America's Betrayal Confirmed. Elias Davidsson

      In writing this book, I was guided by two ethical values: truth and justice. This does not shield me from factual mistakes, the use of unreliable sources or errors in reasoning. Readers, acting as a jury, will ultimately judge whether this book reflects such ethical values. I will be grateful for readers’ critical comments.

      Numerous excellent books have been written from a critical perspective on the events of 9/11. I wish first to cite two remarkable individuals, who already early on recognized the deceptive nature of the official account of 9/11: Thierry Meyssan, the French director of voltaire.net, who published two important eye-openers in 2002 and 2003 that have been translated into 26 languages.{2} The other is Andreas von Bülow, former German Minister of Research and Technology, who while being a member of the German Bundestag (Parliament) served on the parliamentary committee that supervises German intelligence agencies. Von Bülow made waves in Germany in 2002 after stating in a TV interview that “planning [and executing] the attacks was a master deed, in technical and organizational terms,(…) unthinkable without backing from the secret apparatuses of state and industry."{3} He later published a book about the role of secret services in international terrorism.{4} Both von Bülow and Meyssan were vilified by mainstream media for daring to question the official account of 9/11 and ultimately excluded from media coverage.

      David Ray Griffin, who only became a 9/11 skeptic a couple of years after the event, has become the leading scholar in 9/11 critical studies. He has written more than ten books on this subject, each with a different slant. Some of his books focus on particular aspects of 9/11, such as the dereliction of the 9/11 Commission, while others contain a heterogenous collection of articles on important facets of 9/11. His first book, The New Pearl Harbor, served and continues to serve as an excellent introduction to critical studies of 9/11. I concur with Professor Richard Falk's assessment of this book:

      David Ray Griffin has written an extraordinary book. If carefully read with even just a 30-percent open mind, it is almost certain to change the way we understand the workings of constitutional democracy in the United States at the highest levels of government. (...) It is rare, indeed, that a book has this potential to become a force of history.{5}

      Other authors, such as Webster Tarpley,{6} Michael Ruppert,{7} Peter Dale Scott,{8} and David MacGregor,{9} shed light on covert aspects of U.S. governance that help explain the rationale for the mass-murder of 9/11. These authors contend that there exists a deep and hidden structure ensconced within the official state apparatus of the United States, which wields far greater power than is generally suspected. Their view has been partly vindicated by revelations made in Europe concerning similar structures operating during the Cold War under the name of Stay-Behind Armies or Gladio.{10} Tarpley has also sketched a theory of synthetic terrorism, including a taxonomy of the actors involved. Other authors, including Barrie Zwicker, a veteran 9/11 researcher and producer of one of the best early documentaries on this issue,{11} have focussed on the role of media in covering-up the crime of 9/11 and that played by leftist gate-keepers in maintaining the belief in the so-called blow-back theory.{12} Specific aspects of 9/11 have been dealt in depth by several authors. Rowland Morgan, for example, provides an excellent critical analysis of the facts and myths surrounding flight UA93.{13} Political scientist Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed provided a fresh and critical evaluation of the al-Qaeda network and its covert links to Western intelligence agencies.{14} Aidan Monaghan has elicited important information by persistently and judiciously using Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests.{15}

      I wish to give also credit to four bloggers, who remain largely unknown but whose contributions to 9/11 truth have been original, relevant and significant: Aidan Monaghan, killtown, shoestring and Woody Box (the last three being pseudonyms). I am deeply indebted to their groundbreaking research. My sincere thanks also go to Dr. Ansgar Schneider of Bonn, Germany, for having meticulously reviewed the original manuscript and recommended numerous improvements, to Dr. Michael Morrissey, who critically reviewed the manuscript both regarding contents and language and to Dr. Pétur Knútsson of the University of Iceland for his critical comments and encouragement. Any remaining errors are mine. I also thank the numerous journalists, who wittingly or unwittingly revealed facts that help to better understand the complex 9/11 operation. I wish finally to acknowledge the excellent work of the international review panel investigation, summarized in the recent book 9/11 Unmasked. It represents the consensus of 23 eminent scholars regarding many of the aspects of 9/11 that are also discussed in that book.

      In this book I argue that the official narrative of 9/11, resting on a hijacking scenario, is pure fiction, or more accurately the most successful deception in known history in terms of the number of deceived people.{16} The success of this propaganda operation is not due to the compelling nature of the official narrative, but to the systematic manipulation of the public on and after 9/11 by official sources and the media despite the factual implausibility of that narrative. An open mind, however, can easily see through the deception, as I hope to show.

      Some readers may wonder why I do not discuss here the alleged role of Osama bin Laden in the attacks, if only to refute the claim of his responsibility. As will be shown, even the U.S. authorities did not accuse and charge him for 9/11. Accordingly, examining his verbal output would serve no purpose in this study.

      Readers may wish to know who, in my opinion, perpetrated the crime of 9/11. I leave this question to other authors. One author, Kevin Ryan, has already made a substantial contribution in this direction with his recent book Another Nineteen: Investigating Legitimate 9/11 Suspects.

      This book is organized in a modular manner which is designed to serve as a reference work on 9/11 for journalists, politicians, lawyers, researchers and libraries. Unlike most books and articles on this subject, which merely include links to internet sources – often no longer available – I have taken pains to provide easy and permanent access to most source documents by posting them on my personal website. This allows readers to easily verify the accuracy and relevancy of the facts that I present.

      The modular structure of the book means that the chapters can be read in any sequence. Each chapter provides independent evidence substantiating the charge of a government cover-up and/or complicity in the crime of 9/11. This modular architecture provides not only for structural clarity but strengthens the overall conclusion.