Hundreds of attendees look on at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation as Richard Gage, AIA, lays out the explosive WTC evidence

The recent AE911Truth tour of Arizona brought Richard Gage, AIA, to the Phoenix metro area to educate audiences about the controlled demolition of the WTC skyscrapers on September 11, 2001, and it was a resounding success. All four events, held from March 16-18, raised local awareness of the evidence and the importance of 9/11 Truth. It was a pleasure for me to help organize these informative and inspiring engagements.

Mr. Gage’s visit actually started a week before he arrived, with interviews on three popular Phoenix radio shows. This began on the web with Declare Your Independence, hosted by Ernest Hancock, and The Meria Heller Show. Gage capped off these radio appearances with an interview by the father of progressive talk radio in Phoenix, Dr. Mike Newcomb, who actually allowed for a fair hearing of the evidence. With the Phoenix public thus primed and ready for Gage’s visit, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation opened its doors to a stream of around 275 visitors on March 16.

When Gage arrived with our film crew, rushing to the sanctuary after a flight delay, he walked past a placard mounted by the doorway, which in part reads, “Truth is our sanctuary” – a fitting welcome for the architect whose presentation is an exposition of ‘inconvenient’ scientific truth.

A distinguished panel of architects and engineers, who appear in the upcoming AE911Truth blockbuster DVD “9/11: Explosive Evidence – Experts Speak Out”, engage the audience in a Q & A. On stage are (from left) architect Jody Gibbs; Richard Gage, AIA; structural engineer Rick Fowlkes; and fire protection engineer Scott Grainger

Musician John Neims drove in from Las Vegas, Nevada, and performed several of his 9/11 Truth songs with his guitar while the presenters set up the event. The evening was moderated by radio show host Meria Heller, who introduced the first speaker, California firefighter and AE911Truth volunteer Laila Selk.

Reading from the book Women at Ground Zero, a profoundly moving account of 9/11 first responders, Selk held the audience in a moment in time with passages that are so clearly in opposition to the official 9/11 story that for anyone with a conscience, ignoring the explosive implications is impossible.

One of the passages read by Ms. Selk was a quote from Port Authority & New Jersey Police Officer Sue Keane, which reads,

"A couple of minutes later, it sounded like bombs going off, that's when the explosions happened, I could hear it coming, and I knew something was going to happen, I braced myself, it started to get dark, then all of a sudden there was this massive explosion. We were on the mezzanine, which is all encased in glass, the windows blew in, everything went black, and we all got thrown...”

This is a compelling account, especially when one considers that all of the testimonies regarding explosions were excluded from the 9/11 Commission Report as well as the ensuing NIST reports.

Selk was followed by Arizona fire protection engineer Scott Grainger, a 37-year industry veteran, who is featured in the latest AE911Truth film, 9/11: Explosive Evidence – Experts Speak Out. In the film, Mr. Grainger addresses the government’s assessment of the collapse of Building 7, stating, “According to NIST, the failure occurred at column 79 on level 12. They are talking about a single failure that resulted in the total collapse of the building… that just does not make any sense.”

“I have signed the petition for Architects & Engineers for 9/11Truth,” Grainger added. “I felt it was a very important thing to do. I strongly support an independent investigation into what actually occurred [on 9/11], independent of all of the influences that obviously were in effect during the NIST investigation.”

Scott spoke about what brought him to AE911Truth, and then offered a very warm introduction to Richard Gage. The audience, which included a number of people who were new to this information, stood in unison as Gage approached the podium, offering an ovation of gratitude.

Mr. Gage proceeded with his increasingly effective PowerPoint presentation from the original DVD documentary 9/11: Blueprint for Truth. Using the scientific method, he outlined what the science and evidence clearly reveal: that the Twin Towers and WTC Building 7 were brought down by an advanced form of controlled demolition.

When Richard Gage completed his presentation, the audience again gave him a round of applause, followed by another standing ovation.

Nearly two dozen people who attended the event had no previous knowledge of the destruction of WTC 7.  Of the nearly twenty who were originally either convinced or unsure of the verity of the official story, all but one left in agreement with the controlled demolition hypothesis.

A robust Q & A session followed as Richard Gage was joined by a panel of experts. Among the panelists were Grainger; 40-year veteran structural engineer Rick Fowlkes; Jody Gibbs, a 40-year architect who also appears in Experts Speak Out; and Captain Russ Wittenberg, a former airline pilot who had previously flown two of the four airplanes that were said to be used in the 9/11 attacks.

Gage was also welcomed warmly at Boulders Irish Restaurant on Broadway in Tempe, where dozens of supporters took pride in standing with AE911Truth

On Saturday night, we hosted Mr. Gage at Boulders on Broadway in Tempe, AZ, where a cozy crowd of about 65 people filled the upper floor of this Irish restaurant to hear him speak. Mr. Gage invited Steve Cohn, the co-leader of AE911Truth's College Outreach team, to talk about the team’s latest efforts. Cohn is also kicking off the Tempe/East Valley AE911Truth Action Group, which is currently planning on bringing Richard Gage back to Tempe for an on-campus presentation in the fall.

Richard also invited me to speak and encourage folks to join our Phoenix AE911Truth Action Group. I felt honored to have an opportunity to encourage them to step up to the plate and help perform the work of AE911Truth. I was able to express my view, in so many words, that AE911Truth serves as the hub of the wheel of other 9/11 truth organizations. The activists serving at AE911Truth are able to harness the research and experience of a collective body of distinguished technical professionals in order to educate the public about what really destroyed the Twin Towers and WTC Building 7.

Sunday morning found Richard Gage demonstrating with the small crowd gathered at Cesar Chavez Plaza on the steps of City Hall, where he spoke to the Occupy Phoenix protesters and other peace and social justice activists about the common bond they share with the AE911Truth message.

After Gage outlined aspects of the science and evidence of AE911Truth and answered questions, Phoenicians reassembled at Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza, adjacent to the Arizona State Capitol Building, the site of the controversial Phoenix 9/11 memorial named “Moving Memories”.

Flowers were placed next to the piece of WTC steel that adorns the 9/11 memorial in Phoenix

The memorial, designed by several Arizona artists, reaches upward toward the southern path of the Phoenix sun in the form of a huge sundial. Each letter in the circular steel ring has been laser-cut, revealing a variety of phrases intended to evoke an awareness of the broad spectrum of views about the tragic events of September 11. The memorial sparked a heated controversy over the phrases, “You don't win battles of terrorism with more battles” and “06-03-02 Congress questions why CIA & FBI didn't prevent attacks”.

At the northern base of the memorial is a piece of a steel beam from the World Trade Center, mounted on top of a base of concrete that consists of both rubble from the Pentagon and soil from Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

On an unusually cloudy March day, the sun remained hidden from clear view at times, yet shone through periodically, giving visitors a vision of the words forever galvanized in the “Moving Memories” tribute. The sunlight passed through the laser-cut letters and sent the searing words onto the granite bench below.

An activist brought several bouquets of roses to the memorial, so we each placed a rose on the steel beam and base. It was a deeply moving experience for us. A friend told me that on the following day that she passed by the Memorial and the roses were still there. My heart was touched.

The last scheduled engagement for Richard Gage was at the Faith Lutheran Church in Parish Hall, where activist Enrique Lara prepared a fresh homemade burrito buffet which included a fresh cactus salad – Gage’s first ever.

The event served as an intimate meet-and-greet with dedicated activists in the peace and social justice community, and resulted in a round-table strategy meeting that focused on how to get the 911Truth message into the peace and social justice movement and out to the community at large.

I opened the strategy meeting by outlining key points that unite 911 Truth with the peace and social justice community:

Because of the official story of 9/11, the entire world, including the United States of America, has now been declared a battleground in the war on terror. Within a few short weeks following 9/11, the USA PATRIOT Act began to carve deeply into our civil liberties, followed by warrantless wiretapping, random searches and seizures on public transportation and other constitutionally subversive measures.

We've seen the suspension of Habeas Corpus and Posse Comitatus, the legalization of the indefinite arrest and detention of Americans without charges or due process of law, and the legalization of the assassination of Americans.

As to our foreign policy, the official story for 9/11 has resulted in illegal wars, the Military Commissions Act, and the dark development of American torture by policy, which has been re-channeled through the retention of the process of extraordinary rendition. The Bush Doctrine is still in use, as are drone strikes, and the list goes on and on. The point is that if all of these dark and draconian measures are borne of the official story for 9/11, and so many experts are openly challenging the official story based on the science and evidence, then does it not serve the peace and social justice communities to listen to what these experts have to say?

The round table was attended by Richard Gage and local AE911Truth activists such as Rick Fowlkes, Richard Fleek and Enrique Lara, as well as Steve Cohn and Mike Zelinski, the other co-leader of the AE911Truth College Outreach Team. In addition, a variety of peace and social justice activists came to the table, including Victor H. from Tonatierra Nahaucalli (The Embassy for Indigenous Peoples), Sheila Ryan from the End the War Coalition and Women in Black, social justice activist Rob McElwain and human rights activists Chuck Ross and Lili G. The meeting was also attended by locals who simply desired to participate and learn as well.

Gage and AE911Truth petition signer Rick Fowlkes prepare to strategize with peace and justice activists at Faith Lutheran Church

A number of concepts emerged from the discussion, which included new strategies for reaching out to the peace and social justice communities, as well as to the Latino/Indigenous Peoples communities.

When the meeting closed and we began to exit, we were delighted to see a broad-reaching rainbow cross over the bell tower in the eastern sky. It may sound unscientific, but some of us saw this as a very good sign. Regardless, it was a beautiful way to close a wonderful AE911Truth-filled weekend.

Credit for the success of the weekend's events goes to the combined efforts of the Phoenix AE911Truth Action Group, part of which is now branching off into the Tempe/East Valley AE911Truth Action Group. We have 25 active members now, but it is local 9/11 Truth leaders Steve Cohn, Mike Zelinski and Richard Fleek who joined me in co-founding the Phoenix AE911Truth Action Group. We also appreciate the work of Enrique Lara, structural engineer Rick Fowlkes, engineer/broadcaster Arthur Mobley, the leader of the AE911Truth Media Outreach Team. Peace and social justice activist Sheila Ryan also worked so hard at bringing the AE911Truth community and the peace and social justice community to the table together.

The local film crew, which included AE911Truth Action Group members Sean Oliver, Danny Torgerson, John Knotts, Cody Hunt, Christopher Lue Sang, Charles Wanless and Austin Mack, did an outstanding job filming the documentary of “a typical AE911Truth event.” We look forward to the completed film.

Our weekend with AE911Truth has invigorated the activist community here in the Phoenix area and we plan to utilize this energy here and throughout Arizona. We will continue our endeavor to work more effectively with existing 9/11 truth groups, to facilitate the inception of new AE911Truth Action Groups in Arizona, and to work closely with the peace and social justice community across the Grand Canyon State.

We, the supporters of AE911Truth, are all responsible for this vital mission, so join us by going to AE911truth.org and getting active. Remember, the success of AE911Truth depends on you!