VRA Update: 9/11/01. 19 Years Later, We Still Need Answers.
/Good Friday morning all. I have posted this VRA Update (updated with new information/facts) every 9/11 since 2006. Today marks 19 years since 9/11/01. Like most, I was in shock in the weeks/months that followed the attacks. Then I saw this picture, with an article signed by several hundred scientists that (engineers, architects) that raised serious doubts as to the official story (the list of expert signatories at
has since grown to more than 3000). What does this picture tell me? It tells me that massive explosions were taking place, rather than the pancake collapse that the official story would have us believe. If the premise of this VRA Update offends you, that is not my intent. Please read with an open mind. Family members of the untold thousands lost, from that dreadful day to the wars that followed, deserve serious, honest answers.
What exactly caused 267 stories (WTC 1, 2 and 7) of steel beams to melt, with concrete pulverized in mid-air, as each building exploded/imploded at free fall speed, into their own footprints?
I have posted the following VRA Update each year, beginning in 2006 (modified “slightly” each year to include updated statistics/facts):
As human beings, we will never be able to agree on everything. When it comes to topics surrounding investing, politics, religion, etc., we each have our own viewpoints and belief systems...just as it should be.
Now…five years following the atrocities of 9/11 (now 19 years), many of us have found that when it comes to processing/discussing the events surrounding “that horrible day” the same situation tends to apply…we have our own beliefs and opinions…and some have a challenge “going there”…it’s still too soon.
However, there are a few things that I am certain we can all agree to, as it applies to 9/11. We remember exactly where we were on that Black Tuesday...when we first learned of the horrific acts. We all felt the same shock to the system, followed by a kind of indescribable shock/pain, as we witnessed planes flying into buildings. And, we all felt the helplessness and overwhelming grief, as we watched in horror as the buildings fell to the ground.
As I watched the events of the day unfold, mixed with the hopes that this was all just a bad dream, were questions in my mind that would only grow stronger as the years passed. Over these past years I have spoken onstage frequently regarding the questions I continue to have about 9/11, and have invited leading experts (authors, researchers, architects, engineers) to to share their findings, views and concerns.
Some may feel that I am being disrespectful to the fallen by daring to question the official story. To the contrary, I believe that opening a new investigation would be the highest form of honoring our dead. Let me put it this way; if I had lost a loved one that day, I would want to know exactly what really happened to cause their death…I would want to know the truth…and I would not rest until I believed I knew the truth. I’ve gotten to know several family members over the years (I knew several that perished) and I can tell you that they agree, passionately. They are desperate for the truth. And how can we ever forget the 1000’s of 9/11 responders that have died since 9/11, most with cancer from deadly carcinogens in the air. Their families are desperate for the truth as well.
In addition, we should consider the direct end-results of 9/11…none of which would have taken place without 9/11; the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, where more than 6900 US soldiers have died so far…not to mention the 100,000+ that have been injured on the battlefield (a total of more than 400,000 have filed disability claims). To date, we have also spent more than $7 trillion for both wars.The estimates for innocent lives lost in Iraq and Afghanistan fluctuate widely, but the figure can conservatively be placed at 500,000 innocents dead…with more than 7 million people displaced from their homes. And we have the Patriot Act as an end result, written long before 9/11 and enacted by Congress just 5 weeks later. The loss of civil liberties from this Act is incalculable…but as long as “we feel safer”, this frontal attack on our constitution can be overlooked. Shameful.
Regardless of your beliefs, I encourage you to view the following three questions with an open mind. These are (a few of) the same questions that I have struggled with these past many years…maybe you have as well. With half of the country now doubting the official story (multiple surveys), it's clearly an issue thats not going away.
1) Prior to 9/11/2001 not a single steel skyscraper had ever collapsed due to fire. Never…anywhere on the planet…in the 100 year history of steel skyscrapers. But on 9/11, three skyscrapers supposedly did just that. Question: exactly how did two 100+ story steel buildings (WTC 1 & 2), and one 47 story steel building (WTC 7), collapse because of office fires? In addition, each building collapsed at free fall speed, with no support whatsoever from the floors below. How is this even possible? Note: More than 3000 architects and engineers have since signed sworn statements that point out the impossibility of the physics of the “official story” surrounding the collapses. Visit AE911Truth.org for more information.
2) 19 hijackers, armed with box cutters as we have been told, were able to overtake the crews/pilots of 4 commercial aircraft without pilots alerting ground control. In addition, the flight paths flown by hijackers were incredibly difficult, while the hijackers were all unskilled pilots. Question: Why would highly skilled and trained pilots give up their cockpits to hijackers, when this is the one thing they are taught not to do? Why didn’t the pilots alert ground control to the hijackings? And how did the hijackers, each amateur pilots that had problems merely flying small, single engine aircraft, manage to pilot 4 large commercial aircraft through incredibly difficult/impossible flight patterns?
Here’s the testimony from Capt. Russ Wittenberg, U.S. Air Force – Retired commercial pilot who flew for Pan Am and United Airlines for 35 years. Aircraft flown: Boeing 707, 720, 727, 737, 747, 757, 767, and 777. 30,000+ total hours flown. He had previously flown the actual two United Airlines aircraft that were hijacked on 9/11 (Flight 93, which impacted in Pennsylvania, and Flight 175, the second plane to hit the WTC). Former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot with over 100 combat missions. "I flew the two actual aircraft which were involved in 9/11; the Fight number 175 and Flight 93, the 757 that allegedly went down in Shanksville and Flight 175 is the aircraft that's alleged to have hit the South Tower. I don't believe it's possible for, like I said, for a terrorist, a so-called terrorist to train on a [Cessna] 172, then jump in a cockpit of a 757-767 class cockpit, and vertical navigate the aircraft, lateral navigate the aircraft, and fly the airplane at speeds exceeding it's design limit speed by well over 100 knots, make high-speed high-banked turns, exceeding -- pulling probably 5, 6, 7 G's. And the aircraft would literally fall out of the sky. I couldn't do it and I'm absolutely positive they couldn't do it."
3) Where was the US military…including the Air Force…on that fateful day? Their claim is even more incredible…that they were conducting military exercises against, you guessed it, terrorist attacks on the US. And, that these exercises prevented them from getting jets in the air in time to help/prevent the planes from hitting their targets. The US military, at the time, had a $600 billion ANNUAL budget. In addition, the Pentagon is the worlds most protected building, including a massive defense system of its own (including air defense). Question: why did it take up to two hours (according to sworn testimony) after the first notice of hijackings to scramble military jets. And, where is the footage from any of the hundreds of cameras from the Pentagon that would show American Airlines flight 77 hitting the building? Up until now we have only seen a few frames from a local ATM camera, and in none of those frames is an airplane visible. The following is sworn testimony from Col. George Nelson, MBA, U.S. Air Force (ret) – an FAA certified commercial pilot. He is a former U.S. Air Force aircraft accident investigator and airplane parts authority and graduate, U.S. Air Force War College and has a 34-year Air Force career, FAA certified Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic.
"In all my years of direct and indirect participation, I never witnessed nor even heard of an aircraft loss, where the wreckage was accessible, that prevented investigators from finding enough hard evidence to positively identify the make, model, and specific registration number of the aircraft -- and in most cases the precise cause of the accident. The government alleges that four wide-body airliners crashed on the morning of September 11 2001, resulting in the deaths of more than 3,000 human beings, yet not one piece of hard aircraft evidence has been produced in an attempt to positively identify any of the four aircraft. On the contrary, it seems only that all potential evidence was deliberately kept hidden from public view. With all the evidence readily available at the Pentagon crash site, any unbiased rational investigator could only conclude that a Boeing 757 did not fly into the Pentagon as alleged. Similarly, with all the evidence available at the Pennsylvania crash site, it was most doubtful that a passenger airliner caused the obvious hole in the ground and certainly not the Boeing 757 as alleged. As painful and heartbreaking as was the loss of innocent lives and the lingering health problems of thousands more, a most troublesome and nightmarish probability remains that so many Americans appear to be involved in the most heinous conspiracy in our country's history." http://www.physics911.net
In addition, here are a few quotes from top government officials who have raised serious questions:
"[9/11] family members ... have said that only a fourth of their well researched questions were answered." ~~ Former U.S. Senator Mike Gravel, who courageously entered Pentagon Papers into the Senate record
"[There are] serious challenges to the commission's credibility. No wonder the 9/11 families were outraged by these revelations and called for a new commission." ~~ Former FBI Director Louis Freeh in Wall Street Journal article
"The official story is so inadequate and far-fetched that there must be another one." ~~ Andreas von Buelow, PhD, former Minister for Research and Technology of West Germany, 25 years in German parliament
"What's the 9/11 commission got to hide?" ~~ Curt Weldon, ten-term Republican Congressman
"I think the inquiry has been very shallow, very superficial. We have to try and get the truth." ~~ Paul Hellyer, former Minister of Defense of Canada
"It [the 9/11 Commission] is a national scandal. One of these days we will have to get the full story, because the 9/11 issue is so important to America." ~~ Max Clelland, U.S. Senator, former member of the 9/11 Commission
-----
On this most somber of days, we mourn for the lives that have been lost, both directly and indirectly. While I was not in NYC on 9/11, my previous firm (Oppenheimer) had its offices in WTC 5. I knew people from my Wall Street days that lost their lives. The best way that I know how to honor them is with a new investigation. I realize that many reading this may have doubts. I'll ask you to do what I have asked many to do; spend 5 minutes on AE911Truth.org and read the letters of testimony from scientists that are calling for a new investigation. I don’t have the answers…I just know that the official story is impossible to believe. IMPOSSIBLE. I’ll never stop asking questions. Too many good people deserve answers. We all deserve the truth of 9/11/01.
Until next time, thanks again for reading...
Kip
