Falk, a retired Princeton University professor and U.N. Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories, appeared as the keynote speaker for the Transnational Law & Contemporary Problems law journal 2011 symposium.

Though the visit was controversial — a watchdog group had asked the UI to rescind its invitation because of Falk’s statements about 9/11 — he addressed the issue just once, during a question-and-answer session.

Instead, he told the crowd of several hundred assembled in the Pomerantz Career Center auditorium the policy undertaken by the U.S. government the day after the terrorist attacks affected a large part of the world.

“For much of the world, Sept. 12 was more important than Sept. 11,” he said. “Sept. 12 was the response to the terrorist attacks.”

He cited the United States’ cooperative relationship with autocratic leaders as an example.

But Falk said the revolution in Egypt represents the continuing downfall of a hard-power strategy, embodied by military exercises of violence. The current developments in Egypt as well as previous anticolonial movements are demonstrating a major shift toward a soft-power approach, marked by a wave of nonviolent resistance.

“It’s really saying something new has emerged in political experience that is embodied in this inability of hard power to control the destiny of societies and peoples,” the professor said.

Falk praised the Transnational Law & Contemporary Problems before his speech for tackling current policy in its symposium, “Ten Years After 9/11: Rethinking Counterterrorism.”

Alison Kurth, a third-year College of Law student and the editor of the journal, told The Daily Iowan the staff wanted to mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks by taking a multidisciplinary look at what could be done to prevent terrorism.

“We thought this was the perfect year to do that,” Kurth said.

A handful of protesters, including UI law alumnus James Johnson, handed out fliers describing Falk as “an extremist ideologue.”

Johnson said he had been accused of trying to impede on Falk’s freedom of speech to appear at the university.

“We’re just exercising the same right,” Johnson said as he handed out a flier.

But Falk didn’t touch on the controversy until the end of the lecture. One man professed his disbelief at the accepted 9/11 story and asked Falk if he believed the official version of events.

Falk chuckled.

“I was waiting for the question,” he said.

Falk responded by explaining he didn’t have the necessary knowledge to answer the question but said he felt there was enough “existential doubt” to re-examine the incident.

“It can’t be dismissed by calling anyone who says there are some unanswered questions a conspiracy theorist,” Falk said.

Audience member Harb Harb, 26, said the lecture brought issues to the forefront he hadn’t considered.

“[Falk] was sharing his thoughts in a way thatwasn’t offensive and made us reflect on recent American history,” the fourth-year medical student said.

The post Richard Falk Speaks on the Post-9/11 World appeared first on 9/11 Truth News.

US academic Richard Falk wrote in a blog this month that there had been an “apparent cover-up” by US authorities over the September 11, 2001 attacks, in which hijackers flew airliners into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon near Washington, killing more than 3,000 people.

“In my view, Mr. Falk’s latest commentary is so noxious that it should finally be plain to all that he should no longer continue in his position on behalf of the UN,” Rice said in a statement.

“I would note that US and many other diplomats walked out in protest in September 2010 when Iranian President Ahmadinejad made similarly slanderous remarks before the U.N. General Assembly,” she said, adding that Falk’s comments were “despicable and deeply offensive.”

Falk, the UN Human Rights Council’s special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, wrote in his blog that mainstream media had refused to accept “well-evidenced doubts about the official version of the events: an al Qaeda operation with no foreknowledge by government officials.”

In a letter to Ban last Thursday, UN Watch, a Geneva-based advocacy group affiliated with the American Jewish Committee, called on the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to “strongly condemn Mr. Falk’s offensive remarks — and … immediately remove him from his post.”

UN Watch frequently criticizes the human rights council, saying it often berates Israel while ignoring rights violations by developing countries. It has targeted Falk in the past.

Ban’s chief of staff Vijay Nambiar said on Monday that the secretary-general condemned the remarks but said it was not up to Ban to fire Falk, since he was appointed by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, a 47-nation body created by the UN General Assembly in 2006.

Statement by Ambassador Susan E. Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, on Richard Falk

The post US Condemns UN Expert for 9/11 Statements appeared first on 9/11 Truth News.

The official, Vijay Nambiar, said however that it was not up to Ban to fire the expert, U.S. academic Richard Falk, as demanded by UN Watch, a Geneva-based advocacy group.

Falk wrote in a blog this month that there had been an “apparent cover-up” by U.S. authorities over the September 11, 2001 attacks, in which hijackers flew airliners into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon near Washington.

He said mainstream media had been “unwilling to acknowledge the well-evidenced doubts about the official version of the events: an al Qaeda operation with no foreknowledge by government officials.”

In a letter to Ban last Thursday, UN Watch director Hillel Neuer called on the U.N. chief to “strongly condemn Mr. Falk’s offensive remarks — and … immediately remove him from his post.”

A letter of reply from Nambiar said Ban “condemns (Falk’s) remarks. He has repeatedly stated his view that any such suggestion is preposterous — and an affront to the memory of the more than 3,000 people who died in the attack.”

Nambiar said Falk and other rights experts were not appointed by Ban but by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, a 47-nation body created by the U.N. General Assembly in 2006. “Their continuance in their jobs is thus for the Council to decide,” he added.

UN Watch says on its website it is a non-governmental organization, accredited with the United Nations and affiliated with the American Jewish Committee, that aims to monitor U.N. performance against the yardstick of the U.N. Charter.

It supports U.N. goals but frequently criticizes the Human Rights Council, saying it constantly berates Israel but ignores many rights violations by developing countries. It has often targeted Falk, the council’s special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, for anti-Israeli comments.

In a statement, Neuer welcomed Nambiar’s letter but said the Human Rights Council could not be trusted to fire Falk. He said Ban and U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay had “the power and responsibility to play an influential and decisive role.”

The post UN Chief Condemns Rights Expert's 9/11 Comments appeared first on 9/11 Truth News.

That’s right, applauded after questioning the motivation for the terrorist attacks, who was  responsible for them, and essentially suggesting they were a U.S.  plot.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made a variety of claims over the years during his appearances here, but he never  has gone this far when talking about 9/11.

During his General Assembly address, the Iranian President called for a “U.N. fact finding group” to investigate 9/11.

He also said that ”the majority of the American people  as well as most nations and politicians around the world” believe that “some segments within the U.S. government orchestrated the attack to reverse the declining of the American economy and its grips on the Middle East in order to save the Zionist regime.”

Before his speech, the Obama administration must have had high hopes that Ahmadinejad would have listened to the offers of diplomacy as presented by the administration and its allies on the Security Council. Members of the U.S. delegation remained in their seats. In years past, only what is called a “low-level note taker” has often been posted behind the little plastic “United States” sign, when Ahmadinejad took the stage.

On Tuesday, when Ahmadinejad spoke during the global summit on poverty, the American delegation remained even as he predicted the defeat of capitalism.

But true to form, he quickly went over the line with his 9/11 remarks and that prompted the U.S. diplomats, and others, to get up and walk out.

“ It’s outrageous,”  said State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley. “a short distance from here, nine years ago, three-thousand people were killed in an attack perpetrated by nineteen people, and an attack that was orchestrated by Al Qaeda. We know exactly who did it, they’ve admitted it, the facts are not in dispute, so for the President of Iran to come here and make the suggestion that somehow this was an American plot, is simply outrageous.”

But as Ahmadinejad walked from the podium, he did so rewarded by applause in the august chamber of the world body.

The post Ahmadinejad Applauded After Questioning 9/11 Attack appeared first on 9/11 Truth News.