The trek west took 105 minutes, but so what? Michalek, 64, would have driven nine hours to commune and commiserate with other Iowans who believe the official story of Sept. 11, 2001, is a big fat lie.

“It’s the only game in Iowa,” he said.

The only game, he meant, for people who think 9/11 is the least examined tragedy in American history.

According to 911truth.org, the Adel group has company. Grass-roots organizers also exist in Cedar Falls, Davenport and Indianola.

That said, going on nine years after the attack on the United States, the 9/11 truthers are still playing small ball. The group, for the most part, is still more sect than mainline denomination.

Though 15 people showed up for the June meeting at the Adel Public Library, the attendees are convinced the movement is gaining strength and that someday the conspiracy theory will become an accepted fact.

James Hufferd, a former junior college teacher with a Ph.D., has been calling these monthly meetings for almost three years. When they have a speaker, they draw a decent crowd. In April, theologian and author David Ray Griffin filled a 300-seat auditorium at Drake.

On this night, Dennis Scar, 60, rolled in from his farm near Earlham. Lin Cornelison, 59, traveled from Creston. Angela Bassett, 38, came from Urbandale. Scott Hartung, 51, Kent Harkrader, 45, and John Frankling, 35, are from Des Moines.

Spread out on a table was a small video library. Dave Scar, 58, of Woodward, said he’s made 11,000 copies of various titles. Simply ask and ye shall receive.

Beginners, Scar said, might want to begin with “Loose Change” then work their way to “Zero: 9/11” or “911 in Plane Site” or “Blueprint for Truth” or “9/11 Mysteries.”

Most members of the group seem to believe the attack was an inside job that gave the United States an excuse to go to war. And if you disagree, it’s only because you haven’t taken the time to study the evidence or you’ve fallen under the sway of the lazy, corrupt corporate media.

If you want to debate the truthers, come prepared. Right or wrong, they’ve looked into this a lot more than the rest of us.

Michalek, a retired teacher, probation officer, truck driver, farmer and military veteran, said he lies in bed wondering how he can make people understand that, whatever happened, 9/11 cries out for further investigation.

“I wake up at 3 in the morning,” he said, “asking myself: How can I better reach people? How can I change minds? For me it was easy. I knew the government lied to me about Vietnam, because I was there.”

In Tuesday’s session, the truthers ate pizza and watched a film of scientist Kevin Ryan speaking at a college in Vermont. Ryan was fired from his lab director job after challenging government findings that burning jet fuel weakened the steel beams supporting the World Trade Center towers.

Ryan’s laboratory said he was axed for making his opinions sound like those of his employer. The Adel crowd believes he was fired for telling the truth.

Before they watched the video, “The Emerging Science Around the 9/11 WTC Destruction,” Hufferd warned the group. It’s a little technical.

A little technical? Ryan stood behind the lectern and talked about nanothermite and red/gray chips and methyl ketone something or other.

The video was less about juicy tidbits and dark scenarios and more about science and how the collapse of the Trade Center showed all the characteristics of a staged demolition event.

The truthers watched the film as if it were the final episode of “Law & Order.” In Ryan’s Q&A session, there was some sexy stuff about gangsters and FBI moles and how the conspiracy might go back further than people think.

When the film was over, the group members talked about what they’d learned: “I hadn’t heard two people were killed in the clean-up,” one person said.

Another wondered how John O’Neal really died. John O’Neal? I looked it up later. He was a counterterrorism guru who got fed up, quit the FBI and became head of security at the World Trade Center. Two weeks later, he died in the attack.

All their curiosity doesn’t make the truthers popular. In fact, it rubs a lot of people the wrong way.

Even loved ones sometimes wonder what went wrong. Frankling, a carpenter, said his mother isn’t buying what he’s selling. “She told me, ‘I raised you better than that,’ ” he said with a smile.

Most people, somebody else added, don’t want to believe the United States would murder 3,000 of its own citizens. Truthwise, there definitely is that.

The post For 9/11 Skeptics in Iowa, Case Is Far From Settled appeared first on 9/11 Truth News.

Such an historic milestone for liberty could not have occured at a more fitting time than the 4th of July, a time when Americans take pause to celebrate their liberty and reflect on the form of government that guarantees such freedom.

A perfect time to raise an eyebrow at the 9/11 investigation that continually tells us, even to this day, that we must fight more wars and give up more personal liberties.

And, Lehigh Valley locals are, indeed, beginning to speak out about it.

Meet petition signer Lori McFerran, who says she lives “in a small town in eastern Pennsylvania with [her] husband.”  Mrs. McFerran writes of herself in her personal description statement, “I am an editor at a daily newspaper in Allentown, Pa., and have almost 30 years’ experience as a journalist and writer.”

Mrs. McFerran isn’t so sure the 9/11 Commission got it right, stating in her petition, “After hearing the evidence presented by Richard Gage (I listened to the youtube video and heard him speak on Coast to Coast on Tuesday, June 10), I am sufficiently suspicious of the account that was presented by the media about what happened at the World Trade Center in 2001. I fully support a complete and UNBIASED investigation into the events and a thorough scientific evaluation of the evidence at the site.”

The emphasis by Mrs. McFerran that the new 9/11 investigation needs to be unbiased was shared by another local, a Mr. Larry A. Hill of Northampton.

Mr. Hill stated in his petition:

“I have a Bachelor of Arts in History from Penn State University, graduated with highest distinction (top 2%) with a GPA of 3.88. I am a self-taught database programmer by profession. In my studies of History, I reject most, if not all popular conspiracy theories.

I accepted the government explanation of the WTC towers for years. When I saw the AE911Truth video, I was convinced that we were NOT told anywhere near the entire truth about this event.
A truly complete and INDEPENDENT investigation must be done. No one with direct ties to the US government should be involved. Until this happens, trust in our government and the ability of representative democracy to protect us is eroded and undermined.”

One avenue of investigation not pursued by the 9/11 Commission was the possible use of explosives in bringing down any or all of the World Trade Center towers on 9/11/01.  Bethlehem resident Robert D. Grim writes in his petition statement that evidence of controlled demolitions is opening his eyes, stating:

“Though not an architect or engineer, I am a physics buff. I have a solid understanding of the laws that govern the physical universe, and am also well versed in construction methods.

I was a senior in high school when the towers collapsed. I didn’t question anything at first, but I did see the resemblance between the WTC and controlled demolitions. I began questioning the event when a friend who had seen the film “Fahrenheit 9/11″ told me about the theory of controlled demolition. Since then, nearly every piece of evidence that I’ve seen has supported that theory. I want truth!!!!”

On this 4th of July, with now 10,000 signatures officially on the A&E petition, there is truly hope that such a new and impartial investigation might be acheived, the need of which having been attested to locally on the A&E petition by Lehigh Valley petition signers such as McFerran, Hill, and Grim.

The 10,000 figure was reached by adding together the official figures given on the A&E website on Saturday, July 3rd.  An official figure of 1218 was given for “architects and engineers,” and an official figure of 8,787 for “other supporters” on the same day.  Thus, as of July 3rd, there were 10,005 total signers, according to figures posted at the Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth’s official website.

Lehigh Valley residents are reminded that the A&E petition “is open to everyone,” according to the A&E official website.  Therefore, a person need not be either an architect or an engineer in order to sign the petition.  And, indeed, everyone is encouraged to sign.

For more information about the Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth petition, readers are referred to the official website, cms.ae911truth.org.

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