Sorry for the now-semi redundant post, but this is one of the disadvantages of working for a company that specifically bans contributing to blogs, even on your free time. I’d whipped this post up earlier off-line and emailed it to myself, but only now was I able to post it. Sorry to all the nitpickers out there….
Anywise, the left-wing blogosphere has been all aflutter about Van Jones’ denial with an apology of any involvement in the 9-11 Truther movement, in which he claims that he didn’t really know what he was signing and didn’t agree with the Truther sentiment of the petition. Which is odd since, as the Washington Times’ Amanda Carpenter points out, Mike Berger, a spokesman for 911Truth.org, told the Times that each and every person who signed the petition had their signature and intention verified by that organization. As if the name “911Truth” didn’t give away the group’s beliefs or anything.
More damning for the credulous, nothing-to-see-here side of the blogosphere has surfaced today, however. Far from never having been a part of the 9-11 Truther movement, it turns out that as far back as January 2002, Van Jones was signing on with the movement,
Tuesday, January 8th, 2002, at noon at Justin Herman Plaza, people will gather to march up Market Street to the office of Senator Feinstein (at Post St.) where a delegation will meet with the Senator’s staff to raise their concerns over the “War on Terrorism.” They will demand that the Senate launch an inquiry or hearings of the events of 9-11, and the U.S. government’s international and domestic response.
The 9-11 disaster has been used to justify a “War on Terrorism” which endangers the lives and liberties of millions of people everywhere. The U.S. bombing of Afghanistan has killed thousands of civilians; millions of Afghans have been displaced and face starvation this winter. The administration has condoned massive Israeli assaults on Palestine, and threatens to attack Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia, and other countries. Recent legislation is an attack on constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties, especially those of immigrants and people of color. The laws are mirrored in other countries which are outlawing dissent and increasing political repression. The administration has institutionalized racial profiling and is secretly rounding up thousands of Arab Americans and other people of Middle Eastern background. At the same time, it is giving billions to the military, offering huge bailouts and tax incentives to corporations and the wealthy, while ignoring the hundreds of thousands of laid off workers, and cutting social services. This appears to be part of a long-range strategy to turn the clock back on the hard earned gains of the civil rights’, womens’, and environmental movements, to consolidate U.S. global domination, and to serve the interests of transnational corporations.
[snip]
The delegation will demand that these questions (and others) be raised and answered publicly-
Who created, trained and funded the Al Qaeda Network? What is the relationship between Bin Laden, his family and the Bush family and the Carlyle Group? Why were no fighter planes dispatched to intercept the four hijacked planes on September 11h , in violation of standard procedures? Who actually was in control of the “hijacked planes”? What is the U.S. relationship with Pakistan, and especially with its intelligence service, the ISI? Why did the then director of the ISI have $100,000 transferred to the man whom the FBI now calls the ringleader of the Sept. 11th attacks, and why does the U.S. not pursue this question? Did the CIA have foreknowledge of the attack, who tried to profit with put options on American, United, Merrill Lynch stock just before the attack? Why were the FBI told to not investigate the Bin Laden family links in the US? If the CIA met with Bin Laden last July, why didn’t they try to arrest him? If the US is serious about ridding the world of terrorism, why do we continue to fund and train terrorists? Why are we bombing Afghanistan, when none of the alleged bombers actually came from there, could there be another reason for our presence in that region, like oil? Is the war against Afghanistan illegal? What are Bush’s, Cheney’s and Rice’s connections to the oil industry? What are Bush’s and Cheney’s connections to the drug industry? Why is the evidence being destroyed when an investigation of the World Trade Center collapse is needed? Why seal Presidential records? Why intimidate professors from speaking out against this war? Why has the U.S. military been establishing working relations with the Uzbek military for several years? What other military involvement does the U.S. have in the Central Asian Republics? Why are U.S. military personnel or material assistance going to the Philippines, Indonesia, and Colombia as well? What relationship did various U.S. agencies and their contractors have with the Taliban, either directly or through Pakistani or Saudi agencies or contractors? Why does the U.S. overlook Pakistani drug lords who refine and export half to two-thirds of the world,s heroin despite its avowed determination to rid the world of drugs? Why has the Dept. of Justice stopped its investigation of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International despite its admitted heavy involvement in laundering drug money?
And guess whose name appears on a list of the organisers of this event?
Organizing Committee (organizations listed for identification purposes only):
Jan Adams, former associate director, Applied Research Center
Linda Burnham, executive director, Women of Color Resource Center
Max Elbaum, former managing editor, CrossRoads magazine
Adam Gold, STORM
Rebecca Gordon, Seminarians for Peace
Felicia Gustin, co-director, Speak Out
Van Jones, national executive director, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
Elizabeth (Betita) Martinez, director, Institute for MultiRacial Justice
Steve Williams, executive director, POWER
Bob Wing, former executive editor, ColorLines magazine
Sounds like Trutherism to me, but who knows? Maybe Jones was asleep the whole time he was helping to organize an event calling for Congress to investigate George Bush for his links to al-Qaeda and Bin Laden and demanding to know what “really happened” to make the towers collapse. Note also, Jones’ other organization – STORM (Stand Together to Organise a Revolutionary Movement) also had a representative on the organizing committee for this event.
Another thing to note – all of the information cited above comes from a primary source. Not from FOX News. Not from Glenn Beck. Not from some conservative organization. It comes straight off of kook wacko Jeff Rense’s website promoting the event. In other words, from Van Jones’ perspective, this is a friendly source, one that’s on his side.
To make a long story short, yes, Van Jones IS a Truther. He IS one of those kooks who think George Bush planned 9-11 to give us justification for taking everybody’s oil and oppressing their civil rights. He’s apparently unsure of who was even really in control of those hijacked planes. And while the toxic cloud of smoke was still wafting its way out of the ruins at Ground Zero, this jerk was signing on to undermine our efforts against the people who did it. Sick, sick, sick.
