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And you wonder why there aren't any major peer reviewed scientific papers floating around? Here's what happens when you question the official story...
Lecturer denounces critics of his 9-11 teachings
'Inside job' theory draws calls for firing, UW probe
By MEGAN TWOHEY
[email protected]
Posted: July 9, 2006
A University of Wisconsin-Madison lecturer who has sparked controversy by teaching that the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were an inside job lashed out Sunday at public officials who have questioned his right to teach.
Speaking at a gathering at UW-Milwaukee, Kevin Barrett took aim at state Rep. Stephen Nass (R-Whitewater), U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-Wis.) and Gov. Jim Doyle.
Doyle, a Democrat, joined the chorus of critics Friday by questioning whether Barrett has the "capacity to teach students in this state."
"I've been teaching for 20 years," Barrett told a crowd of more than 100, many of them cheering supporters. "I dare say I know more about teaching than the governor of the state."
The public sparring came as UW-Madison concludes a 10-day review of Barrett. The university is expected to announce early this week whether the part-time lecturer will be allowed to teach a class on Islam this fall, and if so, whether he will be able to share his theories on 9-11, as he plans to do.
UW spokesman Dennis Chaptman, who attended Sunday's event, said he was not in a position to comment.
Barrett, a bearded man with unkempt hair, said in an interview that he had met with Provost Patrick Farrell twice last week. The provost, Barrett said, never suggested that he would be prevented from teaching the fall course titled, "Islam: Religion and Culture," at a salary of $8,247.
He said Farrell was open to his including theories that the Bush administration planned the 9-11 attacks for its own benefit in the class. Barrett has discussed these theories in a previous class on folklore.
"Basically, the rules of the university are such that it would be a gross violation of academic freedom to fire me," said Barrett, 47, who earned his PhD in African languages and literature from UW-Madison in 2004. "I don't think they'll stand in the way of my teaching. I think I'll basically be able to stick with the syllabus as it currently stands."
The theories that Barrett plans to include in his upcoming course are espoused by a small but vocal group of academics that includes Steven Jones, a physicist from Brigham Young University; David Ray Griffin, a retired professor from the Claremont School of Theology; and James H. Fetzer, a retired philosophy professor from the University of Minnesota-Duluth.
Fetzer, a burly man with a booming voice, co-chairs a group called 9/11 Scholars for Truth. He outlined the theories at Sunday's gathering, saying:
- Explosives must have been detonated inside the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, because the impact of the airplanes was not enough to bring down the twin towers.
- That the damage to the Pentagon was such that a smaller military plane, as opposed to a large commercial aircraft, must have flown into the Pentagon, shooting a missile as it went.
- That the debris of the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania was scattered so widely that it must have been shot down.
- That half a dozen of the men who are said to have hijacked the planes are still living in the Middle East.
"It's a myth," Fetzer said of the generally accepted view that Islamic terrorists were behind the attacks. "The American government has been practicing terrorism on its own people."
Barrett told the crowd that the Bush administration orchestrated the attacks to justify invading Iraq. He said the purpose to the war was to take control of oil and other resources in the Middle East.
"The 9-11 images were designed to make us stupid, little children," he said.
Nass has called on UW-Madison's chancellor, John Wiley, to fire Barrett, arguing that it is unacceptable for Barrett to use the university to add credibility to "outlandish claims."
Green, who is running for governor, has said that no public funding should be used to support Barrett's teaching.
Mark Graul, a spokesman for Green, said "that he's being paid to teach this garbage is putting a black eye on the whole state. There is no merit to his theory. All you had to have was a TV to know what happened on 9-11."
But many of those who attended Sunday's gathering disagreed.
John Boly, a literature professor at Marquette University, said Barrett should be able to share his theories in the classroom.
Maryann Stubbs, a computer programmer at UW-Madison, agreed. "I think that all viewpoints should be covered," she said.
Rick Goyett, a 21-year-old auto mechanic from Whitefish Bay, was convinced by the presentations.
"All you need is common sense to believe that 9-11 was an inside job," he said.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=459505
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