Controversial 9/11 speaker comes to Cal Poly

Richard Gage of Berkeley has been a practicing architect for 20 years, and founded Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth in 2006. On May 29 at Cal Poly, he will present and discuss information on the collapse of the twin towers and building 7 of the World Trade Center destroyed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Gage's group asserts that the collapses were the result of controlled demolitions, not the planes that crashed into them. New Times caught up with Gage before his presentation to ask a few questions.

New Times: What information did you first hear that made you question the official 9/11 story and look deeper, and how have you taken that information further?

Richard Gage: I was in the car, driving to a construction site, and I was listening to this interview with David Ray Griffin on KPFA Radio. … He was talking about explosive testimony that was released in August 2005; 500 oral recordings from 500 first responders, 1,000 pages of testimony. Of course, we didn't know about any of this testimony until August 2005, because the New York Times had to sue to have it released 100 of these first responders were talking about sounds of explosions before the buildings fell, and flashes of light, both around the site of the crash and below it too. … I haven't done a lot of independent research, mostly compiling information, including video testimony of the first responders, and video footage of the buildings coming down. I allow the architects and engineers I present to, to give me feedback. The information is analyzed in several different ways, including the feedback, and in peer-reviewed papers.

New Times: You want an investigation into what, and by whom?

Gage: Our petition is to Congress for an unbiased investigation. The 9/11 Commission failed miserably, they did not even mention [building 7's collapse], the third-worst structural failure in modern history. The 9/11 Commission also did not interview people under oath, or use subpoena power to force people to testify.

New Times: What would you say to people who call you a conspiracy theorist?

Gage: Everybody needs to understand that they are both conspiracy theories: The official story tells us that 19 fundamentalist hijackers, plotting from a cave in Afghanistan, conspired to crash planes into these buildings; the other story tells us that someone else did. The only question is: Who are the conspirators?

New Times: What successes have you had, and have you suffered any setbacks?

Gage: Over 660 architects and engineers have signed our petition so far. [Editor's note: Ten people from San Luis Obispo are on that list but several are not architects or engineers]. We hope to have 1,000 by September. That's really the gauge by which we measure our success. We haven't had any setbacks, we've just been plugging along. It's a slow process trying to wake the American public. … We present only science-based forensic evidence. We're just asking the people and the government to acknowledge evidence, and let the chips fall where they may.

New Times: Do you think what you're telling people is controversial?

Gage Yes. It contradicts our own understanding of what happened on September 11. No one wants to believe that they have been lied to.