911Truth.org covered in New York Newsday

By Nicholas Levis
911Truth.org New York Correspondent

Saturday, Oct. 1, 2005:

To the left is the front page of yesterday's New York Newsday. The picture below the main headline ("I'm Not Sure Hijackers Did This") shows the second World Trade Center tower being hit on the morning of September 11th, 2001.

Intikab Habib, a Muslim imam, was due to take an oath Friday morning as a new chaplain with the Fire Department of New York City. 

Just a few hours after Newsday published Habib's statements doubting the official story of the 9/11 attacks, he was forced instead to resign the appointment.

The Fire Department first learned about Habib's 9/11 skepticism from the Newsday story. "We don't ask new employees about their political views before we hire them," a Fire Department spokesperson told Newsday. 

Two weeks ago, Habib, who is originally from Guyana, participated in several Fire Department memorials observing the fourth September 11th anniversary. He did not bring up his views about the origins of the 9/11 events at that time, according to Newsday staff writer Carol Eisenberg. 

The pressure apparently applied to force Habib's immediate resignation thus came in direct reaction to the publicizing of his political views. 

Habib joins the ranks of others who have been fired, demoted or forced to resign after voicing alternative views of September 11th, including FBI translator Sibel Edmonds, FBI Special Agent Robert Wright, US Air Force Colonel Steven Butler, and Underwriters Laboratories executive Kevin Ryan (see the column of previous stories here, under Ongoing.) 

Habib is now subject to a sackcloth-and-ashes treatment, in which he issues apologies for his views, while officials like Mayor Bloomberg and Fire Chief Nicholas Scopetta characterize these as "offensive" and "hurtful." (Who is hurt and why need not be specified.)

We note simply that Habib's comments were not moral in nature. He raised doubts about the facts of the US government's 9/11 story. The issue therefore is not whether he offended anyone by answering Newsday's questions, but whether there is a factual basis to his skepticism.

Will the Fire Department ask future candidates for chaplain to first declare their views on who was really responsible for the September 11th attacks? Will belief in the official story, with all of its omissions and absurdities, become a requirement for service in government?

***

This page archives three stories from the Newsday website: 

Friday's web version of the Habib interview included the entire text of the original print-edition article by Eisenberg, adding the news of Habib's sudden resignation and an approving comment by Bloomberg. 

Eisenberg and Graham Rayman follow up on the Habib story in today's Newsday with "Anguished Imam resigns as FDNY chaplain." 

And their fellow Newsday staff writer Patricia Hurtado provides a brief look at 9/11 skepticism that mentions both 911Truth.org and this author. 

Yesterday I spoke with Eisenberg and Hurtado, raising concerns that one sentence from the Habib interview might encourage the impression that 9/11 skepticism is mainly restricted to the Muslim community. (Eisenberg had written: "Asked to elaborate on his reasons for doubting [the official story of September 11th], [Habib] talked about video and news reports widely disseminated in the Muslim community.") 

Both writers agreed this would be a false impression. Accordingly I am quoted in Hurtado's follow-up as pointing out that 9/11 skepticism "is a widespread phenomenon. There are a lot of individuals out there who think this way." 

Hurtado also points to the Zogby poll findings showing "that 49 percent of New York City residents believe federal leaders had foreknowledge of the attacks." The poll was commissioned by 911Truth.org in August 2004 and financed by Jimmy Walter (a California millionaire whose association with 911Truth.org and its projects ended soon thereafter.)

Hurtado's story lacks the space to elaborate adequately on the questions raised by 9/11 researchers, and unfortunately employs the usual dismissive term of "conspiracy theory" to describe 9/11 skepticism. 

Of course, the official story itself is a conspiracy theory - as is the idea propagated by Dick Cheney (among others) that Saddam Hussein was in any way responsible for the Sept. 11th attacks. 

We hope that more detailed treatments will follow, and that 9/11 skeptics soon will be allowed to speak for themselves (finally) in the editorial pages of a major daily newspaper.

***

As of 1 a.m. Saturday, media outlets had generated more than 120 further stories on the Habib case, according to a Google news search. Habib was featured on late-evening local news programs in New York.

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(The following was published Friday, Sept. 30, 2005 by newsday.com. Original at http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/nyc-imam01,0,3963493,print.story?coll=ny-top-headlines. Archived here under fair-use provisions for non-commercial information and educational purposes, and because it relates directly to 911Truth.org - see below.)

Imam resigns as incoming FDNY chaplain after report

BY CAROL EISENBERG

STAFF WRITER

September 30, 2005, 12:04 PM EDT

An imam slated to be sworn in today as the second Muslim chaplain in Fire Department history, instead resigned after making controversial remarks on the Sept. 11 attacks in an interview with Newsday.

"The Fire Department this morning received the resignation of Imam Intikab Habib from his position of FDNY Chaplain," said FDNY Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta. "Based on comments he made to Newsday, Imam Intikab Habib would have been unable to effectively serve in the role he was appointed to."

"I did not want to (resign), but it was best for the department," Habib told NY1 today.

In a telephone interview Thursday, Habib, 30, a native of Guyana who studied Islam in Saudi Arabia, said he questioned whether 19 hijackers were responsible for the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and suggested a broader conspiracy may have brought down the Twin Towers and killed more than 2,700 people.

He said he doubted the United States government's official story blaming 19 hijackers associated with al-Quaida and Osama bin Laden.

"I, as an individual, don't know who did the attacks," said Habib, 30, a soft-spoken man who immigrated to New York in July 2000 after spending six years in Saudi Arabia getting a degree in Islamic theology and law. "There are so many conflicting reports about it. I don't believe it was 19 ... hijackers who did those attacks."

Asked to elaborate on his reasons for doubting that story, he talked about video and news reports widely disseminated in the Muslim community.

"I've heard professionals say that nowhere ever in history did a steel building come down with fire alone," he said. "It takes two or three weeks to demolish a building like that. But it was pulled down in a couple of hours. Was it 19 hijackers who brought it down, or was it a conspiracy?"

Questioned about who he believed was responsible for the attacks, Habib said he didn't know. He said, however, that he did not expect to raise his doubts with rank-and-file firefighters -- nor did he share them two weeks ago when he participated in several Sept. 11 memorials on behalf of the Fire Department.

"My position as a chaplain is that whoever did it, it's a tragic incident," he said. "I feel sorrow for the families who lost loved ones and for the firefighters who died in it. Whoever did it, it was a very wrong thing. It's always wrong to take an innocent human life."

Mayor Bloomberg said he welcomed Habib's resignation. "The remarks were offensive and the mayor is satisfied that the chaplain has resigned," mayoral spokesman Ed Skyler said.

Yesterday, a spokesman for the Fire Department, Frank Gribbon, said that Habib was recommended by the department's Islamic Society and was hired "based on his credentials as a religious person. We don't ask new employees about their political views before we hire them."

Stephen Cassidy, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Habib's remarks about the attacks came in response to questions about whether he thought firefighters would accept a chaplain who had been educated in Saudi Arabia.

He said he did not expect that to be an issue because "I come from a country where you're accustomed to living with people of different ethnic, religious and racial backgrounds."

When pressed further about whether the hijackers' backgrounds -- 15 of whom were Saudi -- might make his training an issue for still-grieving firefighters, he went on to express his own doubts about the hijacker story.

Habib was one of several imams recommended for the chaplain's job by the Islamic Society for the Fire Department, as a result of his work teaching junior high students at Al-Ihsan Academy in Ozone Park, a private Islamic school, where he worked for about five years.

"He's a good man," said Hakim Braxton, president of the Islamic Society. "Any statements he's made, he's responsible for ... But I would ask that the citizens of this city give him a chance and judge him on his actions."

Braxton yesterday also stressed that neither he nor anyone in the Islamic Society would agree with anyone who tried to justify the terror attack in any way. "I lost friends, family, co-workers," he said.

Braxton described Habib as a "humble, grounded and family man, which is a good thing in this job, because he's trying to help everyone and he's representing a very diverse community."

Habib himself said he saw his role as ministering to every member of the Fire Department, not just to Muslims.

"Being a chaplain in the Fire Department, I serve the whole Fire Department," he said.

(c) Copyright 2005 Newsday Inc. (newsday.com)

(The following was published Saturday, Oct. 1, 2005 by newsday.com. Original at http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/nyc-imam01,0,884205.story. Archived here under fair-use provisions for non-commercial information and educational purposes, and because it relates directly to 911Truth.org - see below.)

Anguished Imam resigns as FDNY chaplain

BY CAROL EISENBERG and GRAHAM RAYMAN
STAFF WRITERS

October 1, 2005

Expressing anguish that his public doubts about who was behind the Sept. 11 terror attacks "had opened wounds for people," the Fire Department's new Muslim chaplain resigned Friday, shortly before he was to be officially sworn in.

"It was the right thing to do for the department," said Imam Intikab Habib, 30, of Ozone Park, who quit the $18,000-a-year post after meeting with fire officials. In that meeting, he confirmed remarks made to Newsday Thursday expressing doubts that Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida were responsible for the attacks.

Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta announced Habib's resignation at a news conference an hour before the swearing-in.

"It became clear to him that he would have difficulty functioning as a Fire Department chaplain," Scoppetta said. "And then I understand the head of the Islamic Society of the Fire Department ... told him they were withdrawing their support."

In an interview Thursday, Habib, who moved to New York in 2000 to teach at an Islamic school in Ozone Park, said he didn't know who was responsible for the downing of the Twin Towers.

"There are so many conflicting reports about it," said the Guyana native, who studied Saudi Arabia. "I don't believe it was 19 ... hijackers who did those attacks.

"I've heard professionals say that nowhere ever in history did a steel building come down with fire alone. It takes two or three weeks to demolish a building like that. But it was pulled down in a couple of hours. Was it 19 hijackers who brought it down, or was it a conspiracy?"

Scoppetta said it was disturbing that anyone would harbor such views given the evidence about the attack. "I especially have difficulty reconciling those views with a person serving in the NYC fire department."

The remarks provoked fury among firefighters at a swearing-in for new officers.

"He has no place in the New York Fire Department," said retired firefighter Jack Duggan of Rockland County. "I lost too many friends that day to listen to that rubbish."

"For a supposedly educated man, that's an incredibly ignorant statement," said George Baade of Ladder 14 in East Harlem. "His loyalty obviously doesn't lie with us, or with the United States."

Scoppetta said Habib and several other clerics were recommended by the Islamic Society. The society represents more than 100 Muslim fire personnel.

"He was vetted, there was a background check and a fingerprint check, and there was nothing negative that came up," he said. "We don't usually consider political views. This is an unusual situation."

A spokesman for the Islamic Society said the group took responsibility for recommending Habib without probing his opinions.

"We spoke with him and none of us thought those were his ideas of Sept. 11," said retired Fire Marshal Kevin James, a past president of the group. "He is entitled to his views, but it would not be appropriate for him to be a chaplain for the FDNY."

Uniformed Firefighters Association President Stephen Cassidy called for a public apology from Scoppetta "for the grief incurred" by the incident.

But department spokesman Frank Gribbon said: "The issue is over. What was required here was to act, which is what we did."

For his part, Habib said Friday that he had answered questions put to him by a reporter honestly, never imagining that his answers would cause pain.

"I didn't know this could open wounds for people or that anyone would think I was insensitive," he said.

Habib also said that as a devout Muslim, it was easier for him to entertain doubts about the identities of those behind the carnage. "Me not knowing who did it saved my guilt," he said.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg applauded Habib's resignation.

"This is not a person who should be representing a department that was devastated on Sept. 11, answering their spiritual needs," he said.

Asked about the selection process, Bloomberg said, "If there are questions about that to be raised, you may rest assured, I will be raising them."

Staff writers William Murphy and Dan Janison contributed to this story.

(c) Copyright 2005 Newsday Inc. (newsday.com)

(The following was published Saturday, Oct. 1, 2005 by newsday.com. Original at http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/nyc-con1001,0,6591775,print.story. Archived here under fair-use provisions for non-commercial information and educational purposes, and because it relates directly to 911Truth.org - see below.)

Sept. 11 conspiracy theories abound

BY PATRICIA HURTADO
STAFF WRITER

October 1, 2005

Imam Intikab Habib is not alone in his beliefs about the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Jimmy Walter, a Santa Barbara, Calif., millionaire, paid $3 million to run television ads in New York and Los Angeles earlier this year that suggested the government conspired to blow up the World Trade Center.

And Web sites like 911truth.org contend that the Twin Towers were brought down by explosives, not hijacked planes.

Four years after the attacks, thousands of 9/11 conspiracy theories abound.

In his ads, Walter, who founded "Re-Open 9/11," questioned how 7 World Trade Center, which housed a diesel tank for the city's emergency headquarters, collapsed on Sept. 11.

"It was not hit by aircraft," the ad's narrator declares. "It had no significant fire ... and no explanation for its collapse has been given."

Walter could not be reached for comment Friday.

But other like-minded conspiracy theorists, such as Nicholas Levis, a founder and correspondent for 911truth.org, say a distrust of the government and a failure to comprehensively address what happened and why has fostered questions.

Levis noted that a Zogby poll, paid for by Walter and conducted last year, showed 66 percent of those questioned want the 9/11 probe reopened. He noted that the poll also showed that 49 percent of New York City residents believe federal leaders had foreknowledge of the attacks.

Levis, who said he believes that planes did bring down the Twin Towers but also believes government operatives played a role, said his site has created a clearinghouse where "skeptics and citizens can come together to discuss and work on the issue together."

"This is a widespread phenomenon," he said Friday. "There are a lot of individuals out there who think this way."

Sally Regenhard, a member of the Family Steering Committee of the 9/11 Commission and founder of the Skyscraper Safety Campaign, said she finds Habib's statements troubling.

"Certainly it seems that the Fire Department should have done a little better research on the people that they hire," she said. "But I do agree that it's unprecedented for a building like that to have come down."

Regenhard, who lost her firefighter son, Christian, on 9/11, said the failure to answer questions has allowed conspiracy theories to flourish. "There is a huge and growing number of people out there who are saying there are too many unanswered questions," she said. 

(c) Copyright 2005 Newsday Inc. (newsday.com)

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