a book review by Arch Taylor    [8-30-06]

Christian Faith and the Truth Behind 9/11: A Call to Reflection and Action
by David Ray Griffin.

[Westminster John Knox Press, 2006; 192 pages plus 49 pages of notes, $17.95]

David Ray Griffin states that for eighteen months after 9/11 he accepted that Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda had caused the attacks. After noting discrepancies in the time line of the events before and after 9/11, he investigated more carefully. He states: "I, like many other people, did not reject the official story until I was—against my initial reaction—convinced by an abundance of evidence." In 2004 Griffin published The New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions about the Bush Administration and 9/11, presenting evidence that pointed toward Bush-Cheney administration complicity. He listed 40 unanswered questions, possible "smoking guns" that "could provide some starting points for a real investigation—if and when one is ever authorized."

Responding to pressure from survivors of 9/11 victims, the administration belatedly appointed an investigative Commission, which released The Final Report for the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States. That report failed to answer Griffin’s questions, so he rebutted it with his second major work, The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions and Distortions. His new book on the subject highlights some prominent examples:

Construction and fire damage experts stated that except for the alleged case of the Twin Towers, no high-rise steel-frame building had ever been totally destroyed as a result of such an event. Demolition experts stated that except for this alleged case the only high-rise steel frame buildings that collapsed straight down were designedly destroyed with explosive charges strategically placed and purposely detonated. The Commission Report ignored this information, clinging to the implausible theory that the impact and fire caused the damaged columns to allow floors above to crash down on lower ones, bringing the towers down in "pancake" fashion.

The Commission Report claimed the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) failed to notify NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) soon enough to have fighter planes intercept the hijacked airliners. In a memo read into the Commission record Laura Brown stated that FAA had informed NORAD by 8.20 before the North Tower was struck at 8.48. Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta told the Commission he was in a meeting chaired by Vice President Cheney. About 9.26 a young man reported that a plane 50 miles out was approaching, and Cheney told him "the orders still stand." The Pentagon was struck at 9.38. The Commission Report omits the Brown and Mineta testimonies and lays all the blame on the FAA. No one at FAA was fired for incompetence, while all available evidence points to orders that NORAD stand down or delay.

The executive director of the 9/11 Commission and architect of the Final Report was Philip Zelikow, who served with Condoleezza Rice in the George H. W. Bush administration and assisted transition to the National Security Council of the next Bush administration. Zelikow co-authored documents for Bush-Cheney describing strategic policies for post 9/11 actions. It was, Griffin says,"the White House investigating itself."

Adding other examples of omissions and distortions, Griffin points out the administration failed to rebut the prima facie case that it orchestrated 9/11 and used it as rationale to implement the aim of American global supremacy previously devised by persons who occupy posts in the administration. Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Perle, Libby, Bolton, and Woolsey among others formed the Project for the New American Century (PNAC). They conceded that the plan was so ambitious it would require an event such as Pearl Harbor to mobilize the American public. CBS reported that President Bush, before going to bed on 9/11, noted in his journal "the Pearl Harbor of the 21^st century took place today."

Griffin describes how Christian faith originated in first century Palestine under Roman domination aided by compliant Jewish political and religious aristocracy. Jesus challenged the kingdom of Caesar, hailed as divine benefactor and bringer of peace. Rome’s real beneficiaries were the Roman power structure and client rulers of their colonies. The masses both in Rome and especially in the colonies suffered horribly.

Jesus proclaimed the in-breaking of God’s rule on earth, deliverance of the poor from captivity to demonic powers of illness, poverty, and hopelessness. In the early decades the Jesus movement was a nonviolent protest against empire, forming a mutual help community among the downtrodden as a living body indwelt by the spirit of Jesus offering a new way of life.

Once Christianity adapted to surrounding culture and became the religion of the Empire it lost its authentic character and became complicit in the imperial project. Faith in Jesus became the means to get individual forgiveness and assurance of heaven. Griffin describes this process at length and ends with an appeal to Christians to rediscover the anti-imperialist aspect of authentic faith and bring it to bear on America today. Political, financial, and industrial leaders are content; commercial media have no interest in challenging the status quo. Christians must act now to dissociate from the American imperial project, as did the Confessing Church that protested Hitler and the councils of churches that condemned South African apartheid. The place to begin is demanding an objective investigation into 9/11 to determine whether the attacks were, as Griffin suggests, "orchestrated on behalf of U.S. imperial interests."

August 29, 2006
Arch B. Taylor, Jr.
Author of Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, & Beyond: Subversion of Values www.trafford.com/05-981
2200 Greentree North Apt 1120
Clarksville IN 47129
arch.taylor@iglou.com

If you have comments on this review, or the book itself, or the criticisms of the book posted below, please send us a note, and we'll add it to the discussion!

We reported a few weeks ago on the book Christian Faith and the Truth Behind 9/11: A Call to Reflection and Action, in which theologian David Ray Griffin puts questions about the 9/11 event in a deeper perspective – and gives reasons for deeper concern.

Chris Iosso, who is the coordinator for social witness policy of the Presbyterian Church (USA), considers Griffin’s case for the existence of some kind of conspiracy to set up attacks on US targets, for the purpose of consolidating power in the hands of the Administration in Washington.   Iosso's comments >>

Cynthia Adams, whose recent comments drew a strongly critical response from Dr. Earl Tilford, responds to him by reaffirming (as a "pacifist grandmother") her own commitment to peace, and her appreciation of Dr.Griffin’s Christian Faith and the Truth Behind 9/11 as she continues studying it.

Near the end of her note she says: "The answer to all of this is faith in God. All the armaments, all the wars, will never bring true freedom or justice. They have tried this before, many times. Someone always loses the war, so suffers injustice, so there you are right back where you started with people plotting revenge, which is how we got here today. The answer is to break the violence/more violence cycle. Supposedly the Church should lead the way of peace here, but they are the ones leading the war."

To Mr. Tilford

I am so sorry you thought I was referring to you when I spoke of the 'dominion-oriented bunch'. [See her first note.]

I was actually referring to the churches that believe our country should begin a new Pax Americana, based on some scriptures in the Book of Genesis. There are many proponents of their theories, but D. James Kennedy is one. Some Christians advocate war and world domination as a means of bringing in Christ's kingdom. I believe that is just plain wrong, and certainly not a reflection of the message of the Gospels.

Thank you for giving me another version of the recent history we have all been witnessing, in case I might have forgotten it.

Although I have read at least 30 books about recent political events, from both sides of the political spectrum, I understand you have to let off your steam somewhere, I guess. Why not let it off on a pacifist grandmother who won't retaliate?:) Feeling better now?

I do acknowledge all the pain you feel in seeing our country attacked. I believe we all feel horror at senseless loss of life. The difference is, I believe we have already descended into global barbarism by attacking nations that were not responsible for 9/11. We are the barbarians now. We are killing them now, over and over and over. How much will be enough to assuage your need for revenge? When will you know we have won? How many must die? How many countries?

I just believe that Jesus calls us to a non-violent response, both as individuals and as a nation. In fact, the Church taught just such a response for the first 300 years. As a historian, you certainly know this.

Of course, if religious viewpoints don't matter to you, then the book obviously won't speak to you. I found his religious sections actually much more interesting. Although I thought he was a postmodernist, he doesn't really argue like one, seeking a universal human rights morality that all can agree to as a universal minimum standard. Definitely not a relativist, after all.

I have read most of it, now. I found it profoundly well-researched and well-documented, with a wide variety of sources for its conclusions. I feel the evidence pointing to the government's official involvement is inconclusive right now. There is plenty of 'smoke', but no visible flames. I would never call him a charlatan, though. His work is very well-written, and well-argued. Rebut him if you must, but back up your statements with documents, proof, evidence. Don't call him names. It's so cheap.

The current administration could have avoided these questions and theories by providing a truly independent investigation, instead of ignoring much of the testimony of federal agents and witnesses at the scene. The fact that Zelikow headed it was definitely a conflict of interest for me.

That is why people try to find other explanations. It's only natural to rush in to fill a vacuum.

The evidence of neocon goals of global hegemony documented in the book is certainly undisputed even in the mainstream press. Everyone knows about most of these public government documents and white papers he uses as sources. PNAC does not deny it. They are proud of their goals to bring in Pax Americana.

The answer to all of this is faith in God. All the armaments, all the wars, will never bring true freedom or justice. They have tried this before, many times. Someone always loses the war, so suffers injustice, so there you are right back where you started with people plotting revenge, which is how we got here today. The answer is to break the violence/more violence cycle. Supposedly the Church should lead the way of peace here, but they are the ones leading the war.

That is why I am now speaking out. War is just wrong. It is always wrong. People hate to hear it, because the Spirit convicts them in their hearts and they are so afraid that they can't trust God, so they trust their guns. War is the coward's way out. Call me naive, but I'm in good company.

I have not read the book, yet. But I will say that I find it shocking that all these experts are so quick to ridicule his work. It is good to know that Mr. Tilford can contribute his knowledge about how aircraft are scrambled. That is good to hear. But why is he so angry? Why can't he just contribute his knowledge in the spirit of cooperation? Why the personal attacks? People usually use personal attacks when they can't figure out how else to gain the upper hand.

There is one fact that Tilford, the Nation, and the Presbyterians are ignoring. The 9/11 Commission papered over some stuff. They interviewed Bush and Cheney together, like school children, and did not even put them under oath. Why not? I read the 9/11 Commission Report--yes, the whole thing. I was frankly shocked at how poorly it was presented. In trying to make it 'interesting' they sacrificed factual data. I expected to see copies of the documents, transcripts of the interviews, etc. They provided nothing but speculation, a nice fantasy. It may be true--but they give us no proof that it is. We deserved better.

I used to read the Nation. They are humanists. Of course, they don't want to hear about demonic influences. They think religious people are all crazy, so their criticism means nothing. Personal attacks do not make conspiracy theorists go away. Answers do.

Oh, so you can attack ME personally, I will tell you: I have a B.S. in Mathematics, 15 years in IT management, and I am a grandmother, a Christian, and a pacifist.

I am thankful for any Christian who will simply tell the imperial, dominion-oriented bunch that Jesus' message was not to take over the world. His kingdom is not of this world. His followers should not be seeking world domination. I find it amazing that many of these people featured on 911Truth.org are actually quite rational and fact-based. Proof is important to a mathematician. We don't just accept stuff because a person with letters after their name said so.

You all should cool your jets. If Griffin's points are fact-based, why argue? If not, who cares? He's just one guy. Why so much angst? It reminds me of the way the Jewish leaders treated Christ. For that reason alone, I will read his book. He must have something right in there to generate so much anger. One need not accept all his ideas to recognize some facts.

The author, in further correspondence, told more about herself:

As I said in my post, I have a B.S. in Math and 15 years as a Programmer/Project Manager in Information Technology. I am retired, married to a former policeman and U.S. Marine. I have five children, do needlepoint, embroidery, quilting, canning, housekeeping, sewing, and painting. Oh, and a lot of reading about politics. I also am pretty good at Sudoku. Does any of that qualify me to assess the maze of the 9/11 fact and fictions? Hardly. This is one very complex set of problems. No one person will get it all right. Probably. But the more we check things out, the more we question, the more we demand the answers, we will find the truth eventually. I disagree with the politicians who criticize the 'crazy conspiracy theorists'. Mathematically speaking, it wouldn't have to be thousands of people to pull it off. We saw how people trust the government when they are scared to death. A few at the top, a couple of memos to the right people. I don't know who did it, or how, but I know they haven't told us everything, and there are way too many 'coincidences'.

Cynthia Adams

Cynthia Adams asks, "Why is he (that would be me) so angry?" Then wishes someone would tell "the imperial, dominion-oriented bunch" that Jesus did not tell us to take over the world. Wow! I have just the demonstrably sloppy scholarship of one process theologian in my intellectual cross-hairs and she accuses an entire "imperial, dominion-oriented bunch" of wanting to take over the world! And I'm the one guilty of "personal attacks"? Well, yes, I am attacking the scholarship, motivations and conclusions of David Ray Griffin.

John Shuck says that the real "truth behind 9/11," and behind the new American empire-building, is our need for oil and the impending decline in the world’s supply of that precious stuff.   [9-11-06]

For three days the book sat on my coffee table before I dared to pick it up. I probably would not have purchased it had it not been published by Westminster John Knox Press and had not my conservative colleagues criticized the publisher for publishing it. Nevertheless, it sat on my coffee table because I knew the central thesis of the book (that 9/11 was an inside job) if true, would shatter all of my myths of American Exceptionalism. The implications would be staggering. That is an understatement.

I finally read the book cover to cover. Griffin makes a case (as a prosecutor would) against the Bush administration. He details what he believes are distortions and omissions in the 9/11 Commission Report. He also makes a case against the credibility of the 9/11 Commission Report’s reasons for the collapse of the towers and the seemingly inept response by the FAA to the hijacked aircraft. Again (as a prosecutor would) he provides what he thinks are plausible motivations for the administration to participate in this activity. The ultimate motivation in Griffin’s view is that 9/11 was an example of a "false flag" operation. According to Griffin, 9/11 was the "Pearl Harbor" necessary to get the support of the American people to engage in a preventive/preemptive war against Afghanistan and Iraq under the guise of combating terrorism.

In the second half of his book he makes a comparison between the Roman Empire and the American Empire. He provides a theological description of "the demonic" and he calls on Christians to resist Empire.

While I find myself sympathetic to his theological description of the demonic, I think that his language inflames and distorts. There are pragmatic reasons why a nation (or an empire) does what it does.

I am not saying I agree with his conclusions regarding 9/11. I am not saying I disagree. I do believe his book can introduce important discussion. How will the people of Earth respond to the emerging reality facing us? I think Griffin’s case would have been stronger had he devoted a chapter to Peak Oil. The remainder of this essay will address this issue.

Peak Oil refers to the point at which half of the world’s oil supply has been used. In 1956, M. King Hubbert predicted that the U.S. oil supply would peak in 1970. He predicted that the world’s oil supply would peak in 1995. He was correct regarding U.S. oil (it peaked in 1970) but he was a little off in terms of the world’s oil supply. But he might not have been off by much. According to many geologists, we have possibly reached the point in which the world’s oil supply has peaked or will soon peak. Our government is not unaware of this.

"What people need to hear loud and clear is that we're running out of energy in America."
George W. Bush
"We may be at a point of peak oil production ... I can only tell you that I have studied this data seriously. I consider it an existential threat to your future."
Bill Clinton

"By some estimates, there will be an average of two-percent annual growth in global oil demand over the years ahead, along with, conservatively, a three-percent natural decline in production from existing reserves."
Dick Cheney
U.S. Vice President

"We almost certainly are at or near what they call peak oil"
Al Gore
Former U.S. Vice President

"The best Saudi oil is gone... Middle East production will go down by one third by 2012."
Matthew R. Simmons
Energy industry investment banker, energy advisor for the Bush administration
Chairman, Simmons & Company International

"...we're depleting our reserves four times faster than the rest of the world. America needs a national energy policy and a program on a scale of the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb during World War II to prevent or mitigate the consequences of global peak oil. Doing nothing or doing too little too late will lead to a global economic and geopolitical tsunamiwith potentially devastating ramifications."
Roscoe G. Bartlett
U.S. Senator (Maryland)

"Global oil [production] is 84 million barrels (a day). I don't believe you can get it any more than 84 million barrels. I don't care what [Saudi Crown Prince] Abdullah, [Russian Premier Vladimir] Putin or anybody else says about oil reserves or production."
T. Boone Pickens
Legendary oil baron and Chairman, BP Capital Management

"My father rode a camel. I drive a car. My son flies a jet airplane. His son will ride a camel."
Popular saying in Saudi Arabia

Peak Oil is at hand.

Rather than take the time and space in this essay to discuss Peak Oil and its ramifications, I refer readers to other sources. During Lent I preached a series of sermons regarding this issue.Tempted By Empire and The American Way of Life or Life for All? may be of interest. I also recommend these two books:

Richard Heinberg wrote Oil, War, and the Fate of Industrial Societies. \fs24fs24 Before buying the book I suggest reading this interview with Richard Heinberg.

Also, Jared Diamond Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed provides a history of how societies have either failed or succeeded in dealing with their environment and their energy realities.

There are many other books, websites, and articles regarding Peak Oil. If individuals and faith communities will take the time to research this, it will, as it did to me, change their entire outlook regarding our future.

I am convinced that Empire building is a response to Peak Oil.

In June, 1992, the Earth Summit was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. At this conference, 153 countries (including the United States) signed treaties to curb the damage to the environment from human economic activities. This conference was attended by George H. W. Bush, then President of the United States of America, who proved resistant to efforts to make deep and lasting changes that could ensure protection of the world on which all nations depend. His reasoning? 'The American way of life is not negotiable'. The rest of this article >>

[8-30-06]

Rita Nakashima Brock, in her regular FaithVoices email, writes about reactions to the book:

Christian conservatives are calling for a boycott of Westminster John Knox Press for publishing Christian Faith and the Truth behind 9/11: A Call to Reflection and Action by theologian David Ray Griffin. He has published two previous books on the subject, but Westminster is the first large, mainstream press to publish his findings.

Griffin has said that for the first year and a half after Sept. 11, he believed the attacks were carried out by Arab terrorists angry about American foreign policy. But skeptics of the widely accepted accounts convinced him that the attacks were "an inside job" used to justify the Bush administration's expansion of military powers and the adoption of the doctrine of pre-emptive war, the basis of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Obviously, the truth behind this event is vitally important. We think that as a matter of good citizenship we should all educate ourselves and weigh-in, pro or con.

Supporters are saying:

Critics say:

About the Author:  Griffin is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Theology at Claremont School of Theology, Professor of Religion Emeritus at Claremont Graduate University, and Co-director of the Center for Process Studies. He is the author of numerous books, including the popular bestsellers The New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions about the Bush Administration and 9/11, and The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions and Distortions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Religion News Service has also reported on the complaints about the book from conservative Presbyterians

Professor of History
Coordinator, Terrorism and Middle Eastern Study Group
Center for Vision and Values
Grove City College

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