Posted by Andreas from dtm2-t9-2.mcbone.net (62.104.210.101) on Wednesday, May 21, 2003 at 7:43AM :
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:
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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
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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
-- Andreas
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