My first 9/11 documentary was blocked by YouTube due to a BBC copyright claim. The copyrighted content was the notorious 9/11 news report where the BBC prematurely announced the collapse of World Trade Centre 7 — the "Salomon Brothers building" — some twenty minutes before it actually came down. BBC journalist Jane Standley attempted to provide information about the collapse while the largely undamaged north side of the building clearly stood behind her. The New York feed was then cut. The building, as reported, then came down. And, like some cheap magic trick, the BBC resumed their live report with WTC 7 no longer there. An odd news item that was later lost in the massive BBC archives before being copyright-banned on YouTube fuelling 9/11 conspiracy theories.
WTC 7 housed several government agencies including the CIA, DOD, Secret Service, and the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management (NYC OEM). OEM staff arrived early on 9/11 to prepare for “Operation Tripod†(an elaborately staged bioterrorist attack). Following the actual attack on the Twin Towers, staff quickly relocated their headquarters to Pier 92 which had already been set up for the exercise. The unique location, construction and structural modification of Building 7 set the stage for its collapse on 9/11. Huge chunks of debris hit the south side of the building when the 110-storey Twin Towers came crashing down a little over a block away cutting water lines and starting fires. (WTC 7 was built above an electricity substation and contained numerous generators and fuel oil storage tanks.) Seven hours later, with the fires burning out of control, the FDNY evacuated all of its personnel from the building due to visible signs that it was about to collapse. That information was then passed on to the BBC in London where it was reported as an actual collapse.
A National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) investigation into the collapse of WTC 7 concluded that the thermal expansion of steel floor beams pushed a girder off its seat thereby causing the failure of a "critical" central support column triggering, partly at free-fall speed, the damaged building's global collapse as the core went down and everything else came crashing down upon it. An unprecedented event that has led to something of a reevaluation of the building safety code.
WTC 7 was owned by billionaire businessman Larry Silverstein (a close friend of many top Israelis including Ariel Sharon, Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak). Silverstein purchased the Twin Towers just six weeks before the September 11 attack. On the morning of 9/11, Silverstein missed his regular breakfast meeting in the Windows on the World restaurant at the top of the North Tower due to a medical appointment which his wife had providentially booked for him that day. Following the destruction of his property on 9/11, Silverstein became embroiled in a legal dispute with insurers. The two hijacked airliners, Silverstein claimed, constituted two separate occurrences under the terms of the policy and, as such, he sought a double payout of $7.1 billion. The legal dispute finally ended in 2007 with a $4.55 billion settlement.
In 1974, after the Yom Kippur War and Arab oil embargo, the Saudis (and from 1975 all other OPEC members) started to sell their oil at an inflated price and for US dollars only. As well as purchasing yachts, sports cars, palaces and private jets for Saudi princes, these petrodollars were used to buy up US Treasury Bonds (effectively a loan to the US government at interest) funding the Cold War arms race (and US aid to Israel). They also financed major arms deals with Anglo-American weapons manufacturers and the rest were deposited into US bank accounts.
OPEC members account for almost half of global oil production and their insistence on payment solely in US dollars generates an artificial demand for American currency thereby increasing its value. This allows the Federal Reserve to inflate the US currency supply without the risk of hyperinflation. With a huge trade deficit and spiralling, unpayable debt, America increasingly depends on the petrodollar system to help maintain its global empire and high-energy consumer lifestyle. Iraq stopped selling its OPEC oil for US dollars in November 2000 following the launch of the euro.
"Saddam Hussein has also demonstrated a willingness to threaten to use the oil weapon and to use his own export program to manipulate oil markets. This would display his personal power, enhance his image as a “Pan-Arab†leader supporting the Palestinians against Israel, and pressure others for a lifting of economic sanctions against his regime. The United States should conduct an immediate policy review toward Iraq, including military, energy, economic, and political/diplomatic assessments." The Baker Institute for Public Policy, "Strategic Energy Policy Challenges for the 21st Century," April 2001, 46
Waleed Higgins
www.waleedhiggins.com