From Shiu Hung:
Mike Ruppert on Amy Goodman and the 9/11 Latecomers
Brian Salter, questionsquestion.net
18 May 03
It has been a full year since the left establishment gatekeepers' war of personal attacks and debunkery against
9/11 skeptics kicked into high gear, in a notorious phase
which followed the "Bush knew" scandal. Foremost among
their targets was Mike Ruppert and his news service, >From the
Wilderness.
In his latest article on the development of US geopolitical
strategy in the Middle East, Ruppert has penned an introductory
statement laying out a clear truth that is now unavoidable: he has
been fully vindicated. Ruppert and many others who have struggled
against the arrogant indifference of this well-connected clique of gatekeepers to bring a full discussion of the
9/11 coverup to the progressive / left media and the
antiwar movement now hold the high ground. Those who have now
found themselves on the trailing edge owe their audiences much more
than mere catching up and "me too" in order to restore their
legitimacy... to say the least.
The hour is late, and it's time to get down to brass tacks: there
is no legitimate critique of the "War on Terror", no legitimate
anti-war position, which does not place discussion of the 9/11
cover-up and the impresive evidence for US government complicity in
the spotlight — front and center. To claim a dissident or anti-war
position while accepting the official story of how and why 9/11
happened (including establishment-crafted "limited hangout" spin) is
a self-contradiction — hypocrisy, to be blunt — and this has in fact
been the case since around the end of 2001, by which time a
formidable body of evidence and unanswered questions exposing
offical lies had already been amassed by dilligent independent
researchers. Those of us who have been engaged in getting the truth
out on 9/11 have had to make these arguments over and over — to the
point of mental fatigue. It is satisfying to be able to see leading
researchers like Ruppert vindicated, and to know that it is now the
stubborn gatekeepers who have the explaining to do. Their atrocious
mishandling of the 9/11 issue is no water-under-the-bridge error in
judgement, but instead reflects a deep-seated pathology which must
continue to be exposed and understood, lest a Johnny-come-lately
epiphany, such as appears to be occuring with Amy Goodman, wind up
being followed later by yet more episodes of ridicule and censorship
towards other key issues that may emerge in the future.
Ruppert's statement follows:
Sometimes pointing out that one was right is not about ego.
Sometimes it's about saying that if others had listened, a lot of
lives might have been saved because things would have been handled
differently. It is about saying that there are things that can be
changed now to prevent that kind of damage from being carried
forward... one more time.
On May 14 I watched Amy Goodman, producer and anchor of Pacifica
Radio's "Democracy Now," appear on CNN discussing the bombings in
Saudi Arabia and recently well-publicized statements by Senator Bob
Graham -- former chair of the Senate intelligence committee --
suggesting that the Bush administration was engaging in a cover-up
of 9-11. It was a pyrrhic vindication for me. Make no mistake,
Graham is nothing more than damage control as he describes what
happened as "intelligence failures." He should not be trusted under
any circumstances. But Goodman's repeated focus on the
inconsistencies, deceptions and lies of 9/11 -- on CNN no less --
was a bittersweet and ironic validation of positions I took on three
Pacifica stations (WBAI, KPFA and KPFK) more than 18 months ago. I
was labeled as: a money grubbing, conspiracy theorist; libelously as
a fired ex-cop; and as an unstable mental case who did sloppy
research by the likes of David Corn of The Nation, Norman Solomon,
Larry Bensky, Sonali Kolhatkar and Marc Cooper.
Goodman has merely ignored my work. Yet, according to someone who
gave it to her, she has had my tape "The Truth and Lies of 9-11" for
many months. And she knows that what I was saying eighteen months
ago is exactly what Graham is trying to spin now. I know this
because many people who emailed her asking her to have me as a guest
sent me copies. Gore Vidal has had the tape for quite a while too.
Vidal used every one of the quotes from Zbigniew Brzezinski's book
"The Grand Chessboard" which I brought to public light in the fall
of 2001 in his own lengthy 9/11 article and conveniently forgot to
mention the person who did the work or what he was trying to say.
Now, a day late and a dollar short, the Lilly Livered Left has
arrived on the scene with the brilliant observation, "Wait, we have
to look at 9/11! We have to look at 9/11!"
This is so much more than "I told you so." The danger and power
of a fascist empire in warp drive to control global oil reserves and
crush opposition grows every day. This is all about the fact that
the consequences arising from the peak and inevitable decline of
world oil production are going to be the most cataclysmic events in
human history. That realization is all too slowly dawning upon
people who might be in a position to change the way this bloody game
is being played. Richard Heinberg's new book "The Party's Over" and
the diligent work of world-class oil experts like Colin Campbell of
the Association for the Study of Peak Oil- www.peakoil.net - are
finally making inroads into the collective consciousness of
governments, business and activists.
But the herd always seems to be ten paces behind the Empire.
Having been vindicated so many times I point again to Saudi
Arabia and also now to West Africa. Nine months ago FTW wrote that
Saudi Arabia would likely be the next stop on the Empire's world
tour after Iraq. Little noticed details of the recent bombings in
Riyadh confirm it. And recent developments in Africa, especially
Nigeria - the world's sixth largest oil producer - are sounding
alarms that al Qaeda may be about to reveal an African face,
including that of Osama bin Laden.
Every time my analysis is vindicated, every time an FTW
prediction comes true, it is more affirmation that Peak Oil is real.
And if Peak Oil is real, the consequences of it are going to
devastate human civilization within our lifetimes. They are doing
exactly that right now, today. It started on 9/11. It doesn't take a
genius to read a map, just someone who is willing to look at it and
choose the right road - the road less traveled. September 11th is
the place where the empire remains vulnerable; there and with the
criminal handling of taxpayer money and the continued looting of the
Treasury. - MCR
The rest of the article can be found at FTW:
Saudi Arabia, West Africa -- Next Stops in the Infinite
War for Oil
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/051503_saudi_africa.html