Democracy Now, 9/11 and Structural Engineers

The attached audio file is of Jim Fetzer interviewing structural engineer Charles N. Pegelow, a Structural Engineer (see his resume), this is an unedited audio file, the first 9 minutes and 11 seconds and the adverts can be skiped (or get the advert free, edited version).

Some Engineering acadamics have also spoken out, Jerry Russell (master's degree in Engineering from Stanford University) has published Proof Of Controlled Demolition At The WTC and Judy Wood, (a professor of Mechanical Engineering at Clemson University) has published The Case for Controlled Demolition.

See also the Why Indeed Did the WTC Buildings Collapse? from Steven E. Jones (professor of physics at Brigham Young University), The Destruction of the World Trade Center: Why the Official Account Cannot Be True by David Ray Griffin, Why Did the Trade Center Skyscrapers Collapse? by Morgan Reynolds and the extensive information on 911 Research, one of 9/11 sites from Jim Hoffman who also created WTC7.net about the skyscraper which was not hit by a plane yet still collapsed at near free fall speed — Heikki Kurttila, (a Finnish Doctor of Engineering) has made detailed calculations about the collapse speed of WTC-7 and so has Kenneth L. Kuttler (Professor of Mathemetics) in his WTC 7: A Short Computation paper in the Journal of 9/11 Studies.

Videos about the collapse of the skyscrapers include 911 Revisited, which is a free feature length film available from the Internet Archive and 911 Podcasts:

September 11th Revisited is perhaps the most riveting film ever made about the destruction of the World Trade Center. This is a powerful documentary which features eyewitness accounts and archived news footage that was shot on September 11, 2001 but never replayed on television. Featuring interviews with eyewitnesses & firefighters, along with expert analysis by Professor Steven E. Jones, Professor David Ray Griffin, MIT Engineer Jeffrey King, and Professor James H. Fetzer. This film provides stunning evidence that explosives were used in the complete demolition of the WTC Twin Towers and WTC Building 7.

Dear Democracy Now!

Dear Democracy Now!,

On Wednesday, May 26th, 2004, you featured a "debate" between Chip Berlet and author David Ray Griffin - "The New Pearl Harbor: A Debate On A New Book That Alleges The Bush Administration Was Behind The 9/11 Attacks" - (Link.)

Many people who have been following skepticism of the "official story" of 9/11 were deeply disappointed by this lopsided "debate", which more or less concluded with this challenge by Amy Goodman;

AMY GOODMAN: Name just one. Name just one structural engineering expert who said it is not feasible that the planes caused the towers to go down.

You will be pleased to note that we can name one now, his name is Charles N. Pegelow, you can read his resume here.

Since naming one "just one" Structural Engineer "who said it is not feasible that the planes caused the towers to go down" seems to be some sort of litmus test for Democracy Now!, surely it's time for a rematch. Or at the very least, a serious critical examination of the mountain of evidence that suggests that the "official" story of 9/11 (as recorded by the 9/11 Commission in their Report) should be undertaken, (finally), by Democracy Now!?

Or, are the rumors that foundation funding will stop if Democracy Now! undertakes a serious examination of alternative 9/11 theories, (Referred to by many as "9/11 Truth") true?

Is a lop-sided hit-piece debate seriously the best we can expect from D-Now!?

Are you aware that a Professor of Economics (Paul Zarembka) has studied publicly available data regarding the "put" option rumors that arose after 9/11 and found that "indeed, there is evidence of insider trading before 9-11 on American Airlines and United Airlines."

Are you aware that one of the most astute researchers of British and American covert operations writing today (Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed) has spent 5 years researching al-Qaeda & 9/11 and concluded that, "It (al-Qaeda) has no existence as an independent concrete entity. It designates a highly developed category of Western covert operations designed to secure destabilization through the creation, multiplication, mobilization, and manipulation of disparate mujahideen groups. The evidence suggests that this was certainly the case on 9-11."

Are you aware of the large data dump of First-Responder oral histories made public last year by the New York Times? Here are some samples;

"we heard . . . what sounded like a loud explosion and looked up and I saw tower two start coming down" - Sudnick.

"I heard three explosions, and then . . . tower two started to come down" - Darnowski.

"it almost sounded like bombs going off, like boom, boom, boom, like seven or eight" - Turilli.

"heard explosions coming from . . . the south tower. . . . There were about ten explosions. . . . We then realized the building started to come down" - Carlsen.

"it looked like the building was blowing out on all four sides. We actually heard the pops" - Meola.

"It was a frigging noise. At first I thought it was---do you ever see professional demolition where they set the charges on certain floors and then you hear 'Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop'? . . . I thought it was that." - Rivera.

"the building popped, lower than the fire. . . . I was going oh, my god, there is a secondary device because the way the building popped. I thought it was an explosion" - Burke.

"It actually gave at a lower floor, not the floor where the plane hit. . . . [W]e originally had thought there was like an internal detonation, explosives, because it went in succession, boom, boom, boom, boom, and then the tower came down" - Cachia.

Democracy Now! broadcasts from a former N.Y.F.D. Firehouse, shouldn't this testimony be considered merely out of respect for the many NY fire personnel who died on duty on 9/11?

How can you just ignore it? Downplay it? Ridicule it? Belittle it?

I hope that others will join me in asking Democracy Now! to wake up, clear the fog, abandon the propaganda, and start asking some serious questions about what happened to this country on 9/11/2001.

Sincerely,

A skeptic.

Charles N. Pegelow's Resume

Education:
B. S. Civil Engineering 1972, Lamar University
B. S. Mathematics 1972, Beaumont,Texas

Experience:

Present: FULTON CONSTRUCTION COMPANY - private consulting engineer/ contract

1998: Contract Engineering - Paragon Engineering Inc. (Houston, TX)
1) Shell Nigeria onshore gas gathering compressor flow stations and pipeline export station.
2) Mozambique - offshore field development and design for 4 caisson platforms and one central gas export caisson platform.

1997: Contract Engineering - Reading and Bates (Brownsville, TX)
Structural / construction project engineer for the upgrade of Rig 41 for 1000 meters drilling depth. Engineering, construction, scope of work for the support steel for the riser turn-down sheaves, substructure reinforcement, and many miscellaneous structures.

1994-1996: Contract Engineering - Fulton Construction Company (Houston/Livingston)

1994-1995: Hudson - McDermott (Houston)
LNG plant and export terminal for Trinidad. Cost optimization study and conceptual design for jetty and dredging, preparing bid tender documents and design specifications for jetty design / gangway / dredging / bulk steel / nav-aids / and misc. items. Plant foundation and steel design.

1979-1993: Conoco, Inc. (Houston)
Company project structural engineer and design engineer on various projects including drilling and production platforms, gaslift injection platforms, living quarters platforms, and many miscellaneous deck extensions, skids, and access platforms. Duties included feasibility studies, reviewing and writing specifications, design calculations, computer input/output, review/checking structural drawings, scope of work, design premises for outside source work, interfacing with other disciplines, and writing various reports.

1977-1979: Brown and Root, Inc. (Houston)
Structural designer of Gulf of Mexico type platforms. Also mud slide resistant platforms. Deck design, jacket tubular, foundation analysis, flotation and launch analysis, lifting and installation analysis.

1976: King-Wilkinson Ltd. (Scotland, U.K.)
Project management team for the installation of Occidental Petroleum's Claymore "A" platform. Duties included structural design of pile elevator clamps, pile alignment clamps, miscellaneous installation skids and platforms. Review and recommendation of bids for grouting and pile driving. Also, rigging review, pile driving sequence, and module installation.

1974-1976: Earl and Wright Consulting Engineere, SEDCO (San Francisco)
Structural design of North Sea type platforms, deck modules, large tubular joints, control capsules, deck support trusses, punching shear design, and parameter study for laterally loaded large diameter piles for Arabian Gulf SBM's, Semi-submersible platforms.

1972-1974: Associated Engineering Consultants (Houston)
Structural design, analysis, drafting and checking of structural drawings for commercial buildings. Steel structures, foundation, post tension concrete structures, tilt-up construction and high rise building structures.

CODES: Use of following national and industry codes: ASIC, API RP 2A, ANSI 58.1 (AISC), UBC, DNV, ASME Div. VIII vessel.