SCADs
A symposium in the February 2010 issue of American Behavioral Scientist, one of our leading social science journals, argues that social scientists need to develop a scientific approach to studying an increasingly important type of criminality: State Crimes Against Democracy, abbreviated SCADs,69 understood as "concerted actions . . . by government insiders intended to manipulate democratic processes and undermine popular sovereignty." Having the "potential to subvert political institutions and entire governments . . . [SCADs] are high crimes that attack democracy itself."70
Distinguishing between SCADs that have been officially proven, such as "the Watergate break-ins and cover-up . . . , the secret wars in Laos and Cambodia . . . , the illegal arms sales and covert operations in Iran-Contra . . . , and the effort to discredit Joseph Wilson by revealing his wife's status as an intelligence agent," on the one hand, and suspected SCADs for which there is good evidence, on the other, the symposium authors include in the latter category "the fabricated attacks on U.S. ships in the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964 . . . , the "October Surprises" in the presidential elections of 1968 . . . and 1980 . . . , the assassinations of John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy . . . , the election breakdowns in 2000 and 2004 . . . , the numerous defense failures on September 11, 2001 . . . , and the misrepresentation of intelligence to justify the invasion and occupation of Iraq."71
Besides regarding 9/11 as one of the suspected SCADs for which there is good evidence, this symposium treats it as its primary example. The abstract for the introductory essay begins by asserting: "The ellipses of due diligence riddling the official account of the 9/11 incidents continue being ignored by scholars of policy and public administration."72 The symposium's final essay, criticizing the majority of the academic world for its "blithe dismissal of more than one law of thermodynamics" that is violated by the official theory of the World Trade Center collapses,73 also criticizes the academy for its failure to protest when "Professor Steven Jones found himself forced out of a tenured position for merely reminding the world that physical laws, about which there is no dissent whatsoever, contradict the official theory of the World Trade Center Towers' collapse."74
The authors of this symposium point out, moreover, that the official theory of the destruction of the three World Trade Center towers has serious implications for science and engineering. If NIST's explanation "provides the most robust account of the Towers' collapse, based on known science," then some previously accepted physical laws would need to be revised:
"[These laws] would have to succumb, at some point, to the theoretical claims purported to explain the Towers' collapse: New laws determining when steel melts and the phases at which such material loses its tensile strength would have at some point to replace existing science-based presumptions."75
This revision of physical laws would also have practical implications for building codes: "[T]he specifications of design for all skyscrapers ought, in the public interest, to be subjected to major review." The acceptance of NIST's account, therefore, creates an "obvious crisis," which should be evoking scientific and practical responses. 76
The practical crisis that should have been caused by NIST's report on WTC 7 had previously been addressed by four of the "Jersey Girls," who had been instrumental in getting the 9/11 Commission created. In a statement released in September 2008, they wrote:
"Over the past seven years, the Families of the 9/11 Victims have been repeatedly told by fire experts, engineers and architects that we should NOT FOCUS our efforts on advocating for building and fire code changes based on the collapse of the WTC 1 and 2 towers. We were continuously reminded that the crashing of airplanes into buildings was a unique event. Additionally, we were told that the design and construction of WTC Towers 1 and 2 was unique and that there were no other buildings of that particular height or design in the world. We were repeatedly told that the key was WTC 7 since this building was of conventional design and height, yet it too collapsed without the unique event of an airplane striking it. . . .
"Dr. Shyam Sunder of NIST . . . stated that WTC 7 met all New York City codes. Yet, WTC 7 is the first steel high-rise building of traditional construction in the United States -- and the world, to completely collapse as a result of fire. According to . . . Dr. Sunder, "there were no flaws with the construction of the building."
"We don't how the rest of the country is feeling about this news, but we are very scared! These findings suggest that ANY EXISTING building is prone to a progressive collapse if a fire should start and the sprinkler system fails for whatever reason. . . .
"The ultimate purpose of advocating for the $16 million to have NIST study this event was to determine how to make buildings safer in the future. If we are now to believe that any skyscraper is subject to total collapse from fire, why isn't NIST emphasizing the impact on EXISTING buildings? . . . NIST needs to . . . provide guidance for EXISTING buildings.
"NIST should put the most important conclusion in plain English and announce it to the entire country: UNCONTROLLED FIRES IN HIGH-RISE BUILDINGS CAN LEAD TO THEIR TOTAL COLLAPSE. . . . NIST must address this dangerous issue immediately. The future safety of the public and the fire services hangs in the balance."77
Like the SCADs symposium, this brilliant piece of satire makes clear that NIST's explanation of WTC 7's collapse should have created a crisis in many fields, both theoretical and practical. The implications of NIST's explanation should have been extensively discussed in technical journals of various types and then in newspapers and on television programs and radio talk shows. But no such discussion occurred. The worlds of physics, engineering, building codes, and public safety continued on as if the report had never been issued. How can we understand this?
Hiding the Most Obvious Evidence that 9/11 Was a SCAD
If the reason why the collapse of WTC 7 did not occur "under normal circumstances" is the fact that it was part of 9/11, which was a SCAD, then it would not be surprising that the collapse of this building, which "under normal circumstances would probably have captured the attention of the city and the world," did not do so.
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