Damian Thompson's 9/11 hatchet job in the Daily Telegraph

[Shoestring]

Check out this awful hit piece from today's Daily Telegraph. Truly grim.

Lies, damn lies and 'counterknowledge'
By Damian Thompson
Last Updated: 2:45am GMT 12/01/2008

Outright fiction is being peddled as historical and scientific fact, warns Damian Thompson in an extract from his provocative new book

George Bush planned the September 11 attacks. The MMR injection triggers autism in children. The ancient Greeks stole their ideas from Africa. "Creation science" disproves evolution. Homeopathy can defeat the Aids virus.

Do any of these theories sound familiar? Has someone bored you rigid at a dinner party by unveiling one of these "secrets"? If so, it is hardly surprising. In recent years, thousands of bizarre conjectures have been endorsed by leading publishers, taught in universities, plugged in newspapers, quoted by politicians and circulated in cyberspace.

This is counterknowledge: misinformation packaged to look like fact. We are facing a pandemic of credulous thinking. Ideas that once flourished only on the fringes are now taken seriously by educated people in the West, and are wreaking havoc in the developing world.

We live in an age in which the techniques for evaluating the truth of claims about science and history are more reliable than ever before. One of the legacies of the Enlightenment is a methodology based on painstaking measurement of the material world.

That legacy is now threatened. And one of the reasons for this, paradoxically, is that science has given us almost unlimited access to fake information.

Most of us have friends who are susceptible to conspiracy theories. You may know someone who thinks the Churches are suppressing the truth that Jesus and Mary Magdalene sired a dynasty of Merovingian kings; someone else who thinks Aids was cooked up in a CIA laboratory; someone else again who thinks MI5 killed Diana, Princess of Wales. Perhaps you know one person who believes all three.

Or do you half-believe one of these ideas yourself? We may assume that we are immune to conspiracy theories. In reality, we are more vulnerable than at any time for decades.

I recently met a Lib Dem-voting schoolteacher who voiced his "doubts" about September 11. First, he grabbed our attention with a plausible-sounding observation: "Look at the way the towers collapsed vertically. Jet fuel wouldn't generate enough to heat to melt steel. Only controlled explosions can do that." The rest of the party, not being structural engineers (for whom there is nothing mysterious about the collapse of the towers) pricked up their ears. "You're right," they said. "It did seem strange…"

Admittedly, no major newspaper or TV station has endorsed a September 11 conspiracy theory. But more than 100 million people have watched a 90-minute documentary, Loose Change, directed by three young New Yorkers who assembled the first cut on a laptop. The result is super-slick: computer-generated planes glide menacingly towards their targets, to the accompaniment of a funky soundtrack; buildings collapse in a comic theatrical sequence. This is one cool movie – and a masterpiece of counterknowledge.

The makers suggest that a missile, not an airliner, hit the Pentagon; that the occupants of Flight 93 were safely evacuated at Cleveland Hopkins airport; that the panicked calls made by the passengers were faked using voice-morphing technology.

The directors make basic errors and play outrageous tricks: quotes from experts and official documents are cherry-picked and truncated. Airline parts are misidentified and pictures cropped in a way that leaves out inconvenient rubble and wreckage. "Expert testimony" is lifted from the American Free Press, a hysterical news service with strong links to the far Right.

Yet the makers of Loose Change are pushing at an open door. More than a third of Americans suspect that federal officials assisted in the September 11 attacks or took no action to stop them. September 11 conspiracy theories have gained such a following in France that even a member of President Sarkozy's government has suggested that President Bush might have planned the attacks. Christine Boutin, the housing minister, when asked in an interview whether she thought Bush might have been behind the attacks, said: "I think it is possible."

Another who believes this is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, who reckons that September 11 could not have been executed "without co-ordination with [US] intelligence and security services". Ahmadinejad is also a well-known Holocaust denier, having referred publicly to "the myth of the Jews' massacre".

In the world of counterknowledge, wild theories are constantly mating and mutating. As the editor of Skeptic magazine, Michael Shermer, puts it: "The mistaken belief that a handful of unexplained anomalies can undermine a well-established theory lies at the heart of all conspiratorial thinking, as well as creationism, Holocaust denial and the various crank theories of physics."

Continued...

[QuitTheirClogs]

[numeral]

[spiv]

Ah, I see that this clown Thompson, who has clearly not studied physics himself and seems to know nothing about the subject, prefering to simply brush off the valid statements like "Look at the way the towers collapsed vertically. Jet fuel wouldn't generate enough to heat to melt steel", is selling his silly unresearched book "for £11.99 + £1.25 p&p. To order, please call Telegraph Books". Not me I'm afraid, I'll spend my money on better things than this tripe.

Now, of course, if Thompson had studied physics and written a book showing me just how the towers collapse at free-fall speeds (one not even having been hit by a plane), or that steel can, indeed, be melted by jet fuel, or just why so many educated and questioning people, once they watch the many media film clips taken at the time of the attacks, are being somehow turned into "conspiracy theorists", than that may be a book to buy.

But, of course, sadly, he cannot, and he seems to miss this particular point. Never mind Thompson, keep taking the pills old boy!!

[WyldeChylde]

That's the biggest pile of turd i've read in a while, such ignorance!

I'm in the process of writing a reply to it, other should too (whether he'll take time to read it is another matter, I'm just conspiracy theorist after all...):

damian.thompson@telegraph.co.uk

[scubadiver]

Counterknowledge: How We Surrendered to Conspiracy Theories, Quack Medicine, Bogus Science and Fake History

by

Damian Thompson

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/displayProductDetails.do?sku =5943371

It is a book I noticed and looked at the chapters but I didn't buy it.

[TonyGosling]

Damian Thompson - aptly named.
Counterknowledge = Crimethink
http://www.newspeakdictionary.com/ns-dict.html#crimethink


Could he be taking over where Con Coghlin left off at the Masonograph, or was that the Torygraph? No matter, it's a prime outlet for MI6 I/OPS.


British Media Exploited by Intel Agencies
Once in a while, the public gets a peek inside the world of disinformation
Ludwig De Braeckeleer (ludwig)

Published 2007-12-25

British journalists -- and British journals -- are being manipulated by the secret intelligence agencies, and I think we ought to try and put a stop to it.
--David Leigh[1]

Intelligence agencies can manipulate journalists and their newspapers in various ways. Firstly, spies may recruit journalists or even impersonate them. It goes without saying that these long and broadly practiced activities are unhealthy as they put the life of every single journalist in danger, and particularly those who work as foreign correspondents.

Secondly, intelligence agencies can plant disinformation in mainstream media under false identity. In the months preceding the 1953 overthrow of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh, intelligence agencies used this technique abundantly and without any difficulty, according to a copy of the CIA's secret history of the coup, which surfaced in 2000.

"The Iran desk of the [US] State Department was able to place a CIA study in Newsweek, using the normal channel of desk officer to journalist. The article was one of several planted press reports that, when reprinted in Tehran, fed the war of nerves against Iran's prime minister, Mohammed Mossadegh," the document said.

The third way for the spook to gain access to the media is rather subtle and particularly insidious. It consists of exploiting the vanity of journalists to impress on them to hide or lie about the real identity of their sources. Spies are said to have used this technique -- known as "I/Ops" for Information Operation -- heavily in the British press. Yet, it can rarely be documented. But once in a while, an I/Op gets out of control, giving the public a rare opportunity to take a peek inside the world of disinformation.

In November 1995, The Sunday Telegraph published a sensational story about one of our then favorite villains: Libya.

The paper accused Col. Muammar Qaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, of running a major money laundering operation in Europe intended to fund weapons of mass destruction: Saif al-Islam is a "thoroughly dishonest, unscrupulous and untrustworthy maverick against whom the international banking community has been warned to be on its guard."

The article had been written by then-senior correspondent Con Coughlin. Coughlin's source was described as a "British banking official."

When The Sunday Telegraph was served with a libel writ by Qaddafi's son, the paper was unable to back up its allegation. The paper lodged three defenses. First, the lawyers argued that the newspaper had not injured Gaddafi's reputation. Second, they argued that the article about him was true.

Finally, claiming the defense of qualified privilege, the lawyers argued that it was in the public interest to publish the articles even if they turned out to be untrue.

For those who follow the Lockerbie farce -- the Megrahi second appeal over the Lockerbie judgment -- it is hard not to notice the irony of the last argument. Indeed, it seems that in the U.K., it is good for the public to be told lies while at the same time it is good for the same public not to be shown secret documents believed to be vital to unearthing the truth about the largest crime ever committed on U.K. soil.

"Is it in truth a classic muddle? A story of security service incompetence, a story of black propaganda, a story The Sunday Telegraph did not take that much care with because it never thought the matter would come to court?" asked James Price, QC, for Saif al-Islam.

During the trial in April 2002, bits of the true story began to emerge. On Oct. 19, 1995, the Conservative foreign secretary Malcom Rifkind had arranged a lunch that Coughlin attended. During that meeting, Coughlin was told by Rifkind that Iran was trying to get hold of hard currency to fund its WMD program in spite of UN sanctions. Rifkind encouraged Coughlin to follow this story.

The dispute was settled in less than two days of trial.[2] "There was no truth in the allegation that Gaddafi participated in any currency sting," said Geoffrey Robertson, QC, representing Telegraph Group Ltd.

"The Sunday Telegraph has accepted not only that there is no truth in these allegations, but that there is no evidence to suggest that there is any truth in them, and they have agreed to apologize to the claimant [Saif al-Islam] in this court and in the newspaper," Price told journalists.

One had to wait for the publication of David Hooper's book "Reputations Under Fire" to learn that the source of the article was not a "British banking official." Actually, they were intelligence officers working for MI6. It is now understood what really occurred.

On Oct. 25 and 31, 1995, Coughlin was briefed by a MI6 man (source A) who appeared to be his regular contact with the agency. Source A gave Coughlin an overview of the plan. Through an Austrian Company, Iran was selling oil on the black market to fund its secret military nuclear program.

Moreover, on Nov. 21, 1995, source A introduced Coughlin to a second MI6 person (source B) who described the involvement of Saif al-Islam in the counterfeiting scam.[3] Source B requested strict confidentiality.

The next day, the two MI6 officers described the money laundering deal in great detail during a four-hour meeting. Eight billion dollars would be transferred out of banks in Egypt and replaced by Libyans dinars, minus a substantial commission. The Libyans would hide their involvement through a Swiss branch of an international finance company. Meanwhile, an Iranian middleman would provide a large amount of fake currency.

On Nov. 23, Coughlin met once more the two intelligence officers who showed him copies of the banking records.

There is just one problem with the story. The intelligence officers made it up. It was pure fabrication and Coughlin bought it while hiding the true identity of his source.

"I believe he [Coughlin] made a serious mistake in falsely attributing his story to a British banking official. His readers ought to know where his material is coming from. When The Sunday Telegraph got into trouble with the libel case, it seems, after all, to have suddenly found it possible to become a lot more specific about its sources," wrote David Leigh. "Our first task as practitioners is to document what goes on in this very furtive field. Our second task ought to be to hold an open debate on what the proper relations between the intelligence agencies and the media ought to be. And our final task must then be to find ways of actually behaving more sensibly."

Has Coughlin learned anything from the affair? It seems that the answer to this question is definitely no. He went on writing about the false link between Saddam and al-Qaida and the false allegations concerning the Iraqi WMDs. He wrote that the Iraqis could access their WMDs within 45 minutes.

Coughlin has written numerous articles about the alleged Iranian military program such as "Meanwhile, Iran Gets On With Its Bomb," "Israeli Crisis Is a Smoke Screen for Iran's Nuclear Ambitions," "Iran Accused of Hiding Secret Nuclear Weapons Site," "Iran Has Missiles to Carry Nuclear Warheads," "UN Officials Find Evidence of Secret Uranium Enrichment Plant," "Iran Plant Has Restarted Its Nuclear Bomb-Making Equipment," and "Iran Could Go Nuclear Within Three Years." Not a single one of these articles quotes a named source.


1. "Britain's Security Services and Journalists: The Secret Story," British Journalism Review, Vol. 11, No. 2, 2000, pages 21-26. David Leigh is assistant editor of The Guardian. He is former editor of the Guardian's comment page and former assistant editor at The Observer. He is a distinguished investigative reporter and formerly a producer for Granada Television's World in Action program. In 2007, he was awarded the Paul Foot prize, with his colleague Rob Evans, for the BAE bribery exposures.

2. Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz, the Saudi Arabian ambassador in Washington, D.C., and a nephew of King Fahd, is understood to have brokered the settlement at the request of the Sunday Telegraph.

3. The reader should keep in mind that in late November 1995, MI6 was approached by Libyan dissidents concerning their plan to assassinate Colonel Gaddafi in February 1996. MI6 met with one member of the group, code name Tunworth, in late November 1995.

--
http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?no=381319&rel _no=1
Ludwig De Braeckeleer has a Ph.D. in nuclear sciences. He teaches physics and international humanitarian law. He blogs on "The GaiaPost."

[ian neal]

Good article Tony

May I recommend this website ( http://www.gatecreepers.com ) that I stumbled across and in particular their rather excellent

EXCLUSIVE: Debunking Myths on Conspiracy Theories

http://www.gatecreepers.com/entries/exclusive-debunking-myths-on-consp iracy-theorie/

[scubadiver]

[Thermate911]

IMO, this is the most scurrilous phrase in just another ridiculous hit piece:

[fish5133]

courteous letter to Mr Thompson. Adapt as you wish but leave out words like **** or **** or ****** or ********.

Dear Mr Thompson

Undoubtedly you will receive the usual tirade of emails complaining about your newspaper articles. As a former member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors I considered myself to have been in one of the most boring professions on earth probably as by nature I am a seriously boring analytical character. That said I do take exception to being labelled as a "peddler of fiction as scientific or historical fact" Whilst I have some sympathy with the straw man arguement that "George Bush planned the September 11 attacks" I entirely disagree with your later implication that no structural engineers question the collapse of the 3 Trade Centre Buildings ("The rest of the party, not being structural engineers (for whom there is nothing mysterious about the collapse of the towers"). Having worked in the construction industry myself for 30 years may I draw your attention to the growing numbers of Architects and Structural Engineers who seriously question the collapse of the 3 Trade Centre Buildings. In your own words "We live in an age in which the techniques for evaluating the truth of claims about science and history are more reliable than ever before." These Architects and Engineers have done just that and proven that the "official theory" about the collapse of the twin towers is untenable
www.ae911truth.org
Before we jump to conspiracy theories about who did orchestrate and carry out the attacks on 9/11 it is important to read the following document from the joint Chiefs of Staff as they tried to decide how best to justify military action in Cuba. This will blow away any illusions that we may have about the ostrich notion "governments just don't do such things"
Northwoods document: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Northwoods

I would also draw your attention to the Guardian article that reveals how it took 75 years for so called "fact" to become fiction. I trust we don't have to wait 75 years before our mainstream media wake up to the fiction of "planes and jet fuel brought down the Trade Centres"

Guardian article www.guardian.co.uk/secondworldwar/story/0,,2239610,00.html

yours respectfully
Mr -------- ARICS 1986 to 2003

[kbo234]

Excellent letter Fish 5133. Well done and thanks.

[Thermate911]

SOTT Responds to Damian Thompson: Lies, damn lies and 'counterknowledge'

SOTT Editor
SOTT.net
Sun, 13 Jan 2008 13:04 EST

Outright fiction is being peddled as historical and scientific fact, warns Damian Thompson in an extract from his provocative new book

George Bush planned the September 11 attacks. The MMR injection triggers autism in children. The ancient Greeks stole their ideas from Africa. "Creation science" disproves evolution. Homeopathy can defeat the Aids virus.

Do any of these theories sound familiar? Has someone bored you rigid at a dinner party by unveiling one of these "secrets"? If so, it is hardly surprising. In recent years, thousands of bizarre conjectures have been endorsed by leading publishers, taught in universities, plugged in newspapers, quoted by politicians and circulated in cyberspace.

This is counterknowledge: misinformation packaged to look like fact. We are facing a pandemic of credulous thinking. Ideas that once flourished only on the fringes are now taken seriously by educated people in the West, and are wreaking havoc in the developing world.

[TonyGosling]

Damian Thompson: 'Enlightenment' versus 'Counterknowledge' on BBC Radio 4 Start The Week

If the various links to this mp3 of this little MI6 shyster's propaganda platform includng the attachment are down try this one
http://www.bilderberg-mirror.org.uk/Damian_Thompson_Crimethink.mp3

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/starttheweek_20080107.shtml

From about 30 minutes on.....

This week Andrew Marr is joined by David Reynolds, Penny Gold, Ivan O'Mahoney and Damian Thompson.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/rams/starttheweek_20080107.ram

[ian neal]

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/ukcorrespondents/holysmoke/jan08/conspira cyofcounterknowledge.htm

A website called 9/11, The Bigger Picture and the Quest for Truth, has already noticed a most intriguing detail – that I share a surname with the director-general of the BBC, Mark Thompson. Coincidence? They think not.

One contributor lays into the programme for its “closed minds” and “pre-judged tripe”. So how does he intend to protest against this pre-judging? “I, for one, won’t be wasting time listening or buying the book,” he announces.

And then, from another poster, the killer question: “Is this Damian character any relation to the head honcho?”

[blackcat]

[Thermate911]

Such cognitive dissonance!

Such chaos!

On the one hand we have here a sad individual, one Thompson, with his finger in the Dyke of Truth.

On the other hand we have Chris Gourlay, Jonathan Calvert and Joe Lauria at the Sunday Times now offering further details of Sibel Edmonds' most explosive claims of high treason throughout western governments and 'law' agencies:-

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article321 6737.ece

[Thermate911]

If anyone here cares to communicate with this Thompson & Tompson character, perhaps they'd quiz him on this:-

[uselesseater]

Maybe he'd be up for defending the official account in a public debate...but then maybe the moon is made of cheese too?