Richard Clarke's Opinions On 9/11 Conspiracy

Just thought some of you folks would get a kick out of this. He does however have a valid point....so does Maher.

That's just the thing, we are lead to believe that the government is incompetent because we are always getting screwed over, however it isn't as if they aren't trying to screw us over. If you think about it, government has been extremely competent in doing the things that they want to do and they get away with it to boot. I hate when people use that argument because it really is null.

As far as the government keeping secrets, that too is absurd. Of course governments can keep secrets and to be frank, we wouldn't know their ability one way or the other. Sure, some things get blown out in the open but for the things that don't, we would never know about them. It would be foolish to think that the government isn't keeping secrets, secrets that they have kept for a long time time even and if they can keep these secrets, then that argument too is null. Did they not keep the stealth bomber a secret? Was that secret not successful until they decided to tell all?

On another note, I hate Bill Maher. What a looney, good for nothing schill. He is always going out of his way to debunk the 9/11 theories, without knowing what he is talking about or using nefarious tactics, such as citing the most outlandish conspiracy theories that are most likely disinfo in the first place. Boycott that freak!


--airspoon

[edit on 18-8-2010 by airspoon]

reply to post by SeventhSeal


Do they really? I would venture to say that there are plenty of secrets that are government does a fine job of keeping perfectly secret.

Sure they might eventually come to see the light of day, but this may also happen with 9/11's classified information.

reply to post by SeventhSeal


Dear SeventhSeal

I just love the way you American folk talk about your government as though you think they are really in charge of your country.

When you get a leak from the White House it was meant to be by one of them. Do you not get that?

If 9/11 was brought down as many now believe it was not done by White House Staff. It was done by members of your alphabet soup of agencies and you are not going to hear yes ok we did it, ever.

Why do they think it was Bush ? Or the government ? Do they really think it was some department ?

The CIA can keep a pretty damn good secret - THATS THERE JOB - and that is who did it.

Cheers,

Doesn't Maher contradict himself? He states that the government couldn't pull it off, but 19 hijackers can? Weird.

Also, to comment on the secret thing. Do you seriously think that if they were involved, they would admit it?

Originally posted by cLOUDDEAD
Doesn't Maher contradict himself? He states that the government couldn't pull it off, but 19 hijackers can? Weird.

Also, to comment on the secret thing. Do you seriously think that if they were involved, they would admit it?

Although my mind is not yet made up on 9/11, the fact that people argue, it was easier for a group of 19 terrorists being controlled from a man in a cave than the most powerful Government with a myriad of different secretive agencies to do it, gets me thinking.

Nevertheless these guys are just talking heads and I imagine aligning yourself with the truther movement isn't good for business in America, Unless your Alex Jones

911 was a conspiracy wether you believe there was government involvement or not on that day.

Let's say a street gang of 19 from the inner city or a group of skin heads or KK members from the US went overseas and blew up a nuclear reactor or bombed a sporting event in Russia or China and killed 3000 people.

Do you think it would be a reasonable and fair response for either Russia or China to invade the US and Canada or Mexico? After all, the US has more murders per capita than any other country in the world. There is more terrosrist activity in this country than any other country in the world. The only difference is it's directed against civilians rather than the government in this country.

We can argue forever about what happened on 911 and without subpeona power we will never get any real answers, but no one can argue the over reaction by the US government and where the majority of terrorists are.

The mainstream media, without exception, uses spineless boys like Maher to push their agenda. Maher would rather score brownie points than stand up for what's right.

Originally posted by cLOUDDEAD
Doesn't Maher contradict himself? He states that the government couldn't pull it off, but 19 hijackers can? Weird.

Also, to comment on the secret thing. Do you seriously think that if they were involved, they would admit it?

No, Maher does not contradict himself. The "it" you refer to is, in fact, two completely different things. What the 19 hijackers had to do (hijack four planes and guide them into some of the largest buildings on earth) and what the government would have had to do (paint thermite all over the world trade center towers, fake a plane crash in broad daylight at the Pentagon, disappear 1, 2 3, or even 4 planes and all their passengers, etc, etc, etc, etc.) are two entirely different things.

Originally posted by airspoon
That's just the thing, we are lead to believe that the government is incompetent because we are always getting screwed over, however it isn't as if they aren't trying to screw us over. If you think about it, government has been extremely competent in doing the things that they want to do and they get away with it to boot. I hate when people use that argument because it really is null.

I did think about it, and no, actually, you're still wrong. All the things you're claiming the gov't did really, really well was still chock full of mistakes and snafus, and succeeded becuase peopel were able to vercome the problems.

-The D-Day landings in WWII were dependent upon tanks, and getting tanks onto the beach was dependent on some genius' idea that tanks could float ashore

-The moon landings succeeded becauce every was based upon baby steps, and even then rockets were blowing up on the launch pad, three astronauts died in a fire, and one spacecraft even exploded in space and barely limped home

-The Gulf of Tonkin resolution succeeded becuase it was based upon false information, but it led to the ruin of the Johnson administration, the utter defeat in Vietnam and the shattering of the US military and prestige that wasn't recovered until the gulf war.

So where are all these successes you're referring to? I hate it when people constantly ignore the fact the gov't isn't some disembodied brain in fluid or some supercomputer. The gov't is a committee made up of millions of people from the president on down to the local dog catcher, and whenever the gov't does something it necessarily means that hordes of people need to be involved. All it takes is person A to see blue while person B to see red for a mistake to be introduced, and all it takes is one mistake in the right place for any plan to go haywire.

Claiming the gov't could ever pull off the most sophisticated conspiracy in all of recorded human history with the sheer perfection of a supernatural act...without ever having it done before...and all without leaving a microbe of evidence behind or no whistleblowers comign forward is an unrealistic idea based more upon one's personal abject paranoia rather than an objective review of the facts.

Did they not keep the stealth bomber a secret? Was that secret not successful until they decided to tell all?

I grew up during the stealth bomber development days, and no, it wasn't a secret at all. The only thing they kept secret is the actual shape of the craft I.E. people thought it was smooth and teardropped shaped when it really turned out to be sharp and angular. Even your own example refutes your claims, and only backs up mine.

Originally posted by curious_soul
911 was a conspiracy wether you believe there was government involvement or not on that day.

Let's say a street gang of 19 from the inner city or a group of skin heads or KK members from the US went overseas and blew up a nuclear reactor or bombed a sporting event in Russia or China and killed 3000 people.

Do you think it would be a reasonable and fair response for either Russia or China to invade the US and Canada or Mexico? After all, the US has more murders per capita than any other country in the world.

If you're going to quote the historical record then quote it correctly. If Russia or China demanded that we take the mastermind behind said attack in custody and we refused while claiming the mastermind was an official guest of the US, the act would link the US gov't with the terrorist activity so that will make the US guilty of aiding and abetting said terrorists. This is literally what the Taliban gov't did when they refused to extradite Bin Laden, even after Saudi Arabia asked them to fork him over.

We can argue forever about what happened on 911 and without subpeona power we will never get any real answers, but no one can argue the over reaction by the US government and where the majority of terrorists are.

If you're genuinely trying to compare an MS-13 gang member shooting someone in the Mexican Mafia over drug territory, and a bunch of religious zealots crashing a hijacked airplane into a skyscraper for jihad, you're horribly ignorant. Please tell me this is NOT what you meant to say.

Originally posted by woodwardjnr

Originally posted by cLOUDDEAD
Doesn't Maher contradict himself? He states that the government couldn't pull it off, but 19 hijackers can? Weird.

Also, to comment on the secret thing. Do you seriously think that if they were involved, they would admit it?

Although my mind is not yet made up on 9/11, the fact that people argue, it was easier for a group of 19 terrorists being controlled from a man in a cave

But it wasn't just a "guy in a cave." It was organized internationally and took years of planning. Not just buy a schmuck in Afghanistan. There is much more complexity to the story than most Truthers understand.

Originally posted by Nathan-D
The mainstream media, without exception, uses spineless boys like Maher to push their agenda. Maher would rather score brownie points than stand up for what's right.

Are you kidding me? The mainstream media absolutely despises Maher. The guy is the anti hero....and makes very valid points most of the time. Although, I do disagree with his views on Israel. He acts like they do nothing wrong...but whatever.

[edit on 18-8-2010 by SeventhSeal]

Originally posted by SeventhSeal[Are you kidding me? The mainstream media absolutely despises Maher. The guy is the anti hero....and makes very valid points most of the time. Although, I do disagree with his views on Israel. He acts like they do nothing wrong...but whatever.

Jee-sus. I've shamed myself there - I always thought the media was enamoured with Maher. That's what you get for passing off an opinion on an American TV host when you live in England I suppose. I still hate him. I don't think that'll change anytime soon.

Originally posted by hooper

Originally posted by cLOUDDEAD
Doesn't Maher contradict himself? He states that the government couldn't pull it off, but 19 hijackers can? Weird.

Also, to comment on the secret thing. Do you seriously think that if they were involved, they would admit it?

No, Maher does not contradict himself. The "it" you refer to is, in fact, two completely different things. What the 19 hijackers had to do (hijack four planes and guide them into some of the largest buildings on earth) and what the government would have had to do (paint thermite all over the world trade center towers, fake a plane crash in broad daylight at the Pentagon, disappear 1, 2 3, or even 4 planes and all their passengers, etc, etc, etc, etc.) are two entirely different things.

All the CIA had to do was fit out the planes with remote control - easy as anything to do - thats it. Nothing less.

Seems incredibly feasible to do.

reply to post by airspoon


such as citing the most outlandish conspiracy theories that are most likely disinfo in the first place.
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Hmmm.
You mean like no planes?
Planes were holograms?
Energy weapons from outer space?
"Ball" devices?
Missles shot from planes?
All these, and MANY MANY more "outlandish" ideas have been featured right here on ATS and argued over endlessly by "truthers".
If anything has made "truthers" look stupid, it's the "truthers" themselves with their convoluted every growing and changing conspiracy fantasies.
The idea of a plot by 19 highjackers seems way more likely than any of the absolutly idiotic "theories" that the full of bS "truth" movement has come up with.