Sherlock Holmes removed his pipe. The smoldering embers reminded him of the crime before them and he pointed the stem at the skeptical doctor. "Consider their motto: 'By way of deception thou shalt do war'. They gained everything in 911 with the possible loss of a few zealous men--in the tradition of Judas Maccabee. They gained active military involvement of the US in the Middle East for years to come; they gained more monetary aid; they gained considerable more antipathy by Americans toward Islamic people—and gained sympathy for Israel. The successful operation--if it happened--was diabolical yet brilliant."

"But conjecture doesn’t prove any involvement," Watson flatly challenged. Sherlock Holmes nodded, "Think for a moment how Special Forces soldiers are always indoctrinated, Watson, trained to undertake dangerous missions deep into enemy territory. ’Suicide missions' they are always called in scores of Hollywood movies. Now if a small country like Israel--smaller than Wales—could gain all that the things I have mentioned, would it be implausible in a Hollywood movie?"

"Yes—it would be utterly plausible," Watson admitted. "But plausibility hardly proves guilt."

Watson stood and wandered to a window. From the tenth floor of the Hoboken high rise he could look across the Hudson River and see the skyline of lower Manhattan. The night before he and Holmes had watched a movie called Pushing Tin, about air traffic controllers. The opening scenes showed jetliners swooping dangerously close to the World Trade Center and Watson wondered how anyone in New York could ever watch that movie again. Then he spoke with more than a little annoyance. "I refuse to believe our ally, Israel, would do such a thing. Conspiracy theorists prefer to blame everyone but the actual Saudi culprits who were caught on videotape at the airport."

Holmes spoke quietly. "But none of the so-called Saudi hijackers were caught on tape at the airport, nor do they appear in the Passenger Lists of the hijacked planes. You and I must present a photo ID at the airport. Were all the so-called terrorists traveling to LA as Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones?"

"But Mossad couldn’t be involved, " Watson insisted. "They informed us prior to 911 that terrorists planned a spectacular act, warning us to be wary."

Holmes studied his stout friend as he stood framed by the window. Just below them, in Liberty State Park of all places, a trio of Israelis celebrated while the World Trade Center burned.  "Were you aware, my dear Watson, the Mossad also notified the US about a possible terrorist act many years ago? Mossad had prior information about a huge Mercedes truck bomb being prepared for some select target in Lebanon. They passed on a general warning—nothing specific about that truck—like "sending a weather report,’ a Mossad operative admitted later. Well, some time later that truck approached the Marine barracks, sped past a guardhouse--that was twenty years ago now that I recall--and demolished the building, killing 241 sleeping marines who were there in Beirut ostensibly for peace-keeping purposes."

Watson looked sober. "I’m sorry to hear that but it still doesn’t prove Israel was involved in 911. I’m still waiting for tangible proof."

"The threads of the fabric weave closer, Doctor Watson. Listen. In the summer of 2001, alleged terrorist aviation students train at flight schools in South Florida and live only blocks from alleged art students--young Israelis intent on entry into high security US federal buildings. Normally artists seek to get into art galleries, wouldn’t you say? Even more peculiar, the terrorists and the ‘art students’ lived on the exact same street in Hollywood, Florida. This is truly a terror enigma, wouldn't you also admit?... How could they not have known each other—two groups of Semitic foreigners conspiring in a strange land? And when does foreknowledge become complicity? Suppose for a minute Mossad not only knew of the group but had infiltrated it and knew of its diabolical purposes, even encouraged it? Consider this analogy, my dear Watson. Your neighbor has a fine mansion and extensive property but is somewhat vain, stupid and self-satisfied; call the place America. You represent Israel and you spread a rumor that a distant neighbor intends to hurt the lord of the manor but you are vague about any details. Next weekend that mansion burns down. Evidence left at the scene--religious items and books reportedly belonging to the distant neighbor—indicates all too obviously who was involved. Which neighbor will the police investigate most vigorously—you or the distant neighbor?"

"The distant neighbor," replied Watson.

"Elementary," uttered Holmes. "But suppose even a superficial inquest revealed bad blood between to two neighbors; wouldn’t you both be suspects? And since when is crime scene evidence, even 'real evidence' accepted as conclusive in a court of law? Suppose I left your stethoscope at a strip bar and had someone ‘discover’ it later; thus shouldn’t a Koran left behind in a strip bar also set off loud alarms and raise doubts and the probability of planted evidence? Remember--'By way of deception thou shalt do war' is not just a motto but a tried and true method used by the best spy agency in the world."
"I see what you’re getting at!" Watson brightened, "Did anyone interview any of those strippers and barmen at the area clubs?"

Sherlock Holmes sighed. "One of the signatures of any successful covert operations is to make other groups or individuals appear the culprits. It worked perfectly forty years ago, during a famous crime in Dallas, and it appears to have worked again to perfection."   Holmes shook his head sadly. "Americans are a good-hearted, soft-headed people who love justice in the abstract sense, persisting in a childlike, fantasy concept that good triumphs over evil within the framework of a television show. The sinister forces of evil, whether the state-within-a-state of all intelligence agencies like Mossad or the Mafia or the Medieval Catholic Church, represent a type of self-preservation, or a pragmatic moral code, that permit murder as a matter of policy.  Former Mossad officer, Victor Ostrovsky said: "The intifada and resultant breakdown of moral order and humanity are a direct result of the kind of megalomania that characterizes the operation of the Mossad...That's where it all begins. This feeling that you can do anything you want to whomever you want for as long as you want because you have the power."
"I cannot even fathom that," replied Watson.

"My dear Watson," Holmes began--"you better get used to it because, according to a one scientific detective, '9/11 has become the defining event of the new century, used to justify an unprecedented surge in militaristic and repressive policies within the USA and elsewhere.' Thus we need to ask ourselves about 911, was it Jihad - or Black Op?--and who was involved and who benefits? I may not have proven my case to you yet--and Mossad may not have been entirely culpable--but the involvement of others is without a doubt."

"Published originally at EtherZone.com : republication allowed with this notice and hyperlink intact."

Douglas Herman, internet essayist, is a USAF veteran who believes patriotism begins at home. He is a new columnist for Ether Zone.

He can be reached at: douglasherman7@yahoo.com

Published in the March 22, 2004 issue of  Ether Zone.
Copyright © 1997 - 2004 Ether Zone.

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