian and military leaders that there was intent to shoot this flight
down.

20. The only plane that was evidently shot down, Flight 93, was the only
one in which it appeared that passengers were going to gain control.

21. The evidence that Flight 93 was shot down after the passengers were
about to gain control co-exists with the fact that the flight control transcript
for this flight was not released.

22. That coincidence co-exists with the fact that when the cockpit recording
of Flight 93 was released, the final three minutes were missing.

23. Evidence showing that the US government had far more specific
evidence of what was to occur on 9/11 than it has admitted co-exists with
evidence that it actively blocked investigations that might have prevented
the attacks.

24. Reports of obstructions from FBI agents in Minneapolis co-exist with
similar reports from Chicago and New York.

25. Reports of such obstructions prior to 9/11 co-exist with reports that
investigations after 9/11 were also obstructed.

26. These reports of obstructionism co-exist with multiple reports
suggesting that the US government did not really try to capture or kill
Osama bin Laden either prior to or after 9/11, with the result that several
people independently suggested that the US government must be working
for bin Laden—or vice versa.

27. All these reports co-exist with reports of hijackers being allowed in the
country in spite of known terrorist connections or visa violations.

28. These reports about immigration violations co-exist with evidence that
some of these same men were allowed to train at US flight schools, some on
military bases.

29. This evidence of training at various American flight schools co-exists
with reports that US officials tried to conceal this evidence.

30. The traumatic events of 9/11 occurred just a year after a document
published by the Project for the New American Century, an organization
whose founders included several men who became central figures in the
Bush administration, referred to benefits that could come from "a new Pearl
Harbor."

31. The "unifying Pearl Harbor sort of purple American fury" produced by
the 9/11 attacks did benefit the Bush administration in many ways.

32. A credible report that spokespersons for the Bush administration had
earlier announced that the US government was planning a war on
Afghanistan, which would begin before the middle of October, co-exists
with the fact that the attacks of 9/11, by occurring on that date, gave US
military forces time to be ready to attack Afghanistan on October 7.

33. Ahmad Masood, whose continued existence would have posed
problems for US plans in Afghanistan, was assassinated, reportedly by ISI
operatives, just after the head of the ISI, General Mahmoud Ahmad, had
been meeting in Washington for several days with the head of the CIA.

34. In the White Houses version of the recording of Condoleezza Rice's
press briefing on May 16, the only portion that was inaudible was the
portion in which the person under discussion, mentioned as having been in
Washington on 9/11, was identified as "the ISI chief."

35. Evidence of official efforts to conceal General Ahmad's presence in
Washington co-exists with evidence that, after it became known that
General Ahmad had ordered $100,000 wired to Mohamed Atta, US leaders
exerted pressure on the ISI to dismiss him from his post quietly.

36. Evidence of these attempts to conceal General Ahmad's involvement in
9/11 co-exists with evidence that the FBI and other federal agencies sought
to obscure the fact that Saeed Sheikh, the man who wired the money to
Atta, was an ISI agent.

37. The fact that agents in FBI headquarters who presided over the alleged
intelligence failure that allowed 9/11 to happen, widely called the biggest
intelligence failure since Pearl Harbor, were promoted instead of fired or
otherwise punished co-exists with the fact that other intelligence agencies
also reported that there had been no punishments for incompetence related
to 9/11.

38. This evidence of lack of punishment for poor performance co-exists
with reports that intelligence officers who were diligendy trying to pursue
investigations related to 9/11 suffered negative treatment from superiors.

As can be seen, what some critics call the incompetence theory can be understood as
simply part of a larger coincidence theory, because it entails that FAA agents, NMCC
and NORAD officials, pilots, immigration agents, US military leaders in Afghanistan,
and numerous US intelligence agencies all coincidentally acted with extreme and unusual
incompetence when dealing with matters related to 9/11.

But the coincidence theory requires even greater credulity. To accept it requires holding
not only that each conjunction of events on the above list -- which a conspiracy theory
could explain by regarding each one as part of a pattern of events that had been planned
— was purely coincidental. It also requires holding that the fact that there are so many
events related to 9/11 that involve coincidences—at least 38 such events—is itself purely coincidental.

Seen in this light, the fact that a complicity theory may not at this time be able to answer
all the questions it evokes, revisionists can say, is a relatively trivial problem. Once the
relevant facts are put before us, the official account involves a coincidence theory that
would require far greater credulity than that of which "conspiracy theorists" are accused.
[...]

[Spectrism]

Of all this, I think this part pisses me off most....


18. Sounds from cell phones inside Flight 93 suggesting that the plane had
been hit by a missile were matched by many reports to this effect from
witnesses on the ground.

19. This evidence that Flight 93 was shot down co-exists with reports from
both civilian and military leaders that there was intent to shoot this flight
down.

20. The only plane that was evidently shot down, Flight 93, was the only
one in which it appeared that passengers were going to gain control.

21. The evidence that Flight 93 was shot down after the passengers were
about to gain control co-exists with the fact that the flight control transcript
for this flight was not released.

22. That coincidence co-exists with the fact that when the cockpit recording
of Flight 93 was released, the final three minutes were missing.

[General of Darkness]

The ONLY way a REAL investigation will happen is if RP gets in office. Hell maybe we'll find out the truth about JFK. IMHO.