January 24, 2006

9/11 Conspiracy Theorist Takes Over Pacifica Radio

Will the lunacy coming out of the Left stop today? First we posted about a Daily Kos writer who plans to march at Ground Zero and place a citizen's arrest on Rudy Giuliani for 'his part in the 9/11 coverup'. If that wasn't enough, a Lefty in a major newspaper says he does not support the troops. Now this. I need some aspirin.

Via the Puppy Blender this from Marc Cooper--who is no right-winger--who gives us the low-down on the new Pacifica radio executive director, Greg Guma.

Most of the country is privileged enough to not have the pleasure of listening to Pacifica radio. Since I grew up in L.A., I was subjected to it from time to time. Pacifica is kind of like NPR, only, if you can imagine this, far to the Left and way more boring (apologies to Marc Cooper, former drive-time host).

Pacifica is the kind of radio network that broadcasts it's own station meetings. I recall listening to one a few years back where angry listeners were protesting the 'corporate' nature of the Pacifica board.

It's also the kind of radio network that seems to have endless supplies of interviews with Noam Chomsky. And no, no one was holding a gun to my head and forcing me to listen to Noam Chomsky drone on and on about East Timor. Call me a masochist.

It turns out that Pacifica's new director, Greg Guma, is a certified 9/11 conspiracy nutbag. Here is what he had to say about David Ray Griffin's book The New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions about the Bush Administration and 9/11:

Hammering home the point that most of what we think we know may be mistaken, Griffin also points out that even the identities of the hijackers remain in doubt. In the months following 9/11, the London Times, Associated Press, and Saudi embassy in Washington reported that at least five of the 19 men whose photos and names circulated worldwide were still alive.

So, was bin Laden really the mastermind? If he was a player, did he have some help? These are two of the many troubling questions that arise from Griffin's analysis. At this point, we simply don't know, and not much can be said with complete certainty, except that without 9/11, George Bush would not have been able to declare himself a "war president" and there would have been no convincing reason to expand the federal government's power through legislation like the USA PATRIOT Act.

Given the administration's now discredited claims about Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's connection to the attacks and weapons of mass destruction, it doesn't stretch credulity to conclude that, based on the considerable conflicting evidence (rather than more comforting assumptions), the public has yet to hear the whole story. For that to change, however, the media's self-imposed myopia will have to end, at last granting Griffin's research a thorough review, and perhaps even prompting a more credible and comprehensive official examination than has so far been conducted.