2008 Woodie Awards
No conspiracy in questioning official theory or investigation into 9/11 attacks
Peter Phillips and Andrew Roth
Issue date: 12/6/06 Section: Opinion
Project Censored hosted physicist Steven E. Jones, Ph.D. on Nov. 3 at Sonoma State University. Jones is a founding member of Scholars for 9/11 Truth (www.scholarsfor911truth.org), an organization of more than 200 researchers who question the veracity of the U.S. government's official 9/11 Commission Report.
Scholars in the group address a number of questions regarding 9/11 that remain unanswered: Why did the U.S. government ignore numerous pre-warnings from multiple sources, including a team of U.S. military data experts? Why did NORAD fail to intercept the hijacked jets, despite more than adequate time to intercede? What is the likelihood that the 19 alleged terrorists acted without significant assistance?
Jones' research focuses on the collapse of World Trade Center building 7 (WTC7) at 5:20 p.m. on Sept. 11, 2001. Project Censored recognized Dr. Jones for this specific research in our Censored 2007 yearbook. Jones addressed over 250 people, and he emphasized that WTC7 was never hit by an airplane, suffered only minor debris damage from Tower 1, and fires burned on only a few of its floors. Yet, all 24 steel support columns in the building collapsed simultaneously, bringing the 47-story building down in 6.6 seconds (at free-fall speed) in its own footprint. Jones believes that demolition by military-grade thermite is the only possible explanation for the building's sudden, complete collapse. He reported that research on molten metal from the debris and analysis of WTC dust reveal chemical traces indicative of thermite reactions. At his lecture, Jones was clear and adamant in stating that he does not know who placed thermite in the building. He has no conspiracy theory regarding who was involved. Nonetheless, the troubling implications of Jones' work have triggered widespread challenges, including the Press Democrat's front-page article on Nov. 4, which labeled him a "discredited academic."
Some scientists in the United States (including two at SSU) have challenged Jones' research, but few have actually read or analyzed his work. Instead, many prematurely dismiss Jones as a crazy conspiracy theorist, unworthy of consideration.
Scholars in the group address a number of questions regarding 9/11 that remain unanswered: Why did the U.S. government ignore numerous pre-warnings from multiple sources, including a team of U.S. military data experts? Why did NORAD fail to intercept the hijacked jets, despite more than adequate time to intercede? What is the likelihood that the 19 alleged terrorists acted without significant assistance?
Jones' research focuses on the collapse of World Trade Center building 7 (WTC7) at 5:20 p.m. on Sept. 11, 2001. Project Censored recognized Dr. Jones for this specific research in our Censored 2007 yearbook. Jones addressed over 250 people, and he emphasized that WTC7 was never hit by an airplane, suffered only minor debris damage from Tower 1, and fires burned on only a few of its floors. Yet, all 24 steel support columns in the building collapsed simultaneously, bringing the 47-story building down in 6.6 seconds (at free-fall speed) in its own footprint. Jones believes that demolition by military-grade thermite is the only possible explanation for the building's sudden, complete collapse. He reported that research on molten metal from the debris and analysis of WTC dust reveal chemical traces indicative of thermite reactions. At his lecture, Jones was clear and adamant in stating that he does not know who placed thermite in the building. He has no conspiracy theory regarding who was involved. Nonetheless, the troubling implications of Jones' work have triggered widespread challenges, including the Press Democrat's front-page article on Nov. 4, which labeled him a "discredited academic."
Some scientists in the United States (including two at SSU) have challenged Jones' research, but few have actually read or analyzed his work. Instead, many prematurely dismiss Jones as a crazy conspiracy theorist, unworthy of consideration.