Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

Less than two days later he was gunned down by a local striptease operator and Chicago transplant eccentric named Jack Ruby, who allegedly had  numerous contacts from both the underworld and Dallas Police Department.  He had even been seen with Tippit, the officer Oswald gunned down.

Many wondered about the strange interaction on all sides, along with claims that Oswald had been seen with Ruby at his strip club.  There was an explanation from Ruby.  He wanted to spare Mrs. Kennedy having to travel to Dallas to testify at an ensuing murder trial.

There was that Zapruder film footage.  It showed Kennedy's head snapping back.  That was inconsistent with Newton's law of gravity for a head to move in that direction if we hit from a side angle.  How do you explain that?

How about all those people at the grassy knoll who saw and heard gunfire?  What about that large number of firsthand witnesses from the grassy knoll dying of "natural causes" within five years of Kennedy's assassination?  

Some victims were listed "suicides," others dead from alleged karate chops, others through fatal car brake failings.  

Lloyds of London ran a computer study and concluded that the odds of that number of people dying of natural causes within five years of the Kennedy assassination ranked in the billions to one statistical category.

There were sounds incommensurate with the number of bullets fired that did not tally.  So a "magic bullet" theory was advanced and the bullet came out pristine after passing from Kennedy to Governor John Connally of Texas, the other gunshot victim.

Almost four decades later came 9/11.  Once more the mainstream media had the identification issue slammed shut from the outset.  This time the culprit was a former CIA asset who was on President Ronald Reagan's side in Afghanistan, a cave dwelling former Saudi Arabian named Osama bin Laden.

No sooner did the Twin Towers explode in New York City than numerous Middle East terrorist experts were being interviewed on television explaining that those crashing planes bore the planning of Osama bin Laden, just as viewers and listeners had learned that other fateful day that Lee Harvey Oswald was the logical suspect in John F. Kennedy's death.

Aviation experts exclaimed that to achieve the kind of double hit that bin Laden's presumed operatives achieved on 9/11 involved great flying skills which the Atta team did not possess.  

The team linked to the tragedies operated out of a weird flight school in Venice, Florida.  It was run by a man from the Netherlands who spent a lot of time in Hamburg, Germany in what looked very much to be CIA type recruiting missions.  That is where the alleged assassins of bin Laden were recruited.

Another element induced skepticism by many.  It seemed that Mohamed Atta and the remainder of the putative avenging suicide flyers of Allah were not interested in anything other than getting planes off the ground and used  simulators akin to the popular Microsoft computer software Flight Simulator.  Many experts claim that is insufficient to achieve the kind of result that occurred on 9/11.

What about Atta and his team?  People who saw and spoke to him in and around Venice found his look and manner atypical of the ardent warrior is Islam he was reputed to be.  

Atta was said to have spoken with hardly a trace of a foreign accent and wore a designer watch and jewelry, inconsistent with the image painted of him.  Atta and his team had a spirited drinking bout in a Hollywood, Florida bar less than twenty-four hours from when he was alleged to have led the team in the 9/11 tragedies.

There was something else about Atta that appeared to be alien behavior for a spiritual warrior of Allah and militant Islam.  He was seen not only drinking at a Venice strip parlor but engaging in that very untraditional behavior of an Islamic warrior of lap dancing.

Then there was that tragic day and the footage that survives it.  What do we see and hear from alarmed and frightened people on the ground who fled the two buildings?  What do we hear in the background?

There were those sounds followed by, "There it is!  Another explosion!" from those at ground level in close proximity.  Could we even have that kind of result without explosives brought into play?  According to many engineers of repute it would take the massive kind of one thousand degree heat associated with explosives to achieve that end.

In any event, if there is a dispute on the point then what about an independent forum when the experts can come forward and the issue can be fully explored?  

Bush and Cheney wanted no investigation at all, and had to be dragged kicking and screaming to hold a limited investigation where they testified in private and FBI whistleblowers along with engineers holding different theories were excluded.

Isn't it interesting how quickly the plot masterminds were found and how quickly the doors were shut, barring the kind of comprehensive investigations necessary under the tragic circumstances.

Isn't it also interesting how Atta's travel bag was found at Logan Airport, complete with an explanation of what he had done and why?

We heard the tapes recently of a nervously urgent President Lyndon B. Johnson telling Senator Richard Russell of Georgia that it was important to get out a report quickly to shut the door on any thorough investigation into the assassination of the chief executive's predecessor.

The Warren Commission's objective?  Slam the door shut.  

The 9/11 Investigation's object?  Slam the door shut.