9/11: Ten Year Anniversary

[BlodwynPig]

i was about to board flight 11, but had forgotten to purchase some humbugs and dashed back to the confectionary shop. Rushing back to the gate i dropped the humbugs and slipped on the scattered sweets. The rest, as they say, is history.

[WestHill]

This is the awful bit though. My smug contempt for those who believe this stuff is the exact same feeling they have towards those who 'haven't seen the light'. I get this awful feeling we're both sat here with horrible grins,shaking our heads saying 'if only you knew'.

See your point!

For me the issue is that no one does know, though. Some thorough, impartial investigations could (have?) clear(ed?) things up and save a lot of time spent on silly internet arguments.

[Blumf]

I was in one of the planes.

Nah, you were in your office in the Pentagon. The building didn't eat the plane, you did!

[biggytitbo]

Nah, you were in your office in the Pentagon. The building didn't eat the plane, you did!

Must be what started my gut trouble.

[Braintree]

I was really interested when BBC Parliament was showing Election 2001 recently and they were going on about how the Euro would be the big issue facing Tony Blair.

Now I know that was June 2001 and nobody is psychic but it did make me wonder exactly what would have happened to the US and UK had 9/11 not happened. Would Blair still be PM? Would Bush have only have served one term?

[George Oscar Bluth II]

By 9/11 Bush hadn't actually done all that much, but certainly his focus was supposed to be on domestic issues. Tax breaks for the rich and culture wars stuff, mainly.

He'd previously argued that America shouldn't be going round the world, messing in other countries affairs, too.

9/11 changed the whole direction of the Bush presidency. He'd probably still have won in 2004, especially if the Democrats had put Kerry up. That guy was a dud.

As for Blair, he'd already proved in Iraq (December 1998 bombing of), Sierra Leone and the former Yugoslavia that he wasn't afraid to get involved in adventures abroad. I don't think there were many British PMs who've deployed British forces to three different countries in that short space of time?

He'd almost certainly have lasted longer than the ten years he did manage in Number 10 though. Without Iraq, what would the Brownites have had to rally internal opposition exactly?

[Zetetic]

I don't think Blair's track record is that meaningful. The considerable expansion of Palliser in Sierra Leone appears to have been driven in significant part by those on the ground (for better or worse).

I also don't think that the operations in the former Yugoslavia are really comparable to our later adventures in Iraq or Afghanistan either in terms of politicking (for example UN support) or actual risk - although perhaps they did lead to the overconfidence that took us into those latter places.

The bombing missions in Iraq don't really count as a 'deployment of a British force to a country' do they? 3 days of overflights, in which a relatively tiny number of Tornados were involved.

I suppose you can read into his actions a greater willingness to intervene for 'liberal' causes compared to the Major Government, but it's easy to overstate it.

[HappyTree]

Since there is 0 chance of the BBC ever declaring any of these things to be conspiracy there's 0 point in the programmes.

The point would be, I presume, to reinforce the useful lie that anyone who doubts the state's version of any event in any way is automatically a tin foil hat-wearing lunatic. It's interesting how the very word "conspiracy" has come to connote insanity. Very deliberate. A conspiracy in itself, one might say, yet dare not! Oh, they're clever.[nb]Not really, they just shout the loudest[/nb]

[Dusty Gozongas]

In other news:

The news  olds of anniversary will be ignored for the most part. Does any greater mass of people actually give a fuck?

[Subtle Mocking]

Ermm...is anybody watching this conspiracy theory show on BBC Three? It's incredibly tasteless. The first show I've seen for ages in which none of the main people come off well.

[CaledonianGonzo]

He's at it again!



*shakes head, laughs, wags finger*

That man - wotzelike?

[biggytitbo]

Jesus, 9/11, time to let it go.

And Blair, I still stand by my suggestion that he should be hung in front of parliament. It wouldn't happen again!

[biggytitbo]

And 10 year anniversary? That's essentially a commemoration of the number 10 isn't it.

[Beagle 2]

I'll always remember that they waited until the end of Neighbours, which I was watching for some reason, before they went to the news to announce a second plane had crashed into the WTC. I couldn't believe it. Would Lou ever regain Susan's trust?

[CaledonianGonzo]

He's doing to wind me up.  Me.  Specifically!

[biggytitbo]

Why did they use a picture of ET on the front page? Bit surreal.

[biggytitbo]

I'm currently trying to find something to watch on TV that isn't about 10 years after 9/11. Not sure when it became the most important event in human history.

[BlodwynPig]

Three cheers Biggy. Let's huddle in a corner and sup some warm pints and remember when history was real history. Man-history.

Bubonic plague, the parting of the red sea, fuck it - the Flood and Noah. No anniversaries for those, eh?

[confettiinmyhair]

Comedy Related (presented by that Irish bloke that isn't Ed Byrne)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b014gpjx/9_11_Conspiracy_Road_Trip/

[biggytitbo]

Apparently it's now almost on a par with WW2. Err yeah.

Lots of rewriting of history though. Often overlooked is the fact that Afghanistan and Iraq were already in the works before the first plane struck. And the deaths of those who were killed were exploited for the enrichment of the few.

The whole bullshit blanket coverage is about mythologising US suffering and victimhood, America as the victim of unprovoked Islamic aggression. The exact opposite of the truth.

[George Oscar Bluth II]

Damnit, this edition of Question Time is basically a retread of the most boring bits of Question Time from 2001-2011. Who's fucking idea was this? And fuck off Liam Fox you pious twat.

I like how The Times is printing the Blair interview on "pages 9-11" though. Good work whoever was laying out the pages tonight!

[kitsofan34]

Why does everyone think the event's been given such coverage then? Also, is it just me or are they really taking ages building the World Trade Center?

[George Oscar Bluth II]

Witless twats being in charge of commissioning at TV networks?

[Dusty Gozongas]

He'd [Bush] previously argued that America shouldn't be going round the world, messing in other countries affairs, too.

Empty words, considering PNAC had already decided on the path America would have to take in the coming decades. All it needed, and they're on the record for stating this, was another "Pearl Harbour" moment.

[gmoney]

He's doing to wind me up.  Me.  Specifically!

He's got the same ears as the rage killer!

[phes]

I've just been stood at WTC and I can tell you that the po-lice are out in force and they have some massive guns. The hysteria they've whipped up here over a trifling fly in the soup is awesome. Americans are awesome, and frightening. And now I'm going to get on a plane. If I don't make it then remember only this of me: I do indeed bamlem Jack Bauer.

[HappyTree]

This is precisely the reason why I never buy newspapers. Just BS propaganda. They really took the idea to heart that the best way to dominate a population is to constantly convince people they are under imminent threat of attack.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14848962

State authority says: BE AFRAID (and let us do what we want)

The US has warned of a "specificvague, credibleridiculous threat" ahead of the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, possibly in New York or Washington DC (or anywhere else, really).
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the threat was "uncorroboratedcompletely made up", but security would be boosted at bridges, tunnels and on public transport (and you can't stop us doing whatever we like, if you do we'll just call you a conspiracy theorist and run another lie on Fox news).







At least they'll run out of money soon and not be able to rampage across the world toppling oil-rich regimes any more.

[yokel]

This is provocative: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29072.htm

I think he's somewhat in the wrong, people can't just get over 9/11, but I agree the planned memorial's a bit much.

[biggytitbo]

According to the news, 10 years ago some planes flew into the World trade centre and the Pentagon. Amazing news!

And what better way to celebrate 10 years then releasing a load of new tapes which for no apparent reason you've not bothered to release before? But be careful to hold some back for the 20th anniversary!

And wouldnt it be nice if, instead if wallowing in the unquestioned unique awfulness of American suffering, they went and interviewed some of the hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people who had their reletives blown up by the Americans in the years that followed?

Think I might need a media blackout the next few days.

[biggytitbo]

This is provocative: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article29072.htm

I think he's somewhat in the wrong, people can't just get over 9/11, but I agree the planned memorial's a bit much.

Got to agree with him. The reaction to 911, rather than the event, is an open sore on humanity and needs to be closed.


Another good piece here - http://en.harakah.net.my/index.php/articles/analysis-a-opinion/3431-here-comes-the-911-propaganda-season-again.html


And just to make sure nobody switches off from the quasi religious propganda fest, lets announce, with no evidence, that there might be another terrible terrorist attrocity. That'll keep everyone on the edge of their seats.