General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI remember when Paul Thompson use to post on DU
All he did was report what was in the back pages of news
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Terror_Timeline
Richard Clarke has put it on his reading list for his course on "Terrorism, Security, and Intelligence" at Harvard University
He opened my eyes.
blm
(113,063 posts).
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)on front page vs back page showed the truth.
He exposed the Tilman lie which brought Hasting's general
Cleita
(75,480 posts)It really sets out what happened on 9-11 just from news articles he gathered and put in notebooks until he was persuaded to publish it. He used to have a website where he updated information he was gathering. I don't know where he is these days. He got run off DU by some mean assholes who ganged up on him so I guess he felt the abuse wasn't worth his time.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)did not know he posted here...damn sorry I missed that..I came here much later.
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)we need to keep it kicked.
Electric Monk
(13,869 posts)Cleita
(75,480 posts)KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)quinnox
(20,600 posts)But it remains a fascinating topic, the 9/11 attacks. I recently was reading an article online about a FEMA official videographer, who was assigned to take footage of the aftermath of the attacks. He says he had to flee to a foreign country because he wouldn't turn over his footage, as he said he saw some very strange things while filming that day, that leads him to believe there was foreknowledge of the attacks. For example, the FEMA emergency post there in New York was apparently set up on Sept. 10th, one day before the attacks. And during his filming, he came upon a vault in the basement, that was already completely emptied, as if someone knew the attack was coming.
Cleita
(75,480 posts)they are kind of forbidden right now. But I agree, a lot still doesn't add up.
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)the media lies and he proved it.
He looked on the back page on what really happened vs the story what was told us and just reported the news.
This is not about 911 per say but he opened my eyes on how to seek out the truth.
We also had others here like ANDY
We still have truth tellers here that are not a boiling frog.
paulthompson
(2,398 posts)Hi,
Paul Thompson here. Thanks for thinking of me in this thread. I still frequent this site, but as a lurker only. I haven't posted in ages. I still think DU is the best site on the web for keeping up with the news. But I also saw a big increase in right wing plants and/or genuine conservative Democrat types on this site. So I like following the news links posted here, but I don't want to spend a lot of time and energy arguing with people, many of whom seem unopen to changing their views.
Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well!
trumad
(41,692 posts)Wow! Old School stuff.
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)Folks need to thank him and be here for this.
The Real deal
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)How do you like Richard Clark's accolade about you?
paulthompson
(2,398 posts)Are you talking about the fact that he used my book in one of his classes at Harvard? If so, I was very pleased by that. And I think it says a lot about the validity of complaints against the "nothing to see here, move along" official version of 9/11 that the person who was the US counterterrorism czar in the time up to and including 9/11 used a book like mine.
I find it very, very interesting that a couple of years ago Richard Clarke stated that he thought two of the 9/11 hijackers (Alhazmi and Almihdhar) may have been protected by the CIA in some way. For a high-level establishment guy like Clarke, that's going out on a limb in a very risky way, so he must have felt strongly about that.
I've never met or spoken to Clarke, which is a shame, because I think he'd have a lot of interesting things to say. For instance, I heard him on NPR one day talking about how top Bush officials were looking for any excuse to invade Iraq even prior to the 9/11 attacks, including brainstorming possible staged incidents. I thought that was a pretty stunning revelation, but like so many things, it quickly disappeared down the memory hole. I did get an audio file of that interview though, and added it to the timeline.
paulthompson
(2,398 posts)In case you're curious, here's the timeline entry I'm referring to. Stuff like this just isn't widely enough known.
Between March 2001 and May 2001: Counterterrorism Tsar Clarke: Bush Officials Discuss Creating Casus Belli for War with Iraq
Counterterrorism tsar Richard Clarke later says that sometime between March and May, Bush administration officials discussed creating a casus belli for war with Iraq. In a 2007 interview with radio show host Jon Elliot, Clarke says: Prior to 9/11 a number of people in the White House were saying to me you know thisthis administration, particularly Cheney, but also Bush [and] people like Wolfowitz in the Pentagon, are really intent on going to war with Iraq. And this was the whispered conversations in the National Security Council staff.
Early, early on in the administration people I knew and trusted in the administration were saying to me, You know. Theyre really going to do it. They are going to go to war with Iraq. And I was flabbergasted. Why would you want to do that of all the things in the world that one could choose to do?
And how are we going to do it? How are we going to cause that provocation? And there was some discussion of Well maybe [well] keep flying aircraft over Iraq and maybe one day one of them will be shot down.
And some of the talk I was hearingin the March, April, May timeframeMaybe well do something that is so provocative and do it in such a way that our aircraft will be shot down. And then well have an excuse to go to war with Iraq. (Jon Elliot Show, 1/11/2007)
johnnyreb
(915 posts)For all that you and your team have taught us, and for all that y'all do.
Kicked and rec'd.
http://www.historycommons.org/
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)this place is just not what it use to be... but I still get info from it to spread.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)post 9-11. Your work was so vital on so many levels.
Thank you......
scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)Your posts here were always "must-reads" for me. I'm delighted that you've popped in! I want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank you for all the wonderful amazing work you've done - your posts here were valuable beyond measure.
Amen to that. It gets really discouraging these days.
Wishing you all the best, always.
sw
kentuck
(111,098 posts)Good to see you again, Paul. Hope all is well?
blm
(113,063 posts)Unfortunately, many of them have found ways to get around the jury system here.
Miss seeing you around, paul.
usGovOwesUs3Trillion
(2,022 posts)RainDog
(28,784 posts)I posted, below, before I read the thread.
And, yes, you're exactly right, there are far, far more conservatives here than in the past.
The problem with too many of them is that they are politically inept. They hurt the cause they claim they want to promote.
arthritisR_US
(7,288 posts)purchased concerning the 911 attacks. The more I saw and heard about 911 the more skeptical I became of the "official account". I could not buy your book directly, as there were no international shipments allowed, so a good mate of mine had my order shipped to her and then she shipped it to me under the aegis "gift". In all my studies into this horrible event your work has been invaluable to me, thank you
whatchamacallit
(15,558 posts)Glad you're around. I really appreciated your work.
grasswire
(50,130 posts)Thanks, Paul, for laying a marker down for generations to come.
Be well.
blm
(113,063 posts).
Cleita
(75,480 posts)I feel both of you gave the most honest accounting of what happened. Happy to see you here.
Kurovski
(34,655 posts)I'm glad you're well.
K&R.
myrna minx
(22,772 posts)shameless spooning?
Kurovski
(34,655 posts)since July 13!
Hissyspit
(45,788 posts)LiberalAndProud
(12,799 posts)You aren't the only one still here but fallen silent, either. Overall, I think that's a win for the trolls. YMMV.
myrna minx
(22,772 posts)Zorra
(27,670 posts)(Thanks for the right wing plants comment.)
wildbilln864
(13,382 posts)Good to see you still lurking here....I remember from the old dungeon. Hope you're well. Just wanted to say hi and let you know I too appreciate your work.
octoberlib
(14,971 posts)Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)check the specks
the timing fits
DLevine
(1,788 posts)PufPuf23
(8,785 posts)leftstreet
(36,108 posts)Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)Profile of Paul
InformationMember since: 2001Number of posts: 1,936
From his work,
snappyturtle
(14,656 posts)had seen all documentaries on 9/11. This one is at the top with another: engineers, demolition experts and engineers in the collapse of the towers. I am so pissed tonight....seeing all of this again and recalling that day of disbelief in my heart and now the NSA spying. I put all of it together and the picture is a grim one and very sad....the deviation from the original concepts in the formation of America is staggering. Thanks for posting...bookmarked and will post to my FB page.
Catherina
(35,568 posts)Berlum
(7,044 posts)and the r
ellie
(6,929 posts)I have his book.
blm
(113,063 posts)he tracked back the documents and sworn testimonies from 4 DECADES of BushInc's support of global terrorists.
Laelth
(32,017 posts)-Laelth
RainDog
(28,784 posts)He made great contributions to DU. I'm sorry he's no longer here.
Democracyinkind
(4,015 posts)I was sooo naive. It was the beginning of a journey that has not yet ended... Thanks Paul Thompson!
nashville_brook
(20,958 posts)L0oniX
(31,493 posts)Autumn
(45,096 posts)sad rec.
paulthompson
(2,398 posts)Wow, thanks everybody. This thread is very gratifying for me. It seems that the 9/11 topic and some other related terrorism topics have kind of fallen down the memory hole. Most people these days would like to forget all about that "unpleasantness." So I'm glad to see that a lot of people haven't forgotten, and my work has made an impact on some of you. Thanks!
Before I drift back into lurker mode, I want to mention that I feel these topics remain important and relevant. Obama has done some things better than Bush, such as not frequently using terrorism as a boogeyman to pump up his ratings and keep the general public constantly scared the way Bush did, and finally winding down costly foreign wars. But in many other ways, Obama has continued Bush's failed counter-terrorism policies. Except that most of this goes under the radar because A) investigative journalism has fallen so low in recent years and B) many Democrats are reluctant to criticize a Democratic president and Republicans don't want to be critical on this issue when Obama's policies on this are so similar to what a Republican's policies would be. We can see this at DU with the recent Snowden NSA revelations, and the way there is so much infighting on the left and attacking the messenger and so on, and even people who seem to have no problem with the steady erosions of privacy and civil liberties.
So a lot of these terrorism related issues that came up not long after 9/11 are still revelant because not much has changed, and in many respect things have gotten worse. Even with bin Laden dead and al-Qaeda and related groups mostly defeated, the US has built up a huge counter-terrorism infrastructure that costs hundreds of billions of dollars each year. But most people have become so conditioned to this that it seems we don't even need a viable terrorist theat to justify all that spending, as well as the excessive secrecy and militarization that goes along with it.
That said, in the past few years I've come to believe that there's a much greater problem that we all need to keep a focus on, and that's the increasing disparity between the very rich and everyone else. I'm really glad that the Occupy movement has made some headway in making the concept of the 1 percent and the 99 percent widely talked about. But there's a long way to go before this problem can turn around. I'm hardly a Communist, but one doesn't have to be a Communist to see that inequality can sometimes get so out of whack that it threatens the entire society. The US and other First World countries are slowly turning into Third World countries. It's tragic because it doesn't have to be this way. I'm not a fan of Obama and most mainstream Democratic politicians, and yet, the alternative of having the Republicans in charge is horrifying. It's the difference between slowly drifting into Third World status compared to eagerly rushing headlong in that direction.
And as if that isn't bad enough, I'm also very concerned about what I think of as the "robotization" of the world. Even at these enlightened DU forums, this issue doesn't seem to get much notice, IMHO. What I mean is how robots and computers are getting better and smarter. One would think that is a good thing, but one unfortunate result is that there are way more jobs being lost than jobs being gained. Automation actually has been going on for decades without a lot of notice, but the effect is speeding up as the pace of technological advancement speeds up. Some smart economists, including Paul Krugman, have suggested that this is a major factor, if not THE major factor, for the economic troubles for the last ten years or so, especially the lack of new jobs.
What a lot of people don't realize is that robots and computers are a major factor in the continued destruction of the middle class. Automation tends to hollow out companies, so you end up with a small number of highly paid managers and leaders, plus a low paid work force doing the tasks that the robots and computers can't do better... yet. So economic inequality has already been spinning out of control, and now technology is just making things worse! Workers at every level (except the very top) are under threat. Did you know, for instance, that some commerical flights, such as Fed Ex flights, are already done without human pilots? Or that it is estimated that half of all pilots are going to lose their jobs in the next few years, since planes can fly themselves now? Pilots used to be one of the most highly desired and highly paid jobs, but that's a thing of the past. Lawyers, doctors, scientists, etc... - everyone is in danger of losing their jobs to robots and computers.
In the past, when one industry went down, another one rose up to take its place. The horse and buggy was replaced by the car, and so on. But we're entering uncharted territory. Technology is advancing at breakneck speed. Right now, people are starting to take notice of some new advances, such as drones, Google cars, or 3D printers. But it won't be too many years from now when we have actual robots walking down the street, cleaning your house, and serving you in stores. If we had a fair society, we could respond to all these labor saving devices by shortening the work week, so that everyone could still have enough to get by. We could even enter a golden age where a dramatic increase in free time results in a burst of creativity and happiness. But because society is so imbalanced, what we're likely to see is the top one percent getting nearly all the economic benefit, and everyone else either losing their jobs or seeing their wages going down and down.
I think the movie Soylent Green from 1973 was very prophetic. Forget the part about the cannibalism, and remember the general vision of the future: there's a small number of obscenely wealthy people cut off from the masses. And the masses are an unemployed, unhappy mob that is being kept alive at subsistence levels in an environmentally devastated landscape through government handouts. That's the future I fear we're headed towards unless we get smart, organize, educate the public, and aim towards a better future.
So that's where my political thinking is at these days. Sorry if I'm kind of rambling here - I guess I'm kind of venting.
The future looks scary, but only if we fail to act. If we can get our act together, we really could enter a kind of utopian golden age. I still think terrorism is an important issue, because our counter-terrorism overreaction results in a loss of freedoms, which makes it much harder to get things on the right track (plus, spending so much on the military and "homeland security" means fewer resources for vital problems). But the number one issue in my opinion, by far, is growing economic inequality.
nobodyspecial
(2,286 posts)and post more often. This is the kind of well-thought-out and balanced commentary that DU used to provide but is sorely lacking these days. Now it's just entrenched warring factions engaging in daily shouting matches. No need to argue. Just drop these pearls on occasion.
whatchamacallit
(15,558 posts)blm
(113,063 posts)it's scarier than most people realize. I don't think elections CAN change much when the media that controls what the majority believes about peripheral matters, happens to be controlled by the elite benefiting from the distractions the media provides.
snappyturtle
(14,656 posts)think
(11,641 posts)Catherina
(35,568 posts)democraticinsurgent
(1,157 posts)I spent a lot of time over the years studying what you and others discovered on the subject of 9/11. With the advent of DU3 and the trend during the latter years of DU2 to run off all those who talked about 9/11 in a questioning way, I went silent here as well and rarely post, though I'm here lurking every day, consuming the news.
For those who might be interested in a continuing dialog on 9/11 without being labeled a "truther", I recently discovered this Facebook group and have enjoyed it: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2204686781/.
It seems to be a very open-minded, yet not too-far-out-there bunch of folks who share interesting stuff they've found. Still a lot of research being done and even books coming out on 9/11.
blm
(113,063 posts)the deniers and the distractors at bay.