- "When you have eliminated all which
is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
-Sherlock Holmes
-
- Watson stared at Holmes, certain he
hadn't heard the inspector clearly. "Why do you look so shocked, Dr.
Watson? Do you really believe an objective criminal investigation excludes
any other interpretations? Evidence can be arranged or tampered with but
the case remains open as long as conscientious men entertain reasonable
doubt about the competency of that investigation and those doubts outweigh
the certainties."
-
- "But my God, Holmes, the possibility
that Israeli Mossad agents would hijack our airplanes and crash them into
New York skyscrapers may be your greatest flight of fanciful conjecture
so far, but I'm willing to hear your theory."
-
- Sherlock Holmes removed his pipe. The
smoldering embers reminded him of the crime before them and he pointed
the stem at the skeptical doctor. "You know my method, Watson. It
is founded upon the observation of trifles. Consider the Mossad motto:
'By way of deception thou shalt do war.' A trifle, you say. Yet geopolitically
they gained everything from 9-11 with the possible loss of a few zealous
men---in the tradition of historical zealot, Judas Maccabee. They gained
active military involvement of the US in the Middle East for years to come;
they gained more monetary aid; they gained considerable more American antipathy
toward Islamic people-and gained sympathy for Israel. The successful operation--if
it happened--was diabolical yet brilliant."
-
- "But conjecture doesn't prove any
involvement," Watson flatly challenged. "Is there any precedent
for such an outrageous black deed?"
-
- Sherlock Holmes nodded, "Think
for a moment how Special Forces soldiers are always indoctrinated, almost
like they are on a holy mission, my dear Watson, trained to undertake dangerous
missions deep into enemy territory. 'Suicide missions' they are always
called in scores of Hollywood movies. Now if a small country like Israel---smaller
than Wales-could gain all that the things I have mentioned, gaining American
involvement in the destruction of her enemies, with the loss of a few unknown
but hallowed heroes, would it be implausible in a Hollywood movie?"
-
- "No-it would be utterly plausible,"
Watson admitted. "But plausibility hardly proves guilt."
-
- Watson stood and wandered to a window.
From the tenth floor of the Hoboken high rise he could look across the
Hudson River and see the skyline of lower Manhattan. The night before he
and Holmes had watched a movie called "Pushing Tin", about air
traffic controllers. The opening scenes showed jetliners swooping dangerously
close to the World Trade Towers and Watson wondered how anyone in New York
could ever watch that movie again.
-
- Then Watson spoke with more than a little
annoyance. "I refuse to believe our ally, Israel, would do such a
thing. Conspiracy theorists prefer to blame everyone but the actual Saudi
terrorists who were caught on videotape at the airport."
-
- Holmes spoke quietly. "But none
of the so-called Saudi hijackers were caught on tape at the airport, nor
do they appear on the Passenger Lists of the hijacked planes. You and I
must present a photo ID at the airport before boarding. Were all the so-called
terrorists traveling to Los Angeles as Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones? Also,
the security at the airports was run by an Israeli corporation. How convenient
was that?"
-
- "But Mossad couldn't be involved,"
Watson insisted. "They informed us prior to 911 that terrorists planned
a spectacular act, warning us to be wary."
-
- Holmes studied his stout friend as he
stood framed by the window. Just below them, in Liberty State Park of all
places, a trio of Israelis celebrated while the World Trade Center burned.
"Were you aware, my dear Watson, that Mossad also notified the US
about a possible terrorist act many years ago? Mossad had prior information
about a huge Mercedes truck bomb being prepared for some select target
in Lebanon. They passed on a general warning-nothing specific about that
truck-like 'sending a weather report,' a Mossad operative admitted later.
Well, some time later that truck approached the Marine barracks, sped past
a guardhouse--that was twenty years ago now that I recall--and demolished
the building, killing 241 sleeping marines who were there in Beirut ostensibly
for peace-keeping purposes. So you see a warning can sometimes serve as
a useful alibi."
-
- Watson looked sober. "I'm sorry
to hear that but it still doesn't prove Israel was involved in 911. I'm
still waiting for tangible proof."
-
- "The threads of the fabric weave
closer, Doctor Watson. Listen. In the summer of 2001, alleged Islamic terrorists
lived only blocks from alleged art students--young Israelis intent on entry
into high security US federal buildings. Normally artists seek to get into
art galleries, wouldn't you say? Even more peculiar, the terrorists and
the 'art students' lived on the exact same street in Hollywood, Florida.
This is truly a terror enigma, wouldn't you also admit?"
-
- "Yes that is highly coincidental,"
Watson stammered.
-
- "Indeed it is. How could they not
have known each other-two groups of Semitic foreigners conspiring in a
strange land? And when does foreknowledge become complicity? Suppose for
a minute Mossad not only knew of the group but had infiltrated it and knew
of its diabolical purposes, even encouraged it? Consider this analogy,
my dear Watson. Your neighbor has a fine mansion and extensive property
but is somewhat vain, stupid and self-satisfied; call this mansion, America.
You represent Israel and you spread a rumor that a distant Islamic neighbor
intends to hurt the lord of the manor but you are purposely vague about
any details. Next weekend that mansion burns down. Bags of evidence left
at the scene, Islamic religious books, bomb-making plans, personal items
and passports, indicates all too obviously who was involved. Which neighbor
will the police investigate most vigorously-the friendly helpful Israeli
or the distant, unfriendly Islamic neighbor?"
-
- "The unfriendly Islamic neighbor,"
replied Watson.
-
- "Elementary," uttered Holmes.
"But only a very clumsy or stupid or corrupt detective would jump
to such slipshod conclusions, especially when a superficial inquest would
reveal bad blood between the Israeli and Islamic neighbor. Circumstantial
evidence is a very tricky thing, Watson. It may seem to point very straight
to one thing, but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may
find it pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something entirely
different."
-
- "Quite right," Watson said.
-
- "Or consider that passport that
allegedly survived a fiery plane crash at the WTC, and fell to the street
a thousand feet below, only to be miraculously found intact. Miraculous,
wouldn't you say? Suppose I left your stethoscope at a strip bar
and had someone 'discover' it later; does that indicate your guilt?"
-
- "I certainly hope not."
-
- "Thus shouldn't a Koran left behind
in a strip bar also set off loud alarms and raise doubts about the probability
of planted evidence? Remember the motto---'By way of deception thou shalt
do war'?
- That is not just a motto but a tried
and true method, used by the very best spy agency in the world."
-
- Holmes shook his head sadly. "Americans
are a good-hearted, soft-headed people who love justice in the abstract
sense, persisting in a childlike, fantasy concept that good always triumphs
over evil, within the framework of a television show."
-
- Watson brightened. "So you
are saying that sinister forces of evil, the shadowy state-within-a-state
of a clever intelligence agency may have pulled this off?"
-
- "Yes I do. Former Mossad
officer, Victor Ostrovsky said: 'The resultant breakdown of moral order
and humanity are a direct result of the kind of megalomania that characterizes
the operation of the Mossad.' That's where it all begins, my dear
Watson. This megalomaniac feeling that you can do anything you want, to
whomever you want, for as long as you want, simply because you imagine
you have the power."
-
- "I cannot even fathom that,"
replied Watson.
-
- "My dear Watson," Holmes began.
"You better get used to it because, according to a one scientific
detective agency, '9/11 has become the defining event of the new
century, used to justify an unprecedented surge in militaristic and repressive
policies within the USA and elsewhere.' Thus we need to ask ourselves about
911: who was involved and who benefits and continues to benefit?"
-
- Watson looked thoughtful before his
summation: "I dare say, Mossad may not have been entirely to
blame but the Israeli connection to security at the airports from which
the hijackers mysteriously departed cannot be denied. Also the forewarning
of Israeli employees of Odigo and ZIM at the WTC just weeks before the
attack, and the cheering Israelis at Liberty State Park, and the Israeli
art students living nearly next door to hijackers in Hollywood Florida,
and the Israeli moving vans that were stopped that contained a residue
of explosives, all indicate an abundance of incriminating evidence---unfortunately
abandoned by US government agencies beyond our control."
-
- "Always remember, Watson: Crime
is common. Logic is rare. And justice even rarer. Therefore it is upon
the logic rather than upon the crime that you should dwell. Detection
is, or ought to be, an exact science and should be treated in the same
cold and unemotional manner. The real culprits of 9-11 still lurk
in the shadows and may even be disguised as friends."
-
- "Evildoers, I would call them,"
Watson grunted.
- --
|
