village voice > news > 9-11 Conspiracists Invade = Ground Zero by Sarah Ferguson

Preaching to the=20 uncoverted at Ground Zero.
photo: Sarah=20 Ferguson

The anguish = was palpable at=20 Ground Zero yesterday, as family members made their way down = a long=20 ramp into the vast emptiness of the World Trade Center site, = then=20 took turns reading out the names of their lost loved ones.=20

"We love you, Georgie. We'll see you soon," pledged the = parents=20 of a fallen firefighter, their sad voices broadcast to the = crowds of=20 grieving onlookers milling quietly around the perimeter.=20

Into this somber setting marched about a dozen 9-11=20 conspiracists, who claimed a patch of sidewalk to preach = what they=20 called the truth. "These people weren't killed by Arab = terrorists.=20 You've been lied to!" shouted a woman who looked vaguely = like Joey=20 Ramone, holding up one end of a banner that read, "9-11 = World Trade=20 Center: Controlled Demolition."=20

Her name was Lisa Giuliani and she broadcasts her = theories though=20 a Pennsylvania grassroots video collective called Wing TV.=20

She lectured about how only a series of controlled = explosions=20 could have so rapidly pancaked the twin towers. "There's no = way jet=20 fuel could have melted all that steel. It was a freefall. = The=20 concrete was so thoroughly pulverized, Manhattan was = blanketed in=20 dust. Think about it," she urged. "Do your homework, = please!"=20

Her message played about as badly as could be expected. = "I was=20 there, so shut the fuck up. You don't know what you're = talking=20 about," snapped an enraged firefighter in fatigues, stalking = off=20 into the crowd.=20

"You shouldn't be here. Have some respect," another = firefighter=20 shouted.=20

"It's a crime scene," Lisa Giuliani shot back. "We honor = them=20 with the truth. Al Qaeda is a concept. This is = state-sponsored=20 terrorism."=20

The clamor was all too much for a passing tourist. "God = bless=20 America, you bitch!" he screamed in a thick accent.=20

"Go back to where you came from, you foreigner," groused = a fellow=20 conspiracist.=20

"But I am French," the tourist responded indignantly.=20

And so it went, a sad comedy of slurs that went on for = most of=20 the morning, drawing crowds of puzzled onlookers before the = police=20 would shoo them away to clear the sidewalk.=20

At one point, an auxiliary fireman stepped forward and = tried to=20 reason with the protesters to "respect the memorial = sentiment."=20

"Believe me, I have questions too," he told the = protesters. "But=20 you've got to respect the dead. These people are not ready = for this.=20 You're just creating resentment."=20

The demolition lady was adamant. "There is no good time. = I lost a=20 lot of firefighter friends too," she maintained, adding, = "This is=20 the only way we can reach the 9-11 families."=20

Victor Ortiz mourns the loss = of his mom=20 with wife Amanda
photo: Sarah Ferguson=20
It seemed most family = members did=20 their best to ignore the speakout. "That's what this country = is=20 about, that people can say what they want even if I don't = agree with=20 it," said Rudy Dimmling of Westbury, Long Island, whose = brother=20 William died in the North Tower, leaving behind a wife and = two kids.=20 "To have more fingerpointing and Congressional hearings, = where does=20 that get us? I can't live with myself to think that that was = a=20 conspiracy," he said, clearly pained at the thought of even = having=20 to address such a question.=20

One might have thought the Bush administration's bungled = response=20 to the Katrina catastrophe could put a crimp in = conspiracists'=20 efforts to prove that the 9-11 was much more than just a = colossal=20 "failure of the imagination," as the 9-11 commission = claimed. After=20 seeing firsthand how President Bush and FEMA ignored years = of=20 warnings about the threat of a hurricane on the Gulf Coast, = then=20 dawdled while people drowned, maybe it's not so hard to = fathom how=20 our vacationing president could have blown off repeated = intelligence=20 warnings about the growing threat of al Qaeda and Osama bin = Laden in=20 the summer of 2001.=20

Yet it seems Katrina is now just more fuel for the = conspiracy=20 pyre, with the Internet buzzing with theories=20 of how the feds blew up the levees to flood poor areas of = New=20 Orleans and preserve the ritzy French Quarter.=20

Down at Ground Zero, the 9-11 "truth" warriors were = clearly=20 emboldened by the hurricane fiasco. "The public saw people = dying=20 while Condi was shopping=20 for shoes, Dick Cheney was playing fake cowboy, and Bush was = backstage playing guitar," relished Ben Maurier of Brooklyn, = who=20 predicted a wash of new converts to the cause. "If they = knowingly=20 allowed that many people to die in New Orleans, why should = it be a=20 stretch that the government did 9-11?"=20

Had they gotten off their soap boxes, the conspiracists = might=20 have found more empathy among survivors like Kevin Lester, = who=20 worked on the 102nd floor of the North Tower, and who lost = his=20 brother and numerous coworkers there. "I sometimes wonder if = there=20 could have been a conspiracy," confessed Lester, who said he = survived on 9-11 only because he popped downstairs to get = his shoes=20 shined just before the first plane hit. "Some of the = arguments kind=20 of make sense, like the slow response rate [to the hijacked = planes],=20 or how Bush reacted that day. I saw Fahrenheit 911. = It makes=20 you wonder.=20

"But still, I just kind of deplore heavy-duty political = rhetoric=20 at a memorial. Why today? Why?" he demanded. "Right now I'm = still=20 dealing with survivor's guilt. How about giving us a hug = rather than=20 stamping in our face?"=20

The 9-11 Truth squad = protesting outside=20 Rockefeller Plaza, home to NBC.
photo: Sarah = Ferguson=20
Not all the 9-11 = skeptics were so=20 brazen. Distinguishing themselves from the proselytizers = downtown,=20 about 200 protesters gathered outside the offices of the = New York=20 Times shouting, "Tell the truth!" The protest was = organized by=20 members of NY911truth.org=20 to condemn the failure of the mainstream press. They say the = media=20 failed to raise questions about the numerous unexplained = anomalies=20 of 9-11-like why it took NORAD so long to scramble planes = when five=20 war games were running that day, or why World Trade Center = owner Ken=20 Silverstein implied that that WTC building 7 was = "pulled"=97a reported=20 comment which leads conspiracists to presume that the other = towers=20 could have been intentionally taken down, too.=20

"Why isn't the media asking these questions?" demanded = retired=20 Lieutenant Colonel Robert Bowman, who has become one of the=20 celebrity skeptics because of his credentials as a former=20 interceptor pilot who helped direct the Star Wars program = under=20 Carter and Ford. "Where are the tapes of the Pentagon hit? = Where are=20 the tapes of the conversations between NORAD and the air = traffic=20 controllers? Why are they hiding them? If our government had = done=20 nothing and just let normal procedures happen, those planes = would=20 have been intercepted and thousands of people would still be = alive.=20 It's treason," he insisted. "Bush and Cheney should be = impeached."=20

But the Grey Lady didn't even blink, with not so much as = a=20 reporter poking a head out of one of the windows.=20

Many in the crowd seemed shocked that more New Yorkers = had not=20 joined them. They pointed to a Zogby poll taken=20 last summer that showed half of all New Yorkers believe the = U.S.=20 leaders had "foreknowledge" of the attacks and "consciously" = failed=20 to act.=20

But that word "consciously" is slippery, and could just = as well=20 refer to what people can now read in the media: that Bush, = the NSA,=20 CIA and FBI on down had information that a big attack on = America was=20 about to happen.=20

Undaunted, the protesters marched through the canyons of = Midtown,=20 shoveling leaflets at bewildered shoppers as they chanted = things=20 like "Figure it out. It's not hard. Nine-11 was an inside = job!" and=20 even "Remember New Orleans!"=97as if anyone could forget. = They passed=20 by the headquarters of FOX, NBC, Time Warner, and CNN, = pausing to=20 shout at the media for ignoring them as a few police = officers looked=20 on.=20

Choking Victim inciting the = masses to=20 "Fuck World Trade" on 9-11.
photo: Sarah Ferguson=20
Maybe the marchers should = have=20 tried Tompkins Square Park, which by Sunday afternoon was = awash in=20 about 2,000 sweaty teenagers moshing at a 9-11 protest = concert=20 headlined by punk bands Million Dead Cops and Choking = Victim.=20

According to organizers, it took a team of three lawyers = to swing=20 the permit past Parks Department officials, who reportedly = didn't=20 like the timing and theme of the concert, nor the fact that = the lead=20 singer of Choking Victim is also the singer of Leftover = Crack, whose=20 last concert sparked a melee between police and = bottle-throwing=20 punks last November.=20

But this time, the police seemed virtually nonexistent as = Choking=20 Victims' myriad fans sang along to lyrics like "Kill the = cops,"=20 "Fuck America," and "Fuck world trade."=20

Onstage, lead singer "Stza Crack" preached more = conspiracies.=20 "George Bush's brother Marvin Bush was head of security at = the World=20 Trade Center up until 9-11, and they were doing nefarious = things,"=20 Crack told his drunken fans. "They wanted another Pearl = Harbor to=20 install the Patriot Act and take us to war. Don't listen to = the=20 media; the media is there for maximum security=97to tell you = lies!"=20

As the band broke into their hit anthem of alienation, = "Born to=20 Die," a young punk in bleached hair and mod sunglasses = dashed to the=20 mike and shouted: "Kill George Bush! Or we're all going to = die!"=20

Unlike at Ground Zero, the folks here seemed not to mind = such=20 giddy provocation. Josh Copeland, a 21-year-old Rutgers = student=20 sporting a heavy chain and padlock around his neck, said he = didn't=20 buy the conspiracy angles voiced onstage but supported more = dissent=20 about the "social and economic" causes of 9-11. "This is = really for=20 the sake of acting out. You see there's a huge turnout for = this.=20 People are really very angry and they don't know what to do. = Protest=20 is losing its power."=20

"Yeah," said one of his beer-addled female companions. = "The only=20 thing left is drinking, drugs, and suicide."=20

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