An Open Letter to Michael Goodwin Of the New York Post

Dear Mr. Goodwin –
Allow me to introduce myself. I have been a member of the 9/11 Truth movement since late 2003. I have appeared on national TV on FoxNews’ cable news network show The Big Story, owned by the current owner of the New York Post, Ruppert Murdoch. My film, ‘Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime’ premiered in 2006 at the Tribeca Screening Room during the Tribeca Film Festival as an independent film. My film was downloaded over half a million times in the first year alone, after which time I stopped keeping track of its progress. It has been duplicated and translated into numerous languages around the world. In these last 7 years I have continued my activism in support of 9/11Truth having spoken publicly in numerous venues in various states across the USA on the importance of this subject.
I have read your editorial 9/11 Myths: “A growing Muslim menace” and I have some shocking news to share with you. Please prepare yourself for this shocking news:
I agree with you.
Partially, anyway.
It is with great sadness that I have, over these last 7 years, watched the subject of 9/11 Truth devolve into a series of loosely knit conspiracy theories and myths that have, in my opinion, hurt our efforts to define ourselves as a movement, and a nation, predicated on finding truth and justice.
In these last 7 years I have watched helplessly as the solemn issue of 9/11 was turned, by a small but loud minority, into a vehicle for spreading hatred and cultural intolerance. I have watched in horror as people, marching under the banner of 9/11 Truth, and those who would oppose them, promoting myths that are demonstrably untrue, essentially turning 9/11 Truth into a sideshow of competing political agendas. And I have watched as fear and paranoia has led publications, such as your own, into promoting rabid anti-Muslim bigotry of the worst kind.
What a sad fix we are in as a nation.
How did we come to such a place Mr. Goodwin?
And as I watched the holocaust deniers on one side of me attempting to invent ties between 9/11 and Israel with lies and disinformation seemingly invented out of whole cloth, I have also seen many editorials and media inventions, such as your own, that seek to stir up fear and hatred of an entire people, and loosely tie terrorism to those of us who still care enough to dare to ask questions about 9/11.
Unfortunately, life is not that simple, and the black and white anachronisms from the Bush administration that tell us that “you are either with us – or you are with the terrorists” no longer make sense in a world where our investigative journalists have checked out on us, reneged on their social contract with the American public, and failed to ask the most important fundamental questions associated with the most important historical event of our time.
It is important for you to understand that extremism comes in many different flavors Mr. Goodwin. Whether you are a “truther” spreading disinformation about Israeli involvement in 9/11, or an editorialist for the New York Post fanning the flames of bigotry and anger against Muslims or sincere 9/11 Truth activists, it all adds up to the same in the end, a dangerous and deteriorating mix of hate speech where violent ‘final solutions’ may one day become legitimized.
And so I partially agree with you, Mr. Goodwin. Hate speech and lies can be dangerous. But I remind you that hate speech and lies are dangerous – whether they aim to distort the truth about the holocaust and Israeli involvement in 9/11 – or they fan the flames of bigotry and fear of Muslims – or they are used to distort the intentions of self-professed 9/11 Truth activists, such as myself, who seek only to peacefully lobby our elected leaders for accountability and answers.
It is important for you to understand, Mr. Goodwin, that not all those who question the events of 9/11 are conspiracy theorists. 9/11 Truth started, ostensibly, with the victim’s families and the Family Steering Committee for the 9/11 Commission which compiled questions in the wake of that tragedy. Many of these questions, to this day, remain unresolved.
Even the 9/11 Commission itself had questions that remain unresolved, as the Washington Post reported on August 2, 2006:
Some staff members and commissioners of the Sept. 11 panel concluded that the Pentagon’s initial story of how it reacted to the 2001 terrorist attacks may have been part of a deliberate effort to mislead the commission and the public rather than a reflection of the fog of events on that day, according to sources involved in the debate.
“We to this day don’t know why NORAD [the North American Aerospace Command] told us what they told us,” said Thomas H. Kean, the former New Jersey Republican governor who led the commission. “It was just so far from the truth. . . . It’s one of those loose ends that never got tied.”
Roughly one-fifth of the world’s population, approximately 1.27 billion people, are adherents of Islam. Similarly, millions of world citizens have legitimate concerns about the facts, as they have been presented to us, associated with the attacks of 9/11. As two men who concern ourselves with the power of language – I suggest you reconsider the wisdom of using inflammatory terms like “A growing Muslim menace” when referring to the issue of 9/11 myths and conspiracy theories.
The only enemy here is ignorance Mr. Goodwin. And in this regard you need only look in the mirror to understand the reasons why.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Recent Stories
Recent Comments
- Gawker: Chief of CIA’s Global Jihad Unit Revealed Online
- "9/11 Conspiracy Roadtrip" - A Participant's Perspective
- Identity of CIA Officer Behind 9/11 & Torture Cases Revealed
- "9/11 Conspiracy Roadtrip" - A Participant's Perspective
- "9/11 Conspiracy Roadtrip" - A Participant's Perspective
- Who Funded 9/11? Families & Insurers Still Want Answers
- Sibel Edmonds Interviews Paul Thompson
It’s a good letter, but I do think Israel may have had a role to play… possibly. No, I don’t think everyone that is Jewish is a Zionist, and therefore responsible for 9/11. No, I do not think “Israel did 9/11” as some idiots would like everyone to believe, but I do think there are some legitimate questions.
First of all… I think based on available information that it is quite possible that Mossad agents planted bombs in those buildings, and that’s what brought them down as opposed to a professional “Controlled Demolition.”
I think Sibel Edmond’s information ties into some of that re: the blueprints for buildings, and Marc Grossman actively seeking to get some of the Israeli’s arrested out of the country before they “spill the beans.”
I think that Dominick Suter needs to be brought in for questioning.
I think the art students that were in the vicinity of the hijackers needs to be looked at. However, someone on Facebook just sent me this…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6Rsq3eV1r4
Because it’s such a common occurrence, I think it’s possible the art students that were around during 9/11 had nothing to do with 9/11.
HOWEVER… IF the Ziocons in the Bush Administration were somehow involved in the attacks, that does NOT mean Israel was involved.
Anywho… it is a good letter.
Excellent letter. These people, who push these scare stories within the US media, need to be continually told – in plain language – that they are creating fear, unnecessarily. And that they are ruining the freedoms of your nation. You have been treated to sustained Muslim-bashing & fearmongering stateside for a decade now, and it appears that the same powers have now turned to Europe in an attempt to generate a similar fear of Muslim extremism in recent months, by means of recent terror alerts, and now the EDL/UAF mini-conflict in the UK.
I really hope that this tactic does not work here in Europe, because I dont believe that there is a real danger from Muslim extremists, as there has not been a concerted terrorism campaign against the West – either successful or otherwise, since 9/11. Being from Ireland, I know a concerted terrorism campaign when I see one, and it generally includes daily threats, and weekly/monthly bombs, and other such attacks/incidents. Let’s not forget that the so-called Al-Qaeda organisation would have many more people, and much more resources to call upon, than the IRA & INLA had in their time, if it indeed was a collective organisation with a proper structure. But, apart from 911, we have not really seen anything of note in 10 years. Similarly, in the UK we have only got 7/7 to look back upon. I believe that this ALMOST proves that there is not really a threat from Al-Qaeda.
You may not agree with me on this point, as it seems a little simplistic, but please bear in mind that here in Europe, we have had many ‘terrorist/freedom-fighting’ organisations, on our soil, who have ran proper campaigns, and this is possibly why these terror alerts have not held much sway with the European public. I was in London during 7/7, and for the next few years, and everything was back to normal by the evening of 7/7. It did not really garner much interest/conversation in the long-term, as the people were used to daily bomb threats from Irish republicans over many decades, and within no time, they did not really take the Al-Qaeda threat seriously, no matter how the UK media attempted to portray it.
Ironically, the UK media has been taking threats from the dissident Irish republican group, the ‘Real IRA’, very seriously in the past few weeks, much more seriously than the so-called ‘Muslim threat’. You can even hear it in the tone of the news readers, when compared to their reports about Muslim threats. Currently there are the ‘Real IRA’ and the ‘Continuity IRA’, both breakaway groups from the Provisional IRA (commonly referred to simply as the IRA who now only operate peacefully as ‘Sinn Fein’), and both with a membership of no more than 500 people each.
This enhanced media hype surrounding an Irish terror alert HAS actually lead to a ‘Real IRA’ bomb going off, bomb threats in Northern Ireland, and on the UK mainland, all in the past few weeks>
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/1005/breaking1.html
“The PSNI tonight released fresh figures on its efforts to combat dissident activity. It said there had been 37 dissident republican incidents so far this year, with 169 arrests and 59 people charged, compared with 17 people charged during all of 2009”
Bear in mind, Sinn fein has said that there may be only 200-300 people in the Real IRA, and they would know better than anyone. THAT is how a terrorist organisation works. An ongoing effort to upset a country, by whatever means are at their disposal. Similar to what has happening in Afghanistan and Iraq, but nothing like what is going on US soil!
Please dont discount this opinion, as it may be the most important aspect of this mystical Al-Qaeda campaign against the west.
Take care, and keep up the great work, love the site, Damien