ZGram - 1/23/2002 - "Carving up the evidence"

irimland@zundelsite.org irimland@zundelsite.org
Wed, 23 Jan 2002 20:02:55 -0800


Copyright (c) 2001 - Ingrid A. Rimland

ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny

January 23, 2002

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

America's firemen are on the war path - and rightly so!  They are smelling
a rat - and see a politically motivated whitewash in the making.

While hundreds of their comrades died - and thousands are coming down with
mysterious, disabling lung conditions as an after-effect of the WTC fires
and collapse, the politicians are removing and destroying vital evidence -
physical evidence! - like steel girders, asbestos-sprayed floor beams etc.

This is Evidence Writ Large in any examination of WHY these structures
might have collapsed!

It is a sign of our surreal times that these fireman have to demand what
would be automatic if these buildings had been planes, trains or ships, or
if an accident had taken place in a subway tunnel.

Nonetheless, they ARE demanding.  These are testosterone-driven men, and if
anyone can get attention above and beyond the howling and yowling of the
lapdog media chorus, these men WILL get attention.  I bet you a dime that
the outline below is only the beginning something of significance to get to
the bottom of a truly dastardly crime.

[START]

CARVING UP THE EVIDENCE

 "Burning Questions...Need Answers": FE's Bill Manning Calls for
Comprehensive Investigation of WTC Collapse
http://fe.pennnet.com/Articles/Article_Display.cfm?Section=OnlineArticles&SubSec
tion=Display&PUBLICATION_ID=25&ARTICLE_ID=131225

 Fair Lawn, NJ, January 4, 2002-Bill Manning, Fire Engineering's editor in
chief, is summoning members of the fire service to "A Call to Action."

In his January 2002 Editor's Opinion, "$elling Out the Investigation"
(below), he warns that unless there is a full-blown investigation by an
independent panel established solely for that purpose, "the World Trade
Center fire and collapse will amount to paper- and computer-generated
hypotheticals."

Manning explained: "Clearly, there are burning questions that need answers
.... The lessons about the buildings' design and behavior in this
extraordinary event must be learned and applied in the real world."

 In an interview with the New York Daily News today, Manning reiterated his
call for a "full-throttle, fully resourced" investigation into the collapse
of the World Trade Center. He is asking members of the fire service to read
"WTC 'Investigation'? A Call to Action" in the January 2002 issue of Fire
Engineering and at fireengineering.com and to contact their representatives
in Congress and officials in Washington to ask that a blue ribbon panel be
convened to thoroughly investigate the WTC collapse.

 Among those also calling for the investigation are Sally Regenhard, the
mother of Christian Regenhard, the Fire Department of New York (FDNY)
probationary firefighter killed in the World Trade Center (WTC) attack, and
founder of the Campaign for Skyscraper Safety; Give Your Voice, a civilian
relatives' group headed by Michael Cartier, who lost his brother in the
collapse; prominent structural engineers and fire-safety experts, and New
York State Senators Charles Schumer and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

  $elling Out the Investigation

 By Bill Manning

  Did they throw away the locked doors from the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire?
Did they throw away the gas can used at the Happyland Social Club Fire? Did
they cast aside the pressure-regulating valves at the Meridian Plaza Fire?
Of course not. But essentially, that's what they're doing at the World
Trade Center.

 For more than three months, structural steel from the World Trade Center
has been and continues to be cut up and sold for scrap. Crucial evidence
that could answer many questions about high-rise building design practices
and performance under fire conditions is on the slow boat to China, perhaps
never to be seen again in America until you buy your next car.

 Such destruction of evidence shows the astounding ignorance of government
officials to the value of a thorough, scientific investigation of the
largest fire-induced collapse in world history. I have combed through our
national standard for fire investigation, NFPA 921, but nowhere in it does
one find an exemption allowing the destruction of evidence for buildings
over 10 stories tall.

  Hoping beyond hope, I have called experts to ask if the towers were the
only high-rise buildings in America of lightweight, center-core
construction. No such luck. I made other calls asking if these were the
only buildings in America with light-density, sprayed-on fireproofing.
Again, no luck-they were two of thousands that fit the description.

 Comprehensive disaster investigations mean increased safety. They mean
positive change. NASA knows it. The NTSB knows it. Does FEMA know it?

 No. Fire Engineering has good reason to believe that the "official
investigation" blessed by FEMA and run by the American Society of Civil
Engineers is a half-baked farce that may already have been commandeered by
political forces whose primary interests, to put it mildly, lie far afield
of full disclosure. Except for the marginal benefit obtained from a
three-day, visual walk-through of evidence sites conducted by ASCE
investigation committee members- described by one close source as a
"tourist trip"-no one's checking the evidence for anything.

 Maybe we should live and work in planes. That way, if disaster strikes, we
will at least be sure that a thorough investigation will help find ways to
increase safety for our survivors.

 As things now stand and if they continue in such fashion, the
investigation into the World Trade Center fire and collapse will amount to
paper- and computer-generated hypotheticals.

 However, respected members of the fire protection engineering community
are beginning to raise red flags, and a resonating theory has emerged: The
structural damage from the planes and the explosive ignition of jet fuel in
themselves were not enough to bring down the towers. Rather, theory has it,
the subsequent contents fires attacking the questionably fireproofed
lightweight trusses and load-bearing columns directly caused the collapses
in an alarmingly short time. Of course, in light of there being no real
evidence thus far produced, this could remain just unexplored theory.

 The frequency of published and unpublished reports raising questions about
the steel fireproofing and other fire protection elements in the buildings,
as well as their design and construction, is on the rise. The builders and
owners of the World Trade Center property, the Port Authority of New
York-New Jersey, a governmental agency that operates in an accountability
vacuum beyond the reach of local fire and building codes, has denied
charges that the buildings' fire protection or construction components were
substandard but has refused to cooperate with requests for documentation
supporting its contentions.

 Some citizens are taking to the streets to protest the investigation
sellout. Sally Regenhard, for one, wants to know why and how the building
fell as it did upon her unfortunate son Christian, an FDNY probationary
firefighter. And so do we.

 Clearly, there are burning questions that need answers. Based on the
incident's magnitude alone, a full-throttle, fully resourced, forensic
investigation is imperative. More important, from a moral standpoint, for
the safety of present and future generations who live and work in tall
buildings-and for firefighters, always first in and last out-the lessons
about the buildings' design and behavior in this extraordinary event must
be learned and applied in the real world.

 To treat the September 11 incident any differently would be the height of
stupidity and ignorance.

 The destruction and removal of evidence must stop immediately.

 The federal government must scrap the current setup and commission a fully
resourced blue ribbon panel to conduct a clean and thorough investigation
of the fire and collapse, leaving no stones unturned.

 Firefighters, this is your call to action. Visit WTC "Investigation"?: A
Call to Action, then contact your representatives in Congress and officials
in Washington and help us correct this problem immediately.

[END]


====

"The speed with which the WTC rubble is being packed up and sold as scrap
should remind our readers of how quickly the hole at the OK City bombing
site was filled with concrete.  Perhaps this will convince us that there is
a little more to the official story than meets the eye?"

(Sent to the Zundelsite)