Where Do They Come Up With This Stuff?

As I mentioned previously, I am not going to get up at 7 AM to listen to Bermas’ radio show (despite his repeated appeals for callers), but I did get around to downloading an MP3 of his January 13th show from GCN, and unfortunately the quality of his thought process did not improve with the switch of radio networks.

First of all it is apparent that he is getting bored of talking about 9/11, since he managed to bring in just about every conspiracy theory out there. Bermas (Avery joined him) seemed to talk about the imminent New World Order take over, NAFTA, and the mythical North American Union more than 9/11. Once again his theme is that the NWO is going to devalue the dollar and replace with with the “Amero”, for a yet unexplained purpose. Considering that Avery managed to flunk high school economics, and Bermas’ claim to fame seems to be working the night shift at Pizza Hut, I am not sure how much credit I should give them on their analysis of currency policy…

Anyway, they did get around to discussing 9/11 in this bizarre exchange which started by discussing the recent Able Danger reports, where it was revealed that Mohammed Atta was not identified before 9/11.

Bermas: We already know Atta was trained in a Montgomery Alabama Air Force Base. I mean, that is not debatable, Maxwell. We know that some of the other hijackers were trained in Montgomery [sic] California. In fact we had the Vice Chancellor of the Defense Language School [sic] go public, Steven Butler and say that he personally knew and was in contact with one of the supposed hijackers and had trained others. And these are mainstream reports, and in fact I believe Steve Butler went as far as to say that Bush knew about the attacks and did nothing to stop them on purpose. Correct Dylan?

Avery: Yeah, yeah, definitely.

I don't think "not debatable" means what he thinks it does. This entire "Mohammed Atta training with the military" story goes back to a single story by the Gannett News Service on September 21, 2001 which reads as follows:

A Pentagon spokesman, Col. Ken McClellan, said a man named Mohamed Atta had once attended the International Officer's School at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala.

But Atta is a fairly common surname in the Middle East and the suspected hijacker's first name is "probably the No. 1 name that is given to babies, in honor of the prophet Mohamed," said Alquatami.

Popular names

Other last names attached to the hijackers -- Alghamdi, Alomari, Al-Midhar, Alhamzi and Alshehri -- are also very popular.

This is their idea of "not debatable"? A single statement that someone with an extremely common name had attended a school at some time, and not a single piece of collaborating evidence in the subsequent 5 years. Wow, what cutting edge investigative reporting. It should also be pointed out that Mohammed Atta has turned up in more locations that Elvis.

As far as the hilariously bad Vice Chancellor at the "Defense Language School" in "Montgomery, California", here is the true story:

An officer in the United States Air Force has been relieved of his current duties for writing a letter to a local newspaper describing President George W Bush as a "joke".

Lieutenant Colonel Steve Butler said the president knew about the 11 September attacks on America and did nothing to warn the American people.

His suspension comes under a law dating back to the American War of Independence which forbids insults directed by military officers against the president or other political leaders.

Colonel Butler was serving as vice chancellor for student affairs at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, when he wrote the letter, published in the Monterey County Herald.

He did not say that he trained the hijackers, he just wrote a letter to the editor saying that Bush knew about the attacks.

This whole "hijacker training at DLI" myth, ironically, goes back to the same Gannett News Service report.

Also, a man having the same name as one of the suspected hijackers on the plane that crashed in western Pennsylvania, Saeed Alghamdi, attended California's Defense Language Institute in Presidio of Monterey, Calif.

Once again, not a single other piece of corroborating evidence in 5 years. The thing that always cracks me up is, what would a potential hijacker be doing studying at DLI anyway, working on his Korean?

Geez, Bermas has been "researching" this stuff for 5 years, and he can't even get the most basic facts right. Are we really to believe that in Loose Change v 4.0, they will finally get their story straight?