National Review Online, 240
National Rifle Association. See NRA
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), 227
Nation of Islam, 292
NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), 9, 17, 54, 113, 114–15
Nazi Party, 13, 14, 166, 251–52, 296
NBC (National Broadcasting Company), 317
Netanyahu, Benjamin, 304
Newsweek, 262, 263
New Yorker, 48–49
New York Giants, 8
New York Times, xiii–xiv, 238, 242, 324
Nilus, Sergei, 75
Nirvana, 47
Nixon, Richard, 71–72, 271–72
Nizer, Louis, 309
NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command), 6–7, 9, 12, 15, 101, 102–3, 229
Norris, Frank, 231–32
North American Aerospace Defense Command. See NORAD
North America’s SuperCorridor Coalition, Inc. (NASCO), 242
North Atlantic Treaty Organization. See NATO
Novick, Peter, 266, 267–68
NPR (National Public Radio), 235, 324
NRA (National Rifle Association), 235
NTSB. See National Transportation Safety Board
Obama, Barack, xviii, xxi, 16, 18, 31, 39, 76, 121–24, 126, 130–32, 134–39, 169–70, 241, 242, 304, 314–15, 316, 320, 323
Occidental College, 157
Olmsted, Kathryn, 82
OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries), 117
Orwell, George, 52, 53, 164, 252–53, 255, 261, 278
Oswald, Lee Harvey, 42–46, 49–50, 51, 115, 116, 184
Oswald, Marina, 46
Owen, Orville Ward, 195
Oxford University, 21
Paine, Thomas, 34
Pajamas Media, 158
Palin, Sarah, 33, 126, 127, 129, 132–33, 304
Palmer, A. Mitchell, 82
Panama Canal Company, 290
Patrick, Dennis, 235
Paul, Rand, 128
Paul, Ron, 2
Pelosi, Nancy, 130
Perle, Richard, 302
Perot, Ross, 33, 127
Peto, Jennifer, 299
Philip IV (king), 28
Pierce, Charles, 31–32
Piereson, James, 42
Pipes, Daniel, 28–29, 302, 307
Pitzer College, 21
PNAC. See Project for the New American Century
Podhoretz, Norman, 302
Politico, 125
Pope, Alexander, xiii
Popper, Karl, 205
Populist Party, 33, 35–40, 128, 141–45
Powers, Thomas, 41
Presley, Elvis, 48
Procyon, 290
Project for the New American Century (PNAC), 17, 118–19
PublicEye.org, 319
Pynchon, Thomas, 270
Quinn, Eithne, 273
Radar, 17
Raiskila, Vesa, 111–12
Ralph, Diana, 299
Rand, Ayn, 114, 319
RAND Corporation, 58, 60, 117
Randi, James, 220, 314, 319
Ranke, Craig, 194–95
Rankin, J. Lee, 44
Reagan, Ronald, 61, 87–88, 115, 122, 123, 144, 235
Red Brigades, 115
Reed, Jebediah, 17
Reeves, Keanu, 216
Reid, Harry, 130
Reno, Janet, 16
Republican Party, xxi, 18, 35, 121–22, 126, 128–29, 154, 162, 187, 234, 235, 301
Republicans in Name Only. See RINOs
Rich, Frank, 242
Ridge, Martin, 189
Riefenstahl, Leni, 251, 253, 255
RINOs (Republicans in Name Only), 126
Rivero, Mike, 105
Roberts, Gregg, 95–96
Roberts, Mark, 20
Robertson, Pat, 60–61, 73–74
Robison, John, 29
Rockefeller, David, 1–2, 13, 57, 201
Rockefeller, Nelson, 2
Roosevelt, Franklin Delano, xv, 33, 38, 41, 112–13
Roosevelt, Theodore, 230–31
Rothschild, Evelyn de, 58
Rothschild (family), 41, 58
Rove, Karl, 11, 244
Royal Hospital, Lisbon, xi
Royal Institute of International Affairs, 58
Royal Military College, 10
Ruby, Jack, 50
Rudkowski, Luke, 1, 114, 200–203, 255, 286, 319
Rumsfeld, Donald, 6, 118, 187, 283
Ruppert, Michael, 50, 76, 79–80, 86, 91, 102–3, 104, 185–87, 217–18, 292
Russell, Bertrand, 45–46, 50, 66
Russell, Richard B., 44
Rutgers University, 272
Said, Edward, 295
St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery, 286
Sandanistas, 13
Sartre, Jean-Paul, 265
Saul, John Ralston, 267
Savio, Mario, 156
Scarborough, Rick, 131, 133–34
Schlessinger, Laura, 234
Schumpeter, Joseph A., 160
Scientology, 236–37
Scripps Howard poll, xxi
SEC (Securities Exchange Commission), 103, 128
Segal, Jakob, 309–10
Shakespeare, William, 10, 161, 183, 189, 195, 219
Shapiro, James, 160, 243
Sharon, Ariel, 301
Shayler, David, 184
Sheen, Charlie, xxii
Shermer, Michael, 26–27, 166, 313, 320
Shulevitz, Judith, 264
Siddique, Kaukab, 321
Sikh Golden Temple, 241
Silverstein, Larry, 7, 229
Sinclair, Upton, 231–32
Singer, Alvy, 305
Skeptic, 320
Skeptics Society, 26–27, 319–20
Skoda, Mark, 131, 133
Snopes.com, 320
Sobran, Joseph, 191
Social Democrats of West Germany, 40
Society of Fellows, Harvard, 261
Soldier Readiness Center at Ford Hood, 244
Solway, David, 156–59
Somers, Suzanne, 174–78
Southern Poverty Law Center, 319
Soviet Academy of Sciences, 310
Special Olympics, 8
Stack, Joseph, 25
Stalin, Joseph, 2, 77, 111, 166, 233, 252
Starr Miller, Edith, 35
State University of New York. See SUNY Albany
Steffens, Lincoln, 231–32
Stewart, Jon, 138–39
Stinnett, Robert, 112
Stone, I. F., 93
Stone, Oliver, 71–72
Strauss, Leo, 117
Street News, 293
Summerlin Center Mall, 155
Sunjata, Daniel, xxii, 256
Sunstein, Cass, 238–39
SUNY Albany (State University of New York), 256
Surowiecki, James, 247
Synarchist Movement of Empire, 58–59
Tanenhaus, Sam, 39
Tarpley, Webster, 74, 87–88, 111, 114–16
Tavistock Institute for Behavioural Analysis, 58
Taylor, Philip, 251
Tea Party, 124–35, 138, 143, 145, 235, 269, 302–3
Temple, William, 131
Thatcher, Margaret, 122
Thompson, Damian, 220
Thorn, Victor, 137
Thorns, Paul, 49
Thucydides, 53
Tippitt, J. D., 46
Tonkin Gulf, xvii
Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC), 241–42
Trilateral Commission, 58, 60, 200–201
Trochmann, David, 93
Truman, Harry S., 113, 232
Tsioniaon, Brenda, 267
TTC. See Trans-Texas Corridor
Twin Towers, xiii, 48–49, 66, 92, 95, 104, 105, 168, 219
Tyler, Dan, 215
Tyree, J.M., 189
UN. See United Nations
UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cul
tural Organization), 58
United Church of Canada, 298
United Nations (UN), xiv, 31–32, 50, 54, 62, 106, 154, 257
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. See UNESCO
United States Army, 309
United States Central Command. See CENTCOM
Unity movement, 211
University of Lethbridge, 168, 271
University of Michigan, 25
University of York, 181
Unocal, 13
U.S. Navy, 227
U.S. Army, 309
Venetian Black Nobility, 58
Ventura, Jesse, xxii
de Vere, Edward, 219
Virgil, 207
Virginia Commonwealth University, 272
Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet), xi–xiii, xv, 39, 325–26
Vreeland, Delmart, 186
Wade, Henry, 46
Wagner, Richard, 252
Walesa, Lech, 131
Wallace, George, 43
War Department, U.S., 253
Warren, Earl, 44, 46
Washburne, Elihu, 187, 189
Washington Post, 21, 145
Waters, Anita, 272
Webster, Nesta, 35
Weisberg, Harold, 230
Welch, Robert, 39–41, 253–54
Wellstone, Paul, 47–48
WFAN (sports radio station), 233
WHO. See World Health Organization
Wikipedia, 17, 241, 246, 247
Will, George, 236
Williams, Montel, 313
Willman, Skip, 273
Wilmot, Sheila, 274–75, 278, 307
Wilson, Woodrow, 65
Winfrey, Oprah, 171, 178–79, 317
Wohlstetter, Albert, 117
Wolfowitz, Paul, 6, 118, 229, 302
Women Against Labor Union Hoodlumism, 40
Woods, Ian, 78, 111
Woods, Tiger, 317
Woodward, Bob, 94, 248
Woodworth, Elizabeth, 6
World Bank, 44
World Health Organization (WHO), 80
WorldNetDaily, 121–23, 128, 170, 240–41, 247–48, 304
World Trade Center, xxi, 2–14, 17, 20–22, 48–49, 66, 88, 96, 103, 108, 152, 154–56, 168, 211, 228, 248–50, 255–56, 283, 287, 316, 327
World Wide Web, xvi–xvii, 228
Wray, T.J., 209–10
Wright, Jeremiah, 157, 324
Wright, Lawrence, 20
Yale Law Journal, 279–83
Yale Law School, 40, 279–80
Yale University, 279
Yousef, Ramzi, 228
YouTube, 254, 258–59
Zamyatin, Yevgeny, 36, 51–53
Zapruder, Abraham, 254
Zarathustra, 209
Zarembka, Paul, 50, 51, 190, 194
Zelikow, Philip, 258–59, 287
Zinn, Howard, 102, 167
Zizakovic, Lubo, 8–9, 12–13, 15, 114, 163
Zuma, Jacob, 312
Zündel, Ernst, 182, 219, 288
Zwicker, Barrie, 94, 97, 190, 191
1 There is, however, at least one recorded instance of a Jewish man being lynched: Atlanta, Georgia, factory manager Leo Frank, who in 1915 was accused of murdering a girl in his employ.
2 The impulse toward conspiracism seems to be triggered only when the public figure in question actually dies. In 2003, Royal Holloway University of London researcher Patrick Leman reported a study in which people were read a story about a president being attacked by a would-be assassin. Leman found that people were far more likely to embrace conspiracy theories about the event if the president were presented as having died as opposed to having been merely injured—a phenomenon described as the “major event-major cause” heuristic.
3 Kolar’s various theories include the notion that 9/11 lead hijacker Mohammed Atta was actually “a pilot in a very lucrative heroin trafficking operation” involving all manner of celebrity arms dealers and criminals.
4 Amazingly, many modern conspiracists remain obsessed with Masonry. To this day, I still get emails like this one, which I received in 2008: “Dear Mr. Kay, Show me a picture of an airplane in the Pentagon Building. Any part of a real airplane will be enough. When a picture of this kind can be shown I will take the trouble to admit I have been wrong about the Masons and their friends trying to manipulate the population. Masons, those lovable people who believe in SLAVERY. They are the problem. Finding surrogates like yourself to get paid to promote their dirty handiwork is easy for them. They have a history of understanding your kind.”
5 It’s worth noting that—despite the superficial similarities between Northwoods and the supposed neocon conspiracy to blow up the World Trade Center—the 1962 episode actually helps demonstrate why Truther theories are so far-fetched. Northwoods was conceived in a climate of perceived urgency: Fidel Castro’s regime was an obsession in Washington, and preventing the spread of communism on America’s doorstep was properly seen as an urgent, life-and-death foreign policy challenge. Yet even under these conditions, the plan was rejected as unnecessarily risky by JFK—despite the fact that the schemes contained in the Northwoods memorandum were orders of magnitude less complex and deadly than bringing down three Manhattan skyscrapers.
6 The convoluted nature of the Northwoods schemes—involving drone planes, passengers shuffled from one plane to another, and repainted airplane tail numbers—may help explain some of the especially otherworldly “no-planer” Truther theories of 9/11, which suggest the four passenger aircraft that crashed that day were somehow not what they seemed, but instead were drones, or had been emptied of passengers at some indeterminate location in the northeast United States, or even that they were not real aircraft at all.
7 The notion that FDR knew about—or knowingly provoked—the Pearl Harbor attacks is refuted in chapter 15 of Conrad Black’s definitive 2003 FDR biography, Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom. When I asked the author (who happens to be a National Post colleague) what he thought of Stinnett’s thesis, he had this to say: “The idea that Roosevelt would have been aware of an attack on the Pacific Fleet and under-warned his local commanders is outrageous. He loved the navy, and he would have had just as much anger and unanimity behind his war policy from the US public if the torpedo nets [around the harbor] had been out, the air force airborne, and the damage had only been 2 percent of what it was. This is one of the dumbest conspiracy theories [I’ve ever heard].
“I don’t buy any of the conspiracy theories about 9/11 either,” Black added. “It was another intelligence bungle by the United States, but God knows we are accustomed to those, such as unawareness that there were already 140,000 Red Chinese troops in North Korea while Truman and MacArthur were meeting at Wake Island; and of the presence of nuclear, immediately attachable warheads and 40,000 Russian soldiers in Cuba before Kennedy made his speech and imposed his quarantine in 1962.”
8 In 2008, an email correspondent sent me this anecdote, in response to a column I’d written about 9/11 Truthers: “While at dinner with a well educated (lawyer and building contractor) Serbian immigrant couple we befriended in the late 90’s, I mentioned the surreal experience of watching the initial attack on Dubrovnik live on a BBC feed to Canadian television, a man walking his dog down a path alongside the seaside hotels as Serbian naval missiles slammed into them with the trailing wires visible on the screen. They immediately informed me that this, and all the other TV coverage of atrocities like the market mortar attack, was faked in Hollywood. We remained friends but never discussed politics and I concluded that there are simply limits to what one can believe evil about one’s [own] group.”
Acknowledgments
This book is dedicated to my father, Ronald, whom I followed into the study of science and engineering; and my mother, Barbara, who passed on to me her love of books. He gave me the tools to understand how the world works. She gave me the tools to put that understanding into wor
ds.
This book would not exist without the support I received from my employer, Canada’s National Post newspaper—and, in particular, publisher Doug Kelly and editor Steve Meurice. I also received important assistance from Mark Dubowitz and his team at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which provided me with logistical support during my trips to Washington, D.C. Over the last two years, I have been very proud to call myself a fellow at the FDD.
Additional thanks go to Michael Levine, for his tireless efforts to promote the project before I’d written a single word; my researcher, Timothy Mak; my editors at HarperCollins—Jennifer Lambert and Alex Schultz in Toronto, and Adam Bellow in New York. I would also like to express appreciation to my friend Michael Ross, who trusted me to help edit his 2007 book, The Volunteer. It was thanks to that collaboration that I first realized how satisfying and enjoyable the act of creating a book could be.
Finally, I am grateful to my wife, Jennifer, who set me free to travel across North America, interviewing the people discussed in this book. Jennifer also endured many evenings of my droning on about the various flavors of Trutherdom. Never once did she say, “If you don’t mind, I’ll wait for the book.”
About the Author
JONATHAN KAY is a managing editor, columnist, and blogger at Canada’s National Post newspaper. His freelance articles have appeared in such publications as The New Yorker, the New York Times, Harper’s Magazine, Commentary, Salon, Reader’s Digest, and Newsweek. He is a fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, D.C.
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Credits
Jacket Illustration by Josh Cochran
Jacket Design and Author Illustration by Jarrod Taylor
Copyright
AMONG THE TRUTHERS. Copyright © 2011 by Jonathan Kay. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.