citizens supportive of a new 9/11 investigation

[karlos]

Congressman Jim Ramstad (R-MN) took audience questions at a recent Town Hall Meeting in Minnesota where he was greeted by a number of citizens supportive of a new 9/11 investigation.


A man who identified himself as a pilot and engineer explained his conclusion that controlled demolition was the only logical explanation for the collapse of the Twin Towers-- based upon a number of factors including the speed of the collapse, the fact that steel at ground zero was still molten after two months and the widespread pulverization of concrete, bodies and debris found in the rubble. Ramstad couldn't dismiss the articulate and polite calls for a new investigation outright, so he deflected with a general appraisal of free speech, snidely adding that it allowed for even "outlandish" statements.


Though the man supported his belief that the towers were demolished with rational arguements laid out logically, Ramstad countered with an emotional appeal to what he emphasized was his friend's death on 9/11 as though it somehow indicated that al Qaeda was involved.


Approximately one-third of those at the meeting also made it clear to Ramstad that they too were convinced al Qaeda was not responsible for the 9/11 attacks.


Though Ramstad made effort to win over the audience, they were quite cool to his enthusiasm for the proposals of the Baker-Hamilton Iraq study group. When he asked for a show of support for the diffuse quasi-withdrawal proposal, the Congressman was met with literally no applause-- demonstrating the general frustration over the Iraq war amongst broad sectors of the American public. "It's better than what we've got now" was the most positive response the audience offered to Rep. Ramstad, who voted for the resolution and publicly touts it, citing his admiration for 'highly respected' people like Lee Hamilton and James Baker.

Others in the crowd were more critical, blurting out that it was "Baker and the Carlyle Group" to which Rep. Ramstad unbelievably replied "I don't know who the Carlyle Group is."

When someone else began to explain the connections between the Bushes, the Carlyle Group and the bin Laden family, Ramstad quipped that they were "planning the 9/11 conspiracy, right?"

Ramstad has been recently urged by anti-war demonstrators in his district to abandon support for Bush and the Iraq war-- though merely enlisting in the lukewarm Hamilton-Baker camp is unlikely to impress much of the 70% of Americans now against the Iraq war and largely in favor of immediate withdrawal.

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