We are approaching the five-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and there is an important Congressional election this fall.
Dr. Robert Bowman is the Democratic candidate for the House of Representatives in District 15, which includes all of Indian River County. According to his website, Bowman believes that the events of 9/11 were carried out by our own government. He doesn’t believe the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were hit by hijacked planes, and would indict for treason anyone who suggested they were. Dr. Nelson isn’t convinced there were any hijackers. He calls the 9-11 Commission Report a cover-up. He even dares to ask, “if thermite residue found on severed steel beams didn’t bring down the towers, what did?”
As evidence of this extraordinary claim, he cites a variety of long-discredited conspiracy theories: the WTC towers were blown up with thermite (highly impractical, and would leave behind mountains of unmistakable evidence); the government won’t release the Pentagon strike video (it was released months ago); the WTC had billions in gold at its base (a claim taken from an amateur movie that cited Wikipedia, a website anyone can edit, as its source); the hijackers are alive and well (a case of mistaken identity that was resolved days after the attacks); that evidence was destroyed (those who handled WTC debris personally have said otherwise); and other ludicrous conspiracy theories that a small amount of investigation -- or common sense -- would disprove.
It is repulsive to me that any American, regardless of political ideology, would deny the basic facts of what happened on 9/11. To hear it from a local major-party political candidate, with a background in engineering and aviation, is so far beyond the pale that I lack the vocabulary to express my disgust.
