The film “911 Dust and Deceit at the World Trade Center," continues film series in Peoria about what really happened on Sept. 11, 2001, and why it occurred.
"Dust and Deceit..." will be shown at 2 p.m. on Sat. April 7 at the Peoria Public Library, 107 NE Monroe at Main.
It's the latest in a series of films running on the first Saturday of the month questioning the conventional wisdom on 9-11, an issue that has split the left in the U.S. Many activists feel rehashing 9-11 is a pointless waste of energy or worse, brands leftist thinkers as conspiracy nuts.
Peoria activist Jim Senyszyn, who is working with the Midwest chapter of Citizens for Truth, disagrees. "People have got to realize governments have these phony incidents to provoke war," he said, "an excuse to make war. It might be happening in Iran now."
Senyszyn said the U.S. has a long history of provoking war with phony incidents, mentioning the Mexican War in the 19th century and the Gulf of Tompkin incident used to justify war in Vietnam.
There are many unanswered questions about the facts surrounding 9-11, he said.
"Dust and Deceit" focuses on the environmental disaster of 9-11 and the government's attempted cover up.
According to publicity about the film, it is based on interviews with scientists, waste management specialists, government workers, volunteers, the heroes and victims of the dust which permeated the air after 911.
"EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman announced to New Yorkers, shortly after the 911 attacks on the World Trade Towers that 'I am glad to reassure the people of New York and Washington DC that their air safe to breathe" and that we '. . .need not be concerned about environmental issues as [we] return to [our] homes and workplaces.'"At that time, she didn't have the information to support those assurances or make recommendations. The White House itself, through its Council on Environmental Quality, actually manipulated the statements being released by the EPA so as to soft-pedal health concerns.
"New York City totally falsified its information: doctoring the environmental test results and actually changing the numbers. Mayor Rudolf Giuliani’s office contacted the New York Daily News in October 2001 to tell them to stop covering the issue and leaned hard on reporter Juan Gonzalez as told in Gonzalez’s book Fallout: The Environmental Consequences of the World Trade Center Collapse.
"Because of these misleading statements, the public was put at risk. This is true even though the EPA reversed course in May of 2002 and initiated an extremely limited and flawed voluntary cleanup. There is evidence of a coverup, and a media blackout. Thousands of people are ill; some have died."
Senyszyn stated that the environmental claims at the time now assume greater importance since Giuliani is a front runner for the Republican nomination for president.
The film showing is free and open to the public.
It also will be shown on area public access cable systems at 8 p.m. on Mondays, where people can see it at home, videotape it and share it with friends, Senyszyn said. These are Channel 22 in Peoria and East Peoria, and Channel 5 in Morton and Pekin.
For further information on 9-11 conspiracies, Senyszyn recommends “The 911 Commission Report: A 571-Page Lie” by Dr. David Ray Griffin.
--Elaine Hopkins