Bob McIlvaine and Tony Szamboti on Rosie O'Donnell Show

A description of the show from Rosie O’Donnell’s blog:

BUILDING WHAT

Rosie then introduced two callers – Bob McIlvaine and Tony Szamboti – who are supporters of Buildingwhat.org. Rosie read the purpose of “Building What” and how it’s an effort led by 9/11 family members to reopen the investigation of what happened to Building 7 on September 11th, 2001. She read from the website and said Building 7 fell at free fall speed with no resistance from the support structures as if the support structures had been removed. Rosie read the facts about Building 7 from their website and Pete read the list of the companies that were housed in the building. Rosie said Building What isn’t pointing the finger at any one organization or person for the collapse of the building, they’re just saying it defies the laws of physics and too many things have been swept under the table.

Rosie first introduced Bob McIlvaine who lost his son Bobby on September 11th. Bob told Rosie all about his son who graduated from Princeton and then went on to NY to work as the VP of Media Relations for Merrill Lynch. Merrill Lynch is across the street from the North Tower and his company had a seminar in Tower One that day, but he never showed up. No one was able to contact him after the first plane hit the towers. Bob and his family went to NYC immediately after 9/11 and went from hospital to hospital looking for their son. On Thursday of that week, they got a call that he was found dead. His body was one of the first 10 bodies that were found at the WTC site. He said any parent who has lost a child wants to know if their child suffered and how they died. They didn’t know if he jumped from the 106th floor (where the conference was) or how he had died that day. Four years after his death Bob met with the doctor who examined his son’s body and the doctor described Bobby’s injuries to him which included post-mortem burns that weren’t severe (not more than a sunburn) and his injuries that showed he took a blast to the chest and the face. The injuries showed he didn’t jump from the towers. Bob said they know the lobby of the WTC was blown out that day and he thinks that was where he most likely died. Bob has talked to people who were there that day and there could have been an explosion before the first plane hit. He’s also gone to every 9/11 commission meeting and he said they refuse to acknowledge there were any explosions that day even though witnesses have testified otherwise.

Rosie then introduced Tony Szamboti who read the reports of Building 7 that made him suspicious. He heard about Building 7 when it fell and was perplexed as to why it fell when it hadn’t been hit by a plane. Tony is a mechanical engineer who works for structures in the Aerospace industry. He said (many things but I am not a mechanical engineer so I am doing my best listening) that there is a good possibility that the structure went down because of a controlled demolition. Tony said any engineers he’s shown the evidence to shake their heads at what they see. He said it’s not a conspiracy, it’s a crime. Tony explained a controlled demolition and how when a building is built it is built to sustain several levels. He said buildings don’t just fall apart “willy nilly” or by fire. Tony said fire can’t melt steel except in a controlled circumstance such as a blast furnace. And Rosie and Tony reminded listeners that Building 7 wasn’t hit by an airplane. Tony referenced the recent building fire in Shanghai and how the core and the exterior (even the scaffolding) was still standing after the fire was put out and how that fire was HUGE (unlike the fire in Building 7). Tony said there is no way Building 7 could have fallen the way it did without demolition devices being involved. There was also thermite found in the dust between Building 7 and the WTC towers.

Tony said the goal of Building What is to educate the public so that the city council can have the public’s support that will allow them to investigate the cause of Building 7’s collapse further. Rosie and Tony also talked about the early reports of Building 7’s collapse by BBC and by CNN.

Bob said when Building What was on Geraldo that was the first time they’ve had any coverage in mainstream media. Tony said on any other day, if a building had fallen in this way, defying the laws of physics, it would have been major news for several weeks.

Rosie said she became interested in Building 7 and what happened to it when Bill Geddie (the EP of The View) had booked a guest debunking the conspiracies of what happened on 9/11. She wanted to look into what “myths” that person was actually debunking. Rosie thanked both men for calling into the program. She said for everyone who lost someone on 9/11 and what the country has lost we deserve a full an impartial investigation. She wished there was some way she could help heal Bob’s wound and heal his heart and said she was so sorry for his loss. Tony said if listeners are interested in helping demand an investigation into what really happened to Building 7 that day they can contribute money to the cause so that they can get more publicity and public support.

Rosie took several calls from listeners about the Building What campaign. One caller worked in the WTC at the Securities and Exchange Commission and was there on 9/11. She talked about how upsetting the calls were to her to imply that someone (other than the terrorists) had something to do with 9/11. She was in Building 7 that day and said when the second plane hit there was definitely structural damage done. She said glass came flying in and the impact of the plane was very powerful even when it didn’t hit the building. She wanted to know who the callers were saying was responsible. Rosie said the people of Building What aren’t proposing they know who made the tower collapse, they’re just saying we as Americans are entitled to a new investigation. And that it’s impossible for it to fall the way it did. Rosie thanked the caller for calling and told her she’s happy she made it out alive. Rosie told the caller it’s difficult to imagine that it hasn’t yet been fully investigated and said all the people who lost loved ones that day deserve answers.