Challenging Our National Sacred Myth

Now that President Obama has opened up the 9/11 can of worms with his Osama Spectacle, it appears to be a good opportunity to revisit this issue. Here is a speech by David Ray Griffin that was made into a film, 9/11 The Myth and the Reality. In this speech, he exposes nine falsehoods that individuals embrace when it comes to the events of 9/11, shows why they are unfounded, and offers his best view why the official conspiracy theory is false.

Griffin is a philosopher of religion and a theologian. That gives him an interesting perspective on the role of Myth in our lives. The official 9/11 story, delivered by President Bush from the pulpit of the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. just a couple of days after the event has become our nation's sacred myth. September 11th has become our new "Good Friday" in which the righteous were massacred by the radical Muslim horde.

Challenging this Myth is therefore blasphemy.

According to the official story about 9/11, America, because of its goodness, was attacked by fanatical Arab Muslims who hate our freedoms. This story has functioned as a Sacred Myth for the United States since that fateful day. And this function appears to have been carefully orchestrated. The very next day, President Bush announced his intention to lead "a monumental struggle of Good versus Evil."1 Then on September 13, he declared that the following day would be a National Day of Prayer and Remembrance for the Victims of the Terrorist Attacks. And on that next day, the president himself, surrounded by Billy Graham, a cardinal, a rabbi, and an imam, delivered a sermon in the national cathedral, saying:

"Our responsibility to history is already clear: to answer these attacks and rid the world of Evil. War has been waged against us by stealth and deceit and murder. This nation is peaceful, but fierce when stirred to anger. . . . In every generation, the world has produced enemies of human freedom. They have attacked America, because we are freedom's home and defender. And the commitment of our fathers is now the calling of our time. . . . [W]e ask almighty God to watch over our nation, and grant us patience and resolve in all that is to come. . . . And may He always guide our country. God bless America."

Through this unprecedented event, in which the president of the United States issued a declaration of war from a cathedral, French author Thierry Meyssan observed in 2002, "the American government consecrated . . . its version of events. From then on, any questioning of the official truth would be seen as sacrilege."

While preferable to sit back and watch the whole film, I thought I would do the work for you and list the nine myths and show you where you can find each addressed in the film.

You can purchase the film on DVD. You will also find it at a number of places on line, but the best quality is the one I have embedded. You have to put up with some advertising. Those who want to snicker will get a kick that it is posted on UFOTV!

You will also find a transcript of his speech here.

Here are the nine myths and where you can find them addressed in the film.

Myth Number 1: Our political and military leaders simply would not do such a thing. (11:00)

Myth Number 2: Our political and military leaders would have had no motive for orchestrating the 9/11 attacks. (13:14)

Myth Number 3: Such a big operation, involving so many people, could not have been kept a secret, because someone involved in it would have talked by now. (17:30)

Myth Number 4: The 9/11 Commission, which has endorsed the official account, was an independent, impartial commission and hence can be believed. (19:20)

Myth Number 5: The Bush administration provided proof that the attacks were carried out by al-Qaeda terrorists under the direction of Osama bin Laden. (22:40)

Myth Number 6: The 9/11 attacks came as a surprise to the Bush administration. (27:58)

Myth Number 7: US officials have explained why the hijacked airliners were not intercepted. (34:55)

Myth Number 8: Official Reports have explained why the Twin Towers and Building 7 of the World Trade Center collapsed. (44:18)

Myth Number 9: There is no doubt that Flight 77, under the control of al-Qaeda hijacker Hani Hanjour, struck the Pentagon. (57:35)

Here is your midnight movie.