Controversy Brims at Grand Opening of 9/11 Museum AE911Truth On-Site to Set The Record Straight

There was an awakening in New York last week as 9/11 Truth activists converged at the World Trade Centers for the Grand Opening of the September 11 Memorial Museum.

AE911Truth held a "What you won’t find in this 9/11 museum" press conference at the entrance to the Memorial Grounds, speaking to a gathered audience of about two dozen people.

Activist Rachel Colton, who handed out more than a dozen alternative museum guides, noted that people were very receptive to learning about really happened at the WTC on 9/11.Handing out thousands of alternative museum brochures that bore a striking resemblance to the official brochures, 9/11 Truth activists exposed the museum's glaring omissions to throngs of visitors as they made their way to the Memorial.

Walking the $700M sprawling 9/11 Memorial Grounds and Museum was a surreal experience for the AE911Truth activists who knew the truth.The educational brochures created by AE911Truth were the same ones that caused CNN's Jake Tapper, host of "The Lead," to fly into an unprofessional and mean-spirited rampage earlier in the week. Falsely labeling AE911Truth a "conspiracy group" that is spreading "lies," Tapper collaborated with Slate Senior Editor Emily Bazelon to denigrate those who work on behalf of the nonprofit organization, calling them insensitive to victims, anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, anti-corporation, crazy, and — get this — probable tax cheats.

But if the media wasn't attacking, it was ignoring, devoting the majority of their reportage to less controversial museum stories: one about an alcohol-fueled opening-night party for VIPs; another about the hideous decision to store pulverized human remains in the museum; another about a $24 admission charge; and still another about a gift shop that sells mugs, T-shirts, and, at one time, a 9/11-themed cheese plate — all headline-grabbing accounts of the Memorial Museum's poor taste and blatant commercialism, but ultimately serving as distractions from an infinitely more important story.

The museum does contain exhibits with samples of the curious, ubiquitous 100 micron-size particles of WTC dust, but doesn't contain its incendiary ingredients.The more important story is the one with historical implications that boldly asks: Why, within the hallowed walls of a $700 million museum complex that allegedly exists to preserve the record of events, is there not one mention of the catastrophic destruction of World Trade Center Building 7, of melted steel/iron, of thermite residue, of explosions, of pulverized concrete, of elevator modernization and fleeing elevator mechanics? It's kind of like doing a tribute to Rock and Roll — but the guitar players are never mentioned.

Richard Gage, AIA, arrived in New York on Friday, May 23. Following interviews with Bonnie Faulkner and Gary Null of WBAI, Gage commenced the AE911Truth Press Conference at the Memorial Grounds, in which he and retired firefighter Rudy Dent, who had fire marshal status at the time he was on duty at the Twin Towers on 9/11, made comments.

The event was interrupted at the site by police, but was reconvened across the street. The full press conference, including Dent's remarks, will be made available soon at AE911Truth.org. Gage described "what you will not find in the 9/11 Memorial Museum," including the explosive evidence for the symmetrical near free-fall destruction of the three World Trade Center skyscrapers on 9/11. The AE911Truth Press Release was distributed to dozens of mainstream media sources, who apparently chose not to cover the "story of the century" — namely, that 9/11 must have been some sort of inside operation involving elements in the US government and media, given that Al Qaeda could not have had the required inside access to three of the most highly secure buildings outside of the Pentagon.

In a noble effort to educate the public, New York and surrounding area activists Les Jamieson, David Ace, DJ Santiago, Gordon Bastian, and Rachel Colton spent several days during the Grand Opening handing out "look-alike" brochures to passersby entering the Memorial Grounds at the 9/11 Museum.Gage also met with Les Jamieson of NY911Truth. Jamieson shared some of the experiences that he and his fellow activists had while handing out brochures at the World Trade Center Wednesday through Friday.

"There was a constant flow of thousands and thousands of people, coming in so fast, it was impossible to give everyone a brochure," said Jamieson, adding that "... the overall receptivity was incredible..." and that they encountered "... zero amount of resistance."

Rudy Dent, who achieved fire marshal status with the NYFD, was on the pile on 9/11 and lost several friends. Hear his story here first, and second, third, fourth, and finally here.When asked about any unusual encounters, Jamieson recalled, "Yes, there's a notable one: A gentleman came over from Washington, D.C., and said, 'Well, I also track what Architects and Engineers' work is all about. I saw on their website that you also would be here with this brochure.... I support their work.... I have a friend in upstate New York who owns a demolition company and who knows that, after seeing the footage of the collapse of the towers.... that was nothing other than a demolition.'"In the shadow of the "Freedom Tower," conceived under the cover of the explosive destruction of its predecessors, activist Eric Rassi assists Gage in helping the public get real information about 9/11.

Activist Al Lucientas, when asked why he was there, responded, "Despite the potential for complexity of this story, it really is a short list of well-documented facts that makes the official account completely untenable and impossible. And that's it. It just doesn't need to go any further than that. We know these buildings were brought down with pre-planted explosives, because that's what the evidence overwhelmingly shows. And there's a wide body of concordant facts, mutually supportive evidence that all points to that same conclusion."

Gage responds, during the Q&A part of his presentation, to a question about access to the towers to plant explosives, saying that it could possibly have been done via a black ops project during the Ace Elevator modernization project, which Elevator World documented in its March 2000 issue.In the Q&A period that followed, a gentleman named Vance Green, whose sister was fortunate to have not been at work that day (she was employed by Cantor Fitzgerald on the 104th floor of Tower 1), spoke to the oft-repeated mainstream media accusation that those who question the official story are being insensitive to the victims and their loved ones.

"[W]hen you hear people on CNN and people on Fox, like Jake Tapper and Bill O'Reilly, and those people say that you're disrespecting family members — no, you're not. You're not disrespecting me.... You're not disrespecting Patty Casazza or Lorie Van Auken or Bob McIlvaine. There are dozens more family members between New York and New Jersey and Connecticut. You're not offending us. So when these pundits tell you [they're] speaking on behalf of family members, who most of them have probably never even sat next to or spoken to at length, call them. I mean, be respectful. Send a well-framed e-mail to them.... Fax them. Find them and tell them: 'You're wrong!'"

Catherine Montano, the mother of a 9/11 victim of whom no traces were found, was comforted by fellow Cantor Fitzgerald family member Vance Green after she spoke movingly of her son, Craig, who was working in his office on that fateful day.Perhaps the most heart-wrenching testimonial was from a family member in the audience named Catherine Montano, a mother who lost her youngest son, Craig D. Montano, in the North Tower.

"No one escaped from the 104th floor who was there, because the plane went under them.... He was 38 years old, he was married with three young children. [weeping] And I have said to myself, 'Before I die, I hope I know the truth of 9/11.' And that's what I've said so many times. 'Before I die, I want the truth of 9/11.' Because I don't believe what we've gotten is anywhere near the truth, from the government, anyone."

The "doubters" are shown at the museum to have been "thoroughly debunked by Popular Mechanics." See this incisive series of articles by AE911Truth in order to decide for yourself who has been debunked.

After visitors are conditioned by the heart-wrenching exhibits depicting the horror of that day, they arrive at a very small exhibit that shows the "conspiracy theorists" (at least the ones who are holding the Building 7 signs!).On his last day in the Big Apple, Richard Gage rode in a cab uptown with 9/11 Truth supporter Eric Rassi to meet Dr. William Pepper, the esteemed attorney who once worked side by side with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.. Thirty-one years after King's death, in 1999, Pepper won a civil court case in which the United States government was found guilty of conspiring to assassinate Dr. King. The purpose of Gage's visit: to discuss legal action against CNN. "CNN's characterization of 'liars' — referring to AE911Truth in a May 19, 2014, tirade against 'conspiracy theorists' — is defamation, and it must be remedied by them," observed Gage.

The 9/11 Truth Movement's New York activities associated with the Grand Opening of the Memorial Museum were an incredible opportunity to chip away at the official myth that is embodied in the installation of this $700 million edifice. AE911Truth is very grateful to and proud of all the activists and donors who supported this magnificent educational effort.

Please donate now in order to build a fund that will keep New York 9/11 activists stocked with the alternative museum brochures to hand out to the public!

On Saturday, May 24, at the Community Church of New York, Gage made his presentation to an audience of nearly 100, some of whom were family members and others closely associated with victims of the tragedy.