French Author claims Pentagon not attacked

The Scotsman ^ | April 1, 2002 | Rebecca Harrison in Paris

[Shermy]

THE French are lapping up a conspiracy theory about the plane that smashed into the Pentagon.

In a book, The Frightening Fraud, that is being snapped up off the shelves and topping bestseller lists, Thierry Meyssan, president of Reseau Voltaire, a respected left-wing think-tank, propounds that American Airlines Flight 77 that crashed into the Pentagon in Washington on 11 September, killing 189 people, did not exist and that the whole thing was staged by the US government.

"I believe the American government is lying ... No plane crashed into the Pentagon," he told France 2 television. He did not provide an alternative theory for what may have damaged the Pentagon.

Although French media has scoffed at Mr Meyssan’s musings, the public are intrigued. The book shot to the top of Amazon France’s bestseller list and made it to second place in the sales list of the booksellers’ weekly Livres Hebdo.

Libération slammed the book as "a tissue of wild allegations", marvelling at its quick rise to fame, from internet chatrooms, via television chat shows, to bestseller.

Conspiracy theories like the rumours that swirled around the 1963 shooting of the US president, John F Kennedy, or the idea that man never actually set foot on the moon, are not uncommon in the United States, but are rare in France.

"This phenomenon is not typical of the French," a sociologist, Pierre Lagrange, told Libération. "But the events of 11 September gave us a reality so similar to science fiction, that there has been more of a market for paranoid interpretations."

Mr Meyssan says key evidence shows witness accounts are contradictory, that there are few photographs of the crash and that those that do exist show no debris from the plane. He also asks why the façade of the Pentagon did not immediately collapse from the shock of the impact and questions the fate of the passengers on the flight.

Le Monde newspaper and Libération both investigated Mr Meyssan’s theory, tracking down relatives of the victims, and questioning officials over the crash.

Le Nouvel Observateur denounced the book as revisionism. "This theory suits everyone - there are no Islamic extremists … everyone is happy. It eliminates reality."

However, while Le Monde dismissed Meyssan’s theory as flimsy, it admitted that information available did not quite add up. "There is no official account of the crash … the lack of information is feeding the rumour."

[M Kehoe]

Well, it is the first of April.

5.56mm

[Lazamataz]

The cheese-eating surrender-monkeys strike again!

I have it on good authority that briefly after September 11, the French government offered to surrender to Afghanistan.

[spqrzilla9]

Definitely aluminum foil hat time.

[steveo]

Hey Thierry, go take a shower and shaddup.

[paolop]

Le Monde is a left wing, pseudo-intellectual Rag.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

One could only guess that Thierry Meyssan has dinner with Elvis on a weekly basis.

[Brundledan]

On the bright side, this means that we can dismiss any news that might come out of France of the Eiffel Tower being blown up, as a figment of the Frogs' imagination.

Such a despicable country.

-Dan

[M Kehoe]

I have it on good authority that briefly after September 11, the French government offered to surrender to Afghanistan.

Was that Jacque? The guy we met in Toronto? Wasn't he with the Foreign Legion?

Yeah, I believe him. Plus, this doesn't surprise me.

5.56mm

[muggs]

We have an eye witness from the jetliner==Mrs. Olsen who described, via a phone, the terrorist, and their boxcutters, and seeing buildings as it was heading towards the Pentagon. If no crash, then WHERE IS MRS. OLSON. Those French are idiots!!

[Pharmer]

Man, I'm telling you Winston Churchill was right! We should have invaded Europe through the Balkans. That would have cut off the Russians from Eastern Europe, and left these French whores to deal with the Nazis themselves! Eurotrash!!!

[Shermy]

Could be April Fools, but maybe not. French paranoia and patronizing behavior at the USA does not come from their greater experience, but is a reaction to their local Islamist problem - quite a bit to consider. Better, deflect, yell about Israel, America, etc.

[alpowolf]

Everybody who gives a rat's @ss what the French think, raise your hand. Maybe they can convince themselves that they're major players on the world stage by crapping on us. But they sure won't convince me.

[Senator Pardek]

What's this fellow's FR handle (I have a few theories as to what it is)?

[colorado tanker]

Hmmm. The latest theory is that cro-magnon man did not disappear, but cohabited and even intermarried with homo sapiens, modern man. The diminished brain capacity of the author of this book and the French bookbuying public solves the mystery - cro-magnon settled in what is now France.

[Shermy]

I found a German article dated 3/27 talking about the French theory, so therefore, seemingly not an April Fools joke.

[malakhi]

Hey, they don't believe that their country is being overrun by muslims, either.

[DugwayDuke]

I'm giving four to three odds that Justin Raimondo incorporates this into his Jewish conspiracy theories by weeks end.

[CyberCowboy777]

[nopardons]

That*s hat I was thinking. LOL The idiot author, sounds exactly like a handful here. I bet that they*ll be quoting this book very, very, VERY soon.