7 September 2007
911 The New Evidence
A new book challenges many of the myths which have grown up around the 911 attacks. 911 The New Evidence, out now in the UK (Constable) and soon in the US (pub Carol and Graf), makes the case for a new fully independent investigation into the 911 attacks. Henshall is available for interview.
Henshall's call is supported by a Zogby poll out today (ref see below): 51% of Americans support a new congressional enquiry into Bush and Cheney's role before during and after the 911 attacks, 30% support the immediate impeachment of Bush and Cheney and 67% say the 911 Commission should have investigated the still unexplained collapse of Building 7 (which was announced to the media 30 minutes before it fell symmetrically to the ground at freefall speed). Previous polls have found that fewer than 20% of Americans believe they have been told the full story of the 911 attacks. Although some broadcasters have suggested otherwise, 911 victims groups are in the forefront of demands to reopen the enquiry. Many witnesses heard by the 911 Commission have denounced it as a whitewash, concuring with commissioner Max Cleland who resigned early on.
Ian Henshall, co-author with Rowland Morgan of the best seller 911 Revealed, described in the Sunday Times as exposing "vast gaps" in the official story. 911 Revealed became a non-fiction best seller. Henshall has now trailed through a wide range of Washington officials' memoirs, US government documents and mainstream press reports, concluding that the myths of the 911 attacks - the lack of warnings, the lucky 19 hijackers, the silent takeovers of the planes' cabins, the passengers' mobile phone calls - cannot be true.
Interviews and review copies
Henshall is available for interviews. He is in London on Monday 10 and Tuesday 11, but several slots are taken. To seek an interview on these days please email straight away and call 01273 326862 or 079469 39217.
For interviews on other dates and review copies of 911 The New Evidence please email the press contacts at the end of this message and copy a reply to this email.
Notes
In the run-up to the 911 anniversary Ian Henshall has been interviewed by a range of radio stations and the book has been featured in the Daily Express and the Sport with wider coverage pending in national and global media.
He has established that:
* The 2006 Moussaoui trial and Inspectors' reports have confirmed accusations from FBI officers in the field: in summer 2001 a network of senior CIA, Justice Department and FBI officials systematically obstructed the FBI field officers who suspected what was planned and could have foiled the attacks. The FBI was legally the lead agency. CIA officers at first falsely testified that they had informed the FBI of the threat posed by presumed hijackers Al Hazmi and Al Mihdhar and later told inspectors they "could not recall" why they did not.
* The "anti-hijack exercise" scheduled by the Pentagon at the time the "real" attack took place seems more than an extraordinary coincidence and a close reading of partially released air traffic control transcripts indicates that the exercise may have involved at least one of the planes used in the attacks.
* If video and flight recorder evidence released by the US government is correct, Flight 77 could not have hit the Pentagon. The government admitted at the Moussaoui trial that contrary to the official myth, reflected in a series of feature films and tv documentaries, only two mobile phone calls were made from Flight 93. One reported smoke and an explosion shortly prior to the crash.
* Condoleeza Rice falsely stated on oath to the 911 Commission that Bush's August 2001 CIA briefing, which warned him of the possibility of an attack within America and was still secret at the time she testified, did not mention any specific targets. In fact it mentioned New York and predicted a possible hostage taking. Intriguingly, the presumed hijackers apparently told passengers on two planes that this was their plan.
* The "Independent 911 Commission" misrepresented evidence from Pentagon officials, made false statements and failed to ask the right questions. The Commissioners, far from being independent, were trusted members of Washington's permanent government. Commissioner Hamilton the leading Democrat was a political ally of Cheney from when they worked together on the Iran-contra scandal in the late 1980's. Commissioner Cleland resigned in disgust.
* Early official reports into the collapse of the Twin Towers present clear evidence - vaporised and sulpfurised steel, seismic events preceding the plane impacts - suggesting that, as eyewitnesses reported at the time, the neat symmetrical collapse of the Twin Towers and Building 7 at near freefall speed was the result of explosions in the buildings.
* Ex UK foreign minister Robin Cook wrote in The Guardian that the original meaning of Al Qaeda was "the database", ie the list of Afghan arab freedom fighters closely linked to if not controlled by the CIA. Recent statements from officials, along with press reports at the time, make it clear that Al Qaeda had links with the CIA or the DIA well into the 1990's. Osama Bin laden's move from Sudan to Afghanistan was managed by Ali Mohamed, Washington's spy at the heart of Al Qaeda who trained Osama Bin laden's personal bodyguards. Alleged 911 ringleader Khaled Sheikh Mohammed lived in Pakistan for years while secretly indicted by the US Justice Department. He was probably an asset of Pakistan's ISI. US government documents show the ISI was working closely with George Tenet and the CIA on a secret project in the months before 911. Its boss General Ahmad was in secret Washington meetings with top officials and congressmen before during and after the 911 attacks. Reports from India, supported by the French media said that the terrorist money trail went back to Ahmad, who took early retirement shortly after the news came out. The claim by Washington journalist Gerald Posner that the ISI was colluding with Al Qaeda against the wishes of the CIA seems an unlikely explanation.
8. A close examination of the paper trail from 2000 and 2001 shows beyond doubt that the decision (and probably detailed planning) to invade Iraq was taken before, not after, the 911 attacks and CIA boss Tenet was involved in the plans. The record shows an unusual series of long meetings (denied by Tenet in evidence he gave on oath to the 911 Commission) with Bush in Texas in the weeks up to 911. One such meeting, still unacknowledged in Tenet's recent memoirs, lasted for a full day and included the chiefs of staff whose planes apparently failed to intercept any of four hijacked planes. The official account has left an unexplained and undocumented black hole of 20 minutes at the Pentagon situation room at the height of the crisis.
9. Cheney who championed plans to invade Iraq before 911 was in charge of the Pentagon on the morning of 9/11 and almost certainly in charge of the hijack exercise.
10. BBC News was recently embarrassed by video surfacing on the internet which showed an announcer stating the the "Saloman Brothers Building" (WTC7) had collapsed while in the background it still stood intact. WTC7 housed the largest Secret Servcice office in the US and was the repository of high level fraud investigations. Many of these records were lost in the collapse.
Henshall draws no firm conclusions but ends with a working hypothesis for investigators to follow up.
"9/11 THE NEW EVIDENCE"
pub Sept 2007 Constable (UK) ISBN 978-1-84529-514-1
http://www.amazon.co.uk/11-New-Evidence-Ian-Henshall/dp/1845295145/
publicity: "Sam Evans" <Sam@constablerobinson.com>