WeAreChange Debunks the BBC Part 2: A Call to Action

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Brian Kenny
WeAreChange.org
October 22, 2008

An open letter to Mike Rudin

Mike Rudin, producer of the BBC 9/11 Hit-piece ‘The Third Tower’, recently posted an article called ‘Caught up in a conspiracy theory’, in response to a video I put out – WeAreChange Debunks the BBC at Ground Zero 9/11/08. In the article, he does not deny (or even attempt to explain, in some instances), the glaring misrepresentations, distortions, and omissions that we called him out on at Ground Zero. He does not apologize (as many have called for) for repeatedly exhibiting poor journalistic ethics while covering the most controversial and important issue of our time. Instead he continues to dishonor the victims of 9/11 and insult the intelligence of the BBC audience by digging a deeper hole. Very well Mike Rudin, so be it.

BARRY JENNINGS

Rudin writes “As I tried to explain to them at the time, we recorded a long interview with Barry Jennings. We also carefully considered other information and came to our own view based on all of that.”

No. What you actually did was cut and splice and alter the story the way you wanted it. The issue at hand is- why did the BBC imply that the explosion Barry felt on the 6th floor was the North Tower collapsing, when he clearly states beyond any doubt in his Loose Change interview (done months before the BBC film) that the explosion happened before either tower had collapsed? Mike Rudin does not ask him to specify on camera whether the towers were still standing when he felt the explosion. A rather important question to miss.

This begs the question – did Mike Rudin watch the Loose Change interview (hereby refered to as LC)? If he had he would have surely noticed that Jennings makes perfectly clear multiple times that the towers came down after the explosion in Bldg. 7. Here are some quotes from the LC interview which the BBC viewers were not afforded the privilege of hearing:

“When we reached the sixth floor… there was an explosion and the landing gave way. I was left there hanging and I had to climb back up and I had to walk back up to the 8th floor… it was dark and very very hot. I asked Mr. Hess to test the phones as I took a fire extinguisher and broke out the windows. Once I broke out the windows I could see outside below me. I saw police cars on fire, buses on fire. I looked one way, the building was there, I looked the other, the building was gone. I was trapped in there for several hours. I was trapped in there when both buildings came down. The firefighters came. I was going to come down on the fire hose, because I didn’t
want to stay there because it was too hot; they came to the window and started yelling ‘do not do that, it won’t hold you’. And then they ran away. I didn’t know what was going on. That’s when the first tower fell. When they started running, the first tower started coming down. I had no way of knowing that. And then I saw them come back with more concern on their faces. And then they ran away again. The second tower fell.”

Dylan Avery: “So it’s safe to say that that explosion on the 6th floor happened before either tower fell?”

Barry Jennings: “It definitely happened before either tower fell and I’ll tell you why…” (Chopper
overhead)

D.A.: “Because the whole official story, the whole reason that Bldg. 7 collapsed, allegedly, is because the North Tower fell onto it and caused damage, and what people are gonna say is, they’re gonna say, well, Barry was hit by debris from the North Tower.”

B.J.: “No. What happened was, when we made it back to the 8th floor, as I told you earlier – both buildings were still standing. Because I looked two… I looked one way and looked the other way, now, there’s nothing there. When I got to the 6th floor before all this happened… there was an explosion. That’s what forced us back to the 8th floor. Both buildings were still standing. Keep in mind, I told you the Fire Dept. came and ran. They came twice. Why? Because Bldg Tower 1 fell, and then Tower 2 fell.”

So Jennings specifies twice that both towers were standing when he felt the explosion, yet the BBC chose not to ask him to specify on tape, but instead speaks for him with a smug voice-over: “early reports of explosions were just debris from a falling skyscraper.” This is the extent of the BBC’s treatment of this critical issue. One line. How do we even know if you asked him this question, Mike Rudin? You surely didn’t include it in your film. Are we supposed to take your word on it? Not only does Rudin fail to resolve these discrepancies, but he does not even let
the viewer know they exist. What “other information” factored into your decision to misrepresent Jennings’ timeline (besides Michael Hess, as I will cover shortly)?

Rudin also poses the question “If our timeline is wrong then why didn’t Barry Jennings and Michael Hess see and hear the moment of impact when Tower 1 fell. It must have been very loud.”

This is a strawman argument. Who says that Barry Jennings’ didn’t hear the moment of impact? He never implies such. Just because he wasn’t asked about it specifically and didn’t describe it in detail does not mean he didn’t hear the North Tower hitting the building. He does make clear, however, that both towers were still standing, as already demonstrated.

Also kept from the BBC audience is the fact that Jennings made clear in his LC interview that he was not convinced by the official explanation of the WTC7 collapse, but more importantly, that he coincidentally died a few days prior to the release of the NIST report, which couldn’t be confirmed until approximately 1 month later.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xca6o38ZNY

Small wonder Hess reversed his position then, don’t you think Mr Rudin? (as Steve Watson put it).

This is a call for Mike Rudin and the BBC to release their entire, unedited interview with Barry Jennings to the public. If you have nothing to hide then put it out for all to see. Readers of this article should contact Mike Rudin and the BBC and demand it’s immediate release.

michael.rudin@bbc.co.uk

http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/

SILVERSTEIN’S QUOTE

The BBC skews Larry Silverstein’s “pull it” statement, cutting “and then we watched the bldg. collapse” out of the following quote:

“I remember getting a call from the fire department commander, telling me that they were not sure they were gonna be able to contain the fire, and I said, ‘We’ve had such terrible loss of life, maybe the smartest thing to do is pull it.’ And they made that decision to pull and then we watched the building collapse.”

You do not deny skewing the quote nor do you give an explanation for the omission. Instead you explain why “pull it” does not necessarily mean demolish the building, which may be true, but
that is not the issue. Why didn’t the BBC present the entire quote in it’s full context and let the viewer decide? Why the omission? Another “cock-up”? Or was this on purpose? Your insinuation that this omission does not distort the context of the quote is not only ludicrous, but it is downright offensive. On this point alone, you owe the BBC viewers and the 9/11 family
members a public apology. Simply including the full quote in future hit-pieces will not suffice. This issue is too important for these types of unwarranted omissions (or dirty tricks).

You mention Fire Chief Daniel Nigro but fail to mention that, according to some sources, Nigro denied having that conversation with Silverstein. Nigro’s ‘Third Tower’ interview raises more questions then provides answers. He says “we don’t need to ask permission from the owner, no. When we’re in charge of the bldg. we’re in charge, and that decision would be the fire cheif’s and his alone.” Then why does Silverstein claim to have been a part of that decision and who exactly was he speaking to? Why didn’t the BBC ask Nigro weather it was he who had the “pull it” conversation with Larry? More stellar investigative journalism by the BBC!

OMITTED VIDEO TESTIMONY

Not only do you misrepresent key eyewitness testimony and skew quotes, but you also lie by omission. I find it very telling that you did not address the videos of First Responders on the day of 9/11 walking back from WTC7, using such language as “the building is about to blow up” and “seven’s exploding”. This can be found in our video at 5:48 in. Maybe it’s because you know that regardless of the language being used, foreknowledge of the collapse in itself is entirely inconsistent with a “new phenomenon” (NIST’s thermal expansion theory). Maybe it’s because you know that the BBC reporting the collapse of WTC7 26 minutes in advance is especially inconsistent with a “new phenomenon”. I ask the reader – does this pass the smell test?

Again, how about presenting all the evidence and let the viewer decide? Will you at least include these videos in your future films?

MICHAEL HESS

Despite the many shortcomings in your track record as an investigative journalist thus far, we are given yet a new eyewitness who has changed his mind about the explosion he heard and now confirms the timeline you contrived. You mention that Hess used to work as Giuliani’s chief
lawyer. You fail to mention, however, that he has since been awarded a lucrative position as Vice Chairman of Giuliani Partners, a company notorious for banking in on the 9/11 tragedy. Not to mention that Rudy Giuliani has quite a few 9/11-related questions to answer himself, and is widely despised by Firemen and First Responders alike.

http://www.wnbc.com/politics/13404578/detail.html?dl=mainclick

Also, Michael Hess’ UPN9 interview from the day of 9/11 contradicts your contrived timeline.

http://www.911blogger.com/node/17829

Will you include this in your upcoming hit-piece?

RECAP

Mike Rudin, representing the BBC, does not deny misrepresenting Barry Jennings’ timeline, nor has he adequately explained why they did this. Nor does he deny skewing Larry Silverstein’s quote, nor does he even attempt to explain this omission, and further implies that this omission does not distort the context of the quote. Rudin also ommits key video testimony, and then ignores it when addressed to him. These are only a few of many dirty tricks demonstrated by the BBC in both of their 9/11 Hit-pieces.

QUESTIONS FOR MIKE RUDIN:

Did you ask Barry Jennings to clarify whether the towers were standing when he felt the explosion?

If so, what exactly did he say, and why wasn’t that critical segment of the interview included in your film? Why did you speak for him?

Why didn’t you address these discrepancies to the BBC audience rather then omitting them?

What “other information” besides Michael Hess lead you to misrepresent Jennings’ timeline?

Why did you skew Larry Silverstein’s statement? Was this more “cock-up, not conspiracy”?

Will the BBC publicly apologize for this?

CALL TO ACTION

Readers should contact Mike Rudin and the BBC and demand the immediate release of the full, uncut Barry Jennings interview, as well as a public apology for the other distortions and omissions.

For a full debunking of the ‘Third Tower’ Hit-piece, read this great article

http://www.911blogger.com/node/16564

Comment Rules

9 Responses to “WeAreChange Debunks the BBC Part 2: A Call to Action”

NeoCon Narc Says:
October 25th, 2008 at 11:33 am
LOL.
I am watching their video on cable right now.
Selective reporting is what I mainly see too.
I especially love how they put titles before each persons interview.
“Conspiracy Nut from Insane Asylum Theory”: That jet fighters fly around 24/7 and never need fuelling.

“Expert Sane Theory”: Jet Fighters do have to fuel and therefore were not available.”
Seems silly to spend so much money trying to debunk a theory if it has no validity.
Like when people say it is obvious why the 2 towers fell because we saw planes fly into them.
But no one addresses what blew up the buildings?? They did not just fall or collapse as told.
england expects Says:
October 25th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
good old bbc the third time in 4 months they have tried to fuck their story up and they have succeded again how many goes do you want boys ????? you were wrong the first go and you are wrong now, give up boys you are just making cunts of yourselfs
Doctor Metropolis Says:
October 26th, 2008 at 2:36 am
Once again the BBC are serving their masters as instructed. If you listen carefully, you will hear the sound of pale geriatric flesh slapping in applause from the throne room that they kneel before. The BBC will be rewarded with a gaggle of freshly trafficked children to bring to the next group orgy at the house of lords.
Joanna Says:
October 27th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
you know what I am sick of being lied to by the BBC , I clearly heard Barry Jennings words and now the BBC think they can distort his them and make idiots of us all. I am British and I am getting really angry about all of this. 9/11 WAS AN INSIDE JOB!!! English I disagree with you on every point you make in your comment (not to mention my utter disgust at your ignorance and potty mouth) quite frankly you need to educate yourself . For all other readers, the British are not idiots , we simply have the truth distorded and held back from is. Keep the great work up Alex I’m with you all the way.
Carl Says:
October 27th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Did anyone see the rebroadcast of the Building 7 hit piece on Sunday? It had been re-edited, and among other amendments, Silverstein’s quote was included in full. Having said that, Barry Jennings contribution was still misrepresented and his key statements to Loose Change omitted. It is bizarre that Barry Jennings seemed to take back much of what he said to Loose Change. We can only speculate as to the reasons for that, but fear must have been a factor.
Using Mark Loizeaux of Controlled Demo Inc. as a witness for the defence (of the official story) is a bit of a sick joke, seeing as how his company has worked on Government demolitions for years, was contracted to remove rubble for the World Trade Centre site (and the equally controversial Oklahoma bombing), and is under suspicion from many quarters as being involved in the demo of building 7! I noticed how the BBC did not point out to viewers that CDI removed the rubble from the WTC site.
JJ Says:
October 28th, 2008 at 7:57 am
Here’s the note I shot over to that canary-journalist, Mike Rudin. As a mass communications student I am fuming at this minion peddling his owners’ lies.

In my studies in film class I discovered just how crucial editing factors when composing a finished work. Every second can be tweaked, combine one section with another and the mind combines them outright as long as there’s a linking factor.

Your work is the most basic yellow journalism I’ve yet seen in my lifetime. If you wish to know why your viewers are going away, look in the mirror and see who’s responsible. I love the way true engineering science has been rendered a conspiracy now, as if that word alone renders the argument moot and invalid. Well, I have news for you, Mr. Stooge, people are waking up every day, thousands upon thousands of them. Even with the horrifying prospect that the American government was complicit for the 9/11 attack, people are still finding the strength to quest for truth. You are now not only despised, you’ve become a joke, utterly irrelevant until the day you die.

Life is full of choices, and you made the wrong one. The editing of your piece gives you away for what you truly are, a propagandist, a peddler of smutty lies.

May God have mercy on your lying soul, for I will not.
Joe Says:
October 28th, 2008 at 11:11 am
RIP Barry Jennings.

I wonder how he died.

The timing is a little suspect.
UK girl Says:
October 29th, 2008 at 7:47 am
worst thing is if i don’t pay my TV licence fee to the bbc, i will receive a fine of £1000 and a criminal record. its a JOKE! I pay £120 a yr to have garbage shoved down my throat.
Garfield Says:
October 31st, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Future generations will learn about 911. I hope from the perspective of Justice and Virtue having provailed victourious. If so they will ask. How did you allow Fascists to get in control of the Western world and conspire to murder all of those poor unfortunate people who just had the misfortune of turning up to work? We will have no answer other than to apologise for being a bunch of lazy lathargic greedy cowards. I honestly believe that the USA has become the Fourth Reich. If we don`t defend ourselves it will be concentration camps next!