Vietnam Combat & Commercial Pilot Firm Believer 9/11 Was Inside
Government Job
Greg Szymanski
July 17 2005
There was no fooling former Air Force and commercial pilot Russ
Wittenberg the morning of 9/11. He knew it was an inside job from
the get-go, knowing the ‘big boys’ were up to the same
dirty tricks they played in the Kennedy assassination and Pearl Harbor.
The government may have fooled millions of Americans with its cockamamie
official story, but the former fighter pilot who flew over 100 combat
missions in Vietnam and who sat for 35 years in the cockpit for Pan
Am and United, wasn’t one of them.
Now, almost four years later, Wittenberg is still shaking his head
in disbelief more than ever, saying the country he loved and fought
so bravely 40 years ago has fallen in the deep, dark and sinister
hands of fascist leaders who are quickly turning America into a military
state.
Although back in the beginning he seemed like a lone wolf in the
hen house, he’s noticed, especially in the last six months,
more Americans waking up to the cold reality that the U.S. government
staged 9/1l, started an illegal war in Iraq and basically is criminally
responsible for killing hundreds of thousands of innocent lives here
and abroad.
Even though it’s a hard pill for some to swallow, Wittenberg
says Americans need to “wake up and wake up fast,” holding
those in government responsible even though it may mean a total makeover
of the American political system.
And for these despicable actions now taking place in the name of
freedom, the former F-100 Vietnam fighter pilot, who knows what it’s
like to be in harms way, directed a little military jab toward the
Commander and Chief, saying: “Oh, why doesn’t he wake
up and just fall on his sword.”
Talking about his obvious disgust for the Bush administration, he
bundles 9/11 into the neo con’s “neat little contrived
war package,” saying it was the lynch pin needed to usher in
a state of constant fear, a climate of war and a perfect setting
for the unconstitutional Patriot Act and eventual martial law.
“If you would have told me back in the 1970s this was going
to happen to America, I would have never imagined it. It’s
just not the same country I grew up in as all our Constitutional
freedoms are being stripped away right before our very eyes,” said
Wittenberg in a telephone conversation from his home in Carefree
Az., a picturesque and serene place on the map near Scottsdale.
“The government story they handed us about 9/11 is total B.S.
plain and simple. I also thoroughly went over the recent 9/11 Commission
report, finding about 110 outright lies and numerous other half-truths
and omissions in an obvious cover-up of not only the truth but of
a criminal investigation.
“Condaleeza Rice lied through her teeth when she testified
and if I would have had her on the stand for 10 minutes, I would
have had her in tears.”
Concerning 9/11, Wittenberg knew right off the bat the hijackers
- who couldn’t handle a Piper Cub - couldn’t fly the ‘big
birds” he flew for so many years, knowing the planes were also
incapable of performing such high speed maneuvers as the government
claimed.
He also knew the possibility of jet fuel bringing down the towers
made no sense. In fact, he knew the whole 9/11 story made about as
much sense as crossing the Atlantic in a row boat.
And right after 9/11 when it was unpopular and considered almost
treasonous to question the government, Wittenberg became the first
commercial airline pilot with experience flying the jets used in
9/11 to publicly denounce the government story.
Although speaking publicly on many occasions about the fictitious
government account of 9/11, it wasn’t until Sept. 16, 2004,
his controversial remarks aired on Wing TV, sparking a heated debate
among pilots and others clinging to the flimsy government account.
Knowing the flight characteristics of the “big birds” like
the back of his hand, Wittenberg convincingly argued there was absolutely
no possibility that Flight 77could have “descended 7,000 feet
in two minutes, all the while performing a steep 270 degree banked
turn before crashing into the Pentagon’s first floor wall without
touching the lawn.”
Wittenberg claimed the high speed maneuver would have surely stalled
the jetliner sending it into a nose dive, adding it was “totally
impossible for an amateur who couldn’t even fly a Cessna to
maneuver the jetliner in such a highly professional manner, something
Wittenberg said he couldn’t do with 35 years of commercial
jetliner experience.
“For a guy to just jump into the cockpit and fly like an ace
is impossible – there is not one chance in a thousand,” said
Wittenberg, recalling that when he made the jump from Boeing 727’s
to the highly sophisticated computerized characteristics of the 737’s
through 767’s it took him considerable time to feel comfortable
flying.
“I had to be trained to use the new, computerized systems.
I just couldn’t jump in and fly one,” he added.
Finding more inconsistencies with the government story about Flight
77, Wittenberg recalled the recent statements made by a flight controller
on an ABC 20/20 television program three months ago.
“If you listened to her carefully only an experienced pilot
probably would have known that what she was saying was scripted,” said
Wittenberg. “Remember the transponder was turned off on Flight
77 and when this occurs, all the particular flight data like air
speed and even the plane’s flight identification goes with
it.
“All that’s left on the controller’s screen is
a green blip, that’s it. But here you have this flight controller
on 20/20 saying she was tracking the flight with specific air speed
and other coordinates which was totally impossible once the transponder
was turned off. How would she even have known the flight number?
The whole story is a pack of lies and this is just another example.”
And from the moment Wittenberg called attention to the lies, he’s
been in the cross hairs defending his story, defending it by using
a little bit of psychology, a lot of history and asking critics to
answer questions before drawing conclusions.
“I’ve learned over the years, it’s hard to change
anybody’s mind when they really aren’t listening,” said
Wittenberg. “So, I just decided to fire back a lot of questions
to those people who believe the government story.
“I ask them explain how Building No.7 collapsed? I ask them
why haven’t the “black boxes” been recovered? I
ask them to explain how jet fuel – fuel that burns cold not
hot -- could bring down two high rise structures when more than 90%
of the fuel on board burned outside the buildings?”
And Wittenberg has hundreds of other tough questions ready, but
said it’s also important to put 9/11 and the Iraq war in a
historical prospective.
“Is 9/11 and the phony war on terror any different or more
serious than Pearl Harbor and World War II?,” asks Wittenberg. “The
bottom line is all wars are contrived and it is these rich bankers
and financiers who have pulled the strings and who have put these
contrived events like 9/11 and Pearl Harbor into motion.”
Turning to the recent London bombings, Wittenberg said he’s
tired of the “talking heads’ trying to analyze how to
counter terror when “the real cause and effect issues” about
the root problems with America and the world are being ignored.
“It’s simply bizarre. Maybe our one-sided foreign policy
that keeps getting us into all this trouble around the world should
be seriously questioned,” said Wittenberg. “If we are
really fighting terror, why are our borders just to the south completely
wide open? It’s a joke.”
Claiming the entire neo con scenario now playing out in America
and around the world is based on the attempt to establish a one world
government controlled by a select few, he said it’s difficult
to figure out their true motives, adding he can only offer an educated
guess based on what he’s studied and read.
“Power corrupts, money isn’t enough and these people
want total control,” added Wittenberg. “These elites
actually think they are better than everybody else and basically
want power and control over the diminishing resources by creating
a one world government.
Regarding another terror attack on American soil coming on the heels
of the London bombings, he said “it’s not if but when,” claiming
the unconstitutional Patriot Act is waiting in the wings to silence
those Americans who may not fall in line with the government’s
eventual takeover.
“They passed it for a reason. The problem with our two party
system is that the same group of gangsters controls both parties,” said
Wittenberg, who didn’t vote for Bush or Kerry in the last election
and was the former Arizona state chairman for Pat Buchanon’s
failed presidential run in 2000.
Although Wittenberg remains politically active and abreast of world
affairs, he has left the political forefront, trying instead to raise
public awareness about the danger of the neo con agenda.
“More people are listening now, but it doesn’t surprise
me that still a lot of people just don’t want to get involved,
thinking things are just fine in America,” he added. “These
people are perfectly content to play golf, watch the ballgame and
not get involved.”
Wittenberg, who retired the day before 9/11 having a strange and
unexplainable premonition, said high gas prices have led him to sell
his private plane, saying it was getting too expensive to even “fly
for fun’ anymore.
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See also:
Another WTC Witness to Multiple Explosions
http://thememoryhole.org/911/veliz-bombs.htm
9/11 Survivor Describes Multiple Explosions Teresa Veliz, the facilities
manager for a software development company, was on the 47th floor
of the North Tower when Flight 11 hit. First, like many witnesses,
she describes the building shaking twice: "I got off [the elevator],
turned the corner and opened the door to the ladies' room. I said
good morning to a lady sitting at a mirror when the whole building
shook. I thought it was an earthquake. Then I heard those banging
noises on the other side of the wall. It sounded like someone had
cut the elevator cables. It just fell and fell and fell. I began
to cry. "Oh, my God, I just got off that elevator!" I said. "That
could have been me." I prayed those other people had gotten
off on the 48th floor before the elevator dropped. But I didn't have
much time to be upset because the building shook again, this time
even more violently. The lady at the mirror grabbed onto me and held
on for dear life." Veliz went down a staircase with a coworker
to the concourse level. In the mall, they got onto an up-escalator
as the South Tower collapsed, causing a rush of wind which knocked
them down. In the pitch black, Veliz and her coworker followed someone
carrying a flashlight: "The flashlight led us into Borders bookstore,
up an escalator and out to Church Street. There were explosions going
off everywhere. I was convinced that there were bombs planted all
over the place and someone was sitting at a control panel pushing
detonator buttons. I was afraid to go down Church Street toward Broadway,
but I had to do it. I ended up on Vesey Street. There was another
explosion. And another. I didn't know where to run." Source: "Teresa
Veliz: A Prayer to Die Quickly and Painlessly," in September
11: An Oral History by Dean E. Murphy (Doubleday, 2002), pp 9-15.