…at just this moment it had been announced that Oceania was not after all at war with Eurasia. Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Eurasia was an ally… There was, of course, no admission that any change had taken place. Merely it became known, with extreme suddenness and everywhere at once, that Eastasia and not Eurasia was the enemy. (George Orwell, 1984)

Amy Goodman should be regarded as a Left Gatekeeper (LG). Left Gatekeepers, like the journalists in George Orwell’s 1984, function to promote the official propaganda of the state. They amplify what is not credible while excluding other voices from challenging the government’s lies of the day.

Amy Goodman used to be a hero of mine. . She was particularly heroic in the 1991 massacre by Indonesian military forces in a Santa Cruz, East Timor graveyard. Her deeds there (along with journalist Alan Nairn’s) are the kinds of events that people would get medals for by the President in a sane world.

However, since 9/11/01 Amy Goodman (and her internet/radio program Democracy Now!) has achieved enormous popularity while continuing to fail to challenge the Bush regime where doing so is most needed. In particular, whenever the topic of terrorism on US soil is brought up on her program she can be counted upon to repeat government propaganda.

By broadcasting the government’s official story of 9-11 Democracy Now! continues to reiterate faulty science. For example, a key component of the Bush regime’s propaganda includes the implication that the number 650 is equal to the number 2000. If more Democracy-activists were aware that the Bush regime was making this assertion it could galvanize the resistance to it. Still, Amy Goodman and DN! continue to tolerate the lie that the two numbers are equal. To the disgust of a growing number of people DN! refuses to include a guest on her show which disputes this (and similar) scientific point(s) advanced by the government.

Amy’$ Contract

Before we delve into the specifics of Amy Goodman’s service to the Bush regime it should be mentioned that her contract with Pacifica is appalling. I have it from names that would like to remain quiet that the financial relationship between DN! and Pacifica is costing Pacifica more than million dollars in potential revenue a year. If the arrangement that Amy and Democracy Now! has with Pacifica continues it could bankrupt Pacifica. Progressives should show support for Pacifica by calling for Amy to restructure her contract.

The Importance of 9-11

Let’s move to the events of September 11, 2001 which have had an enormous impact on the human race. So far the Bush regime has used 911 to launch two wars of aggression against a pair of largely defenseless countries which play a vital role in the distribution of the world’s oil.

Domestically, the Bush regime has used the events of 9/11/01 to install a concentration camp in Cuba. Under the guise of protecting Americans from terrorists it employed the USA PATRIOT Act to shred the Bill of Rights. It has used 9-11 to disappear thousands of people (i.e., it is either deported them or is detaining them indefinitely without charge.) The Bush regime is also using 9-11 in an attempt to introduce new legal standards which erase centuries of judicial precedents. September 11 is also being featured in the campaign commercials for the Bush regime. Finally, the Republican Convention will be held in New York close to the three-year anniversary of 9/11 to maximize the propaganda benefit of the tragedy. Clearly, 9-11 remains a pivotal instrument for the Bush regime to achieve its goals.

While the Bush regime freely employs 9-11 for all of its attacks on human rights much of the “left” media continues to broadcast the fictional story of what really happened that day. Left Gatekeepers like Democracy Now! continue to validate the official story of 9-11 and prevent any voice from speaking about some of the innumerable anomalies with it.

Democracy Now’s 9-11 “debate”

Last September (9/23/03) Democracy Now! made one of its very rare forays into discussing the events of 9-11. Amy Goodman had on two guests, Peter Lance and Richard Miniter. Amy billed the meeting as a “debate”. Both men are authors and were prominently hawking their recent books. Crucially, neither man contradicted the other much.

During the telecast Lance and Miniter both agree with the official story of 9/11/01. To recap: Flights 11 and 175 crash into the World Trade Center. Burning fuel from these planes melts the steel in the North and South Towers. This causes both towers to collapse in relatively tidy footprints. Later that same day World Trade Center 7 collapses in its footprint, possibly from fire. (No one with the government has explained WTC 7’s collapse with certainty; i.e., FEMA’s report isn’t conclusive. Meanwhile, the subject of why WTC 7 collapsed has never been discussed on DN!)

With Amy’s approval, Lance and Miniter eagerly promote the central idea that Al Qaeda was responsible for the complete destruction of buildings 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of the World Trade Center on 9/11/01. They accept (without explanation) that Osama bin Laden, the world’s most famous dialysis patient, was the mastermind of the day’s tragic events. The subject of how 650 and 2,000 are completely different numbers never arises in the broadcast.

Democracy Now!’s wretched 9/23/03 broadcast with Lance and Miniter outraged activists around the world. (Someone the author corresponds with now labels DN! as “Disinformation Now!”) While watching the Lance and Miniter show unravel I marveled at the skill with which Goodman and Democracy Now! were communicating ideas which originated with the Bush regime. No White House spokesperson could have sold the official story better than Goodman, Lance and Miniter did that day. In addition, since this “debate” was aired the subject matter is apparently closed for all time on Democracy Now!

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Amy Goodman

650 = 2000

Amy Goodman needs to allow an articulate guest to appear on her program capable of mentioning that it is impossible for burning jet fuel to have caused the destruction of the North and South towers of the World Trade Center. Jet fuel is refined kerosene, which burns at about 650 degrees Fahrenheit in the open air. Meanwhile, steel cannot be forged adequately until it is heated up to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit for a significant amount of time.

Another problem with the idea that burning kerosene melted the steel in the Twin Towers is the fact that that all of the extant documentation from 9-11 reveals black, oxygen-starved fires coming from the North Tower before it collapsed. There is no photograph or video which indicates that the fires were nearing the temperature to melt aluminum, much less the temperature to melt steel.

The more one inspects the documentation the more obvious the conclusion becomes that the planes which supposedly struck the World Trade Center on 9/11/01 could not have melted the steel in the Twin Towers under the circumstances we all seemingly witnessed.

Even if we could believe that the laws of physics were altered on 9/11/01, and burning jet fuel melted steel that day, the jet fuel from the alleged planes would have caused the towers to twist and bend and fall over, not completely implode in their footprints.

The tendency for tall building structures when they collapse is to bend over and crash into surrounding areas. That’s why demolition experts are almost always hired to topple tall buildings in major cities.

There is a growing number of people around the world who believe that the Twin Towers fell from a pair of controlled demolitions. Despite the best efforts of the Left Gatekeepers to suppress the movement, conferences are being held to discuss 9-11; books and papers are being published, videos are being produced, new websites appear daily and emails are circulating like wildfire.

(An author I highly recommend is Eric Hufschmid. His book, “Painful Questions” argues convincingly that the Twin Towers fell from controlled demolitions. In addition, his excellent video, “Painful Deceptions” introduces more scientific anomalies with the official story of 9/11/01. At this writing there are no plans for Amy Goodman to have Hufschmid debut on her program.)

The 911 Truth Movement is battling the Bush regime where it is most vulnerable. Instead of merely reporting on the growing infrastructure of the Bush regime’s planned police state, the activists investigating 9-11 are attempting to remove the justification for each piece of it. They are attempting to isolate some basic ideas that can be delivered to large masses of people. Unfortunately, misguided Left Gatekeepers like Amy Goodman continue to block their efforts at pursuing the path that has the greatest chance of success.

Summary

Democracy Now!’s contribution to the global struggle to remove the neoconservatives from power in the US is undermined each day that passes that Amy Goodman fails to invite on her show an articulate critic of the official story of 9/11/01. In addition, what little that has been said on DN! about 9-11 should be regarded as disinformation which is completely at the service of the Bush regime.

What many of her critics want from Amy Goodman is for DN! to speak truth to power on the most important issue of our time. We all know from her past that when she speaks truth to power she can move mountains. Many of us also believe that we’re running out of time waiting for her to get moving.

September 11th isn’t an issue like any other. It is the catalyst for the Bush regime’s dramatic expansion of US imperialism and very open foundations for a police state. Activists who are interested in removing the harm done by the Bush regime since 9/11/01 should focus on conveying the scientific anomalies with the official story of that day. To do otherwise is to fight a losing battle.

Scott Loughrey