本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛New book stirs conspiracy theories over September 11
PARIS, March 21 AFP|Published: Thursday March 21, 5:11 PM



Everybody has seen the televised images of hijacked planes crashing into the World Trade Centre on September 11. But what about the attack the same day on the Pentagon?

The lack of dramatic pictures, few eyewitness accounts, little aircraft debris and blanket of secrecy thrown over the sensitive site of the crash have left big blurry spots in the public consciousness about what happened exactly to the US Defence Department -- spots that conspiracy theorists have leaped into with glee.

One of the most determined of those theorists is Thierry Meyssan, a left-wing French radical who heads up an "information agency" calling itself the Reseau Voltaire.

He has written a book, "The Dreadful Imposture", filled with claims about the Pentagon attack, September 11's other events, and the consequent US-led global "war on terror" that make the speculation about JFK's assassination pale by comparison.

Drawing inferences from the very few pieces of aircraft wreckage at the crash site and the relatively small hole in the building's side, Meyssan says that the blackened pit was in fact caused by a bomb set "by a group of people who had authorised access to the Pentagon" and who were really trying to destroy a new Navy Command Centre.

A few steps of questionable logic later, he alleges that the World Trade Centre housed a top-secret CIA office, that the ensuing US military campaign was the fruit of a plan by the US political establishment to boost defence activities and spending, and -- most implausible of all -- that Osama bin Laden was a CIA agent who helped channel US public anger "towards foreign scapegoats".

But while many might easily dismiss the claims as crackpot provocation, they have been widely read on the Internet.

A website run by Meyssan's son, Raphael, (www.asile.org) posted pictures of the Pentagon on September 11 with questions that push the reader to conclude that, at best, the facts do not fit the official version of events, or, at worst, that the US government actively lied to its public and the world.

The reactions in online chatrooms and boards have ranged from fury to agreement, while sites dedicated to busting popular misapprehensions and urban myths have tackled the allegations one by one -- and found them lacking.

Reputed US media such as the Washington Post newspaper and CNN have also made available eyewitness accounts and graphics of how the hijacked plane carrying 50 passengers, six crew and three or four hijackers would have crashed into the Pentagon.

But for Meyssan, these carry little weight alongside his research. "Eyewitness accounts, when they're contradicted by the material facts, must be set aside," he told Liberation newspaper this week.

Other media have latched on to the controversy.

In Saudi Arabia -- birthplace of Bin Laden -- the biggest-circulation newspaper, Al-Watan, published Meyssan's allegations on its front page without a critical pen, while the author has been increasingly invited on to programs on the principal French television networks.

And even if many Western journalists have been sceptical of his claims, the attention and microphones thrust at this revisionist have already done wonders for his book's publicity campaign.

The editor, Editions Carnot, told AFP it was "currently out of stock" because of the demand, and that new prints would not be on French shelves before Friday.

By Marc Burleigh更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net