"Truth" and 9/11

One of the most dispiriting events since 9/11/1 has been the rise of the "truth" movement. This holds that the Bush administration either knew in advance that the attacks were coming and did nothing in order to trigger an event that would further their schemes, or that the Bush administration actually caused the events and no terrorists were ever involved.

The roots of this date back the the event itself. While it should have been obvious that Islamic terrorists were responsible, that never occurred to many on the left. Their initial reaction was that some of their own had done it as an expression of outrage at President Bush. Reasons included the US boycott of an African conference on racism (which already drafted a document condemning Israel) and the "stolen" election.

When the FBI announced the results of their investigation and published pictures, many on the left complained about over-reaction. They insisted that we treat it as a police matter. That would have been the end of things since Afghanistan refused to consider extradition.

Obviously, to many on the left, the Global War on Terrorism was a distraction from the fight against the real enemy - George W. Bush.

The Truth movement solves this conflict. Bush was part of it. Bin Laden was either uninvolved, on Bush's payroll, or a co-conspirator depending on how charitable you are.

They claim that they are just following the evidence. In reality they know the end point already. It is just a matter of stringing the facts together in the right order. I suspect that 99+% of the Truthers believe in evolution but their approach to 9/11 is similar to creationists (a comparison that would mortify them). They seize on minor inconsistencies, constantly shift their stories, and ignore the big picture.

All of this is deeply disrespectful to the people who died six years ago, to their survivors, and to the nation as a whole.