Hey, did this thread evolve into a 911 Truther debate while I wasn't watching? Cool.

Personally, despite a whole heap of unanswered questions, I was always ambivalent about 911 "Conspiracy Theories" until I really started digging into this anthrax story.

But if you accept that Bruce Ivins wasn't the anthrax killer, and that the FBI is covering up, then you have to assume a pretty massive conspiracy already. People in the US government sending out anthrax against political enemies, with the clear intention to terrify the US public.

And the motive is pretty clear: to push the Patriot Act and pave the way for war. Of course, if you read the PNAC, you know this was a long-held plan.

Now, if you accept that as truth (and anybody wanna disprove it, I am all ears) then what are you to make of all the gaping holes in the official 911 story?

A friend of mine was watching TV on 911, like millions of others, and noticed something strange (link at my sig as highly recommended)...

On September 11, 2001, Jerome Hauer was a national security advisor with the National Institute of Health, a managing director with Kroll Associates, and a guest on national television.

Yeah, the same guy who told the White House to take Cipro was also the former head of New York City's Office of Emergency Management (OEM), which just happened to be in the WTC, but they just happened to be all out of the office that day. As OEM head, Hauer oversaw an outbrak of West Nile virus, which he just happened to be prepared for. He used to work with Stephen Hatfill at Scientific Applications International Corporation, at the Center for Counterterrorism Technology and Analysis.

On September 11, 2001, in addition to his job with the NIH, Jerome Hauer was also Managing Director of Kroll Associates, a well-established security firm serving clients in the military and the US government. In the 1980s, Kroll was known as the "CIA of Wall Street" because of the sorts of the people it hired, and the sorts of tasks they were assigned.

Strangely, perhaps, on 9/11, Kroll was in charge of security for the entire World Trade Center complex.

Hauer was on TV with Dan Rather on 911, and he was ready with an explanation of how the buildings collapsed but also who did it. A month later he was helping Henry Kissinger publicly counter the "myths" about 911...

Like I said, link at my sig.

I saw an odd story in Murdoch's WSJ last week (link at my sig). The author said the USA was a "war economy" and detailed how trillions of dollars are wasted by opportunistic warmongers, and how the US public cheers it on even as they get taken for a financial ride. What's even more interesting, however, was the closing paras:

Comments? Tell us: What will it take to wake up America, get citizens, investors, anybody mad at "America's Outrageous War Economy?"

Why don't you rebel? Will the outrage come too late ... after this massive war bubble explodes in our faces?

Provocative stuff for the staid WSJ! Do Murdoch and his friends want to provoke massive demonstrations ahead of the Nov 2 elections?

Is this a way to smoke out protesters who could cause trouble e.g. by monitoring voting booth irregularities? If political protests became widespread and heated, would that be an excuse to cancel the elections?

Perhaps this kind of confrontation becomes inevitable when you give way too much money to bloated bureaucracies like Homeland Security (hate that name) and the intelligence services, including the FBI.

I mean, the FBI has been planting agents in local Vegan groups all over the country??? Really? Gosh, that'll show Al Quaeda!

And a cautionary tale, especially for those who think this is all crazy conspiracy talk...

Here in Australia our Federal Police have just dropped a massive $8 million anti-terrorism case against an Indian doctor, Mohammed Haneef. As the case unraveled it became increasingly clear that the Feds were under huge pressure from the government to find something - anything! - which would turn this into an explosive issue ahead of last November's elections (which Bush's "deputy" PM Howard lost, thank God). The head of the Feds is now under pressure to reveal whatever evidence they had and explain why the probe stayed open so long, or resign. Link at my sig.

Isn't it funny how those who abuse the politics of fear often end up being the ones most afraid?

The 2008 Republicans know just how much anger there is out there in local US communities, and deep down they know it is all justified. So they send their police agents and intelligence services out across the country, terrified that many will see this Convention as the perfect target of violent protest.

Prone as they are to choose violence as a solution to their own problems, they assume their enemies will opt for the same response.

Similarly, they use violence against other nations then spend billions of taxpayer dollars guarding against the expected response.

Pathetic, really.