I bought 9/11: THE INTELLECTUALS SPEAK OUT as a supplement to Webster Griffin Tarpley's 9/11: SYNTHETIC TERROR. I was however disappointed. The only virtue that Griffin and Scott's book has over Tarpley is their rejection of his absurd notion that President Bush was "out of the loop" when the "rogue elements" in our government staged 9/11. As they say, "Bush's location had been highly publicized. And if the attacks were a complete surprise, executed solely by foreign terrorists, the Secret Service agents would have no idea how many planes had been hijacked. They would have had to assume that the president himself might be one of the targets. For all they would have known, a hijacked airliner might have been headed toward the school at that very minute, ready to crash into it. And yet these agents, trained to respond instantly in such situations, allowed the president to remain in the classroom another ten minutes." (p. 13). In other words, the White House knew in advance what the targets would be.

Where this book fails miserably is in its lack of explanation of how a terrorist attack could have been staged using real airliners with the ensuing real casualties. Here Tarpley does much better, in attributing this to the Global Hawk system, through which ground control can turn an airliner into a drone controlled by themselves. Originally designed to prevent hijackings, it can all too easily be used to simulate them (Tarpley, pp. 193-196). Both books spend a lot of time debunking the notion that the airliners alone could have been responsible for the collapse of the World Trade Center. But what is this "rogue element" within our government which staged these attacks? Unfortunately, Griffin and Scott do little to correct Tarpley's flawed thesis that they constitute a small cabal and that the problem they pose can be solved by "working through the system". In fact the criminals can be found throughout our entire executive branch and to some extent in the two other branches of government as well. They represent the totalitarian state which has been growing up within our democracy over the decades. They are the real terrorists, and traitors to the American Republic, and must be removed by any means necessary.

David Ray Griffin's newest book is a must read for people who think. Each chapter is written by a different author to give the reader the "big picture" on 911, putting it into proper context. Most people are unaware of the credible information presented in this book which is well referenced in scholarly fashion. This work is most convincing that the actual conspiracy theory is the media's official account on 911. Any intelligent person that reads this book will understand that the actual facts and science contradict the official story and that 911 had to be an inside job. Thank you Dr. Griffin for your work in getting the truth out.
N. Monastero
Escondido, CA

As soon as I heard Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings" appear as the definitive soundtrack for all things 9/11 during the initial grim days of this national tragedy, I had the sneaky suspicion that the event itself would wrap around us as an emotional blanket of perpetual grief and fear, smothering us to the cause of this effect, but warming us to a nationalistic zeal unmeasured in our history. There are countless books chronicalling the arrogance, calumny, deception, and criminality of the Bush administration, and even if all of his minions and Bush himself were jailed for their collective crimes against humanity, what they have done in all other constitutional and other matters pales in comparison to what "9/11 and the American Empire" suggests they've done in regard to 9/11 itself. I normally recoil from the culture of conspiracy, choosing to seek a sober, data-driven, argument for cause and effect relationships. In many ways this book achieves that in a refreshingly cold-hearted way. Subtracting the emotion from its charge, the authors argue cooly for the plausibility that a cadre of neo-cons were dedicated to advancing American hegemony, ignoring the rationale it takes to warrant Empire, and ignoring the lessons history has given them to recoil from pursuing Empire. If you have your own suspicions about the nature of anything 9/11, you owe it to your own curiosity to read this book. When it settles on you that a greater truth is out there beyond what the vapid mass media reports, then you'll have to decide for yourself whether to recoil from a harder truth that our government is in the grips of a new kind of fascism, or just turn away, shrug in disbelief, and change the channel and hope for the best.Finally, those who dismiss any scholarship on seeking the truth on 9/11 should embrace skepticism for its own sake, for doubting the motives of those who have abused authority and power is at the very core of democratic thinking and the very founding of our constitutional republic. The secrecy of the Bush administration, couched as it is in claims of national security, is cause for great concern. The very fact, verifiable even in the most flaccid journal of mass media, that Bush did NOT want 9/11 investigated suggests culpability.Though I do not want to believe my country's leaders would concoct such a monstrous offense to America and the world, I believe skepticism warrants a vigorous investigation into this terrible tragedy.

"These are they who are conscious of the much falsehood in the world; they grow in the house of Truth, they are the strong and invincible sons of Infinity"

Rig Veda

...a very difficult choice, as they include books by Ahmed,Griffin,Tarpley, Zwicker and others! This collection of brilliant articles is hard to beat because it covers the key aspects of 9/11 truth and a wide range of connected important issues concerning our future. If you only have time for one book, read this!
Pekka Castrén

"9/11 and American Empire" is written by an outstanding cast of authors, who put together an eloquent volume with tremendous references that addressed the unanswered questions about 9/11. They helped elucidate the haze surrounding this historic event, and debunked the myth that shrouded it. Read it and make your own decision.....

For those of us who examine the literature on 9/11, including material on the Internet and on DVDs, this is an important resource. No one will be bored reading this book, and it substantiates the serious scholarship done on this subject.

It is truly astonishing that there are people who actually buy the downright illogical assumption that the government was behind the 9/11 attacks. Nothing --- and I mean --- nothing will deter them from their fantasies.

This is yet another tome dedicated to these people.

The logic is, admittedly, laughable. True, Mr. Griffin is a professor of religion, which back in the 1400's would be confused with actually being a scientist, but it does not mean that the man is actually, you know, QUALIFIED to actually make the arguments he makes.

Correction --- the arguments he makes BADLY. Gotta be precise here. He makes the arguments, but he makes them so shabbily that the cherry picking of "data", the intentional misrepresentation of common knowledge, and the ignoring of ANY evidence that disproves their religious dogma is pretty obvious.

First, NOBODY has ever argued that the steel in the WTC melted. That is what is commonly referred to as a red herring. The argument --- which Griffin fails to address to any satisfactory degree --- is that the heat WEAKENED the steel which caused eventual failure and collapse. This is a rather key problem

And, yes, Silverstein said to pull WTC 7. Yes, no demolition company on the planet uses that term to describe detonating a building. Silverstein, not to be TOO technical, has said exactly what he meant when he said to pull WTC 7. More than once. To ignore that is to intentionally be inaccurate.

It's even MORE comical to read the assorted acolytes of Mr. Griffin complaining that people are obsessing over minor discrepancies --- ignoring that the ENTIRE "9/11 Truth" movement is based SOLELY on minor discrepancies. Well, that and intentional misrepresentation of what was said by people.

Oooh, the designer said the buildings could handle the impact of a jetplane hitting it. Well, gee, the White Star Line said the Titanic was unsinkable. Guess estimation can be a little off, huh?

There is NOTHING that actually proves anything besides the government's case. For the 9/11 Truth movement to be correct, they have to prove that:

1) WTC could not be brought down by two jumbo jets hitting it at a high speed COMBINED with fire burning out of control weakening the already damaged support structures.

2) Tons of explosives --- numerous TONS of them, mind you --- must have been secured with NO paperwork whatsoever, installed in the towers with NOBODY noticing whatsoever and NOT have accidentally went off after the serious impact of the jet.

3) The laws of physics and the means of metal weakening were temporarily rescinded for this one event.

4) An attempt to start a war with Iraq would, suspiciously, lack any ties to Iraq.

5) Larry Silverstein, who is not a demolitions expert, asked the fire chief -- who is ALSO not a demolitions expert --- to detonate WTC 7 using a term that no demolitions company --- who, mind you, ARE demolitions experts --- use. And firemen who left the building and were quite aware of what Silverstein meant are simply lying.

6) Seismic readings are less accurate for the timing of the collapse than watching the video where the buildings are quite obscured by the dust and smoke, even though the impact would be quite noticeable by seismographs. One must also ignore the NUMEROUS pictures that clearly show it is not a controlled demolition as pieces from the top are falling much faster than the remainder of the building.

7) That, somehow, the government "needed" the money which, technically, they would have had WITHOUT this.

8) The lack of courage to post quotes IN FULL. The "sounds of explosions" quotes seldom indicate that the person making the statement ACTUALLY believes there were any explosions outside of possible electrical explosions.

In the end, the entire movement is based on one thing --- an irrational hatred of George Bush. That is ALL the movement has. Hatred, hatred, and lots more hatred. Such blind hatred that they will believe anything. An utter disdain of Bush and, quite bluntly, a rather obvious disdain for this country --- after all, if your country is SO evil as to intentionally kill thousands of people for no real reason, how can you REMOTELY claim to love it?

If this was real, it would have come out. You're expecting me to believe that CIA agents are allowed to leak highly classified info to the paper --- but THIS, which has a number of accomplices so large to be completely unfeasible, stays hidden?

This isn't a pursuit a truth. This is an attempt to demonize America and to demonize George Bush. It is an insult to a large number of decent people who are being accused by frauds like Griffin of being in on the conspiracy to kill thousands.

Shame on you, David. And shame on your acolytes for insulting so many thousands of people with these brutally unfounded allegations.

A collection of solid (but not hopelessly dense or boring) academic articles on 9/11 and it's relationship to the 21st century American empire. The Steven Jones chapter on the physics of the WTC collapse is particularly compelling, and, as an graduate student myself, I found Morgan Reynolds chapter about being treated as a heretic for raising questions about 9/11 at A&M quite fascinating. A good first volume to get 9/11 research out of the 'conspiracy theory' realm.

The contributors to this book provide an alternative view of what happened on that dreadful day of 11 September 2001 than that presented in "The Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the Untied States" (9/11 Report). This is not a bad thing since that report is certainly far from definitive.

Unfortunately this book does not present very compelling arguments to refute the official description as presented in the 9/11 Report. It is filled with unsupported assumptions, misinterpretations, and empty rhetoric. Worse the majority of contributors to this book appear to have had pretty firm preconceptions of what their researches were going to show even before looking at the evidence. Although the book is well documented in terms of footnotes, when one looks to them it quickly becomes apparent that many of the footnotes refer to extremely dubious information. In the end one is left with the impression that this book contains arguments based on articles of faith not a careful analysis of available information on this tragic occurrence.

Yet there are a lot of unanswered questions surrounding the events of 9/11 and yes it is obvious that the U.S. Government exploited the events of that day for its own nefarious purposes. Nonetheless, this reviewer at least believes the National Commission has overall probably accurately described how such an attack could occur, and probably accurately identified to the perpetrators and instigators behind it. The National Commission report, however, rests on evidence and information that further research and analysis could refute. Perhaps a book may yet be written that will definitively prove or disprove the descriptions and conclusions of the 9/11 report.

The contributors to this book provide an alternative view of what happened on that dreadful day of 11 September 2001 than that presented in "The Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the Untied States" (9/11 Report). This is not a bad thing since that report is certainly far from definitive.

Unfortunately this book does not present very compelling arguments to refute the official description as presented in the 9/11 Report. It is filled with unsupported assumptions, misinterpretations, and empty rhetoric. Worse the majority of contributors to this book appear to have had pretty firm preconceptions of what their researches were going to show even before looking at the evidence. Although the book is well documented in terms of footnotes, when one looks to them it quickly becomes apparent that many of the footnotes refer to extremely dubious information. In the end one is left with the impression that this book contains arguments based on articles of faith not a careful analysis of available information on this tragic occurrence.

Yet there are a lot of unanswered questions surrounding the events of 9/11 and yes it is obvious that the U.S. Government exploited the events of that day for its own nefarious purposes. Nonetheless, this reviewer at least believes the National Commission has overall probably accurately described how such an attack could occur, and probably accurately identified to the perpetrators and instigators behind it. The National Commission report, however, rests on evidence and information that further research and analysis could refute. Perhaps a book may yet be written that will definitively prove or disprove the descriptions and conclusions of the 9/11 report.

About half of this book is perfect and is worth it for those great chapters alone.The chapter by Karen Kwatowski is particularly memorable .The other half gets into related 9/11 issues but not so much 9/11 itself.Griffins New Pearl Harbor and 9/11 Commissions book are much more specific to 9/11 and are better places to start one's education .After that or at the same time Paul Thompsons Timeline is also essential.

This book is perfect for all of you retards who are still in denial.

This book is perfect for all of you retards who are still in denial.

Reading David Ray Griffin's books was the beginning of my political education, and the realisation that we have all been living under the delusion that Western 'democracies' -- particularly the United States - are not democracies at all. Information is carefully filtered and managed by an alliance between government, military and corporate interests. 911 was but the latest and most egregious example of state-sponsored terrorism, differing only in scale, audacity -- and with hindsight, given the power of the internet -- arrogant stupidity. Its significance goes far beyond even the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq; it tells us that we are all in danger of losing even the illusion of liberty. To think that in the days of the cold war, we used to feel sorry for Soviet citizens served up with nothing but Pravda and Izvestia!

Bush is so fond of showing us that he's reading books about Teddy Roosevelt -- the president who faked his military charge up San Juan hill in Cuba. It is not hard to see why Bush likes to read about Teddy's fantasies but he needs a strong dose of reality.

This is an important and well-written review of the growing case for an inside "false flag" operation on September 11th. There are just too many facts that cannot be explained by the 911 Commission Report or other official explanations. All of the authors here carefully review well established and previously unexplained facts. They are careful about drawing conclusions and when they do the conclusions are stated clearly and courageously. We are reaching a "tipping point" in 911 studies; about half of Americans believe that the Bush administration had some role in planning and carrying out the attacks. The evidence is gathering. It is not clear where it will lead. This book is a great contribution.

Item was recieved brand new. An excellent book for anyone seeking a thorough and expansive critique of 9/11/01.

I recommend this book for all Americans. This well written and thoroughly referenced book lays bare the intentions of the corrupt behind the scenes manipulators of the U.S. government. With documented evidence an argument is cogently made that the 9/11 attacks were not carried out by a band of muslim terrorists but instead by terrorists of a different sort. Those terrorists reside within the government, military, and corporations of the U.S. Empires and rogue states have long demonstrated a history of using false-flag operations to discredit enemies, amplify the security state, and precipitate profitable wars. The corrupt and powerful in the U.S. needed an event to accelerate their agenda of world domination and 9/11 was just what they wished for. This book clearly finds that this was no mere coincidence, but part of the overall plan. In addition, recent scientific research has found that the collapse of the WTC towers was facilitated by explosives - undeniable evidence. So why haven't the real perpetrators been exposed? This disconnect is also thoroughly discussed. Read this book.

Chap 1 is overview. Chap 2,3,4 shread the government story. Chap 5,6 are about past US covert operations. Chap 7,8,9 are about why people are not open to exploring alternatives to the government conspiracy. Chap 10,11 are about who benefits from 9/11. This is a very credible presentation that challenges the 911 Commission myth. Outstanding! 10 PhD's including 9 college professors.

An extremely well written and well researched scholarly work, which will give you the kind of education you have to pay thousands of dollars for!! This book will not only explain that 9/11 was `an inside job' (in as much that it was carried out by clandestine elements within the military industrial complex under the umbrella of the alphabet security agencies) it provides a well grounded education into critical thinking. Reading this book is like attending a series of highly enlightening and educational lectures. The kind of lectures that give you knowledge upon which to build your own intellect and not take the information presented at face value. The book contains essays written by scholars who are all highly educated and previously published authors who have conducted original research, these can be interpreted as a series of mini-lectures which educate you, so that you continue to travel and not simply arrive.
Each chapter is well researched and presented methodically and logically, and is easy to read, you can investigate the citations/references as well as conduct your own research to simply confirm what you have read is true. You can compare this work to the pathetic narrow propaganda which is the official Zelikow-Keane-Hamilton 9/11 Commission Report or the comical popular mechanics work of fiction `Debunking 9/11 Myths'.
Ultimately the result of your investigation and reading will lead you to realise, that Al-Qaeda is a creation of the rogue elements of the CIA and 9/11 was simply the biggest hoax and is slowly being exposed as such. Not exposed in the main stream media who are in the pockets of the Military-Industrial complex, but in the minds of millions of people around the world.

This volume is a waste of good paper and printer's ink. It is a diatribe based on innuendo and semi-facts that is aimed solely at hurting the United States and its government by a group of people who have apparently have a basic problem with the United States no matter what happens. The collection of essays written by some very unhappy people (I was particularly disappointed by a former US Air Force officer that unfortunately jumped on the conspiracy bandwagon) who have proclaimed themselves (by the subtitle of the book) 'intellectuals' (I wonder by whose standard?), merely obfuscates what actually happened on that September day and plays down the danger of Islamic terrorism that is a real threat to the security of the United States.

The various authors tell tales of secret NATO and CIA-sponsored armies, conspiracies to drag the United States into wars in the Middle East, and attempt to relate the tragedy of 9/11 to a government conspiracy to attack their own people. The theories, unfounded and not proven by this volume and its authors, blame the United States for 9/11 and most of the ills of the post-World War II period. Comparisons are made to the Kennedy assassination, the Vietnam anti-war movement (a significant portion of which was in treasonous correspondence, and cooperated with, the North Vietnamese), and the 'stolen' US presidential election of 2000 which are ludicrous, puerile, and self-serving. For all of the footnotes in the book, it is not well-documented, and the book is filled with half-truths, inuendo, and unsubstantiated opinion.

If the government, or elements of it, actually were plotting to stage an attack the magnitude of 9/11, there would be too many involved for someone not to say something. People cannot keep a secret, especially one as devious as that would be. The basic premise of the book is false, and the authors have not proven their basic premise. For example, parts of the aircraft that hit the Pentagon were found as it was inside the building. Further, if it wasn't a passenger plane that hit the Pentagon, where did the passengers go from that flight?

Far from being an 'intellectual' tome, this book is virtually worthless except as proof that those that believe in, and propagate, conspiracy theories help no one and only make bad situations worse. This book is a great disservice to those who have honorably served the United States and is an insult to those of the US Armed Forces who are overseas protecting the very people that denigrate the United States and its government.

There are several good, some average, and a few poor books on 9/11. This is one of the good ones. Instead of running over the same tired unanswered questions, the authors seek new directions of exploration and discovery. Since so much of 9/11 is shrouded in the mysteries of intelligence agencies and foreign policy, it can be difficult to do more than speculate and highlight inconsistancies in the official stories. However, researchers such as Steven Jones and Kevin Ryan are tackling issues related to the physical characteristics of the structures involved in the events of the day from a strong knowledge base. They are among the very few credentialed people I have found who are willing to take an objective look at the oddities of the WTC collapses.
There were some other good chapters also, but I'm working from memory because I accidently left my book on a bench in the subway. When I got back 10 minutes later it was gone. So, the topic was evidently interesting to someone else. The book is a great addition to your 9/11 library, and if you got your copy on the subway, can I have it back when you're done? I'd like to finish it.

Speaking as a middle-class, hard-working, sensible, sane and intelligent person, the referenced facts that are presented in this book provides evidence that is, quite frankly, shocking.

Being one who previously treaded very carefully over believing such consipracy theories as Princess Diana, Roswell etc, this book has certainly captured my imagination like no other.

The book tends to steer well clear of conspiracy stirring, instead asking some very basic common sense questions which, since 9/11 are staring us all in the face, and questions which most of us (myself included) had failed to address having been caught up in the horror of 9/11.

It also focuses on, and takes to pieces, the official 9/11 report with such surgical efficiency that you wonder how on earth it was ever allowed to stand as an 'offical account'.

This book asks all the questions, and I for one am very glad that these people have put their reputations on the line to bring us perhaps the most compelling read ever.

And to Seth J. Frantzman - You obviously feel that as an official Amazon reviewer, you somehow know more than phd qualified experts with years of specialist experience. The only lunatic ramblings have come from your dismissive, and totally inaccurate, review of this title.

This is a very courageous and hard-hitting book about the 9/11 massacre, its global context and its catastrophic aftermath.
Beyond any doubt, the official account of the 9/11 incident is false; e.g. the 3 WTC towers (WTC 7 wasn't even hit) were brought down by controlled demolition (S.E. Jones).
The put options affair constitutes considerable evidence that some US officials had foreknowledge of the attacks.

Those attacks were used to support an agenda worked out in advance: the invasion of Iraq, `a supreme crime under international law'. Moreover, they served to heighten the existing `strategy of tension', spreading fear among the population for further terrorist attacks.
A strategy of `terrorist' killings of innocent civilians in order to achieve political objectives, to discredit opponents or to justify anti-freedom laws, is a very well-known policy all over the world, e.g. the Berlin `La Belle' disco or the Bologna railway explosions.

But, cui bono? The strategy generated fabulous pay-offs to the military and oil corporations.
The investigations of different authors unveil the existence of a US global dominance group of a good 200 people (the `deep' state) who are trying to impose a Pax Americana, a militarized world order under total US dominance. This group controls the military contractors and the media, constituting a watchdog of acceptable ideological messages, news and information contents.
They should also be behind fraudulent elections (P. Philips), because a deviation of more than 5 % between the exit polls and the ultimate results is a statistical impossibility.

The conclusion of this book is far from rosy: the US is on the brink of totalitarian fascist corporatism, based on a `deeply perverted value system' (D.R. Griffin) with anti-freedom laws, blatant lies, false witnesses, cynical thefts and indiscriminate killings.

This deeply black investigation is a must read for all those interested in the future of mankind.

The essays in this timely and essential volume are written by a variety of intellectuals from academia, the military, the sciences, and beyond. To read this book is to discover the reality that is kept from consumers of watered-down and even deceptive mainstream news sources (remember WMD?) There is no question that a conspiracy was involved in perpetrating 9/11--the government itself assures us this conspiracy involved 19 young Arab Muslims and a few ringleaders like Osama bin Laden (FBI says no hard evidence to link him, hence no indictment) and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (whose "testimony" was provided to the 9/11 commission by the CIA, and makes up most of the official case for the Muslim/Arab conspiracy theory.) The flimsy official story is contradicted by historical precedent of false-flag terror committed routinely by nations such as the U.S., Italy, and Israel, among others throughoiut history (search for the Lavon Affair, e.g.) This issue, as well as the inexplicable collapse of building number 7 and the twin towers are dealt with by examining facts surrounding the events, not speculation or conjecture. The conclusion that is evidently correct is that elements of the U.S. government with help from the intelligence services of Pakistan, Israel, and others engineered a spectacular attack in order to draw the U.S. into a war our people would otherwise never have supported. This issue is changing the world as I write these words and this book, which I own and will treasure as part of my collection of true 9/11 investigative work along with David Griffin's other books and books like the Terror Timeline by Paul Thompson, is an invaluable introduction to the issues for those just becoming aware of this historic hoax. Because of purposely deceitful "theorists" out there whose aim is to give the truth movement a bad name by for example claiming no planes hit the towers, volumes such as this are key to sorting fact from fiction and beginning on the path of restoring our democracy, exposing corporate media complicity in government corruption, and most importantly effecting a long-needed reconciliation with the Arab and Muslim peoples we have allowed to be unjustly persecuted for these crimes.

This is very interesting stuff folks. You have to actually read it (but first read the offical account and the NIST report and all that good stuff) to come to a conclusion. I own it. Seth is a loser. And you will just have to read it on your own. Later.

First of all the title is misleading, those people who are involved in this book are not 'intellectuals' in the true senseof the word. Many of the articles deal with conspiracy theories about 9/11 so really its not intelletual since no intellectual can honestly beleive that 9/11 either A) was planned by George Bush and the CIA, B) was planned by the same group that killed JFK, C) didnt actually happen. Once one discards those rantings by lunatics one is left with a book that whines about American "empire" but what exactly is this empire? is it the empie of billions in aid to african countries? is it the empire of the country whose people give the most to phlanthropy? Is it the same empire that is both balmed for helping the Taliban against the Russians and then ignoring them? is it the same empire that is allies with Saudi and Israel?

If one is to beleive this ranting one must accept that 9/11, and all terrorism, is a conspiracy to deprive Americans o their rights and to create an empire.

Seth J. Frantzman