If you want the truth try asking the questions

This afternoon I picked up a copy of The Bohemian, a local Marin County paper, and read an article about Dr. David Ray Griffin. Griffin, a retired professor who taught at the Claremont School of Theology, is the author of The New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions about the Bush Administration and 9/11, The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions and Distortions, and the soon to be released Christian Faith and the Truth Behind 9/11: A Call to Reflection and Action.

Steve Bhaerman's Bohemian article "Unquestioned Answers" discusses the inconsistencies in the official 9/11 story that Griffin details in both his books and speaking engagements (Bhaerman has heard him three times). He also highlights one of Griffin's key themes: that the official 9/11 story has become a "sacred myth." As Griffin explains, "the official story is itself a conspiracy theory" in which "al Qaida operatives conspired to hijack four jetliners, did so undetected and were able to complete their mission with no interception or even interference from the best-prepared air force on the face of the earth."

Further, "the crime was solved immediately, and the official story was in place before the day of the attack was over."

And the official story "must be taken on faith. It is not a matter of debate or even discussion. Anyone who brings up anything that contradicts the official story is either ignored or denounced as a conspiracy nut." But as Griffin points out, "when the official account of 9-11 is stripped of its halo and treated simply as a theory rather than an unquestionable dogma, it cannot be defended as the best theory to account for the relevant facts. When challenges to it are not treated as blasphemy, it can easily be seen to not correspond with reality."

Griffin's objective is to educate enough people about the problems he sees in the orthodox account of what happened on 9/11 so that the events will be re-investigated by a commission which will produce a truth-driven rather than politically-driven report.

While Griffin's books have gotten little coverage in the mainstream media, The New Pearl Harbor has sold over 100,000 copies. (Make that 100,001... I just bought mine. :-)

I found a couple of videos on Google: one from 2004 in which Griffin debunks the 9/11 Commission Report and a second from 2005 in which he discusses how religious people should respond to America's subsequent actions.

For more information, check out 911Truth.org. A great quote from their site:

Most people prefer to believe their leaders are just and fair, even in the face of evidence to the contrary, because once a citizen acknowledges that the government under which he lives is lying and corrupt, the citizen has to choose what he or she will do about it. To take action in the face of corrupt government entails risks of harm to life and loved ones. To choose to do nothing is to surrender one's self-image of standing for principles. Most people do not have the courage to face that choice. Hence, most propaganda is not designed to fool the critical thinker but only to give moral cowards an excuse not to think at all. -- Michael Rivero

DANIEL ELLSBERG, WHO LEAKED THE PENTAGON PAPERS, speaks out on what he describes as our current "constitutional crisis"--the Bush administration's claims that it can do almost anything, including torture and unauthorized domestic surveillance, in the name of fighting terrorism--in this video: