The Ground Truth: The Story Behind America's Defense on 9/11

[Bolo Boffin]

This looks interesting:

The story that John Farmer, Senior Counsel to the 9/11 Commission, tells is one of monumental bureaucratic failure encompassing our entire government. Farmer exposes "the story behind the story", as the false congressional testimony given by an array of agencies and individuals, as well as misleading reports in the media culminated in the Commission staff's dawning recognition that the public had been seriously misled about what occurred during the morning of the attacks. What emerges with painful, stunning clarity is that "at some level of the government, at some point in time...there was an agreement not to tell the truth about what happened." The implications of this are profound. And Farmer argues that these lies have prevented real and necessary changes that would make our nation more secure and responsive to subsequent threats and catastrophes--domestic, man-made and natural. Farmer pulls no punches in drawing these conclusions, or making explicit what will have to change to make our nation safe. There is a dispassionate beauty in Farmer's writing and the way in which he allows the facts of this story to unfold. He takes the readers through these terrifying events and revelations with calm, impartial and utterly compelling relentlessness. "The Ground Truth" is the definitive account of all the needs to happen following the tragedy of September 11th.

About the Author
John Farmer served as Senior Counsel to the 9/11 Commission, where his areas of responsibility included assessing the national response to the terrorist attacks and evaluating the current state of national preparedness for terrorist attacks and natural disasters, he also served as attorney general of New Jersey (1999-2002), as chief counsel to Governor Whitman, and as a federal prosecutor. He recently served as a subject matter/rule of law expert on security to the special envoy for Middle East regional security. He is currently a partner of a New Jersey law form and an adjunct professor of national security law at Rutgers University Law School. His editorials and articles have appeared in "The New York Times" and elsewhere.

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/0151013764

Sounds like John Farmer knows whereof he speaks. This may be the punches that the Report itself had to pull.

[scott75]

1. I agree, it looks interesting...

Right now, I'm reading David Ray Griffin's just published "The New Pearl Harbor Revisited", which I definitely think is interesting. Have you read any of Griffin's books? This is the first book of his that I actually acquired (even if it's only temporarily from a library). I've read several books from noted conspiracy author, Jim Marrs (his first book, Crossfire was one of the 2 books that Oliver Stone used for his movie JFK).

Anyway, here's a review of Griffin's latest:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10166

And here's a link to it at amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/New-Pearl-Harbor-Revisited-Cover-Up/dp/1566567297

[Bolo Boffin]

2. David Ray Griffin is a snake oil salesmen.

Stick to the reputable, dude.

ETA: And I will thank you to keep this discussion to the book I linked to rather than a discussion of DRG. That's offtopic and any posts will be alerted.

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[procopia]

15. The real snake oil salesmen are

the same ones who sold America the Iraq War and the OCT.

[JackRiddler]

4. Why do you say the Report "had to pull" punches?

Who or what forced the Commission to do so? Why did they agree?

[Bolo Boffin]

5. Because they weren't trying to point fingers.

That's been discussed. Farmer here isn't under the same directive from Kean and Hamilton here. They've spoken to their reasons several times, and you can find more in Shedon's book and other places.

And since the Commission was focusing also on the events around 9/11 itself, the coverup that Farmer is documenting here wasn't exactly in their purview. Should they have made more of it? Yeah, probably. But the information is now coming out, and the fact of bad stories and information from several players was something that was already known about the events and reported by the Commission.

This will have nothing to do with a LIHOP situation, I'll bet you, much less any MIHOP foolishness.

[Kalun D]

17. Limited Hangout

""Because they weren't trying to point fingers.""

because most of the condemnation is bull*hit because it was an inside job. So if you point fingers you are falsely condemning someone.

""This will have nothing to do with a LIHOP situation, I'll bet you, much less any MIHOP foolishness.""

Of course not, because this is just a bunch of "limited hangout" bull*hit to try and make people think they care. They do not care.

[noise]

8. Won't his book affect the three remaining civil suits?

Or does the government only get upset when certain information gets out to the public?

What about the 20 months the CIA sat on the al-Hazmi/al-Mihdhar information? Was the 9/11 Commission hiding more incompetence? Perhaps some CIA officials were illiterate?

Will Farmer explain what happened on United 23 or is that off limits because it doesn't fit the official narrative?

[Bolo Boffin]

9. Oh, my, I guess the government isn't this monolithic thing and the guard has truly changed.

I'd say the CIA information would be within the purview of the book's subject. Let's read it before setting up the battle lines.

And United 23 -- how does that fit the subject?

BTW: Did you notice that this book doesn't fit the "official narrative" either?

[NowHearThis]

10. Mr. Farmer's name is familar. Did he work on or for the

Warren Commission?

[SDuderstadt]

11. Yeah, it's not like a name like John Farmer...

is common or anything.

[NowHearThis]

12. You mean like James Farmer?

I just figured out that HE (James) probably didn't work on the Warren Commission nor support it's claims.

[SDuderstadt]

13. It's not James...

it's John. You can't even get the guy's name right. And, like it or not, the Warren Commission essentially got it right, even without the more advanced scientific equipment/techniques of present day.

[noise]

14. This appears to be new review

The Ground Truth: The Untold Story of America Under Attack on 9/11 John Farmer. Riverhead, $26.95 (320p) ISBN 978-1-59448-894-8

Farmer, senior counsel to the 9/11 Commission, updates the commission's report in this thorough and bipartisan analysis. Drawing on newly declassified records and recent investigative reports from the departments of defense and transportation, the author concludes that the failure to detect and prevent the attack “lay in the nature of modern government.” Most significantly, “rules proscribing information-sharing” within and among agencies meant that no one had complete access to all available intelligence or information—typical “bureaucratic inertia” that presaged the government's bungled response to Hurricane Katrina. Farmer faults the disconnect between decision-makers and operational employees, concluding that “leadership was irrelevant on 9/11” and the official version of events “was almost entirely, and inexplicably, untrue.” Farmer's conclusion that bureaucratic government “does not adapt fast enough to changing missions to be effective” is not original, but in his careful exegesis of the events of 9/11, he transcends easy generalizations to expose the fault lines in contemporary governance and point the way to fundamental reform. (Sept.)

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6670067.html">Publisher Weekly nonfiction reviews

ATLANTA — A federal judge ruled Thursday that airlines and other companies in the industry that are being sued by families of terrorism victims can't question FBI agents about the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

...

The government argued that it would be impossible to interview the employees without disclosing classified or privileged material that could cause serious damage to national security and interfere with pending law enforcement proceedings.

Judge: Airlines can't question FBI in 9/11 suits

So does this mean Farmer is disclosing classified or privileged material that will harm national security and interfere with pending law enforcement proceedings? Or does it mean the DOJ is making false statements to justify an outrageous cover up over 7 years after 9/11?

We cannot read all the records the 9/11 Commission used to write their report. We cannot read the full CIA IG report. We cannot read 28 pages of the JI report which evidently detail Saudi support for al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar. Yet we can read John Farmer's book. Note the contrast in classification review times between NARA records and whoever reviews the 9/11 commission books. Why is the review process for the books so much faster than it is for NARA records? The 9/11 Commission records were turned over to NARA in '04!

Are the people involved in all of this truly proud of their conduct? Do they really believe this is an honest effort at transparency?

[Old and In the Way]

16. No one's responsible...the gub'mint is!

Much better to accuse unknown bureaucrats rather than those that really had the power to do something. You know, Bush/Cheney. Bush got his 8/6 PDB and he let the CIA analyst know "he covered his ass". Dick, we're not sure what he was doing on 9/11. But we do know he's a world-class war monger/war criminal