The Slaughterhouse Informer

A Compendiium of Various Official Lies, Business Scandals, Small Murders, Frauds, and Other Gross Defects of Our Current Political, Business and Religious Moral Lepers.

Presenting a new magazine that contains material that is not found elsewhere and is very difficult to post on the Internet. The ‘Voice of the White House’ will appear in each issue containing material not found on TBR News for very obvious reasons.This publication will appear once a week, on Wednesday, every week, will be ten pages in length and is available by subscription only. The price is $5.00 a month and can be paid via PayPal or by check, sent to ‘Morris Productions, 3015 E. New York St. Ste A2-190, Aurora, Il 60504.’ If you don’t like it, and Bush supporters can read the Drudge Report for free, you can cancel at any time.

Civil insurrection in America and government countermeasures: The official papers

By Bradley Moscrip

An in-depth study of official American plans to construct FEMA detention centers in America and specific recent U.S. Army domestic counterinsurgency plans. Here is a sampling of the ebook contents:

Gun Control by Confiscation

As the American general population is known to be the most heavily armed in the world, immediately upon the declaration of Martial Law and the execution by the military of counterinsurgency programs, it has been determined that the BATF, will begin the process of rounding up all rifles, pistols and so-called assault weaponry from the civil population. Lists of gun collectors obtained from firearms dealers, gun magazine subscription lists and other sources will be the basis for these mass confiscations. Gun owners will be supplied documentation by the BATF showing which pieces have been confiscated so that in the future, they will be told, they can recover their weapons when the state of emergency has passed. In actuality, weapons that do not have a high value or are not suitable for arming loyalist police forces, will be destroyed by order

This study is available from tbrnews at $5.00 by PayPal  

The Voice of the White House

          Washington, D.C., September 16, 2009: “The crazy far-right Republicans and their allies are starting something they will live to regret. Spurred on by the insurance companies, who do not want to lost their obscene profits, and boiling with rage that not only are Republicans out of power, but they were replaced by a dreaded Black Man. The mobs of frenzied racists now seen with their increasingly ugly signs, are echoed by such unhinged undesirables as Rush Limbaugh and Sara Palin and supported by some of the Republicans in Congress. The vicious and divisive actions of the trailer park nuts have driven, and are driving, many moderate Republicans rapidly away from their antics. While these defectors might not vote Democratic, they will in all probability become Independents  and eventually, the cheeping and pathetic remnants of the far right will sound just like field mice being eaten by hungry owls. They have only themselves to blame but I shudder at the uproar and damage they will cause before they are eventually rounded up and either shot or find themselves wrapped in sheets in a tub of water while someone with a monocle watches them through a hole in the cell door.”

White House to Scrap Bush’s Approach to Missile Shield

September 17, 2009

by Peter Baker and Nicholas Kulish

New York Times

             WASHINGTON — President Obama announced on Thursday that his administration will scrap former President George W. Bush’s planned missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic and instead deploy a reconfigured system aimed more at intercepting shorter-range Iranian missiles.

In a speech at the White House, Mr. Obama said that the decision was being made as a result of a unanimous recommendation by his advisers, and that it would offer a “more comprehensive” system that would “enhance protection of all our NATO allies.”

President Obama decided not to deploy a sophisticated radar system in the Czech Republic or 10 ground-based interceptors in Poland, as Mr. Bush had planned. Instead, the new system his administration is developing would deploy smaller SM-3 missiles, at first aboard ships and later probably either in southern Europe or Turkey, according to those familiar with the plans said.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who was first appointed by Mr. Bush, was scheduled to follow Mr. Obama’s announcement with a news conference at 10:30 a.m.

The shift in plans amounts to one of the biggest national security reversals by the new administration, one that will upset Czech and Polish allies and possibly please Russia, which adamantly objected to the Bush plan. But Obama administration officials stressed that they were not abandoning missile defense, only redesigning it to meet the more immediate Iranian threat.

“The way forward enhances our homeland defense and protects our forces abroad as well as our European allies,” said an administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid upstaging the announcement by Mr. Gates. “Our review has been driven by an updated intelligence assessment of Iran’s missile programs and new advances in our missile defense capabilities and technologies.”

Administration officials said the Bush missile defense architecture was better designed to counter potential long-range missiles by Iran, but recent tests and intelligence have indicated that Tehran is moving more rapidly toward developing short- and medium-range missiles. Mr. Obama’s advisers said their reconfigured system would be more aimed at that threat by stationing interceptor missiles closer to Iran.

The Obama administration has begun briefing allies on the decision, and Mr. Obama said he had called the leaders of Poland and the Czech Republic to inform them of the plans.

“Today, shortly after midnight, American President Barack Obama contacted me by telephone to inform me that his administration is pulling out of plans to build a radar for the antimissile defense system on the territory of the Czech Republic,” said Jan Fischer, the Czech prime minister.

In arranging a post-midnight call by Mr. Obama and quickly sending a top State Department official to Europe, the administration was scrambling to notify and assure the European allies as word of its decision was already leaking out in Washington. The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that the administration would jettison the Bush architecture.

But it made for unfortunate timing, as Thursday is the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland at the start of World War II, a date fraught with sensitivity for Poles who viewed the Bush missile defense system as a political security blanket against Russia. Poland, along with many other countries in the former Soviet sphere, worry that Mr. Obama is less willing to stand up to Russia.

Mr. Bush had developed a special relationship with Eastern Europe as relations between Washington and Moscow deteriorated. The proposal to deploy parts of the missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic were justified on the grounds that they would protect Europe and the eastern coast of the United States against any possible missile attacks from Iran.

But the Polish and Czech governments saw the presence of American military personnel based permanently in their countries as a protection against Russia. Moscow strongly opposed the shield and claimed it was aimed against Russia and undermined national security. The United States repeatedly denied such claims.

Mr. Obama’s advisers have said their changes to missile defense were motivated by the accelerating Iranian threat, not by Russian complaints. But the announcement comes just days before Mr. Obama is scheduled to meet privately with Russia’s president, Dmitri A. Medvedev, in New York on the sidelines of next week’s United Nations General Assembly session.

The administration maintains that the switch in the Bush plans does not indicate any diminishment of its relations with Poland and the Czech Republic. “The United States stands by its security commitments to its allies,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Andrei Nesterenko, a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said Thursday that the ministry was aware of the reports but would await the announcement before formally commenting. But he said that if the antimissile system was indeed being scrapped, it would be a “positive sign” for Russia.

The Obama review of missile defense was influenced in large part by evidence that Iran has made significant progress toward developing medium-range missiles that could threaten Europe, even as the prospects of an Iranian intercontinental ballistic missile that could reach the United States remain distantIn May, Iran launched the Sejil-2, the first successful test of a solid-fuel missile. With an estimated range of around 1,200 miles, it could strike Israel or many parts of Europe. Unlike Iran’s liquid-fuel missiles, a solid-fuel missile can be stored, moved around and fired on shorter notice, and thus is considered by military experts to be a greater threat. The Obama team relied heavily on research by a Stanford University physicist, Dean Wilkening, who presented the government with research this year arguing that Poland and the Czech Republic were not the most effective places to station a missile defense system against the most likely Iranian threat. Instead, he said, more optimal places to station missiles and radar systems would be in Turkey or the Balkans.

“If you move the system down closer to the Middle East,” it would “make more sense for the defense of Europe, Mr. Wilkening said in an interview.

Mr. Wilkening said the new administration did not want to simply abandon missile defense but orient it for a different threat than the Bush team saw. “The Obama administration is more interested in missile defense as a valuable instrument, a valuable aspect of our military posture than I would have thought,” he said. Beyond moving the system from Eastern Europe, the Obama team concluded that the advantage of using the smaller SM-3 interceptors is that they have been proven effective and can be deployed sooner than the ground-based interceptors that the Bush team was still developing.

Mikhail Margelov, chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the upper house of Russia’s parliament, said in an interview on Thursday that the decision would give a major boost to relations between the two countries. Mr. Margelov said it would in particular help negotiations when Mr. Obama meets with Mr. Medvedev at the United Nations next week.

“For Russia, it is a victory for common sense,” Mr. Margelov said. “It another positive signal that we have received from Washington that makes the general climate very positive.”

But Mr. Margelov expressed doubt that the decision would make Moscow more willing to support a push by the United States to increase sanctions against Iran over its nuclear activities. The Kremlin said last week that it would essentially block new sanctions, downplaying Western concerns that Iran had made progress in its bid for nuclear weapons.

Peter Baker reported from Washington and Nicholas Kulish from Berlin. Judy Dempsey contributed reporting from Berlin, and Clifford J. Levy from Moscow.

U.S. housing starts, permits at 9 month high

September 17, 2009

Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New U.S. housing starts and permits rose in August to their highest level in nine months and the number of people filing of unemployment benefits fell last week, evidence a solid economic recovery was underway.

The Commerce Department said on Thursday housing starts rose 1.5 percent from July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 598,000 units.

In another report, the Labor Department said the number of workers filing new claims for jobless benefits fell by 12,000 last week to 545,000, the lowest level since early July.

"The drop in initial claims suggests that the severe pressures on the labor market continue to subside," said Alan Gayle, senior investment strategist at Ridgeworth Investments in Richmond, Virginia. "Clearly the strains remain, but we are seeing some gradual improvement from the peaks we were at some months ago."

The U.S. dollar extended gains against the yen on the strong economic data, but stock index futures added to losses and U.S. government debt prices turned lower.

Groundbreaking for single-family homes, fell 3 percent in August to an annual rate of 479,000 units, after five straight monthly increases. Starts for the volatile multifamily segment jumped 25.3 percent to a 119,000 annual pace, reversing the previous month's slump.

Compared to August last year, housing starts declined 29.6 percent. The housing market, the main trigger of the worst U.S. recession in seven decades, is showing steady signs of healing and analysts expect activity in the sector to contribute to gross domestic product growth this quarter.

A survey on Wednesday showed confidence among U.S. home builders reached its highest level in 16 months in September, which bodes well for future home construction.

Data ranging from retail sales to industrial production have pointed to strong third-quarter economic growth, but questions over the sustainability of the recovery continue to linger amid stubbornly high unemployment.

The Labor Department report showed the number of people still on jobless aid after an initial week of benefits increased by 129,000 to 6.230 million in the week ending Sept 5, the latest for which data is available. It was the largest one week gain since late June.

New building permits, which give a sense of future home construction, climbed 2.7 percent to 579,000 units in August. That compared to analysts' forecasts for 580,000 units. Compared to the same period a year-ago, building permits fell 32.4 percent.

The inventory of total houses under construction fell to a record low 595,000 units in August, the department said, while the total number of permits authorized but not yet started also hit an all-time trough of 99,000 units.

Reporting by Lucia Mutikani and Alister Bull; Editing by Neil Stempleman

Israeli Now Taps All US telephones, faxes

by Brian Harring, Domestic Intelligence Reporter

-from various sources-

“It turns out that Israel has had a potential wiretap on every phone in America for years, along with the ability to monitor and record who any person is calling, anywhere in America; information of great value even if one does not listen to the calls themselves. Amdocs, Inc. the company which sub contracts billing and directory services for phone companies around the world, including 90 percent of American phone companies, is owned by Israeli interests. Yet another company, Comverse Infosys, is suspected of having built a "back door" into the equipment permanently installed into the phone system that allows instant eavesdropping by law enforcement agencies on any phone in America. This includes yours.”      -From JMP Aurelius whatreallyhappened.com  January 17, 2006

It has been clearly established that during the term of President George H.W. Bush, (once head of the CIA and very friendly towards Israel) the Israeli Mossad, or foreign intelligence agency, had gained permission to send approximately 50 of their agents to the United States in order to “observe possible Arab terrorist groups” that might be operating in the relative safety of that country. These Mossad agents worked through the various Israeli diplomatic establishments as well as the Israeli Trade Commission office in New York and such Jewish organizations as the Anti Defamation League.

These agents, who were known to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, were supposed to merely observe possible Arab terrorist groups and were required to pass on any information they discovered on suspect Arab individuals and groups to the FBI. Highly confidential reports indicate that the Mossad agents did not do so and further, were strongly suspected of using their Presidential mandate to carry out very extensive espionage against the United States.

Top secret military hardware was a well-known target and Mossad agents had a very large stable of informants in various sensitive military and governmental agencies, the great bulk of whom were Jewish and who gladly supplied information to the Mossad as what they conceived was their “sacred duty” to the state of Israel.

            The document concludes: "Israel possesses the resources and technical capability to achieve its collection objectives."

            A spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Washington issued a routine denial saying that any suggestion that Israelis are spying in or on the U.S. is "simply not true."

            Following the September 11 attacks there were approximately 60 Israelis who had been detained in connection with the Sept. 11 terrorism investigation. U.S. investigators now strongly suspect that some of these Israelis had infiltrated and were spying on Arabs in this country, and probably turned up information on the planned terrorist attacks in September of 2001 that was not passed on to American authorities..

            A very important issue concerns an Israeli-based private communications company, for whom a half-dozen of the 60 detained suspects worked. American investigators fear information generated by this firm may have fallen into the wrong hands and had the effect of impeded the Sept. 11 terror inquiry..

            American terrorist investigators fear certain suspects in the Sept. 11 attacks may have managed to stay ahead of them, by knowing who and when investigators are calling on the telephone. This is accomplished by obtaining and analyzing data that is generated every time someone in the U.S. makes a telephone call.

            Here is how the system works. Most directory assistance calls, and virtually all call records and billing inside the U.S. are done for the telephone companies by Amdocs Ltd., an Israeli-based private telecommunications company.

            Amdocs has contracts with the 25 biggest telephone companies in America, and even more worldwide. The White House and other secure government phone lines are protected, but it is virtually impossible for any American to make a call on any American phone without generating an Amdocs record of it.

            In recent years, the FBI and other government agencies have investigated Amdocs more than once. The firm has repeatedly and adamantly denied any security breaches or wrongdoing. In 1999, the super secret National Security Agency, headquartered in Ft. George Meade in northern Maryland, issued what is called a Top Secret Sensitive Compartmentalized Information report, TS/SCI, warning that records of calls in the United States were getting into foreign hands – in Israel, in particular.

            Investigators do not believe such calls are being listened to, but the data about who is calling whom and when is extremely valuable in itself. An internal Amdocs memo to senior company executives suggests just how Amdocs generated call records could be used. “Widespread data mining techniques and algorithms...combining both the properties of the customer (e.g., credit rating) and properties of the specific ‘behavior….’” Specific behavior, such as who the targeted customers are calling.

            The Amdocs memo says the system should be publically advertised as “helping to prevent telephone fraud.” However, U.S. counterintelligence analysts say it could, and unquestionably was, also be used to spy via the records of the American telephone system. The N.S.A has held numerous classified conferences to warn the F.B.I. and C.I.A. how Amdocs records could be used.    

            At one classified NSA briefing, a diagram by the Argonne National Laboratory was used to show that if phone records are not completely secure, major security breaches are more than possible.

Another NSA briefing document said, "It has become increasingly apparent that systems and networks are vulnerable…Such crimes always involve unauthorized persons, or persons who exceed their authorization...citing on exploitable vulnerabilities."

            Those vulnerabilities are growing, because according to another briefing, the U.S. relies too much on foreign companies like Amdocs for high-tech equipment and software. "Many factors have led to increased dependence on code developed overseas.... We buy rather than train or develop solutions."

            U.S. intelligence does not officially believe the Israeli government is involved in a misuse of information, and Amdocs insists that its data is secure. What U.S. government officials are worried about, however, is the possibility that Amdocs data could get into the wrong hands, particularly organized crime. And that would not be the first time that such a thing has happened. 

            In a 1997 drug trafficking case in Los Angeles, telephone information, specifically of the type that Amdocs collects, was used to "completely compromise the communications of the FBI, the Secret Service, the DEA and the LAPD."

            There has been considerable but very quiet concern about the 60 Israelis who were detained in the anti-terror investigation, and the suspicion that some investigators have that they may have picked up information on the 9/11 attacks ahead of time and not passed it on.

            There exists a classified Justice Department report stating that the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, did indeed send representatives to the U.S. to warn, just before 9/11, that a major terrorist attack was imminent. How does that leave room for the lack of a warning?

            What investigators have stated is that that warning from the Mossad was nonspecific and extremely vague and general, and they believe that it may have had something to do with the Israeli desire to protect what are called “sources and methods” in the intelligence community while at the same time attempting to convince American authorities that they were being cooperative and friendly. There is very substantive and documented evidence that those sources and methods were, and still are, taking place in the United States.

            The question arose in the Select Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill, chaired by former CIA agent, and subsequently DCI, Porter Goss. Concern was expressed concerning this Mossad spying issue but nothing came of this and the matter was very quickly, and quietly, shelved

            An official listing of known Mossad agents and a much larger one listing Mossad informants in the United States is perhaps the best indicator of the degree and extent that this official Israeli organ has penetrated American security, business and military organizations. Its publication would certainly create terrible havoc and would very adversely impact on American/Israeli diplomatic and military relations.

            Reports indicate that such established agencies as the Anti Defamation League, several identified national newspapers and one major television network also harbor and assist a significant number of active Mossad agents engaged in espionage activities.

            The concern about telephone security extends to another company, founded in Israel, that provides the technology used by the U.S. government for electronic eavesdropping. The company is Comverse Infosys, a subsidiary of an Israeli-run private telecommunications firm, with offices throughout the U.S. It provides wiretapping equipment for law enforcement. Investigative reports also indicate that these offices have been and are being used as bases for intelligence operations directed against the United States via the Mossad agents working in this country.

            Here is the method that foreign wiretapping works in the U.S.

            Every time a call is made in America, it passes through the nation's elaborate network of switchers and routers run by the phone companies. Custom computers and software, made by companies like Comverse, are tied into that network to intercept, record and store the wiretapped calls, and at the same time transmit them to investigators.

            The manufacturers have continuing access to the computers so they can service them and keep them free of technical errors. This process was authorized by the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, or CALEA. Senior government officials have reluctantly acknowledged that while CALEA made officially authorized, and unauthorized, wiretapping much easier for Federal authorities, it has led to a system that is seriously vulnerable to compromise, and may have undermined the whole wiretapping system.

            Ex-Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller were both warned on October 18, 2001 in a hand-delivered letter from 15 local, state and federal law enforcement officials, who complained that "law enforcement's current electronic surveillance capabilities are less effective today than they were at the time CALEA was enacted."

            Congress insists the equipment it permits to be installed is secure. But the complaint about this system is that the wiretap computer programs made by Comverse have, in effect, a back door through which wiretaps themselves can be intercepted by unauthorized parties.

            In this case, the unauthorized parties is the Israeli Mossad and through them, the government and commercial interests of Israel itself.

            Adding to the suspicions is the fact that in Israel, Comverse works closely with the Israeli government, and under special programs and gets reimbursed for up to 50 percent of its research and development costs by the Israeli Ministry of Industry and Trade. But investigators within the DEA, INS and FBI have all privately stated that to pursue or even suggest Israeli spying through Comverse is considered career suicide because of the enormous political and political power wielded by the Israeli lobby, the extremely pro-Israeli American television and print media and many Jewish financial organizations in the United States.

            And sources say that while various F.B.I. inquiries into Comverse have been conducted over the years, they have been halted before the actual equipment has ever been thoroughly tested for leaks. A 1999 F.C.C. document indicates several government agencies expressed deep concerns that too many unauthorized non-law enforcement personnel can access the wiretap system. The FBI's own small office in Chantilly, Virginia that actually oversees the CALEA wiretapping program, is among the most agitated about the Israeli ongoing threat.

            It is the FBI's office in Quantico, Virginia, that has jurisdiction over awarding contracts and buying intercept equipment. And for years, they have awarded the majority of the business to Comverse. A handful of former U.S. law enforcement officials involved in awarding Comverse lucrative U.S. government contracts over the years now work for the Israeli-based company.

            Numerous sources say some of those individuals were asked to leave government service under what knowledgeable sources call "troublesome circumstances" that still remain under administrative review within the Justice Department.

And what troubles investigators the most, particularly in New York City, in the counter terrorism investigation of the World Trade Center attack, is that in a number of cases, suspects they had sought to wiretap and survey immediately changed their telecommunications processes. This began as soon as those supposedly secret wiretaps went into place

            There are growing and very serious concerns in a very significant number of top-level American intelligence and counterintelligence. Many of these agencies have begun compiling evidence, and instigating a very highly classified investigation, into the very strong probability that the Israeli government is directly involved in this matter and has been from the outset. 

            Speaking confidentially, top U.S. intelligence agencies indicate that “the last thing needed is another Pollard scandal.”

            Following the 9/11 attacks, Federal officials have arrested or detained nearly 200 Israeli citizens suspected of belonging to an "organized intelligence-gathering operation." The Bush administration has deported most of those arrested after Sept. 11, although some are in custody under the new anti-terrorism law. Some of these detainees are being investigated for their possible penetration of known Arab terrorist groups located in the United States, Canada and Europe and through this, having gained specific knowledge of the time and location of the September 11 attacks.

            It has been established that an Israeli firm generated billing data that could be used for intelligence purpose, and a recent Justice Department report describes concerns that the federal government's own wiretapping system may be vulnerable.

            In Los Angeles, in 1997, a major local, state and federal drug investigation suddenly collapsed. The suspects: Israeli organized crime organizations, composed mostly of Russian Jews, with ongoing operations in New York, Miami, Las Vegas, Canada, Israel and Egypt.

            The allegations: cocaine and ecstasy trafficking, and sophisticated white-collar credit card and computer fraud. . A DEA report under date of December 18 stated that there existed serious security breaches in DEA telecommunications by unauthorized "foreign nationals" -- and cites an Israeli-owned firm with which the DEA contracted for wiretap equipment .

            The problem: according to classified law enforcement documents, is that the Israeli-based gangsters had the Federal and State law enforcement beepers, cell phones, even home phones under constant surveillance. Some identified Israeli gangsters who did get caught, readily admitted to having hundreds of confidential law enforcement telephone and beeper numbers and had been using them to avoid arrest.

            An official LAPD intelligence report states:

"This compromised law enforcement communications between LAPD detectives and other assigned law enforcement officers working various aspects of the case. The Israeli-based criminal organization discovered communications between organized crime intelligence division detectives, the FBI and the Secret Service."

            Shock spread from the DEA to the FBI in Washington, and then the CIA. An investigation of the problem, according to law enforcement documents, concluded, "The (criminal) organization has apparent extensive access to database systems used to identify pertinent personal and biographical information."

            When investigators tried to find out where the information might have come from, they looked at Amdocs, a publicly traded firm based in Israel. Amdocs generates billing data for virtually every call in America, and they do credit checks. The company denies any leaks, but investigators still fear that the firm's data is getting into the wrong hands.

            When investigators checked their own wiretapping system for leaks, they grew concerned about potential vulnerabilities in the computers that intercept, record and store the wiretapped calls. A main contractor is Comverse Infosys, which works closely with the Israeli government, and under a special grant program, is reimbursed for up to 50 percent of its research and development costs by Israel's Ministry of Industry and Trade.

            Asked about another sprawling investigation and the detention of 60 Israeli since Sept. 11, the Bush administration treated the questions with frightened circumspection.

No information considered “injurious” to Israel is ever discussed, or released to the public, by the current Administration

Conversations with the Crow

             Editor’s note: This interesting and often very entertaining section, has been moved to the Slaughterhouse Informer because the remainder of the conversations are often such that make it impossible, and very probably illegal, to post on the Internet. The Informer is a private journal that is not a public document. We have heard, from a number of reliable sources, that the CIA is not amused, either by the utterances of one of their top people or by Mr. Douglas’ transcriptions of their conversations. The published material, at times, is not flattering to the princes of torture but the remainder floats somewhere between nasty and dangerous. What we learn about these murderous dimwits from the outside is bad enough but what comes from the inside is far worse.

            We have received a considerable number of requests from viewers wishing to subscribe to the Informer so we advise them that subscription information is to be found at the beginning of all tbr news postings. Also, we are preparing a number of very interesting ebooks that ought to delight various governmental agencies and this will include the full ‘Conversations with the Crow,’ all of the ‘Voice of the White House’ and the complete Müller Journals containing material on various prominent American political, business and intelligence community individuals that so alarmed the original publisher that he refused to include it in the published book.Also under preparation is a detailed manuscript covering the political and intelligence background for the war in Vietnam by former CIA deputy director of clandestine affairs, Robert Crowley. This very important work shows what went on behind the scenes, names names and shows the methodology of the CIA both in Vietnam and Washington.  Look for a full listing of these books very soon.

The Afghan Death Toll: September, 2009  36

September 17, 2009

by Brian Harriing

September 1, 2009

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

  Lance Cpl. David R. Hall, 31, of Elyria, Ohio, died Aug. 31 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.  He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

September 2, 2009

The Department of Defense announced today the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.  They died Aug. 31 in Shuyene Sufia, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their unit with an improvised explosive device.  The soldiers were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.

 Killed were:

 Spc. Jonathan D. Welch, 19, of Yorba Linda, Calif.

 Pfc. Jordan M. Brochu, 20, of Cumberland, Maine.

 The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

  Spc. Tyler R. Walshe, 21, of Shasta Calif., died Aug. 31 in southern Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.  He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.

September 4, 2009

   The Department of Defense announced today the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.  They died Sept. 3 in Baqubah, Iraq, of injuries sustained during a vehicle roll-over.  The soldiers were assigned to the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.

 Killed were:

 Staff Sgt. Todd W. Selge, 25, of Burnsville, Minn.; and

 Spc. Jordan M. Shay, 22, of Salisbury, Mass.

 The incident is under investigation.

 The Department of Defense announced today the death of a sailor who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. 

 Petty Officer 3rd Class Benjamin P. Castiglione, 21, of Howell, Mich., died Sept. 3 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.  He was assigned to the 2^nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 2^nd Marine Expeditionary Battalion.

September 5, 2009

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

 Lance Cpl. Christopher S. Baltazar Jr., 19, of San Antonio, Texas, died Sept. 3 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

September 6, 2009

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

  2nd Lt. Darryn D. Andrews, 34, of Dallas, Texas, died Sept. 4 in Paktika Province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device and a rocket-propelled grenade. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska.

September 7, 2009

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

  Sgt. Randy M. Haney, 27, of Orlando, Fla., died Sept. 6 in Nangarhar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit using small arms and rocket-propelled grenade fires.  He was assigned to the 2nd Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.

September 8, 2009

            The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

            Staff Sgt. Michael C. Murphrey, 25, of Snyder, Texas, died Sept. 6 in Paktika province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device.  He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska.

            September 9, 2009

The Department of Defense announced today the death of an airman who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

                1st Lt. Joseph D. Helton, 24, of Monroe Ga., died Sept. 8 near Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive devise. He was assigned to the 6th Security Forces Squadron, MacDill Air Force Base, Fla.

            The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

            Capt. Joshua S. Meadows, 30, of Bastrop, Texas, died Sept. 5 while supporting combat operations in Farah province, Afghanistan.  He was assigned to 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion, Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

September 10, 2009

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a sailor who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

          Petty Officer 3rd Class James R. Layton, 22, of Riverbank, Calif., died Sept. 8 in Kunar province, Afghanistan, while supporting combat operations.  He was assigned to an embedded training team with Combined Security Tranisiton Command in Afghanistan.

                The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of three Marines who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

             The following Marines died Sept. 8 while supporting combat operations in Kunar province, Afghanistan:

            Gunnery Sgt. Edwin W. Johnson Jr., 31, of Columbus, Ga.

             1st Lt. Michael E. Johnson, 25, of Virginia Beach, Va.

            Staff Sgt. Aaron M. Kenefick, 30, of Roswell, Ga.

            Gunnery Sgt. Johnson and Staff Sgt. Kenefick were assigned to 3rd Combat Assault Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Okinawa, Japan.

            1st Lt. Johnson was assigned to 7th Communications Battalion, 3rd Marine Headquarters Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Okinawa, Japan.

             The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

                 Sgt. Youvert Loney, 28, of Pohnpei, Micronesia, died Sept. 5 in Abad, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle using small arms and recoilless rifle fires. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.

            The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of three soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their vehicle with an explosive device Sept. 8 in Baji, Iraq. They were assigned to the 545th Military Police Company, Arctic Military Police Battalion, U.S. Army, Alaska, Fort Richardson, Alaska.

            Killed were:

Staff Sgt. Shannon M. Smith, 31, of Marion, Ohio.

Pfc. Thomas F.Lyons, 20, of Fernley, Nev.

Pfc. Zachary T.Myers, 21, of Delaware, Ohio.

September 11, 2009

            The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

            Lance Cpl. Christopher S. Fowlkes, 20, of Gaffney, S.C., died Sept. 10 from wounds sustained Sept. 3 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.  He was assigned to 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C.

                The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

            1st Lt. Tyler E. Parten, 24, of Arkansas, died Sept. 10 in Konar province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire.  He was assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.

September 14, 2009

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

            Sgt. Tyler A. Juden, 23, of Winfield, Kan., died Sept. 12 in Turan, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit using rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fires.  He was assigned to the 4th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

      The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

             Sgt. 1st Class Duane A. Thornsbury, 30, of Bridgeport, W. Va., died Sept.12 in Baghdad, Iraq, of injuries sustained during a vehicle roll-over. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group, Fort Carson, Colo.

            The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation.

            The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

             Pfc. Matthew M. Martinek, 20, of DeKalb, Ill., died Sept. 11 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, of wounds suffered in Paktika province, Afghanistan, Sept. 4 when enemy attacked his vehicle with an improvised-explosive device followed by a rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska.

            The Department of Defense announced today the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.  They died Sept. 12 in Wardak province, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when enemy forces attacked their vehicle with an improvised-explosive device and small arms fire.  The soldiers were assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y.

            Killed were:

            Staff Sgt. Nekl B. Allen, 29, of Rochester N.Y.

            Spc. Daniel L. Cox, 23, of Parsons, Kan

September 15, 2009

The Department of Defense announced today the death of an airman who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

            Staff Sgt. Bryan D. Berky, 25, of Melrose, Fla., died Sept. 12 near Bala Baluk, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained from enemy fire while supporting combat operations. He was assigned to the 28th Civil Engineer Squadron, Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D.

             September 16, 2009

            The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. 

               Spc. Demetrius L. Void, 20, of Orangeburg, S.C., died Sept. 15 at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained when a military vehicle struck him while conducting physical training. He was assigned to the 57th Expeditionary Signal Battalion, 11th Signal Brigade, III Corps, Fort Hood, Texas.

             The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation.

              The Department of Defense announced today the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. They died of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their vehicle with an improvised explosive device Sept. 14 in southern Afghanistan. They were assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.

             Killed were:

             1st Lt. David T. Wright II, 26, of Moore, Okla.; and

             Sgt. Andrew H. McConnell, 24, of Carlisle, Pa.

            September 17, 2009

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

            Sgt. Robert D. Gordon II, 22, of River Falls, Ala., died Sept. 16 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, from a non-combat related illness, after becoming ill Sept. 11 in southern Afghanistan.  He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.

            The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation.

The Department of Defense announced today the death of three soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.  They died Sept. 16 in Helmand province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their vehicle Sept. 15 with an improvised explosive device.  They were assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group, Fort Bragg, N.C. 

            Killed were:

            Sgt. 1st Class Bradley S. Bohle, 29, of Glen Burnie, Md.;

            Sgt. 1st Class Shawn P. McCloskey, 33, of Peachtree City, Ga.; and

            Staff Sgt. Joshua M. Mills, 24, of El Paso, Texas.

Death and Injury Tolls: Afghanistan     http://www.defenselink.mil/news/casualties.pdf

September 16, 2009

Total Deaths   Killed in Action  Wounded/Returned to Duty   Wounded/not RTD

   757                    580                       1,506                           2,389

Mullen: More Troops 'Probably' Needed

Joint Chiefs Chairman Testifies Before Senate Panel as Afghanistan Debate Grows

September 16, 2009

by Ann Scott Tyson

Washington Post
 

The nation's top military officer told Congress on Tuesday that the U.S. war in Afghanistan "probably needs more forces" and sought to reassure lawmakers skeptical of sending additional troops that commanders were devising new tactics that would lead to victory over a resurgent Taliban. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that 2,000 to 4,000 additional military trainers from the United States and its NATO partners will be needed to "jump-start" the expansion of Afghan security forces and strongly suggested that more U.S. combat troops will be required to provide security in the short term. "A properly resourced counterinsurgency probably needs more forces," Mullen said in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Mullen spoke amid a growing political debate over Afghanistan as President Obama weighs a recently completed assessment of the war by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander there. Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.), the committee chairman, argued strenuously Tuesday against the deployment of any more U.S. combat forces, while Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the ranking Republican, said a delay in sending more combat forces would "repeat the nearly catastrophic mistakes" that occurred in Iraq before the Bush administration increased troop levels.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates remains undecided on whether more troops are needed. Morrell played down the possibility of disagreement between the Pentagon's civilian leadership and the uniformed forces, saying that Gates "clearly has a great deal of respect for Admiral Mullen," who was seeking Senate confirmation for a second term as chairman, after Gates's recommendation to Obama. But Gates, Morrell said, "is still more in the evolution process in his thinking than having arrived at a decision as to whether or not, yes, significant numbers of additional forces are needed."

Gates and Mullen are participating in high-level administration discussions of the way forward in Afghanistan, based on recommendations from McChrystal for how to implement the strategy Obama announced in March. Since then, the number of Taliban attacks and U.S. casualties have risen to their highest rates in the eight-year-old war.

With public anxiety rising, many Democratic lawmakers are awaiting a decision by the president, and a White House strategy to sell it.

"I want to hear from the president, and not just on combat troops," Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-Del.) said in an interview. "Combat troops is like the public option" in health care, he said, quoting a conversation with Levin this month when they traveled together to Afghanistan. "Everybody can understand combat troops."

For most Americans, Kaufman said, eight years "is an eternity, and now they come in asking for another batch of troops? What's that all about? . . . This is a crescendo growing. At some point in the not-too-distant future, [Obama] has got to do this. The clock is ticking."

Lawmakers have asked to have McChrystal testify before Congress, but Morrell said Gates does not think it would be the right time.

Obama has ordered an additional 17,000 U.S. combat troops and 4,000 trainers to Afghanistan this year, which will bring the total number of American service members in the country to 68,000 by the end of the year.

Mullen told the Senate panel he did not know what ratio of combat to training forces would be needed. He estimated that NATO contributions would not be large and that it will take two to three years to produce a sufficient number of Afghan soldiers and police.

Morrell, the Pentagon spokesman, said the distinction between trainers and combat forces is sometimes blurry. "As we learned in Iraq, our best training is done not in some sterile environment behind the wire, but rather out amongst the population, operating shoulder to shoulder with our . . . Iraqi or Afghan counterparts. And that often leads to combat situations."

            Gates "believes that we have to provide more counter-IED capabilities to our forces in Afghanistan as soon as possible," Morrell said, using the abbreviation for improvised explosive device, or roadside bomb. "By that, I mean route clearance teams, explosive ordnance disposal teams, medevac teams, intelligence assets, not to mention the hardware that's required." Mullen emphasized that the key elements of Obama's strategy are being put into place, citing a new program to offer incentives to persuade low- and mid-level Taliban fighters to abandon the insurgency. The goal would be to win over rank-and-file Taliban fighters and then target the leaders with more lethal means, officials said.

"There's a very big opportunity here to reduce violence by reaching out to some of the lower-level guys, to give them an opportunity to see a life that's better than fighting for the Taliban," said a senior official at the NATO command in Kabul who discussed the program on the condition of anonymity. "What's really important is to get a feel for where the Afghans are" on reintegration, the official said.

No decisions have been made on what the incentives would be, although the official said they could include cash and jobs.

The major challenge is to develop a program the Afghan government accepts and implements from the start -- in contrast to Iraq, where the United States paid former fighters and then struggled to persuade the Iraqi government to integrate them into its security forces and other jobs, the senior official said. "It has to be owned and driven by them."

Retired British Lt. Gen. Graeme Lamb, who worked on the reconciliation of fighters in Iraq, is in Afghanistan heading the initiative for McChrystal, Mullen said, although he stressed that the planning is still in the early phases. "We're not very far down that road," he said.

Mullen said he and other senior military leaders -- including McChrystal; Gen. David H. Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command; and the chiefs of military services -- believe that executing Obama's strategy in Afghanistan will require not just killing insurgents but succeeding in a wide-ranging campaign to provide security, government services and economic rebuilding for the Afghan population.

"The president has given us a clear mission: disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaeda and its extremist allies and prevent Afghanistan from becoming a safe haven again. You can't do that from offshore, and you can't do that by just killing the bad guys. You have to be there, where the people are when they need you there, and until they can provide for their own security. This is General McChrystal's view, and it is my view -- and that of General Petraeus and the Joint Chiefs," Mullen said in his opening remarks.

McChrystal is "alarmed by the insurgency" in Afghanistan, Mullen said, and "needs to retake the initiative from the insurgents, who have grabbed it over the last three years." Mullen said he spoke with McChrystal on Monday. "Quite honestly, he found conditions on the ground tougher than he had thought," Mullen said.

Warned by lawmakers that U.S. public support for the war was waning, Mullen said he understood that urgent action was needed. "I worry a great deal that the clock is moving very rapidly," he said.

"Do you understand you've got one more shot back home? Do you understand that?" asked Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.)

"Yes, sir," Mullen replied.

Staff writers Karen DeYoung and Rajiv Chandrasekaran contributed to this report.

Letters to the Editor

From: XXXXXXXXX

Sent: Tue 9/15/09 7:25 PM

To: walter storch (tbrnews@hotmail.com)

Sirs: Your website constantly is attacking the 9-11 Truth people, claiming their views of the 9-11 attacks are based on myths, lies and deliberate government disinformation.

I read by some of the responses on your site and other mentions of your attacks on the internet that a number of devotees are highly annoyed at your critiques.

 I am not a structural engineer but I am an employee of the Department of Defense, working in the press and information division. I can state very clearly that we have at least three and sometimes five personnel here whose sole job it is to put out all manner of silly fictions for the weird bloggers to spread around.

The reason for all of this smoke and mirrors? It is very common knowledge here that the Bush people egged the Saudis on to attack American targets so that Bush and Cheney could consolidate power in their hands with a phony ‘terrorist’ threat.

I am sure that some of the strange fictions pouring out into the Internet are the home-grown product of diseased minds but many are the product of deliberate disinformation.

Our people here refer to their addressees as the ‘Crips and Droolers Clubs’.:

And I request that you please do not print either my name or email address. There would be some problems here for me if you do. 

Thanks!  

XXXXXX Major, USA

Who Put Super-Thermite in the Twin Towers? (The Giant Rat of Sumatra, Chris)
By: Christopher Bollyn (: 30.07.2009 [

The discovery of chips of highly-explosive super-thermite in the dust of the World Trade Center is an essential key to unraveling the entire 9-11 hoax. Understanding the lies about 9-11 reveals in turn the mass deception behind the wars of aggression in Afghanistan and Iraq and the utterly fraudulent "War on Terror." One soon realizes that the whole anti-terrorism Zeitgeist of the past 8 years is nothing but a pack of lies.

            The discovery of super-thermite in the dust of the demolished towers opens up the whole can of 9-11 lies. Dr. Steven E. Jones of Brigham Young University discovered unusual red-gray chips in the dust of the demolished twin towers and along with a team of other scientists published a peer-reviewed paper in March 2009 in which they prove that these chips are fragments from a thin layer of active thermite in the nano-size form, i.e. super-thermite. This is the powerful explosive that pulverized the towers. Osama Bin Laden certainly didn't put super-thermite in the twin towers, so who did? This is the question that demands to be answered.

            Super-thermite is defined as a thermitic compound in which one of the two main components is in the nano-size range, i.e. less than one-tenth of a micron in size. The main components of Thermite are generally aluminum and ferrous or iron oxide. When these components are reduced to nano-size particles and mixed together, they form super-thermite, a highly energetic and explosive form of Thermite. Other components can be added to the mix to create other effects, such as to produce a gas to increase the pressure of the explosion when the super-thermite is detonated.

             Because of the nano-size nature of the components of super-thermite, it is usually mixed and suspended in a solution that can be applied to a surface, such as the floors and walls of the World Trade Center, as a spray, film, or gel. The evidence of the super-thermite chips found in the 9-11 dust suggest that this highly explosive solution had been applied as a thin layer to surfaces of the twin towers as a spray. Who would have done that?

            When it was applied it was certainly not known to all that it was super-thermite, but was probably applied under the guise of being a spray coating of paint, fire-proofing, or some kind of asbestos abatement. The people who applied the spray onto the surfaces of the World Trade Center certainly had no idea that what they were applying was actually a very powerful explosive film, although they were probably told not to smoke.

            As the application of the super-thermite must have occurred during the months prior to 9-11, I have used FOIA and other means to try to find who could have been doing such work in the towers during 2000-2001. There was one significant clue at the very beginning. Two days after 9-11, Engineering News-Record (ENR) reported that an asbestos abatement and demolition company called LVI had done extensive asbestos abatement work in the World Trade Center:

            LVI was immediately a suspect because it does a great deal of pre-demolition work in which it prepares buildings for demolition. LVI has done several large demolition jobs with Controlled Demolition, Inc. of Maryland.

            We do know that a million-dollar contract for asbestos abatement in the twin towers had been put up for bids by contractors in the fall of 2000, exactly one year before 9-11:

             Contract WTC-115.310 - The World Trade Center Removal and Disposal of Vinyl Asbestos Floor Tiles and Other Incidental Asbestos-Containing Building Materials Via Work Order Estimate Range: $1,000,000 annually Bids due Tuesday, October 17, 2000. (advertised by the PA on September 12, 2000)

 http://www.bollyn.com/index.php 

Puffs Of Dust
             CLAIM: As each tower collapsed, clearly visible puffs of dust and debris were ejected from the sides of the buildings. An advertisement in The New York Times for the book Painful Questions: An Analysis Of The September 11th Attack made this claim: "The concrete clouds shooting out of the buildings are not possible from a mere collapse. They do occur from explosions." Numerous conspiracy theorists cite Van Romero, an explosives expert and vice president of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, who was quoted on 9/11 by the Albuquerque Journal as saying "there were some explosive devices inside the buildings that caused the towers to collapse." The article continues, "Romero said the collapse of the structures resembled those of controlled implosions used to demolish old structures."

            FACT: Once each tower began to collapse, the weight of all the floors above the collapsed zone bore down with pulverizing force on the highest intact floor. Unable to absorb the massive energy, that floor would fail, transmitting the forces to the floor below, allowing the collapse to progress downward through the building in a chain reaction. Engineers call the process "pancaking," and it does not require an explosion to begin, according to David Biggs, a structural engineer at Ryan-Biggs Associates and a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) team that worked on the FEMA report

            Like all office buildings, the WTC towers contained a huge volume of air. As they pancaked, all that air--along with the concrete and other debris pulverized by the force of the collapse--was ejected with enormous energy. "When you have a significant portion of a floor collapsing, it's going to shoot air and concrete dust out the window," NIST lead investigator Shyam Sunder tells PM. Those clouds of dust may create the impression of a controlled demolition, Sunder adds, "but it is the floor pancaking that leads to that perception."

             Demolition expert Romero regrets that his comments to the Albuquerque Journal became fodder for conspiracy theorists. "I was misquoted in saying that I thought it was explosives that brought down the building," he tells PM. "I only said that that's what it looked like."

             Romero, who agrees with the scientific conclusion that fire triggered the collapses, demanded a retraction from the Journal. It was printed Sept. 22, 2001. "I felt like my scientific reputation was on the line." But emperors-clothes.com saw something else: "The paymaster of Romero's research institute is the Pentagon. Directly or indirectly, pressure was brought to bear, forcing Romero to retract his original statement." Romero responds: "Conspiracy theorists came out saying that the government got to me. That is the farthest thing from the truth. This has been an albatross around my neck for three years." 

9/11: Debunking The Myths: March, 2005 issue of Popular Mechanics