I Think We Have a Winnah!

In the "Who can come up with the most unbelievable resume in order to back up their claims of being relevant to 9-11 crackpottery" contest.

Meet Torin Wolf, who claims:

Torin is proud of his native Cherokee heritage and his mother is the Band Historian of the White River Band Cherokee from the central United States. Since he received his GED at age 14, saying he is a smart guy is putting it lightly. For over 12 years he worked as a hazardous materials contractor specializing in asbestos abatement and concrete construction sampling. Add to his resume the fact that he designed and implemented well over 100 controlled demolitions. He was not just helping at a lower level in the demolitions - he was the guy responsible for calling the shots. Afterwards, he became a certified structural steel welder and worked in heavy and mega construction for over 5 years in locations around the world including several skyscrapers.

Ironically, Torin signed his papers to join the army on September 11th, 2000. He knew something was wrong with the official 9/11 story when his army handlers took his squad into a room just in time to watch the buildings collapse. With his demolitions experience, he immediately knew those towers could not have fallen like that without explosives. He went on to serve “with honor and distinction” with the 21st Combat Support Hospital in Mosul, Iraq during the first part of Operation Iraqi Freedom and earned the Bronze Star with V device for valor in combat.

Let's tackle that GED at age 14. The article here is a little vague on where Torin grew up (central United States doesn't tell us much), but fortunately he appeared briefly in a NOVA documentary on Iraq (so his claim there certainly seems validated), which includes this passage:

NARRATOR: Private First Class Torin Howling Wolf is a Cherokee who grew up in the White River Tribe, in Kansas.

Okay, what are the requirements for a GED in Kansas?

Who Is Eligible?

You are eligible to take the GED tests, according to the Kansas Board of Regents, www.kansasregents.org, if you meet the following requirements:

* You are a resident of Kansas.

* You are 18 years of age (If you are between 16 and 18 years of age, you can still take the exam under special conditions.)

So it seems unlikely that Torin took the test, let alone that he passed it. Remember that as a Native American he may not be subject to normal state requirements. But still this is the first checkable claim made in the discussion, and it appears highly unlikely to be true.

We've discussed the fact that he does appear in a documentary in Iraq so his service there is genuine. But he does repeat one obviously debunked canard:

Torins insight as a combat nurse reveals that the actual amount of dead troops numbers around 15,000-17,000, not the 3,500 we have been told. “If you get shot in combat – Bam! Clock goes off. If you die in transit [to a hospital out of Iraq such as Ramstein in Germany] you are not an official Iraq casualty.” The same holds true if the troops out of the country die 24 hours after they were hit in Iraq. The official troop death number is just those that have died in action on the ground.

But his claimed credentials prior to enlisting in the military at a claimed age of 30 are eye-opening. Twelve years of asbestos abatement? I can buy that, but doesn't that sort of take us back to age 18? Where does he work in the years of concrete testing, structural welding and demolition? Is this why we get the claim about him getting his GED at age 14?

And there's more BS here:

“Unless you want to be charged as a terrorist, I suggest you leave the room now. This is technically seditious material and you can be charged under section 802 of the Patriot Act just for being here.”

Section 802 of the Patriot Act:

SEC. 802. DEFINITION OF DOMESTIC TERRORISM.

(a) DOMESTIC TERRORISM DEFINED- Section 2331 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--

(1) in paragraph (1)(B)(iii), by striking `by assassination or kidnapping' and inserting `by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping';

(2) in paragraph (3), by striking `and';

(3) in paragraph (4), by striking the period at the end and inserting `; and'; and

(4) by adding at the end the following:

`(5) the term `domestic terrorism' means activities that--

`(A) involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State;

`(B) appear to be intended--

`(i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;

`(ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or

`(iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and

`(C) occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.'.

(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT- Section 3077(1) of title 18, United States Code, is amended to read as follows:

`(1) `act of terrorism' means an act of domestic or international terrorism as defined in section 2331;'.

He comes off like an Alex Jones wannabe:

Then tells us that the patriot act was written prior to 9/11, “This is admitted.” Also admitted is the fact that the patriot act has been used to come after American citizens over eight hundred times.

Also "admitted" in this case is that the link under "eight hundred times" goes to Prison Planet, Alex's fruitcake website.

He makes some basic mistakes which call into question his command of the material:

Next, we are shown an incredible bit of detective work on Torins part. He shows a sequence of 12 different pictures of the collapse initiation of the North tower, WTC 1. Torin explains that the antenna on the top of the world trade center is a perfect guide of measurement for height, as there is a standard of changing the paint color of antennas once per fifty feet. The part of the antenna on the roof of WTC 1 appears black, then white alternated every fifty feet. There is a guide wire in the bottom left of every picture that shows that the camera does not move. Why is this picture so interesting? It shows the antenna, which is held up by the core columns, fall before the rest of the building while the fire line on the 78th floor doesn't move. Torin then goes through the hard physics of the scene we're looking at and explains how it directly contradicts the official story, “This building is not collapsing on the 78th floor. The antenna falls 56 feet before the 78th floor falls.”

Incredible indeed, considering that the North Tower was not hit anywhere near the 78th floor, but actually was hit around the 93rd floor. And it can't be a simple mistake of the writer because the North Tower is the one that has the antenna.

And he makes ludicrous claims:

Much to the surprise of many audience members, we learned from Torin that by far the most dangerous on the list was the pulverized concrete. The pulverized concrete, which was thick in the air around ground zero after the collapses of WTC 1 and 2, had a pH of 12 which is “about the same as drain cleaner.” This pH level, when breathed in and gets wet in your lungs, will cause chemical burns. “Wet concrete can burn you,” Torin adds. The asbestos is bad, but that will kill you over 20 years - the powdered concrete will kill much faster. So its no surprise to learn that all of the 9/11 rescue and recovery dogs are dead.

In fact, a hero dog of 9-11 just died, but the notion that this is the last dog remaining is pretty silly:

Some owners of rescue dogs who worked at ground zero claim their animals have died because of their work there. But scientists who have spent years studying the health of Sept. 11 search-and-rescue dogs have found no sign of major illness in the animals.

At any rate, there are plenty of red flags here.