America's Betrayal Confirmed. Elias Davidsson

More violence could follow, either further terrorist attacks or U.S. counterattacks. Belatedly, Americans would judge their leaders negligent for not addressing terrorism more urgently.{70}

      Not only did catastrophic terrorism occur on 11 September 2001, but it was followed by precisely those measures the above authors had described in 1998: 9/11 was immediately described by U.S. leaders as a watershed event in American history, allowed wider surveillance of citizens, the erosion of civil liberties and the use of deadly force. The event also caused the American people to rally around the flag and support war, as they did after Pearl Harbor. Did Osama bin Laden heed the desires of U.S. strategists by presenting the United States with a new Pearl Harbor on a silver platter? Or were Zelikow and his co-authors merely prescient?

      Chapter 2: Establishing the official account of 9/11

      A unique, unambiguous, official account of the events that took place on 11 September 2001, emerged within days.

      Every major historical event is sooner or later described in a simplified and easily apprehended manner. What distinguishes the official narrative of 9/11 from most historical accounts, however, is the swiftness with which it took its definitive form. This narrative was not based on factual evidence but assembled to serve a political agenda, as was later the case with alleged Iraqi weapons of mass-destruction.

(1) The official account of 9/11

      On the morning of 11 September 2001 four civilian airlines with dozens of passengers and crew, designated as flights AA11, UA175, AA77 and UA93, were hijacked by teams of four or five Muslim fanatics. Each team included one trained pilot. The hijackers took control of the airliners and flew a Boeing 767 assigned to flight AA11 into the North Tower of the WTC in New York, another Boeing 767 assigned to flight UA175 into the South Tower and a Boeing 757 assigned to flight AA77 into the Pentagon. The fourth airliner, a Boeing 757 assigned to flight UA93, presumed to have been destined to crash on the White House, did not reach its target. It crashed in an empty field in Pennsylvania after the passengers rose up and tried to seize control of the aircraft.

      As a result of the impact of the aircraft on the Twin Towers and the ensuing fires, both towers collapsed soon afterwards onto their own footprint, causing massive deaths. Almost 3,000 people died in the attacks. Osama bin Laden and his al-Qa'eda network were shortly thereafter blamed for conceiving, planning, financing and coordinating the attacks.

(2) Fox News launched the five memes of the official account within minutes

      Anchors and journalists of Fox News, one of the main, arch-conservative, U.S. TV networks, spawned five central memes of the official 9/11 account within minutes of a reported plane crash on the World Trade Center, i.e. before that account was imposed by the U.S. government.{71}

      At 08:57:34a.m. Jon Scott took over as news anchor at Fox News. At this point Scott was told that a plane had crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York. What did he say? That an army bomber had smashed by accident into Empire State Building in WWII. Fifty seconds later, Scott dismisses the theory of an accident.

      Thirty five seconds later – at 08:58:55 – Scott launched casually two memes that would underpin the official account of 9/11 for years to come: One, that the attacks were the work of Islamic fanatics and two, that they were executed by suicide pilots. He first reminded viewers of “the bombing back in 1989 [sic] of the World Trade Center”, attributed to Islamic terrorists, then added that the current attack “may have been simply a suicidal pilot who wanted to make a point.” Was Scott merely improvising? At that point in time, he had no apparent reason to suspect foul play.

      Only three minutes later, at 09:02:58a.m. Scott says with some hesitation: "We just saw another one... Another plane just flew into the second tower. This has to be deliberate, folks...Now, given what has been going on around the world, some of the key suspects come to mind, Osama bin Laden...Who knows what.” Designating the suspect of a mass murder living 5000 miles away within 33 seconds of the first overt signs of an ongoing crime, must have been a world record. Scott’s reaction to the horrendous sight of a plane plunging into the South Tower is remarkable. His voice does not express emotion. He reports his observations matter-of-factly. By mentioning Osama bin Laden as a suspect, Scott launched the third meme of the official account.

      To consolidate the above memes, Scott brought in at 09:07:39a.m. his colleague Eric Shawm whom he asked rhetorically: "Now, Eric, I am reminded again of what happened back in 1989 [sic]. The intent of those terrorists back then was to actually bring down the tower, wasn't it?" With this statement Scott launched the fourth meme, namely that of an Islamic plan to “bring down the towers.” Eric Shawn confirms in turn some of these memes, saying two minutes later – at 09:09:31a.m. – "What we've long feared and many of worried about and thought could never happen would be a terrorist attack, a deliberate, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center as we are witnessing right now”, adding half a minute later that this an attack “on the very soul in the very heart of our nation”. Shawm thereby introduced the fifth meme, namely that of a war against the United States. He did so twenty minutes before President George W. Bush made this claim when speaking from a primary school in Florida.

      The focus on Osama bin Laden was soon given a sort of official imprimatur. At 09:32:04a.m. Scott is told over the phone by Rita Cosby: "Jon, I've just been told from a U.S. law enforcement official [unidentified], that they are saying it is evident that this is a terrorist related attack, and among the key targets, key people that they're looking at is Osama bin Laden."

      Note the convoluted way Osama bin Laden was introduced. But this did not deter Scott from demonstrating once again his erudition. Fifteen minutes later, speaking to William Daley, he said: "Bill, I know that Osama bin Laden likes airplanes."

      Readers may interpret all of the above statements as irresponsible musings by a conservative American long conditioned to view Muslims as a threat. Indeed, Fox News is widely regarded as an anti-Muslim propaganda outlet, strongly committed to U.S. militarism. But there exists an alternative explanation. Fox journalists may have been given the task of launching early on these five future memes of the official account of 9/11. I leave it to readers to evaluate these two theories.

(3) Bush determined within twenty minutes that "America is under attack"

      Approximately 20 minutes after being informed that an aircraft had crashed into the South Tower of the WTC, President George W. Bush announced to the nation that an “apparent terrorist attack on our country” had taken place.{72} Such wording was not self-evident, for at the time neither President Bush nor his aides possessed any evidence that the country had been attacked from the outside.

      The TV networks did not, however, miss the cue: they and numerous print media headlined their news reports almost immediately, ’America Under Attack,’ suggesting that a war had been declared against the country. This message was followed up by the adoption of numerous federal, regional and local measures that are normally only taken in times of war. Such a definitive message from the most authoritative sources repeated continuously over several days ensured that any lingering doubt about this (unsubstantiated) claim would be treated as unpatriotic or even treasonous.

(4) The “collapse” of the WTC was explained within four hours

      The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York were steel-reinforced skyscrapers. They were specifically constructed to withstand the impact of heavy aircraft. Never in history did such buildings collapse because of an aircraft impact or of fire. Yet both buildings vanished completely within 100 minutes after being impacted.

      The official explanation for the demise of both Twin Towers of the WTC in New York was established within just four hours. When asked in a press conference on 11 September 2001 at 2:30p.m. (EST), whether the disintegration of the skyscrapers had been caused by the planes "or by something else," New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, answered, muttering: