The Preternatural Pattern: Premonitions of September 11 In Popular Culture
THE CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN. He’s seen too much.
STRUGHOLD. What has he seen? Of the whole, he has seen but pieces.
The X-Files: Fight the Future (1998)[1]
People think I collect art. What I really collect are lives fixed in paint. A perfect moment capturing an entire existence made immortal. . . . A monster’s fight to survive and live to kill again. A mother willing to fracture her own soul to protect her child. . . . Youth’s struggle for innocence, despite life’s cruelty. . . . The double-edged lies needed to sustain a double-edged life. . . . A wandering hero’s pure joy at success. . . . And his darkest hour, when all the world seems lost. All perfect moments frozen in time. Alone, each tells a single story. Together, they can tell the future.
Daniel Linderman, Heroes (2006)[2]
PHILLIP BROYLES. What happened on that plane might be part of something more dangerous than just simple terrorism.
OLIVIA DUNHAM. Simple terrorism?
PHILLIP BROYLES. In the past nine months there’ve been three dozen authenticated incidents like the Hamburg flight. John Thompson, a normal kid, went missing back in ’98. Reappeared last month, half-way around the world—hadn't aged a day. In the past few months forty-six other children who went missing that same year turn up—same story. A local fisherman off the coast of Sri Lanka reports a low-flying plane emitting a high-pitched frequency that blows out all their windows. An hour later, same spot an 8.7 sub-surface earthquake creates a tsunami that kills 83,000 people.
OLIVIA DUNHAM. So why are you telling me this?
PHILLIP BROYLES. This man a patient in Lisbon who woke up after years in a coma, began writing just numbers. They turn out to be exact real-time coordinates of our carrier battle groups in the pacific—intel that's classified above top secret.
OLIVIA DUNHAM. So how is that even possible?
PHILLIP BROYLES. Come work for me and I’ll get you the clearance—
OLIVIA DUNHAM. Oh stop!
PHILLIP BROYLES. Dunham there’s more you need to hear.
OLIVIA DUNHAM. You mustn’t have heard me I said stop.
PHILLIP BROYLES. They’re calling these events the pattern. As if someone out there’s experimenting only the whole world is their lab. You’ve seen it now you know!
OLIVIA DUNHAM. I don’t want to know. I have a job.
PHILLIP BROYLES. This is a more important job. Anything, anybody you need you can have.
OLIVIA DUNHAM. I like the job I’ve got and the man I do it with, which you seem to have deduced on your own.
PHILLIP BROYLES. Look around. You see all these people going about their lives no idea what’s happening around them what they’re in the middle of.
OLIVIA DUNHAM. I just want to go back to before.
PHILLIP BROYLES. Dunham, I don’t think you can.
Fringe (2008)[3]
Invoking 9/11
Film
1.1. The car radio in the Ford F-250 pickup truck owned by Roy Neary.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind © 1977 Columbia Pictures. Courtesy of Columbia Pictures.
Title: Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Year of Release: 1977
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Director: Steven SpielbergWriter: Steven Spielberg
Scene: 5 Close Encounter: First Kind
Time: 00:21:00
Setting: After a large-scale power outage in Indiana, Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss), an electrical lineman, is sent out on emergency repairs. Along the way, however, he gets lost and stops his Ford F-250 pickup truck at a level crossing to study a map when all of a sudden he experiences a close encounter with a UFO and is bathed in a strange light accompanied by electromagnetic interference and implanted with a psychic vision of Devil’s Tower that leaves him profoundly affected.
Comment: 1.1. The radio dial sits between nine and eleven.
Scene: 11 Contacting the Guilers
Setting: Wild Bill (Warren Kemmerling) oversees a band of dirty tricks campaigners (John Ewing, Keith Atkinson, Robert Broyles, Kirk Raymond) covertly plotting a fake bioterror attack for broadcast by the news media and force the mass evacuation of the areas surrounding Devil’s Tower.
Dialogue:
DIRTY TRICKS #1. Look. Look. I still like the flash flood idea.
DIRTY TRICKS #2. Where are you going to get the water?
DIRTY TRICKS #3. We’ve had about two inches of rain in the last sixteen months.
DIRTY TRICKS #1. Wait. Wait a minute. Wait . . . wait. We can do a survey of dams and reservoirs and tell them one’s going to burst.
WILD BILL. We don’t have enough time!
DIRTY TRICKS #2. And besides there’s not enough water in those reservoirs!
DIRTY TRICKS #1. Wait . . . wait . . . wait! Contaminated water affects people, crop, animals. Disease.
DIRTY TRICKS #3. Yeah, epidemic.
DIRTY TRICKS #2. The important thing is what kind of disease?
DIRTY TRICKS #3. A plague . . . a plague epidemic!
DIRTY TRICKS #1. Nobody’s going to believe a plague in this day and age.
DIRTY TRICKS #2. Anthrax.
DIRTY TRICKS #4. Ranching country.
DIRTY TRICKS #3. Yes!
DIRTY TRICKS #2. There are a lot of sheep up on those hills.
WILD BILL. That’s good. That’s good. I like that.
DIRTY TRICKS #3. It’ll create a panic.
WILD BILL. But it may not evacuate everybody. There’s always some joker who thinks he’s immune. What I need is something so scary it’ll clear 300 square miles of every living Christian soul.
Comment: 1.1. The military discuss covert operations citing the use of anthrax as a potential method of terror. 1.2. Immediately following 9/11, members of the news media and government officials were scared into silence in the wake of a spate of anthrax attacks.
1.2. Wrong Is Right Theatrical Poster.
Title: Wrong Is Right
Year of Release: 1982
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Director: Richard Brooks
Writer: Charles McCarry (Novel The Better Angels); Richard Brooks (Screenplay)
Scene: 17 Justifiable Homicide?
Setting: In a desperate attempt to boost his flagging popularity in the polls President Lockwood (George Grizzard) agrees to a candid interview with World Television Network reporter Patrick Hale (Sean Connery). He reveals his involvement in the removal of King Awad (Ron Moody) of Hagreb who had arranged the procurement of two nuclear suitcase bombs for use by Eye of Gaza terrorist leader Rafeeq (Henry Silva) against Jerusalem and New York.
Dialogue:
Scene 17
PATRICK HALE. Some presidents come into office because they’re ruthless. All become ruthless before they leave.PRESIDENT LOCKWOOD. I want the people to know the truth. The whole truth. It’s the American way. I take full responsibility for the—for King Ibn Awad’s removal from office.
MALLORY. It’s the dog that worries me.
PRESIDENT LOCKWOOD. If the truth turns you against me . . . the blame falls not on us, but on the facts.
PATRICK HALE. Fact: Lockwood swore to protect and defend the United States and its Constitution. Fact: King Awad made an unholy alliance . . . with an international gang of terrorists. Fact: King Awad paid for two atom bombs, concealed in two suitcases. I saw them. I can prove they were radioactive. Fact: Those bombs were to be used by this terrorist to destroy Jerusalem. His secondary target was to be New York City or—
RAFEEQ. No bombs. No proof.
ABU. No question.
RAFEEQ. Get the bombs!
ABU. How?
RAFEEQ. However!
PATRICK HALE. Was the death of King Awad justifiable?
MRS. FORD. The maniac who shot Lincoln . . . the hired killers of Dr. Martin Luther King, the Kennedys, Lumumba . . . those who burned Joan of Arc, poisoned Socrates, crucified Christ . . . all assassins cry, “Justifiable homicide.”
PATRICK HALE. If you’d be president, how would you have handled King Awad?
MRS. FORD. Killed him.
PATRICK HALE. Then you’d call it justifiable?
MRS. FORD. I’d call it necessary.
CARDINAL. Murder is never justified. No! The end does not justify the means.
REV. BILLY BOB HARPER. To prevent a plague by killing the germ is not murder. It’s mercy.
GENERAL WOMBAT. The U.S. of A. may not always be right . . . but God knows we’re never wrong.
CONGRESSMAN. Nobody asked Congress. Why?
PATRICK HALE. Public opinion.
CABBIE. With gas more than three bucks a gallon, the prez did right.
WOMAN SHOPPER. Wrong.
POLICEMAN. Right.
HOOKER. King who?
PATRICK HALE. Given the facts, sir—
MALLORY. Facts? What facts? What suitcases? What bombs? What nonsense! Where’s the proof? There’s only one fact. The president is guilty of premeditated, cold-blooded murder.
MALLORY. Ladies and gentlemen, the greatest outlaw of the century.
MRS. FORD. Thank you. In the Gallup poll—
PRESIDENT LOCKWOOD. Well?
MRS. FORD. We dropped seventeen points.
PRESIDENT LOCKWOOD. They’ve been wrong before.
MRS. FORD. The Times picks Mallory to win.
PRESIDENT LOCKWOOD. How close?
MRS. FORD. Landslide.
PRESIDENT LOCKWOOD. I thought that if I faced the people—
MRS. FORD. Just another television show.
HACKER. Seen by a hundred million people. They cried.
MRS. FORD. Soap opera.
HACKER. Seventy thousand telegrams are raves.
MRS. FORD. Most of them sent by you.
HACKER. The people need us.
MRS. FORD. Will they vote for us?
HACKER. Why not? He told the truth, the whole truth.
MRS. FORD. Words.
HACKER. The president’s word—
PRESIDENT LOCKWOOD. Is suspect. Right?
MRS. FORD. These days, yes, sir.
PRESIDENT LOCKWOOD. You heard the lady. We need proof, two million dollars worth.
PHILINDROS. (On phone.) Urgent. Overseas. Person-to-person.
Comment: 1.1. The motive for the removal of the king of Hagreb strikingly parallels the motive for the removal of the president of Iraq.
Scene: 27 A Well-Hung Flagpole; 28 War!
Setting: Despite his mediocre efforts President Lockwood continues to slip in the polls until the two nuclear suitcases are conveniently discovered and defused on top of the World Trade Center by CIA Director Philindros (G. D. Spradlin). As a result he declares preemptive war and is assured re-election to the presidency.
Dialogue:
Scene 27
PATRICK HALE. That’s a well-hung flagpole.
PRESIDENT LOCKWOOD. Thank God! Call the FBI.
PATRICK HALE. Just in the nick of time.
PHILINDROS. Yep.
PATRICK HALE. Convenient.
PHILINDROS. Oh, I’d say lucky.
PATRICK HALE. I thought for a while, the CIA had . . . arranged the suitcases. Like King Awad’s suicide.
PHILINDROS. Mr. Hale, we only try to do what’s right.
PATRICK HALE. Even when it’s wrong?
PHILINDROS. If it’s good for America, it can’t be wrong. Right?
PATRICK HALE. What’s next?
PRESIDENT LOCKWOOD. Thank God! Call the FBI.
PATRICK HALE. Just in the nick of time.
PHILINDROS. Yep.
PATRICK HALE. Convenient.
PHILINDROS. Oh, I’d say lucky.
PATRICK HALE. I thought for a while, the CIA had . . . arranged the suitcases. Like King Awad’s suicide.
PHILINDROS. Mr. Hale, we only try to do what’s right.
PATRICK HALE. Even when it’s wrong?
PHILINDROS. If it’s good for America, it can’t be wrong. Right?
PATRICK HALE. What’s next?
Scene 28
PRESIDENT LOCKWOOD. War! These atom bombs on our land . . . constitute an act of war. Undeclared war, unprovoked war . . . started by the bloodiest terrorist of modern history. By Rafeeq, the Hun of Hagreb.
RAFEEQ: What war? What bombs? What the hell? Is he crazy?
PRESIDENT LOCKWOOD. Frank, boy!
MALLORY. You did it! You finally did it!
PRESIDENT LOCKWOOD. We’re not gonna take it anymore!
MALLORY. You hit them!
PRESIDENT LOCKWOOD. You bet!
MALLORY. Hit them with everything you got! And, but for God’s sake, don’t hit those oil wells!
GENERAL WOMBAT. What we got here is a war. Now you’re here for one reason. No matter what happens, nothing happens until it happens on television.
PATRICK HALE. Right. But before you take the oil wells, remember . . . we’re taking a three-minute commercial break!
GENERAL WOMBAT. Right. Now let’s kick ass!
Comment: 2.1. The motive for the invasion of Hagreb strikingly parallels the motive for the invasion of Iraq. 2.2. As the two nuclear suitcases are located on top of the World Trade Center the clock reads 09:56 throughout, including 09:56:01:00 as the twentieth from the start (09:56:00:06–24; 09:56:01:00–24; 09:56:02:00–19; 4 MINUTES; 09:56:05:01–24; 09:56:06:00–24; 09:56:07:00). 2.3. Using inclusive counting 1982+20=2001.
RAFEEQ: What war? What bombs? What the hell? Is he crazy?
PRESIDENT LOCKWOOD. Frank, boy!
MALLORY. You did it! You finally did it!
PRESIDENT LOCKWOOD. We’re not gonna take it anymore!
MALLORY. You hit them!
PRESIDENT LOCKWOOD. You bet!
MALLORY. Hit them with everything you got! And, but for God’s sake, don’t hit those oil wells!
GENERAL WOMBAT. What we got here is a war. Now you’re here for one reason. No matter what happens, nothing happens until it happens on television.
PATRICK HALE. Right. But before you take the oil wells, remember . . . we’re taking a three-minute commercial break!
GENERAL WOMBAT. Right. Now let’s kick ass!
Comment: 2.1. The motive for the invasion of Hagreb strikingly parallels the motive for the invasion of Iraq. 2.2. As the two nuclear suitcases are located on top of the World Trade Center the clock reads 09:56 throughout, including 09:56:01:00 as the twentieth from the start (09:56:00:06–24; 09:56:01:00–24; 09:56:02:00–19; 4 MINUTES; 09:56:05:01–24; 09:56:06:00–24; 09:56:07:00). 2.3. Using inclusive counting 1982+20=2001.
1.3. Waiting for trading to open at 9:00 a.m.
Trading Places © 1983 Paramount Pictures. Courtesy of Paramount Pictures.
Title: Trading Places
Year of Release: 1983
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Director: John Landis
Writer: Timothy Harris, Herschel Weingrod
Scene: 18 FCOJ
Time: 01:39:33
Setting: Having lost his senior management position with the Philadelphia commodities brokerage Duke and Duke, Louis Winthorpe III (Dan Akroyd) aligns with street hustler, Billy Ray Valentine (Eddie Murphy) to wreak vengeance upon the Dukes. Bidding farewell to their accomplices they take a train to New York City where they disembark a taxi at the World Trade Center. Walking to the New York Board of Trade at Four World Trade Center Winthorpe furnishes Valentine a brisk lesson in the trade of warfare. Once they arrive they wait among the crowd for trading to open.
Dialogue:
LOUIS WINTHORPE III. Think big, think positive. Never show any sign of weakness. Always go for the throat. Buy low, sell high. Fear, that’s the other guy’s problem. Nothing you have ever experienced can prepare you for the unbridled carnage you are about to witness.
BILLY RAY VALENTINE. Right.
Louis Winthorpe III. The Super Bowl, the World Series. They don’t know what pressure is. In this building it’s either kill or be killed. You make no friends in the pits and you take no prisoners. One minute you’re up half a million in soybeans, and the next, boom. Your kids don’t go to college and they’ve repossessed your Bentley. Are you with me?
Billy Ray Valentine. Yeah. We’ve got to kill the motherfucker . . . we’ve got to kill them.
Comment: 1.1. As they walk by Two World Trade Center (South Tower) the dominating themes of Winthorpe’s discourse are death and destruction. 1.2. The hands on the clock point to the figures nine and eleven.
1.4. The car radio in the Volkswagen Beetle owned by Billy Peltzer.
Gremlins © 1984 Warner Bros. Pictures. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.
Title: Gremlins
Year of Release: 1984
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Director: Joe Dante
Writer: Chris Columbus
Scene: 19 Mayhem (“This Is Supposed To Be Christmas!”)
Time: 01:09:02
Setting: With Gizmo by his side Billy Peltzer (Zach Galligan) sets out to rescue Kate (Phoebe Cates) from the Gremlins overrunning Dorry’s Tavern. He starts the engine to his Volkswagen Beetle and switches the radio on.
Comment: 1.1. The radio dial sits between nine and eleven. 1.2. Looking at the brand name sapphire is the traditional birthstone for September and XI is the Roman numeral for eleven.
1.5. Details of the visa permit granted to Maxwell Dent accessed on the workstation at Sidney Bernstein’s office.
Beverly Hills Cop II © 1987 Paramount Pictures. Courtesy of Paramount Pictures.
1.6. Details of the consignment to Costa Rica accessed on the workstation at Sidney Bernstein’s office. Beverly Hills Cop II © 1987 Paramount Pictures. Courtesy of Paramount Pictures.
Title: Beverly Hills Cop II
Year of Release: 1987
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Director: Tony Scott
Writer: Eddie Murphy, Robert D. Wachs (Story); Larry Ferguson, Warren Skaaren (Screenplay)
Scene: 10 Racing Time
Time: 01:15:16; 01:15:20
Setting: Detroit police officer Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) tricks accountant Sidney Bernstein (Gilbert Gottfried) into using his office computer to examine the financial records of his client, arms dealer Maxwell Dent (Jurgen Prochnow) and discovers he and his fiancée Karla Fry (Brigitte Nielsen) have obtained permits to leave the country.
Comment: 1.1. The visa application and consignment of oilfield equipment to Costa Rica are dated 9/11/86. 1.2. Using exclusive counting 1987+(8+6=14)=2001.
1.7. Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh cross the street to Dixie’s house.
Lethal Weapon © 1987 Warner Bros. Pictures. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.
Title: Lethal Weapon
Year of Release: 1987
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Director: Richard Donner
Writer: Shane Black
Scene: 21 Dixie’s House
Time: 01:03:05
Setting: Los Angeles police officers Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) and Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) seek to interrogate call girl Dixie (Lycia Naff) over the death of Amanda Hunsaker (Jackie Swanson). They park their Oldsmobile 88 and walk up to her house to the chant of the local neighbourhood children. The house explodes and they fall to the ground.
Comment: 1.1. The street sign has printed: “NO PARKING ANY TIME EXCEPT 9 TO 11 AM WEDNESDAYS.” 1.2. Simultaneous to the explosion an airplane flies overhead.
1.8. Die Hard Theatrical Poster.
Title: Die Hard
Year of Release: 1988
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Director: John McTiernan Writer: Roderick Thorp (Novel Nothing Lasts Forever); Jeb Stuart, Steven E. De Souza (Screenplay)
Scene: 1 Landing In LA
Setting: New York City police officer John McClane (Bruce Willis) sits anxiously alongside a businessman (Robert Lesser) in an airplane bound for Los Angeles. They spark off a conversation about surviving air travel.
Dialogue:
BUSINESSMAN. You don’t like flying, do you?
JOHN MCCLANE. What gives you that idea?
BUSINESSMAN. You wanna know the secret to surviving air travel? After you get where you’re going, take off your shoes and your socks. Then you walk around on the rug barefoot and make fists with your toes.
JOHN MCCLANE. Fists with your toes?
BUSINESSMAN. I know. I know. It sounds crazy. Trust me. I’ve been doing it for nine years. Yes, sir! Better than a shower and a hot cup of coffee.
JOHN MCCLANE. Okay.
(The airplane stops. Passengers rise, start to take down overhead luggage. McClane does this, but as he opens the door above, the Businessman blanches seeing McClane’s Beretta pistol peeking out from his jacket. Recognizing the look, McClane smiles reassuringly.)
JOHN MCCLANE. It’s okay. I’m a cop. Trust me. I’ve been doing this for eleven years.
Comment: 1.1. Comparing the sum of experience each has in their respective fields the Businessman has nine years and McClane eleven years.
1.9. Vicki Vale’s apartment door.
Batman © 1989 Warner Bros. Pictures. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.
Title: Batman
Year of Release: 1989
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Director: Tim Burton Writer: Sam Hamm (Story); Sam Hamm, Warren Skaaren (Screenplay)
Scene: 19 Vale’s Apartment: “My Life Is Really Complex;” The Joker Pays a Call: Breaking Eggs and Dancing with the Devil.
Time: 01:15:06
Setting: Bruce Wayne/Batman (Michael Keaton) visits photojournalist Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger) at her apartment to apologize for lying and reveal his true identity.
Comment: 1.1. The design on the door mirrors the Twin Towers. 1.2. The gilded number nine together with the two black bars underneath make a subtle 911.
1.10. Patients’ files are examined by Bainbridge Hospital staff.
Awakenings © 1990 Columbia Pictures. Courtesy of Columbia Pictures.
Title: Awakenings
Year of Release: 1990
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Director: Penny Marshall Writer: Oliver Sacks (Novel); Steven Zaillian (Screenplay)
Scene: 10 Lucy on the Move
Time: 00:20:52
Setting: Dr. Malcolm Sayer (Robin Williams) and Eleanor Costello (Julie Kavner) examine the admission files of the catatonic patients of Bainbridge Hospital.
Comment: 1.1. Browsing a file Ms. Costello exclaims, “This one is ‘No change,’ dated 9/11/44.” 1.2. The inversion of the statement is correct as world history forever changed on 9/11 and like the birth of Christ split into “pre-9/11” and “post-9/11” eras.
1.11. A television news crew demands access to the Clamp Premiere Regency Trade Center and Retail Concourse.
Gremlins 2: The New Batch © 1990 Warner Bros. Pictures. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.
Title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch
Year of Release: 1990
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Director: Joe Dante
Writer: Charlie Haas
Scene: 23 Bizarre Science
Time: 01:10:53
Setting: Gremlins infest the familiar-sounding Clamp Premiere Regency Trade Center and Retail Concourse. A contingent of television reporters (Heidi Kemp, Eric Shawn, Michael Salort) attempt to gain entry into the site, but are prevented by a New York City cop (Frank P. Ryan) who informs them that it has been evacuated.
Comment: 1.1. The microphone flags display the channel nine and eleven logos.
1.12. The Healys’ home in Mortville.
Problem Child 2 © 1991 Universal Pictures. Courtesy of Universal Pictures.
Title: Problem Child 2
Year of Release: 1991
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Director: Brian Levant
Writer: Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski
Scene: 11 Maid to Order
Time: 00:51:16
Setting: Ben Healy (John Ritter) with adopted son Junior Healy (Michael Oliver) move from Cold River to Mortville to make a fresh start.
Comment: 1.1. The street number 911 is etched vertically on the right column of the portico. 1.2. The French word mortville denotes “city of death.”
1.13. A sting operation is recorded for a television show.
Ricochet © 1991 Warner Bros. Pictures. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.
Title: Ricochet
Year of Release: 1991
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Director: Russell Mulcahy
Writer: Fred Dekker, Menno Meyjes (Story); Steven E. De Souza (Screenplay)
Scene: 7 Two Years Later: Busted
Time: 00:18:20
Setting: Television programme Busted reports on Los Angeles police officer Nick Styles’s (Denzel Washington) promotion with accompanying footage of his most recent undercover operation. The programme notes, “Lieutenant Nick Styles may look familiar to our viewers. He first gained national attention two years ago when his apprehension of professional hit man Earl Talbot Blake was captured by an amateur photographer. Today’s operation will camp his career with the LAPD. Next week the recent law school graduate will continue his crime fighting as Los Angeles’s new assistant district attorney.”
Comment: 1.1. The details of the undercover operation are 11 SEPT. 1985, 5:20 P.M. LOS ANGELES. 1.2. Using inclusive counting {1991+[85+(5+20=25; 2+5=7)= 92; 9+2=11]}=2001.
1.14. The overpass and abutment the T-1000 crashes into immediately prior to impact.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day © 1991 TriStar Pictures. Courtesy of TriStar Pictures.
Title: Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Year of Release: 1991
Distributor: TriStar Pictures
Director: James Cameron
Writer: James Cameron, William Wisher
Scene: 21 Canal Chase
Time: 00:36:16
Setting: The Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and John Conner (Edward Furlong) are pursued by the T-1000 (Robert Patrick) who crashes a Freightliner truck into an overpass supported by an abutment, which bisects the canal into two channels. The truck slams into the abutment and explodes into a fireball.
Comment: 1.1. On the overpass is printed: “CAUTION: 9′-11″.” 1.2. The outline of the two channels bisected by the abutment conforms to the outline of the Twin Towers.
1.15. Koopa’s Tower.
Super Mario Bros. © 1993 Hollywood Pictures. Courtesy of Hollywood Pictures.
Title: Super Mario Bros.
Year of Release: 1993
Distributor: Hollywood Pictures
Director: Rocky Morton, Annabel Jankel
Writer: Parker Bennet, Terry Runte, Ed Solomon
Scene: 10 Hey Mario
Time: 01:30:37
Setting: As Mario Mario (Bob Hoskins) and King Koopa (Dennis Hopper) are transported between parallel worlds the World Trade Center is transformed into Koopa’s Tower.
Comment: 1.1. At the same time as the Twin Towers are transformed into a heavily damaged and smoldering wreck a ghostly image of an airplane flies eerily between them.
1.16. The Oval Office under surveillance as an agreement is made on the pelican brief.
The Pelican Brief © 1993 Warner Bros. Pictures. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.
Title: The Pelican Brief
Year of Release: 1993
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Director: Alan J. Pakula
Writer: John Grisham (Novel); Alan J. Pakula (Screenplay)
Scene: 13 Discussing Dog Tricks
Time: 00:41:22
Setting: White House chief of staff, Fletcher Coal (Tony Goldwyn), closely monitors surveillance video of the US president (Robert Culp) and FBI Director Denton Voyles (James B. Sikking) in the Oval Office as both parties come to an arrangement on the pelican brief.
Comment: 1.1. The counter on the three television screens reads 09:11 throughout (Left: 09:11:42:28–09:11:44:24; Center: 09:11:42:29–09:11:44:27; Right: 09:11:43:00–09:11:44:27).
1.17. The tape recorder in the observation room.
Seven © 1995 New Line Cinema. Courtesy of New Line Cinema.
Title: Seven
Year of Release: 1995
Distributor: New Line Cinema
Director: David Fincher
Writer: Andrew Kevin Walker
Scene: 26 Lust
Time: 01:24:15
Setting: Detectives Somerset (Morgan Freeman) and Mills (Brad Pitt) interrogate the Crazed Man in Massage Parlor (Leland Orser) and the Man in Booth at Massage Parlor (Michael Massee) while an officer records them from the observation room.
Comment: 1.1. The counter on the tape recorder passes 0.09.11.
1.18. The prosecution strikes a blow to the defense in its cross-examination of the defense psychologist.
A Time to Kill © 1996 Warner Bros. Pictures. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.
Title: A Time to Kill
Year of Release: 1996
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Director: Joel Schumacher
Writer: John Grisham (Novel); Akiva Goldsman (Screenplay)
Scene: 13 Hooking Dr. Bass
Time: 40:03
Setting: Jake Brigance (Matthew McConaughey) acts as defense attorney for Carl Lee Hailey (Samuel L. Jackson) who murdered two men in retribution for the brutal rape of his ten-year-old daughter.
Comment: 1.1. During the course of the trial defence psychologist Dr. Willard Tyrrel Bass (M. Emmet Walsh) takes the stand and is cross-examined by the district attorney Rufus Buckley (Kevin Spacey) who interrogates him over a prior conviction for statutory rape. Despite his adamant denials Buckley counters, “Well, I have some mighty interesting photographs of you taken with a female underage in a motel by the Dallas Police Department on September 11th, 1960.”
1.19. Executive Decision Theatrical Poster.
Title: Executive Decision
Year of Release: 1996
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Director: Stuart Baird
Writer: Jim Thomas, John Thomas
Scene: 7 Grant’s Theory: Revenge
Setting: Shortly after US authorities capture Jaffa (Andreas Katsulas), “the most feared and wanted terrorist in the world,” his henchmen under second-in-command Nagi Hassan (David Suchet) hijack Oceanic Airlines Flight 343 bound for Washington, D.C., demanding the release of their leader along with $50 million in gold bullion. At the same time, a suicide bombing attack in London spurs the Pentagon to hold crisis talks where intelligence analyst, David Grant (Kurt Russell) briefs them on an alternate theory behind the hijacking.
Dialogue:
DAVID GRANT. Secretary White . . . Excuse me, gentlemen. I don’t believe that we can allow that plane to land at Dulles or even enter US airspace.
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE CHARLES WHITE. What are you talking about?
DAVID GRANT. Sir I don’t think this is about hostages. I think it’s about one man planning a major strike against the United States.
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE CHARLES WHITE. I think you’d better explain yourself Mr. Grant.
DAVID GRANT. Our research leads me to believe that due to his own internal political situation, it was Nagi Hassan himself who orchestrated Jaffa’s abduction.
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE CHARLES WHITE. Go on.
DAVID GRANT. Six months ago, a shipment of the nerve toxin DZ-5 was hijacked while in transit from Russia to Germany. Now we’re certain that Chechen mafia was behind the hijacking. But unfortunately recent attempts to recover the nerve gas have failed. A few days ago rumors surfaced that the DZ-5 was now in the hands of an Asmed Rhasjami.
LT. COLONEL AUSTIN TRAVIS. (Whispering.) This is the prick who sent us on a wild goose chase.
DAVID GRANT. . . . a known supplier of arms and explosives to Jaffa’s group.
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE CHARLES WHITE. Mr. Grant . . . are you saying the nerve gas is on board?
DAVID GRANT. Yes, sir, I am. And it’s my opinion that Hassan is planning to use the DZ-5 and the airplane together as a tactical weapon. A sort of poor man’s atomic bomb to be detonated here, over Washington.
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE CHARLES WHITE. How much of this DZ-5 might he have?
DAVID GRANT. I can’t be exact there, sir. But I can tell you this much. If this were DZ-5 that single drop would be more than enough to kill every man in this room. And by the way the name he’s using, “Al Tha’r” in ancient Arabic means “revenge.”
Comment: 1.1. The storyline of terrorists fomenting a plot to hijack a Boeing 747 airplane for use as a weapon parallels the series of coordinated suicide attacks by Al-Qaeda in hijacking American Airlines Flight 11, United Airlines Flight 175, American Airlines Flight 77 and United Airlines Flight 93 on 9/11.
1.20. The final countdown.
Independence Day © 1996 Twentieth Century Fox. Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox.
1.21. New York Harbor, in the wake of the alien attack.
Independence Day © 1996 Twentieth Century Fox. Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox.
Title: Independence Day
Year of Release: 1996
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Director: Roland Emmerich
Writer: Dean Devlin, Roland Emmerich
Scene: 22 Communication Breakdown
Time: 00:41:23
Setting: As Air Force One evacuates the US president Thomas J. Whitmore (Bill Pullman) and his family, cable repairman, David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum), positions a laptop filtering the hidden signal.
Comment: 1.1. The timer reads 00:09:11:01 as the sixth last (00:09:12:18, 00:09:12:15, 00:09:12:05, 00:09:12:07, 00:09:12:01; 00:09:11:56, 00:09:11:59, 00:09:11:51, 00:09:11:44, 00:09:11:49, 00:09:11:34, 00:09:11:31, 00:09:11:32, 00:09:11:27; 00:09:11:28, 00:09:11:13, 00:09:11:18, 00:09:11:15, 00:09:11:05, 00:09:11:07, 00:09:11:01; 00:09:10:56, 00:09:10:59, 00:09:10:51, 00:09:10:44, 00:09:10:49). 1.2. The outline of the spectrograms conforms to the outline of the Twin Towers. 1.3. Using inclusive counting 1996+6=2001.
Scene: 25 July 3
Time: 00:48:09
Setting: At the end of the countdown the aliens attack leaving Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and New York in ruins.
Comment: 2.1. In the aftermath of the conflagration the Statue of Liberty lies shattered in New York Harbor and the Twin Towers ablaze.
1.22. The Long Kiss Goodnight Theatrical Poster.
Title: The Long Kiss Goodnight
Year of Release: 1996
Distributor: New Line Cinema
Director: Renny Harlin
Writer: Shane Black
Scene: 22 Rescue Attempt
Setting: With aid from private detective Mitch Henessey (Samuel L. Jackson) former CIA assassin Samantha Caine/Charly (Geena Davis) sets out to rescue her daughter from Perkins (Patrick Malahide) her former boss, who has allied himself with terrorists. He captures them and subsequently explains the purpose of Operation Honeymoon.
Dialogue:
PERKINS. I’m going to miss you, Major. You ought really to have stayed dead. You don’t know the rules of the game anymore.
SAMANTHA CAINE/CHARLY. Tell me about it. Eight years ago, this guy was on the hit list.
PERKINS. Budget cuts, dear. Congress blinded us overseas. I was forced to turn to any eyes and ears I could find, even if that meant recruiting the “bad guys” here.
SAMANTHA CAINE/CHARLY. Budget cuts—is that what this is about? Operation Honeymoon . . . Fuck me! You’re running a fund-raiser.
MITCH HENNESSEY. Fund-raiser?
PERKINS. 1993 . . . World Trade Center bombing, remember? During the trial, one of the bombers claimed the CIA had advance knowledge. (Chuckling.) The diplomat who issued the terrorists’ visa was CIA. It’s not unthinkable they paved the way for the bombing, purely to justify a budget increase.
MITCH HENNESSEY. You’re telling me that you’re going to fake some terrorist thing just to scare some money out of Congress?
PERKINS. Well, unfortunately, Mr. Hennessey, I have no idea how to fake killing 4,000 people, so we’re just going to have to do it for real. Blame it on the Muslims, naturally. Then I get my funding. Goodnight, old girl. Timothy I’ll be in chopper one.
Comment: 1.1. The overview of Operation Honeymoon, including the purpose, projected fatalities and predetermined scapegoats parallels the actual outcome, total casualties and attribution of Muslim culpability of 9/11.
1.23. The Twin Towers are clearly visible in the background.
She’s the One © 1996 Twentieth Century Fox. Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox.
1.24. The Twin Towers have mysteriously disappeared.
She’s the One © 1996 Twentieth Century Fox. Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox.
Title: She’s the One
Year of Release: 1996
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Director: Edward Burns
Writer: Edward Burns
Scene: 9 Out of the Past
Time: 00:26:26; 00:27:19
Setting: New York City taxi driver Mickey Fitzpatrick (Ed Burns) picks up his television from his former fiancée Heather’s (Cameron Diaz) apartment.
Comment: 1.1. As they sit together going over their failed relationship the Twin Towers are visible in the background until Mickey stands up to leave.
1.25. Eve Archer’s diary.
Face/Off © 1997 Paramount Pictures. Courtesy of Paramount Pictures.
Title: Face/Off
Year of Release: 1997
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Director: John Woo
Writer: Mike Werb, Michael Colleary
Scene: 17 “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag.”
Time: 00:54:21
Setting: Terrorist Castor Troy (Nicholas Cage) assumes the identity of his pursuer FBI agent Sean Archer (John Travolta). Arriving home he pokes around to discover Eve Archer’s (Joan Allen) diary in a drawer and randomly turns to a page.
Comment: 1.1. The recto is dated Sept. 11, 1997. 1.2. The entry is inscribed thus: “There are no absolutes for something so relative as a human life. What an absurd amount of energy I have been wasting all my life trying to figure out how things really ‘are’ when all . . .”
1.26. Terrorist Ramzi Yousef is transported into New York City to face charges over the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing.
Path to Paradise © 1997 HBO. Courtesy of HBO.
Title: Path to Paradise
Year of Release: 1997
Distributor: HBO
Director: Leslie Libman, Larry Williams
Writer: Ned Curren
Scene: 10
Time: 01:30:58
Setting: Ramzi Yousef (Art Malik) the bomb maker in the February 26, 1993 World Trade Center Bombing is arrested in Pakistan and extradited to the US to await trial.
Comment: 1.1 As he flies over the World Trade Center Yousef asserts, “Next time we’ll bring them both down.”
1.27. Thomas Devoe coordinates his unit’s operation at JFK Airport after being tipped off about the arrival of a Yugoslavian terrorist.
The Peacemaker © 1997 DreamWorks Pictures. Courtesy of DreamWorks Pictures.
Title: The Peacemaker
Year of Release: 1997
Distributor: DreamWorks Pictures
Director: Mimi Leder
Writer: Michael Schiffer
Scene: 13 The Presidential Directive
Time: 01:28:44
Setting: Thomas Devoe (George Clooney), an intelligence officer with the US Army Special Forces, and Dr. Julia Kelly (Nicole Kidman), the newly appointed acting chair of the White House Nuclear Smuggling Group, join forces in pursuit of Yugoslavian terrorist Dusan Gavric (Marcel Iures) who escapes detection upon arrival in New York City. They are red flagged to the arrival of his half-brother Vlado Mirich (Rene Medvesek) at John F. Kennedy International Airport. But, another partner carrying a fake passport in his name is apprehended.
Comment: 1.1. Stepping off the airport escalator Devoe anxiously scans the scene opposite desks nine and eleven.
1.28. The after-effects of the meteor shower on the Twin Towers.
Armageddon © 1998 Touchstone Pictures. Courtesy of Touchstone Pictures.
1.29. The countdown clock at the Kennedy Space Center.
Armageddon © 1998 Touchstone Pictures. Courtesy of Touchstone Pictures.
Title: Armageddon
Year of Release: 1998
Distributor: Touchstone Pictures
Director: Michael Bay
Writer: Robert Roy Pool, Jonathan Hensleigh (Story); Tony Gilroy, Shane Salerno (Adaptation); Jonathan Hensleigh, J. J. Abrams (Screenplay)
Scene: 2 NYC Hit Hard
Time: 00:09:42
Setting: Sitting in gridlock prior to a meteor shower striking New York City Stu the Cabbie (Mark Curry) wryly explains to his Asian tourists (Gedde Watanabe and Seiko Matsuda) the possible reasons for the predicament.
Comment: 1.1. Stu points out in his response to the situation, “Well, you know why? ’Cause this is New York City. Anything could’ve happened. Look at that. Uh, let’s see. Could’ve been a terrorist bomb” and “Whoa! Look at that! Oh, we at war! Saddam Hussein is bombing us!” 1.2. The aftermath of the meteor shower depicts the Twin Towers heavily damaged and smoldering.
Scene: 12 Launch Day
Time: 00:59:09
Setting: Realizing a meteor threatens to obliterate the earth NASA’s executive director executes a plan to send a team of oil drillers to drop a nuclear warhead into the core of the asteroid.
Comment: 2.1. The countdown clock of the Press Site at the Kennedy Space Center visibly passes nine minutes eleven seconds.
1.30. The check the Dude writes for a carton of milk.
The Big Lebowski © 1998 Gramercy Pictures. Courtesy of Gramercy Pictures.
1.31. A television broadcast of George H. W. Bush strongly disapproving of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
The Big Lebowski © 1998 Gramercy Pictures. Courtesy of Gramercy Pictures.
Title: The Big Lebowski
Year of Release: 1998
Distributor: Gramercy Pictures
Director: Joel Coen
Writer: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Scene: 1 Tumbling Tumble Weed
Time: 00:03:00; 00:03:04
Setting: The Dude (Jeff Bridges) writes a check at Ralphs store after consuming a carton of milk. He looks up at the television to see US president George H. W. Bush condemning Iraqi president Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait saying, “. . . with them all for collective action. This will not stand. This will not stand, this aggression against Kuwait.”
Comment: 1.1. The check is dated Sept. 11, 1991. 1.2. The archival footage was from August 5, 1990, “Remarks and an Exchange with Reporters on the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait.”
1.32. Brill scans Reynolds’s file.
Enemy of the State © 1998 Touchstone Pictures. Courtesy of Touchstone Pictures.
1.33. An extract of Reynolds’s file.
Enemy of the State © 1998 Touchstone Pictures. Courtesy of Touchstone Pictures.
Title: Enemy of the State
Year of Release: 1998
Distributor: Touchstone Pictures
Director: Tony Scott
Writer: David Marconi
Scene: 8 Rabbit on the Run
Setting: Washington, D.C., attorney, Robert Clayton Dean (Will Smith) arrives home to find his wife Carla Dean (Regina King) watching Larry King Live on CNN interviewing Congressman Albert (Stuart Wilson) over the Telecommunications and Privacy Act.
Comment: 1.1. During the interview Albert presciently remarks, “. . . and freedom have always existed in a . . . in a very precarious balance, and when buildings start blowing up, people’s priorities tend to change” and “Tens of millions of foreign nationals living within our borders, and many of these people consider the United States their enemy. And they see acts of terrorism as a . . .”
Scene: 20 The Jar
Time: 01:31:47; 01:31:51
Setting: Brill (Gene Hackman) a former NSA communications analyst takes Dean to his workplace where he accesses the executive NSA files to identify Reynolds (Jon Voight) a special advisor to the Deputy Director of Operations on transfer from the State Department.
Comment: 2.1. Reynolds’s date of birth is 9/11/40. 2.2. Alerted to the breach of the security system by Reynold’s surveillance crew they escape imploding the compound. 2.3. Using inclusive counting 1998+(4+0=4)=2001.
1.34. Dr. Niko Tatopoulos checks his watch.
Godzilla © 1998 TriStar Pictures. Courtesy of TriStar Pictures.
Title: Godzilla
Year of Release: 1998
Distributor: TriStar Pictures
Director: Roland Emmerich
Writer: Ted Elliot, Terry Rossio, Dean Devlin, Roland Emmerich (Story); Dean Devlin, Roland Emmerich (Screenplay)
Scene: 11 Drawing Him Out
Time: 00:41:46
Setting: Waiting impatiently for the bait to draw out Godzilla from the sewers of New York US Nuclear Regulatory Commission biologist Dr. Nicko Tatopoulos (Matthew Broderick) checks the time on his watch.
Comment: 1.1. The hands on his watch point to the figures nine and eleven.
1.35. The Siege Theatrical Poster.
Title: The Siege
Year of Release: 1998
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Director: Edward Zwick
Writer: Laurence Wright, Menno Meyjes, Edward Zwick
Scene: 11 The Terrorist Cell
Setting: New York City becomes the target of terrorism after the US military abducts an Islamic sheik. FBI Counterterrorism Task Force leader Anthony Hubbard (Denzel Washington) teams up with CIA undercover operative Elise Kraft/Sharon Bridger (Annette Bening) to investigate the attacks.
Comment: 1.1. During an argument with Kraft/Bridger, who is growing impatient with the legal procedures necessary to obtain a search warrant, Hubbard remarks, “And I’m sorry that the Cold War’s over and all you little masters of the universe CIA types got no work over in Afghanistan or Russia or Iran or whatever the hell it is, but this ain’t the Middle East.”
Scene: 18 A Time of War
Setting: In their pursuit of the CIA-trained culprits the city violently erupts in mass paranoia and escalating rage, which threatens to spiral out of control.
Dialogue:
CAPITAL WEEK PUNDIT 1. Now we’ve got three bombings in New York City. We’ve got 600 people dead. Uh, the NYPD, the FBI, they don’t seem up to it. Do we need to bring the army into this Arianna?
CAPITAL WEEK PUNDIT 2. Absolutely. How many people have to die before we do bring the army in?
CAPITAL WEEK PUNDIT 3. The US government troops are not trained to police their own population. That’s why we have an FBI. That’s why we have a police force. We don’t want an occupying army in Brooklyn.
ANTHONY HUBBARD. I would imagine you would have to speak to the army to verify those rumours.
CAPITAL WEEK PUNDIT 2. And here we have the FBI, having failed to do their job, having failed to protect life.
GENERAL WILLIAM DEVEREAUX. This is an attack. This is a time of war. The fact that it’s inside our borders only means that it’s a new kind of war.
MAN 1. This is the kind of shit these towelheads do in their own country and now they’re bringing it here!
MAN 2. People must understand that the word “Arab” is not synonymous with the word “terrorist.” Islam is a religion of peace. These people defile the Holy Quran when they use its words.
MAN 3. You know, there’s a lot of pent up frustration and anger out there.
NEWSCASTER 1. A merchant, Abdul Hassam, was beaten today and his store vandalized.
NEWSCASTER 2. The President released a statement today: “One of our greatest freedoms is the freedom from fear” and he pledged to protect that freedom with all the resources of the US government.
NEWSCASTER 3. More than 50 percent of Americans now favour some kind of military intervention.
Comment: 2.1. The media rhetoric relating to the attacks is eerily familiar to the post-9/11 reaction. Scene: 23 Time to Suffer
Setting: Martial law is declared in New York City and the US Army under General William Devereaux (Bruce Willis) is sent in to quell the unrest. Unswerving in his mission he deploys his troops and seizes the male Arab-American population herding them into makeshift detention camps.
Comment: 3.1. Hubbard confronts Devereaux about his plans to torture and execute a terrorist inmate exclaiming, “Come on, General. You lost men, I’ve lost men, but you . . . you . . . you . . . you can’t do this. What if what they really want—what if they don’t even want the Sheik? Have you considered that? Huh? What if they really want is for us to herd children into stadiums like we’re doing? And put soldiers on the street and . . . and have Americans looking over their shoulders? Bend the law, shred the constitution just a little bit? Because if we torture him, General, we do that and everything that we have bled and fought and died for is over. And they’ve won. They’ve already won!”
1.36. The New York City skyline.
The Bone Collector © 1999 Universal Pictures. Courtesy of Universal Pictures.
Title: The Bone Collector
Year of Release: 1999
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Director: Phillip Noyce
Writer: Jeffery Deaver (Novel); Jeremy Iacone (Screenplay)
Scene: 5 Amelia
Time: 00:11:24
Setting: Young rookie Amelia Donaghy (Angelina Jolie) views the New York City skyline from Steve’s (Bobby Cannavale) apartment.
Comment: 1.1. An aircraft flies above the Twin Towers.
Scene: 6 The Crime Scene
Setting: After waking from a seizure forensics expert Lincoln Rhyme (Denzel Washington) asks his nurse Thelma (Queen Latifah) to scan the photos taken from the crime scene and notices a torn book page with 119 on it. He figures the numbers correspond with the date November 9.
Comment: 2.1. Using the logic presented the inverse 911 would correspond with the date September 11.
Scene: 16 The Bone Collector
Setting: Donaghy locates the serial killer’s script, The Bone Collector: True Accounts of a Murderer, a turn of the century collection of crime stories compiled by retired NYPD detective Thomas Brynes.
Comment: 3.1. The terrorist attacks of 9/11 paralleled other historical acts of terrorism that followed fictional tales of terror.
1.37. As the Narrator and Marla Singer reconcile the ultimate realization of Project Mayhem ensues with the destruction of the financial district.
Fight Club © 1999 Twentieth Century Fox. Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox.
Title: Fight Club
Year of Release: 1999
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Director: David Fincher
Writer: Chuck Palahniuk (Novel); Jim Uhls (Screenplay)
Scene: 2 Ground Zero
Setting: Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) takes his partner in crime the Narrator (Edward Norton) captive to prevent him from undermining the success of Project Mayhem.
Comment: 1.1. The location is referred to as “Ground Zero.” 1.2. Project Mayhem is described as “Tyler’s whole controlled demolition thing.” 1.3. In Freemasonry tyler is “the name of the office of the outer guard” of the lodge whose duty is to guard the door with a drawn sword that “should never be sheathed,” and keep all “cowens and eavesdroppers” away at all times.[4] 1.4. The English word durden with its variants originally denoted, “1. Noise, uproar; tumultuous proceedings; a noisy quarrel. 2. A punishment, scolding; blame, reprehension. 3. A heavy blow, stroke; a fall.”[5]
Scene: 29 Operation Latte Thunder
Setting: Having recruited others into their terrorist organization they coordinate covert acts of vandalism and assault across the country, including the destruction of a piece of corporate art.
Comment: 2.1. The sculpture destroyed resembles Fritz Koenig’s The Sphere, which stood in the World Trade Center Plaza. It symbolized, “world peace through world trade, and was placed at the center of a ring of fountains and other decorative touches designed by trade center architect Minosoru Yamasaki to mimic the Grand Mosque of Mecca, in which the Sphere stood at the place of the Kaaba.”[6]
Scene: 35 Walls of Jericho
Time: 02:10:30
Setting: Standing together at Ground Zero the Narrator and Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter) watch the headquarters buildings of several credit card companies and the TRW Building implode before them.
Comment: 3.1. The final scene chillingly parallels the live coverage of 9/11. 3.2. An aircraft flies above the collapsing buildings. 3.3. The film depicts an alternate ending to the novel.
1.38. Thomas A. Anderson’s file.
The Matrix © 1999 Warner Bros. Pictures. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
1.39. The television broadcasting the “desert of the real.”
The Matrix © 1999 Warner Bros. Pictures. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Title: The Matrix
Year of Release: 1999
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Director: Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski
Writer: Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski
Scene: 6 Unable to Speak
Time: 00:18:10
Setting: Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) peruses a file on Thomas A. Anderson during his interrogation of Neo (Keanu Reeves). He seeks his cooperation in apprehending “terrorist” Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) who is considered by many authorities to be “the most dangerous man alive.”
Comment: 1.1. The date of expiry on the passport is 11 Sep 01. 1.2. The place of birth on the passport is Capital City, USA.
Scene: 12 The Real World
Time: 00:40:00
Setting: Morpheus reveals to Neo the “desert of the real” through the television.
Comment: 2.1. The television screen shows the Twin Towers in ruins.
1.40. Chuckie Finster’s awkward dance routine.
Rugrats in Paris: The Movie © 2000 Paramount Pictures. Courtesy of Paramount Pictures.
Title: Rugrats In Paris: The Movie
Year of Release: 2000
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Director: Paul Demeyer, Stig Bergqvist
Writer: J. David Stem, David N. Weiss, Jill Gorey, Barbara Herndon, Kate Boutilier
Scene: 1 The Bobfather
Time: 00:02:23
Setting: Chuckie Finster’s shoelaces get tangled as he struggles to dance at Lou and Lulu’s wedding. Comment: 1.1. Finster counts along with the beat, “Nine, eleven, twenty . . .” 1.2. Using inclusive counting 2000+(2+0=2)=2001.
1.41. Adam Gibson peers into the mirror displaying his work schedule.
The 6th Day © 2000 Columbia Pictures. Courtesy of Columbia Pictures.
Title: The 6th Day
Year of Release: 2000
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Director: Roger Spottiswoode
Writer: Cormac Wibberley, Marianne Wibberley
Scene: 2 Adam Gibson
Time: 00:04:40
Setting: Adam Gibson (Arnold Schwarzenegger) a pilot with Double X Charter checks his schedule on his birthday.
Comment: 1.1. Two appointments are shown at 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. 1.2. The Double X Charter logo resembles the Masonic Square and Compasses. 1.3. According to various religious scholars September 11, 1999, marked the sexmillennial anniversary of the creation of Adam and the bimillennial anniversary of the birth of Christ.[7]
1.42. A vanload of illicit drugs is intercepted and seized.
Traffic © 2000 USA Films. Courtesy of USA Films.
Title: Traffic
Year of Release: 2000
Distributor: USA Films
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writer: Stephen Gaghan
Scene: 1 Javier and Manolo Make a Bust
Time: 00:02:18
Setting: Mexican police officer Javier Rodriguez (Benicio Del Toro) and his partner Manolo Sanchez (Jacob Vargas) pull over a van. They inspect its contents and discover drugs.
Comment: 1.1. Imprinted on the boxes and drugs is 911. 1.2. The scorpion is traditionally a symbol of death, disaster and treachery.[8]
1.43. A chair Benjamin Martin has crafted is weighed in the balances.
The Patriot © 2000 Columbia Pictures. Courtesy of Columbia Pictures.
Title: The Patriot
Year of Release: 2000
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Director: Roland Emmerich
Writer: Robert Rodat
Scene: 1 Start
Time: 00:03:29
Setting: Widowed father of seven and hero of the French and Indian War, Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson) weighs a chair he has crafted himself. He then sits on it, but it collapses under his weight and he throws it against a wall strewn with the remains of other defective chairs like it.
Comment: 1.1. Martin says, “Nine pounds, eleven ounces. That’s perfect. Perfect.” 1.2. The chair is traditionally a symbol of power and authority.[9] 1.3. The scales are traditionally a symbol of judgment.[10]
1.44. The eye chart.
Pearl Harbor © 2001 Touchstone Pictures. Courtesy of Touchstone Pictures.
Title: Pearl Harbor
Year of Release: 2001
Distributor: Touchstone Pictures
Director: Michael Bay
Writer: Randall Wallace
Scene: 5 Medical Examination
Time: 00:12:21
Setting: Nurse Evelyn Johnson (Kate Beckinsale) conducts US Army officer Rafe McCawley’s (Ben Affleck) eye exam.
Comment: 1.1. The eye chart reads vertically 9/11/01. 1.2. The terrorist attacks of 9/11 were referred to as “the second Pearl Harbor.” 1.3. McCawley covers his right eye leaving the left eye exposed to read the eye chart. The left eye is traditionally associated with the left-hand path of hidden and sinister knowledge.[11]
1.45. A customs officer compares Axl Torvalds’s passports.
Swordfish © 2001 Warner Bros. Pictures. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.
1.46. The moment of impact the bus used as a getaway vehicle flies into the side of an office tower. Swordfish © 2001 Warner Bros. Pictures. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.
Title: Swordfish
Year of Release: 2001
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Director: Dominic Sena
Writer: Skip Woods
Scene: 3 Interception at LAX
Time: 00:08:58
Setting: Finn Axl Torvalds (Rudolf Martin) who is considered “the number one hacker in the world” is intercepted at Los Angeles International Airport. The customs officer finds a second passport in his briefcase and holding it up compares the two.
Comment: 1.1. The date of expiry on the passport is 11/09/2000.
Scene: 20 War Costs
Setting: Gabriel (John Travolta) a former Mossad agent and CIA operative hires Stanley (Hugh Jackman) an elite hacker to infiltrate a secret government slush fund totalling over nine billion dollars. He discloses to Stanley his hidden agenda is to wage preemptive war on foreign countries harbouring potential terrorist groups with the avowed intent of protecting the US from terrorist attack.
Dialogue:
GABRIEL. J. Edgar Hoover started a secret organization in the 1950s, called Black Cell. This was to protect the freedoms of this country at all costs.
STANLEY. I don’t care about any of this. All I care about is my daughter.
GABRIEL. I’m talking about your daughter. I’m talking about you, and your daughter and 200 million other Americans who take their freedoms for granted.
STANLEY. I see.
GABRIEL. You don’t understand what it takes to protect those freedoms. That’s my job Stanley. To protect your way of life.
STANLEY. So you and your band of lunatics are really stealing all this money just to protect little old me.
GABRIEL. That’s right, Stanley. Because wars costs money.
STANLEY. War? Who are we at war with?
GABRIEL. Anyone who impinges on America’s freedom. Terrorist states, Stanley. Someone must bring their war to them. They bomb a church, we bomb ten. They hijack a plane, we take out an airport. They execute American tourists, we tactically nuke an entire city. Our job is to make terrorism so horrific that it becomes unthinkable to attack Americans.
Comment: 2.1. The justification for state terrorism parallels the twisted rationale behind the post-9/11 War on Terrorism.
Scene: 25 Bus That Could Fly
Time: 01:22:05
Setting: A bus used to escape the crime scene is airlifted across the city and flies into the side of an office building where an advertising agency is holding its meeting.
Comment: 3.1. The scene of the bus flying into a building parallels the jolting scenes of airplanes flying into buildings on 9/11.
Television
1.47. Cobra Commander and the Crimson Guard Twins escape to the Enterprise Towers.
G.I. Joe: The Pyramid of Darkness © 1985 Hasbro. Courtesy of Hasbro.
1.48. G.I. Joe diverts course to avoid a collision with the Enterprise Towers.
G.I. Joe: The Pyramid of Darkness © 1985 Hasbro. Courtesy of Hasbro.
1.49. The Enterprise Towers transform into a gantry and battle rocket.
G.I. Joe: The Pyramid of Darkness © 1985 Hasbro. Courtesy of Hasbro.
1.50. Debris falls from the Enterprise Towers.
G.I. Joe: The Pyramid of Darkness © 1985 Hasbro. Courtesy of Hasbro.
Title: G.I. Joe: The Pyramid of Darkness
Episode Title: Knotting Cobra’s Coils
Season: 1
Episode: 05
Original Air Date: September 20, 1985
Broadcaster: Syndicated
Writer: Ron Friedman
Time: 01:32:37; 01:32:39; 01:33:26; 01:33:27
Setting: Cobra, a ruthless terrorist organization intent on ruling the world, hatches a plan to wipe out electrical power across the globe by planting control cubes in strategic locations, including the City of the Dead, the Devil’s Playground, the Mountain of Glass and the Sea of Lost Souls. With G.I. Joe hot on their heels, Cobra Commander and the Crimson Guard Twins escape to the familiar-sounding Enterprise Towers where they fly out to Cobra’s secret headquarters.
Comment: 1.1. The near miss with Enterprise Towers eerily parallels the terrorist attacks of September 11. 1.2. The transformation of Enterprise Towers simulates the aftershocks of the attack when flying debris fell from the Twin Towers as it collapsed in a heap of rubble.
1.51. rankings on the Virtua Fighter 2 video game.
The X-Files © 1995 Twentieth Century Fox. Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox.
Title: The X-Files
Episode Title: D.P.O.
Season: 3
Episode: 03
Original Air Date: October 6, 1995
Broadcaster: Fox
Director: Kim Manners
Writer: Howard Gordon
Scene: 4 Darren Peter Oswald
Time: 00:10:07
Setting: FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) are investigating a series of electrical deaths in Connerville, Oklahoma. They visit the Video Arcade where the latest victim was struck and interrogate the owner Bart “Zero” Liquori (Jack Black) who denies any knowledge. But, Mulder notices the initials of Darren Peter Oswald (Giovanni Ribisi) the sole survivor of the recent lightning strikes on the Virtua Fighter 2 video game and points out to Scully he was there last night.
Comment: 1.1. Mulder points to rank two dated 09-11-95 11:35PM. 1.2. Using exclusive counting {1995+[95+(11+35=46; 4+6=10)=105; 1+0+5=6]}=2001.
1.52. Frank Black reviews the prison record of Jacob Tyler.
Millennium © 1997 Twentieth Century Fox. Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox.
Title: Millennium
Episode Title: The Thin White Line
Season: 1
Episode: 14
Original Air Date: February 14, 1997
Broadcaster: Fox
Director: Thomas J. Wright
Writer: Glen Morgan, James Wong
Scene: 6 “The Living Reincarnation”
Time: 00:20:07
Setting: Frank Black (Lance Henricksen), a retired FBI criminal profiler, is desperately trying to solve a spate of seemingly unrelated homicides that bear the hallmark of Richard Alan Hance (Jeremy Roberts) a serial killer he helped incarcerate twenty years earlier. Linking the crimes to Hance’s former cellmate, Jacob Tyler (Scott Heindl), he shares his discovery with Seattle Police Lt. Bob Bletcher (Bill Smitrovich), who devises a stakeout to apprehend the copycat killer.
Comment: 1.1. The booking photograph of Jacob Tyler is dated 09/11/1993.
1.53. Lisa Simpson holds up a flyer advertising discount travel to New York City via bus.
The Simpsons © 1997 Twentieth Century Fox. Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox.
Title: The Simpsons
Episode Title: The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson
Season: 9
Episode: 01
Original Air Date: September 21, 1997
Broadcaster: Fox
Director: Jim Reardon
Writer: Ian Maxtone-Graham
Scene: 3 “And That’s When the C.H.U.D.s Came After Me”
Time: 00:06:29
Setting: Homer Simpson receives a letter from New York City informing him that his car is illegally parked at the World Trade Center. He is reluctant to retrieve it after a past experience there as a young man. The rest of the family are excited, however, and holding up a flyer Lisa exclaims they can all travel by bus.
Comment: 1.1. An eye-catching number nine above the New York City skyline juxtaposed with the Twin Towers prominent in the background remarkably resembles 911.
1.54. The missing person file of Tamara Shui Fe Lee.
Millennium © 1998 Twentieth Century Fox. Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox.
Title: Millennium
Episode Title: Siren
Season: 2
Episode: 17
Original Air Date: March 20, 1998
Broadcaster: Fox
Director: Allen Coulter
Writer: Glen Morgan, James Wong
Scene: 9
Time: 00:24:31
Setting: After the seizure of a Chinese ship smuggling illegal immigrants into the United States, its cargo is inspected by Frank Black (Lance Henricksen) who, together with Seattle Police Detective Bob Giebelhouse (Stephen James Lang) and forensic psychologist, Lara Means (Kristen Cloke), discover the bodies of four crewmen, whose strange deaths are connected to a mysterious and beautiful woman. Sending her picture and fingerprints for analysis by the Millennium Group’s database, Black comes across a missing person file identifying the mystery woman as Tamara Shui Fa Lee (Vivian Wu) a Chinese national from Hong Kong, who was reported lost at sea ten years previously in November 1988.
Comment: 1.1. Lee’s date of birth is the “Eleventh Day of September, 1970.”
1.55. The New New York City skyline.
Futurama © 1999 Twentieth Century Fox. Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox.
1.56. The Old New York City skyline.
Futurama © 1999 Twentieth Century Fox. Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox.
Title: Futurama
Episode Title: Space Pilot 3000
Season: 1
Episode: 01
Original Air Date: March 28, 1999
Broadcaster: Fox
Director: Rich Moore, Gregg Vanzo
Writer: David X. Cohen, Matt Groening
Scene: 1 “Here’s to Another Lousy Millennium!”
Time: 00:02:48
Setting: Phillip J. Fry is working as a pizza delivery boy in New York City on December 31, 1999. After an accidental cryogenic freezing he awakes on December 31, 2999 to find himself in New New York City.
Comment: 1.1. The restored Twin Towers with skybridge dominates the futuristic city skyline.
Scene: 4 “We Have You Partially Surrounded!”
Time: 00:15:09
Setting: Fry and his new friends Turanga Leela and Bender adventure to Old New York City.
Comment: 2.1. The partial remains of the Twin Towers overlook the decaying ruins of Old New York City.
1.57. Samiel checks his pocket watch.
Millennium © 1999 Twentieth Century Fox. Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox.
Title: Millennium
Episode Title: Borrowed Time
Season: 3
Episode: 10
Original Air Date: January 15, 1999
Broadcaster: Fox
Director: Dwight Little
Writer: Chip Johannessen
Scene: 5
Time: 00:09:54
Setting: Frank Black (Lance Henricksen) and FBI Special Agent Emma Hollis (Klea Scott) investigate a series of apparent drownings on land connected with Samiel (Eric Mabius) a sinister angelic figure who postpones the deaths of some while taking the lives of others. When his own daughter’s life is endangered, he confronts Samiel begging God to spare her. This act of desperation spurs Samiel to board a train fatally bound to plunge into a river and sacrifice himself so she, along with the four he locks inside a train car, can continue to live.
Comment: 1.1. The hands of both the platform clock and the pocket watch point to nine and eleven.
1.58. Michael Pinocchio hesitates about travelling to New York City the site of the nuclear attack.
Harsh Realm © 2000 Twentieth Century Fox. Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox.
1.59. A post-apocalyptic New York City.
Harsh Realm © 2000 Twentieth Century Fox. Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox.
Title: Harsh Realm
Episode Title: Camera Obscura
Episode: 09
Original Air Date: May 19, 2000
Broadcaster: FX
Director: Jeferey Levy
Writer: Steven Maeda
Scene: 3 Protection
Time: 00:06:14; 00:06:49
Setting: After a nuclear terrorist attack in New York City US Army officers, Thomas F. Hobbes (Scott Bairstow) and Michael Pinocchio (D. B. Sweeney) are hired as mercenaries by warring families feuding over a stash of gold buried below the ruins of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Comment: 1.1. New York City is referred to as “Ground Zero.” 1.2. The Twin Towers lie in ruins in the background.
1.60. A commercial airplane flies directly towards the Twin Towers.
The Lone Gunmen © 2001 Twentieth Century Fox. Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox.
1.61. The near miss with the World Trade Center.
The Lone Gunmen © 2001 Twentieth Century Fox. Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox.
Title: The Lone Gunmen
Episode Title: Pilot
Episode: 01
Original Air Date: March 4, 2001
Broadcaster: Fox
Director: Rob Bowman
Writer: Chris Carter, Vince Gilligan, John Shiban, Frank Spotnitz
Scene: 11 No Longer a Game
Setting: Former Air Force employee Bertram Byers (George Coe) comes out of hiding to warn his son John Fitzgerald Byers (Bruce Harwood) about the impending realization of Scenario 12-D.
Dialogue:
BERTRAM BYERS. John.
JOHN FITZGERALD BYERS. Dad. (He walks over to his father smiling. His father slaps him across the face.)
BERTRAM BYERS. What the hell are you doing? Why can’t you stay out of this, leave me buried?
JOHN FITZGERALD BYERS. What is Scenario 12-D? We know it’s a war-game scenario, that it has to do with airline counterterrorism. Why is it important enough to kill for?
BERTRAM BYERS. Because it’s no longer a game.
JOHN FITZGERALD BYERS. But if some terrorist group wants to act out this scenario, why target you for assassination?
BERTRAM BYERS. It depends on who your terrorists are.
JOHN FITZGERALD BYERS. The men who conceived of it in the first place. You’re saying our government plans to commit a terrorist act against a domestic airline?
BERTRAM BYERS. There you go. Indicting the entire government, as usual. It’s a faction, a small faction.
JOHN FITZGERALD BYERS. For what possible gain?
BERTRAM BYERS. The Cold War’s over, John. But with no clear enemy to stockpile against, the arms market’s flat. But bring down a fully loaded 727 into the middle of New York City, and you’ll find a dozen tin-pot dictators all over the world just clamouring to take responsibility, and begging to be smart-bombed.
JOHN FITZGERALD BYERS. I can’t believe it. This is about increasing arms sales?
BERTRAM BYERS. Mmhmm.
Comment: 1.1. The outline of Scenario 12-D eerily parallels the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
Scene: 14 Octium Inside
Time: 39:04; 39:31
Setting: Having boarded Atlantic National Flight 265 Byers Sr. and Jr. learn that the airplane has been commandeered via remote control and alert the crew to the situation. As the airplane nears its target they regain manual override and barely miss hitting the World Trade Center.
Comment: 2.1. The scene of the airplane closing in on and narrowly missing the South Tower of the World Trade Center disturbingly parallels the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
Art
1.62. Alex Grey, Gaia, 1989. Oil on linen, 96 x 144 in. Chapel of Sacred Mirrors, New York.
Title: Gaia[12]
Artist: Alex Grey
Year: 1989
Comment: 1.1. On the left side of the Tree of Life a gloomy vision of New York City with the Twin Towers prominent in the background as two airplanes fly over.
1.63. Boris Vallejo, Eahnah’s Window, 1997. Oil on canvas, 18 x 18 in.
Title: Eahnah’s Window
Artist: Boris Vallejo
Year: 1997
Text:
The Sagas of A Fwa Nes
Eahnah—called witch by some, master scientist by others—has perfected a device that she calls a “window.” It permits her to stay safe in A Fwa Nes while viewing a limited portion of Earth. The “window” is near the weak place in the space-time fabric, the opening through which Mlenfee entered Earth’s universe and ventured in Manhattan. Eahnah has been called to help rid the city of the Wargi, and she is just now destroying, by mental means, a major tower whose present occupants, all Wargi monsters, will soon be dead. Unfortunately, and ironically, all the heat released will cause a new Ice Age—within a few years, not millennia.[13]
Comment: 1.1. In the window, not unlike a crystal ball, the Twin Towers stand ablaze.
Book
Title: On the Road
Author: Jack Kerouac
Publisher: Viking
Year of Publication: 1957
Text:
When daybreak came we were zooming through New Jersey with the great cloud of Metropolitan New York rising before us in the snowy distance. Dean had a sweater wrapped around his ears to keep warm. He said we were a band of Arabs coming in to blow up New York.[14]
Comment: 1.1. The scenario paralleling the terrorist attacks of 9/11 still retains an as yet unfulfilled component whose ultimate reality is not impossible.
1.64. Cover of Thirty Seconds Over New York.
Reprinted from Robert Buchard, Thirty Seconds Over New York (New York: Belmont Tower Books, 1970), front cover.
Title: Thirty Seconds Over New York
Author: Robert Buchard
Publisher: Belmont Tower Books
Year of Publication: 1970
Cover Artist: Unknown
Text:
Holocaust: For years the fanatical Red Chinese colonel had burned with hatred for the Western countries. Now, at last, he had devised a fantastic but completely workable plan whereby an ordinary jet airliner could carry an armed nuclear bomb right through the multi-billion dollar American defense system. Nothing had been left to chance. Millions of people would die in one titanic flash of fire. All systems were Go—and the target was the greatest city in the world. New York![15]
Comment: 1.1. A commercial airplane carrying an armed nuclear bomb flies directly towards the Twin Towers.
1.65. Cover of Sewer, Gas and Electric: The Public Works Trilogy.
Reprinted from Matt Ruff, Sewer, Gas and Electric: The Public Works Trilogy (New York: Atlantic Monthly, 1997), front cover.
Title: Sewer, Gas and Electric: The Public Works Trilogy
Author: Matt Ruff
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly
Year of Publication: 1997
Cover Artist: Elaine Cardella
Comment: 1.1. A UFO strikes the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
Comic
1.66. Under the control of Doctor Cyber Wonder Woman’s Invisible Plane crashes into the Twin Towers.
Reprinted from Marv Wolfman, Don Heck and Romeo Tanghal, “Eye of the Beholder!” Wonder Woman 41, no. 287 (January 1982): 10.
Title: Wonder Woman: “Eye of the Beholder!”
Publisher: DC Comics
Volume: 41
Number: 287
Issue: January 1982
Creator: William Moulton Marston
Writer: Marv Wolfman
Artist: Don Heck (Penciler); Romeo Tanghal (Inker)
Text:
—It’ll be time for the city to panic!
My plane’s heading directly toward the Twin Towers!
And it doesn’t look like they are going to—
SKRASHH!
Great Hera! I—I crashed right through them—didn’t see anyone there—thank heaven it’s after midnight!
But there are still people below!
There’s no way they’ll avoid the plummeting rubble![16]
Comment: 1.1. Wonder Woman loses psychic control over her robot plane to Doctor Cyber. 1.2. The Invisible Plane crashes into the Twin Towers.
1.67. Under the control of Doctor Cyber Wonder Woman’s Invisible Plane crashes into the Twin Towers.
Reprinted from John Byrne, Ron Wilson, Frank Giacoia and Kevin Dzuban, “Aftermath!” The Thing and Ben Grimm 1, no. 100 (June 1983): 24.
Title: The Thing and Ben Grimm “Aftermath!”
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Volume: 1
Number: 100
Issue: June 1983
Creator: Stan Lee
Writer: John Byrne
Artist: Ron Wilson (Penciler); Frank Giacoia, Kevin Dzuban (Inker)
Text:
It doesn’t take long.
Once these shattered towers were the proud, resplendent World Trade Center:
Now the giant banner that waves above them speaks eloquently of their new purpose.
Here . . . this is the only logical place fer them t’have taken him.
Ben . . . look out!
A patrol! We’d better move on, fast!
No . . . wait a sec . . .
All right, you creeps. Keep movin,’ this here’s a restricted zone.
The uniforms are American, though dirt-splattered and threadbare, against their familiar khaki the swastika armbands are a brilliant obscenity.[17]
Comment: 1.1.The Thing travels to a parallel universe where the remnants of the Twin Towers are occupied by Red Skull who has built a Fourth Reich with the aid of American Neo-Nazis.
1.68. While touring New York City Rachel Summers foresees the future destruction of the Twin Towers.
Reprinted from Chris Claremont, John Romita Jr. and Steve Leialoha, “Two Girls Out to Have Fun!” The Uncanny X-Men 1, no. 189 (January 1985): 2–3.
Title: The Uncanny X-Men: “Two Girls Out to Have Fun!”
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Volume: 1
Number: 189
Issue: January 1985
Creator: Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
Writer: Chris Claremont
Artist: John Romita Jr. (Penciler); Steve Leialoha (Inker)
Text:
Amara Juliana Olivians Aquilla is a child of Nova Roma, a city founded nearly 2,000 years ago by a party of expatriate Romans, in the Andean highlands that spawn the headwaters of the Amazon.
In a sense, her companion Rachel Summers hasn’t even been born yet. The New York she remembers is that of the 21st century.
And the memories aren’t pleasant.
In her mind’s eye, she sees lower Manhattan burning.
The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center lie in ruins. Thousands are dead, many more injured.
Rachel’s a telepath.
Even though she’s over a mile away, aboard a navy hydrofoil, she hears their screams, feels their pain . . . and their deaths.
For once, she is grateful for the drugs that dull her wits . . . otherwise, the anguish would have probably driven her mad.Over here, Mutie, we’eve got work for you.[18]
Comment: 1.1. An airplane flies over the Twin Towers in the background. 1.2. Rachel foresees the Twin Towers of the twenty-first century smoldering in a heap.
1.69. An airplane loses power crashing into a Gotham City skyscraper.
Reprinted from Frank Miller, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns #4 (New York: DC Comics, 1986), 18-19.
Title: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns #4
Publisher: DC Comics
Volume: 1
Number: 4
Issue: June 1986
Creator: Bob Kane
Writer: Frank Miller
Artist: Frank Miller (Penciler); Klaus Janson (Inker)
Text:
The fuel goes up on impact—it’s fast for them.
Oh, Jesus—let him go—just put the gun down and let him go.
Murray—it’s my own damn fault—don’t go soft—
Listen to me—there’s no way you’re getting out of here, kids. It’s a blackout—the cell doors can’t be opened . . .
BUDDA NGG
Hyuh Balls nasty. You bastards . . .
You bastards . . .
BUDDA You bas—
Bogue. Bawd. He dusted—he dusted—dusted man he got no face—my mon Boner—my mon Boner don’t shiv—Radical. Balls nasty. Shit man we never get TV now—Hope Boner don’t say we breakin out—Bogue he got no face—Boner nasty—Ziplip we breakin out. Spuds in front. Rad. Balls rad. Bawd! Breaking out—Spuds in front man—No Spud man I’m Slicer Dicer—
This is really dangerous.
People are just starting to scream when something big falls from the plane.
That’s when I notice all the stalled cars.
With all their filled gas tanks.
PUSH NNFFF
Gotham City is helpless—this is our chance to raze Gotham—
—to purge Gotham—
NO.[19]
Comment: 1.1. The USSR launches the nuclear missile “Coldbringer” over Corto Maltese, but Superman diverts its trajectory resulting in an electromagnetic pulse that cripples Gotham City. 1.2. An airplane crashes into a skyscraper (panels 1, 2, 13). 1.3. In a previous instalment, Harvey Dent threatens to blow up Gotham City’s Twin Towers using the two martial helicopters he has stolen and loaded with explosives unless paid five million dollars.[20]
1.70. “The Castle.”
Reprinted from Pepe Moreno, Rebel (New York: Catalan Communications, 1986), 51.
1.71. A vanload of explosives are detonated demolishing the tower.
Reprinted from Pepe Moreno, Rebel (New York: Catalan Communications, 1986), 67.
Title: Rebel
Author: Pepe Moreno (Story); Robb Hingley, Pete Ciccone, Kenny Sylvester (Script)
Artist: Pepe Moreno
Publisher: Catalan Communications
Year of Publication: 1986
Text:
The Tower, one of the only landmarks still recognizable, is doll’s fortress. It is a castle in a kingdom of terror. No intruder has ever lived to tell the tale. It is a monolith of pain and hate, and on the top of it, Lori. Alone, exposed to the elements she waits.[21]
Text:
BRRRUUUMMMM
KA-BOOM!
RUMMBLE!
Like an earthquake, the explosion rocks the city. With its’ foundation blown away, the symbol of oppression collapses in a cloud of dust.
RRUUMMMMBLEE!![22]
Comment: 1.1. The story is set in post-civil war New York City in 2002. 1.2. The South Tower of the World Trade Center lies in ruins. The North Tower stands alone occupied by a gang of skinheads. 1.3. Rebel and his allies transport a van full of explosives along the abandoned subway tunnels to destroy the building and rescue Lori.
1.72. Lower Manhattan devastated in the wake of Galvatron’s conquest.
Reprinted from Simon Furman, Jose Delbo and Danny Bulanadi, “Rhythms of Darkness!” Transformers 1, no. 67 (June 1990): 2–3.
Title: Transformers: “Rhythms of Darkness!”
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Volume: 1
Number: 67
Issue: June 1990
Creator: Hasbro
Writer: Simon Furman
Artist: Jose Delbo (Penciler); Danny Bulanadi (Inker)
Text:
. . . in the year 2009!
“My symphony of terror!”
Welcome to the future. One of many possible futures but the future nonetheless!
It is a future where the Decepticons rule, where the pulse of life, of light, has been smothered by . . . rhythms of darkness![23]
Comment: 1.1. The story is set in New York City in 2009. 1.2. In the wake of Galvatron’s conquest Rodimus Prime lies hanging in between the shattered remains of the Twin Towers.
1.73. The impact of a bomb blast on the World Trade Center.
Reprinted from Todd McFarlane, “The Sabotage Cross-Over Part One” X-Force Joins Spider-Man 1, no. 16 (November 1991): 9.
Title: X-Force Joins Spider-Man: “The Sabotage Cross-Over Part One”
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Volume: 1
Number: 16
Issue: November 1991
Creator: Stan Lee
Writer: Todd McFarlane
Artist: Todd McFarlane
Text:
That’s a question on everyone’s mind.
To find the answer, we must look past the destruction to the floors just below the impact.
It is here we find Cable and the rest of the surviving X-Force.
Everyone’s accounted for—good! My armor shielded me, but it says something that you guys made it without that kind of protection
Man! What a mess!
Cable! Where is Black Tom? I thought he was standing by you when the bomb went off.
I don’t know. I’ve been looking for his body in the wreckage since the smoke cleared—but I can’t find a trace of him. For now, I need you and Siryn to get downstairs and see what happened to Warparth and Juggernaut. Tell the team to take him out as fast as possible. I’m going after Black Tom.[24]
Comment: 1.1. Black Tom Cassidy is locked in battle with Cable, the leader of the X-Force, atop the World Trade Center where he detonates a bomb, which leaves the Twin Towers heavily damaged and smoldering.
1.74. A statue in honor of Francisco Ibanez is raised alongside the Statue of Liberty in New York City. Reprinted from Francisco Ibanez, Las Aventuras de Mortadelo y Filemon: El 35 Aniversario (Barcelona: Ediciones B, 1993), 46.
Title: Las Aventuras de Mortadelo y Filemon El 35 Aniversario
Publisher: Ediciones B
Issue Number: Magos del Humor no. 46, Ole no. 77, Super Humor no. 1 (1993)
Creator: Francisco Ibanez
Writer: Francisco Ibanez
Artist: Francisco Ibanez
Text:
Y al cumplirse el 35 aniversario de Mortadelo y Filemon, los de ediciones B decidieron regalarle al preclaro autor, (preclaro sobre todo por el lado del craneo), una estatuilla con su egregia efigie. Lastima que el escultor confundio las medidas, tomo por metros loque eran centimetres, y el autor ese no pudo colocarlo en la mesilla de su studio, por lo que se le busco otra ubicacion para mofa y pitorreo de las generaciones venideras . . . iy que usted tambien lo vea!
Pues usted dira lo que quiera, pero yo creo que no debio emperrarse en soltar su discursillo de agradecimiento subido en lo alto de la salchicha . . . iy menos con el ventarron que corria por alla, oiga![25]
Comment: 1.1. An airplane crashes into the South Tower of the World Trade Center in the background.
1.75. Smoke billows from Metropolis’s LexCorp Towers.
Reprinted from Todd McFarlane, “Shipbuilding” The Adventures of Superman 1, no. 596 (November 2001): 2.
Title: The Adventures of Superman “Shipbuilding”
Publisher: DC Comics
Volume: 1
Number: 596
Issue: November 2001
Creator: Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
Writer: Joe Casey
Artist: Mike Wieringo (Penciler); Jose Marzan Jr. (Inker)
Comment: 1.1. In the aftermath of the cataclysmic rampage by Imperiex and Brainiac 13 that left major cities like Sydney, Frankfurt and Washington, D.C., in ruins, Superman watches reparations in Metropolis as helicopters hover about a smoldering LexCorp Towers. 1.2. It was released on September 12, 2001. 1.3. In an interview with the Daily Record Mike Wieringo remarked, “The book was completed months ago. The ironic thing is that the damage done by the terrorists is far greater than I could ever portray visually. The toll in human lives and damage to the physical and psychological heart of the nation far outstrips anything that could be created in a comic book. Reality has eclipsed fantasy.”[26]
1.76. The Batplane flies into a Metropolis skyscraper.
Reprinted from Frank Miller, Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again #2 (New York: DC Comics, 2002), 8–9.
Title: Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again #2
Publisher: DC Comics
Volume: 1
Number: 2
Issue: January 2002
Creator: Bob Kane
Writer: Frank Miller
Artist: Frank Miller
Comment: 1.1. Batman and Catgirl fly the Batplane into a Metropolis skyscraper terrorizing Lex Luthor and members of his government, including Robert “Buzz” Ruger-Exxon, secretary of state; and General Starbucks, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 1.2. The United States is a police state under the ironfisted rule of Lex Luther who hides behind the figurehead of computer-generated US president Rick Rickard. His government conducts false flag terrorist attacks, suppresses dissent, extends martial law, repeals the Bill of Rights and ratifies the Freedom from Information Act with the ultimate aim to destroy Metropolis through a nuclear attack and annihilate over five-sixths of the world’s population.[27] 1.3. In an interview with The Onion A.V. Club Frank Miller remarked, “It gets even weirder. I turned in the second book on Sept. 12. And there are events in it that . . . people are going to think I did the whole thing after the attacks. It’s just too much.”[28]
Magazine
1.77. Committee for a Reasonable World Trade Center advertisement.
Reprinted from New York Times, May 2, 1968.
Title: New York Times
Publisher: New York Times Company
Volume: 117
Number: 40276
Issue: May 2, 1968
Advertisement: Committee for a Reasonable World Trade Center
Text:
The Mountain Comes to Manhattan
We are a strange and mysterious people.
We build cars to cruise at 100 m.p.h., then try to make everybody keep them under 50.
We build airports that can handle gigantic jets but can’t handle our luggage.
We undertake great projects with enthusiasm and never consider the consequences until we’re choking on them.
Consider the case of the “Mountain” being built downtown.
New York’s air traffic patterns are perilously overburdened. Life magazine reports this. So does the New York Times. And the President of the Allied Pilots Assn., who speaks for 3500 commercial pilots, is “deeply concerned over the safety problems arising out of traffic congestion in this area.”
“Safe navigation,” he says, “includes not only planned flight patterns, but also provisions for unforeseen and uncontrolled diversions.”
Yet the Port of New York Authority is trying to build a trade center which, according to this pilot, adds an additional risk to air navigation.”
Its two towers are scheduled to be 1350 feet high. But at that height they will so thoroughly foul up TV reception that the Port Authority has agreed to top them out with new TV broadcasting facilities. By the time antennas are added, the North Tower, according to one TV expert, will be close to 1700 feet high . . . 800 feet taller than anything else in the immediate area!
This means, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, that air traffic patterns will have to change, landing approaches will have to be altered, minimum altitudes in the area will be affected. The total potential hazard is staggering. No wonder airline pilots feel the risk is unjustified.
Unfortunately, we rarely recognize how serious these problems are until it’s too late to do anything.
But in this case, there’s still time.
The problem can be solved by keeping the height of the Trade Center at 900 feet.
The one problem that hasn’t been solved is how to convince the Executive Director of the Port Authority to scale down his dreams so it will coincide with the public interest.
Governor Rockfeller, the man he calls, “my boss,” is the one man in a position to say “900 feet” and make it stick.
If you’re concerned about TV reception and safe air travel, write to the Governor today. Before it’s too late.
Govenor Nelson A. Rockefeller
22 West 55th Street, NY 10019
He’s the only man who has the power to keep the “Mountain” from coming to Manhattan.
Committee for a Reasonable World Trade Center
450 Seventh Avenue, NY 10001
(212) Judson 2-3931
Lawrence A. Wein, Chairman Robert Kopple, Executive Director[29]
Comment: 1.1. An airplane flies sideways directly towards the Twin Towers. 1.2. The headline, “The Mountain Comes to Manhattan” is based on the phrase, “If the mountain won’t come to Muhammed, Muhammed will go to the mountain” with the World Trade Center representing Muhammed’s mountain
1.78. Pakistan International Airlines advertisement.
Reprinted from Le Point, March 19, 1979.
Title: Le Point
Publisher: Gaumont
Number: 339
Issue: March 19, 1979
Advertisement: Pakistan International Airlines
Text:
New York via Pakistan International. Une des quelques companies desservant directement New York. Depart d’Orly Sud, offrant les meilleures correspondances avec les villes de province. Une nouvelle preuve de l’efficacite PIA.
PIA est une compagnie internationale au developpement spectaculaire: 3000000 de passagers cette annee, un decollage toutes les 6 minutes.
Un succes soigneusement construit sur la satisfaction des passagers.
Pour un vol reussi, vers
New York ou 60 autres grandes metropoles
dans le monde, partez via PIA.[30]
Comment: 1.1. A shadow of an airplane is cast over the World Trade Center.
1.79. Cover of Fortune magazine.
Reprinted from Fortune, December 7, 1987.
Title: Fortune
Publisher: Time, Inc.
Volume: 116
Number: 13
Issue: December 7, 1987
Cover Artist: Robert Crawford
Comment: 1.1. A paper airplane made out of an American dollar bill flies by the World Trade Center leaving a contrail in the formation of the letter S. 1.2. The contrail together with the Twin Towers forms a dollar sign connoting S11 or September 11.
1.80. Elite Candy advertisement.
Title: Unknown
Publisher: Unknown
Volume: Unknown
Number: Unknown
Issue: ca. 1997-2000
Advertisement: Elite Candy
Comment: 1.1. A Tower Air airplane flies directly towards the Twin Towers.
1.81. Maker’s Mark advertisement.
Title: Unknown
Publisher: Unknown
Volume: Unknown
Number: Unknown
Issue: ca. May 2000
Advertisement: Maker’s Mark
Comment: 1.1. The Maker’s Mark “signature” of overpoured red wax bleeds down the Twin Towers. 1.2. The slogan, “Mark of a great town” connotes what it is best remembered for.
1.82. Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2 advertisement.
Reprinted from FHM, September 2000.
Title: FHM
Publisher: Bauer Verlagsgruppe
Number: 128
Issue: September 2000
Advertisement: Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2
Comment: 1.1. Military aircraft fly over the Statue of Liberty and the Twin Towers as bombs explode below. 1.2. The slogan, “Paint the town red” connotes unruly and riotous behaviour, which results in much blood being spilt.
1.83. Cover of New York magazine.
Reprinted from New York, March 12, 2001.
Title: New York
Publisher: New York Media
Volume: 34
Number: 10
Issue: March 12, 2001
Cover Artist: Tim Gabor
Comment: 1.1. The Twin Towers are used as an icon for prime New York City real estate juxtaposed with the expression of terror and the ambiguous question, “Is there life beyond the boom?”
1.84. General Electric advertisement.
Reprinted from Brava Casa, April 2001.
Title: Brava Casa
Publisher: RCS Periodici
Volume: 28
Number: 04
Issue: April 2001
Advertisement: General Electric
Text:
I frigoriferi General Electric d’acciaio
Le speciali coperture in acciaio inox sono realizzate in acciaio AISI 304: uno dei migliori acciaio del mondo!
Con questo acciaio sono pannellabili tutti i frigoriferi General Electric: dal modello Side-by-Side con spigoli arrotondati sulle porte e sul top, al modello Top Freezer con porte bombate che ricordano lo stile degli anni ’50.
Inoltre e possibile far riprodurre sulle porte—da un vero artista—qualsiasi disegno aerografato da Voi desiderato.
Scegliete un frigorifero General Electric pannellato acciaio, scegliete qualita, affidabilita e un design insuperabile!
Frigo 2000 S.r.l.
Viale Fulvio Testi, 125-20092 Cinisello Balsamo MI
Tel. 02/66047147 (5 linee r.a.) Fax 02/66047260
E-mail: frigoge@tin.it
Web: www.frigo2000.it
Distributore Esclusivo Per L’Italia[31]
Comment: 1.1. The mural on the door of the right fridge depicts an airplane flying towards the Twin Towers.
Game
1.85. “Terrorist Nuke” card from Illuminati: New World Order.
Title: Illuminati: New World Order
Designer: Steve Jackson
Publisher: Steve Jackson Games
Card Title: Terrorist Nuke
Type: Plot
Artist: Dan Smith, Derek Pearcy (Colouring)
Year: 1994
Comment: 1.1. One of several controversial cards in the 412 set depicting a terrorist attack on an urban landmark, which resembles the moment of impact the Twin Towers were struck on 9/11.
Music
1.86. A rocket ship flies in between the Twin Towers as the doll makes his way to work.
“Truth Is Out of Style.” Written by Mark Griffin. Performed by MC 900 Ft. Jesus. Courtesy of Nettwerk.
Song Title: “Truth Is Out of Style”
Album Title: Hell With the Lid Off
Band: MC 900 Ft. Jesus
Label: Nettwerk Records
Released: February 19, 1990
Time: 00:3:30
Comment: 1.1. A rocket ship flies between the Twin Towers.
1.87. Album cover of The Sun Rises In the East.
Reprinted from Jeru the Damaja, The Sun Rises In the East, PayDay Records 769712401122.
Title: The Sun Rises In the East
Band: Jeru the Damaja
Label: PayDay Records
Released: May 24, 1994
Comment: 1.1. The Twin Towers are completely engulfed in flames. 1.2. The cover title, “The sun rises in the east” connotes a new beginning.
1.88. Album cover of Disappearing Inc.
Reprinted from Bone Machine, Disappearing Inc., Big Disc Music 106985180529.
Title: Disappearing Inc.
Band: Bone Machine
Label: Big Disc Music
Released: 1996
Comment: 1.1. The North Tower has collapsed into the SouthTower of the World Trade Center. 1.2. The cover title, “Disappearing, Inc.” connotes the eventual disappearance of New York City landmarks.
1.89. Album cover of To Live and Die In New York City.
Reprinted from Indecision, To Live and Die In New York City, Exit Records 766815501322.
Title: To Live and Die In New York City
Band: Indecision
Label: Exit Records
Released: July 22, 2000
Comment: 1.1. The New York Harbor and the Twin Towers in the background are completely engulfed in flames. 1.2. The cover title, “To live and die in New York City” connotes the ultimate outcome for imitating the hedonistic lifestyle.
1.90. Album cover of Bombs Over Broadway.
Reprinted from Squad Five O, Bombs Over Broadway, Tooth and Nail Records 0647077116922.
Title: Bombs Over Broadway
Band: Squad Five O
Label: Tooth and Nail Records
Released: August 15, 2000
Comment: 1.1. A squadron of military aircraft fly by the Twin Towers and bomb the main theater district of Broadway.
1.91. Album cover of Live 07.04.1462.
Reprinted from Tele Trieste, Live 07.04.1462, Insekt Angelica
Title: Live 07.04.1462
Band: Tele Trieste
Label: Insekt Angelica
Released: 14 June 2001
Comment: 1.1. A couple of airplanes fly head on over New York City adjacent to the Twin Towers.
1.92. Album cover of Time to Explode.
Reprinted from Inner City Hustlers, Time to Explode, Boss Hoggin Entertainment 804932717520.
Title: Time to Explode
Band: Inner City Hustlers
Label: Boss Hoggin Entertainment
Released: July 10, 2001
Comment: 1.1. The Twin Towers are exploding in flames in the background. 1.2. The cover title, “Time to explode” connotes conditions are perfect for destruction.
1.93. Album cover of Out of the Loop.
Reprinted from I Am the World Trade Center, Out of the Loop, Kindercore Records 675818003828.
Title: Out of the Loop
Band: I Am the World Trade Center
Label: Kindercore Records
Released: July 17, 2001
Comment: 1.1. The eleventh track of the debut album is titled “September.” 1.2. The cover title, “Out of the loop” connotes not having knowledge of or involvement in something.
1.94. Album cover of Party Music.
Reprinted from Wikipedia, s.v. “Party Music,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_Music (accessed November 4, 2007).
Title: Party Music
Band: The Coup
Label: 75 Ark Records
Released: November 6, 2001
Comment: 1.1. Boots Riley holds a digital chromatic tuner imprinted with “Covert-Labs” on it and presses a red button causing the Twin Towers to explode in the background. 1.2. The cover artwork was completed in June 2001.
Currency
1.95. An American $20 bill folded to resemble smoke rising from the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Reprinted from Kenn Thomas, The Conspiracy Files: Evidence Behind the World’s Most Notorious Theories (Sydney: Murdoch Books, 2007), 51.
1.96. The Kennedy assassination bill.
Reprinted from Mysteries of the Unexplained: How Ordinary Men and Women Have Experienced the Strange, the Uncanny and the Incredible (New York: Readers Digest Association, 1982), 65.
Soon after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 it was widely circulated that a Series 1998 US $20 bill folded into a paper plane would make “the buildings and symbols on the currency resemble smoke rising from the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.”[32] This fascination with the link between national events and currency follows a pattern set over three decades ago with the Kennedy assassination bill, a Series 1963 US $1 bill issued in Dallas, Texas, only two weeks before the assassination of US president John F. Kennedy. Since Dallas is the location of the eleventh of the twelve Federal Reserve Bank districts, the bill bears the letter K, the eleventh letter of the alphabet, and the number eleven appears in each corner. The serial number begins with K and ends with A, standing for Kennedy Assassination. Eleven also stands for November, the eleventh month of the year; two eleven’s equal twenty-two, the date of the tragedy. And the series number is 1963, the year the assassination occurred.[33]
Conspiracy Theory Predictions
Milton William Cooper, bestselling author of Behold a Pale Horse and labelled “the most dangerous radio host in America” by former US president Bill Clinton,[34] in his June 28, 2001, broadcast of his radio show Hour of the Time cited frenzied media reports warning of an impending attack on the United States by Osama Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network. He anticipated the threat would be ultimately realized and its outcome, which he believed would entail an encroachment of civil liberties, would prove the real masterminds behind the terror.
Ladies and gentlemen have you been paying attention to the news lately? After the anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing we were bombarded with anti-patriot, anti-militia, anti-constitionalist (that’s people who believe in the Constitution for the United States of America) anti-American propaganda. And then when the execution of Timothy McVeigh occurred, once again, prior to and immediately following, the same thing occurred again and this word “extremist” was used over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. And now we’re being bombarded with messages that Osama Bin Laden is planning to attack the United States of America and Israel. And I’m telling you be prepared for a major attack, but it won’t be
Osama Bin Laden it will be those behind the New World Order who once again want to take the guns and the freedom away from the American people because we’re the only ones left in the world who can oppose the destruction of freedom in the world and the implementation of a one-world, totalitarian, socialist government and that is the goal. . . .
. . . They’re doing the same thing today with Osama Bin Laden and that’s where I’ve been getting at. Can you believe what you have been seeing on CNN today ladies and gentlemen? Can you believe it? Supposedly a CNN reporter found Osama Bin Laden, took a television camera crew with him, went into Osama Bin Laden’s hideout, interviewed him and his top leadership, his top lieutenants and colonels and generals, in their hideout. This is a CNN reporter with a camera crew. And he came out and told everybody within three weeks Osama Bin Laden is going to attack the United States and Israel. Now don’t you think that’s kinda strange folks? You see, because the largest intelligence apparatus in the world with the biggest budget in the history of the world has been looking for Osama Bin Laden for years and years and years and can’t find him. The FBI also, under the leadership of Louis Freeh, has been looking for Osama Bin Laden for years and years and years and years and years and many years and can’t find him. Some dufus jerk off reporter with a camera crew waltzes right into his hideout and interviews him. And do you know what his budget is? Zip, zilch, nothing. Now that tells us two things. Either everyone in the intelligence community and all of the intelligence agencies of the United States government are blithering idiots and incompetent fools, including the entire apparatus of the FBI and all of their personnel. Or their lying to us, they’re not looking for him at all. And the second is the truth. You see the CIA created Osama Bin Laden. They recruited him. They trained him. They found his leadership.They brought them all together. They showed him . . . them . . . how to fight the Soviet Union in Afghanistan and when that was over they still continued to fund him and train him. And they’re now using him to help bring about world government by making him the big bogeyman because they can’t use Saddam Hussein anymore. . . .
. . . So why do all these fools believe this charade that a CNN reporter and his little camera crew can do what all the money and all the assets and all the eavesdropping and all the intelligence and all the satellites and all the undercover operatives in the world can never do? It’s because they’re not trying, they don’t want to, Osama Bin Laden is their creation and he is serving them well. . . . Do you know how much money the CIA and the National Security Agency and the FBI has at its disposal each year? Do you know how many agents they have that they can devote to this? Do you realize the technology that they have to be able to eavesdrop on every single conversation in the world no matter how it’s transmitted? And pinpoint the location of every one of those transmissions? And they can’t find Osama Bin Laden? But, some CNN reporter he just waltzes right on in there with his camera crew, just like he knew where they were all the time. Bet you it was the CIA that sent him there. They told him where he was. And of course they know
where he is because they created him, they’re the ones that are funding him
and backing him and helping him to create their new utopian world. . . . . . . I wonder what Osama Bin Laden’s targets are supposed to be? And if they don’t, you know, if this doesn’t materialize in the next two or three weeks it will eventually materialize because they haven’t succeeded in getting the guns out of the hands of the American people nor have they succeeded in taking our freedoms away. In fact, there’s been a great awakening in this country and a big backlash against these Marxist, Communist, pukefaced, lying, subversive, Nazi, jackbooted, gestapo thugs that is gaining momentum. And so I can tell you with a certainty they must do something terrible in order to stop this backlash and regain the sympathy of the mass herds of sheeple out there. . . .
. . . And supposedly we’re not the only nation searching for Osama Bin Laden so the vast
economic resources, the vast technological resources, the vast personnel resources, the vast networks and intricate web spun over all these years by the CIA, the FBI and the NSA can’t find Osama Bin Laden, but CNN can? Bullshit! [35]
Alex Jones, bestselling author and documentary filmmaker, launched the campaign, “Operation Expose the Government Terrorists” on the July 25, 2001, broadcast of his cable access television show, Infowars, based out in Austin, Texas. Warning of globalist plans to use their operative Osama Bin Laden to attack the US he “encouraged people to call the White House and tell them not to go ahead and launched [sic] the staged terror attack that would become the foundation of their push for martial law.”[36]
Hello ladies and gentlemen, I’m so glad that you could join us today for this Wednesday July 25, 2001, broadcast. . . .
. . . Tyranny is enveloping the globe and the United States is the shining jewel the
globalists want to bring down and they will use terrorism as the pretext to get it done. . . . I’m gonna put the call out that you call the White House and tell them, look we’ve seen the news stories that you’ve wanted to blow things up and that you have blown things up and that you’re saying that four million of us are gonna die and we need martial law, in the Associated Press, in one of your little “drills” you had. And that we’re aware of who the terrorists are if you pull this. This can stop this Hitlerian Reichstag event. . . .
. . . I want to put the toll free number up for Congress. And I won’t want you to believe
Alex Jones. I want you to go get these news stories off my website. I want you to call these major newspapers. I want you to find out these statements were true by the White House about preparing for martial law and I want you to let them know that if there is any terrorism we know who to blame. . . .
. . . The point is if any terrorism comes it’s from this government. And if there was an outside threat like a “Bin Laden” who was a known CIA asset in the ’80s running the mujahideen war and whose family builds all the military bases over in Saudi Arabia right now and sits with the Board of Iridium Satellite. He’s the bogeyman they need in this Orwellian phony system. . . .
. . . A big part of this solution—after you research all the government terrorism and check out what I'm saying is true—call the White House and tell them, we know the government’s planning terrorism. We know Oklahoma City and World Trade Center was terrorism. We know the Joint Chiefs of Staff wanted to blow up airliners, Baltimore Sun. If you do it we’re gonna blame you ’cause we know who’s up to it. Or if you let some terrorist group do it like the World Trade Center we know who to blame. And you could save the planet. I’m calling it Operation Expose the Government Terrorists because now there going from killing 160 people in Oklahoma City and eighty-one in Waco and a couple dozen, injuring a thousand at the World Trade Center to saying one to four million, Associated Press. . . . We’ll be right back with your calls. Thank you for staying with us. I’m Alex Jones and . . . I’m not putting this in a bad light I’m simply stating what’s
happening.[37]
Psychic Predictions
1.97. David Mandell holding a drawing of his premonition of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Real Premonitions © 2007 TriStar Pictures. Courtesy of TriStar Pictures.
A retired art lecturer at London Guildhall University, David Mandell is today renowned for his paintings of precognitive dreams, which he claims to have had since a child. In an effort to silence detractors after sketching or painting what he has dreamed he will visit his local Barclays Bank in Sudbury Hill, Harrow, north London, to photograph the pictures beside the time and date of the display counter.
His premonitions predominantly deal with disaster “in a wide variety of manifestations,” including earthquakes, floods, shipwrecks, plane crashes and even assassinations.[38] He foresaw the Armenian earthquake in 1988 barely a fortnight before it struck, the Marchioness sinking over twelve months in advance and the Concorde crash more than three years prior to the tragedy. During the small hours of September 11, 1996, he had a dream “about the Statue of Liberty and saw the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center collapsing into each other as if ‘embracing.’ Later that day, his drawing was photographed by Avi Sharma, a member of the bank staff.”[39]
Unlike his ordinary dreams these “major event” premonitions are different altogether. “They are vivid, longish and nearly always in colour. I have a particular sense of place, even if I have never been.”[40] An understanding of dream symbolism is also crucial to interpreting what the premonitions might portend. “If I dream now of a World War II British history fighter, the Hurricane, I know there’s going to be a terrible wind or hurricane because I’m given the symbol of a hurricane. It’s happened about eight times, and it’s come right every single time. . . . When you get things like that, I know it’s a premonition dream of the future, something fairly big is gonna happen.”[41]
He rejects the notion, however, that “haphazard brain activity” lies at the root of his visions.[42] “It must come from some intelligence source. I can only think it is from a spiritual dimension. . . . I am sure all of us are sent dreams, through some sort of television system, but only a few people like me take any notice. Most will just dismiss them and they will be forgotten.”[43] Despite repeated attempts to warn the relevant authorities of his ominous visions he holds to the opinion that time is nonlinear, thus accounting for his “time travelling” ability, and that the disasters he dreams have already happened. Nothing more can be done he somberly notes. “I would compare it to looking at the stars. What we are actually seeing is the light which radiated from them many years ago.”[44]
Notes
[1] “The Truth Is Still Out There,” The X-Files: Fight the Future, DVD, directed by Rob Bowman (1998; Beverly Hills, CA: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2001).
[2] Heroes, “.07%,” Episode no. 19, first broadcast April 23, 2007, by NBC. Directed by Adam Kane and written by Chuck Kim.
[3] Fringe, “Pilot,” Episode no. 1, first broadcast September 9, 2008, by. Directed by Alex Graves and written by J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci.
[1] “The Truth Is Still Out There,” The X-Files: Fight the Future, DVD, directed by Rob Bowman (1998; Beverly Hills, CA: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2001).
[2] Heroes, “.07%,” Episode no. 19, first broadcast April 23, 2007, by NBC. Directed by Adam Kane and written by Chuck Kim.
[3] Fringe, “Pilot,” Episode no. 1, first broadcast September 9, 2008, by. Directed by Alex Graves and written by J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci.
[4] Jeremy Harwood, The Freemasons: Unlocking the 1000-year-old Mysteries of the Brotherhood: the Masonic Rituals, Codes, Signs and Symbols Explained with over 200 Photographs and Illustrations (London: Hermes House, 2006), 72, 93.
[5] Joseph Wright, The English Dialect Dictionary (London: Oxford University Press, 1961), s.v. “dirdum.”
[6] Wikipedia, s.v. “The Sphere,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sphere (accessed November 22, 2006).
[7] Ernest L. Martin, The Star of Bethlehem: The Star That Astonished the World (Portland: Associates for Scriptural Knowledge, 1996).
[8] J. C. Cooper, An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols (London: Thames & Hudson, 1978), s.v. “scorpion.”
[9] Mark O’Connell and Raje Airey, The Illustrated Encylopedia of Signs and Symbols: Identification and Analysis of the Visual Vocabulary That Formulates Our Thoughts and Dictates Our Reactions to the World Around Us (London: Lorenz Books, 2006), 212.
[10] Ibid., 240.
[5] Joseph Wright, The English Dialect Dictionary (London: Oxford University Press, 1961), s.v. “dirdum.”
[6] Wikipedia, s.v. “The Sphere,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sphere (accessed November 22, 2006).
[7] Ernest L. Martin, The Star of Bethlehem: The Star That Astonished the World (Portland: Associates for Scriptural Knowledge, 1996).
[8] J. C. Cooper, An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols (London: Thames & Hudson, 1978), s.v. “scorpion.”
[9] Mark O’Connell and Raje Airey, The Illustrated Encylopedia of Signs and Symbols: Identification and Analysis of the Visual Vocabulary That Formulates Our Thoughts and Dictates Our Reactions to the World Around Us (London: Lorenz Books, 2006), 212.
[10] Ibid., 240.
[11] Texe Marrs, Codex Magica: Secret Signs, Mysterious Symbols and Hidden Codes of the Illuminati (Austin: RiverCrest, 2005), 48.
[12] Alex Grey, Sacred Mirrors: The Visionary Art of Alex Grey (Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions International, 1990), 84.
[13] Boris Vallejo, Boris Vallejo’s Fantasy Calendar 1998, comm. Phillip Jose Farmer (New York: Workman, 1997), June.
[14] Jack Kerouac, On the Road (New York: Viking, 2007), 117..
[15] Robert Buchard, Thirty Seconds Over New York, trans. June P. Wilson and Walter B. Michaels (New York: Belmont Tower Books, 1970), back cover.
[16] Marv Wolfman,Don Heck and Romeo Tanghal, “Eye of the Beholder!” Wonder Woman 41, no. 287 (January 1982): 10.
[12] Alex Grey, Sacred Mirrors: The Visionary Art of Alex Grey (Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions International, 1990), 84.
[13] Boris Vallejo, Boris Vallejo’s Fantasy Calendar 1998, comm. Phillip Jose Farmer (New York: Workman, 1997), June.
[14] Jack Kerouac, On the Road (New York: Viking, 2007), 117..
[15] Robert Buchard, Thirty Seconds Over New York, trans. June P. Wilson and Walter B. Michaels (New York: Belmont Tower Books, 1970), back cover.
[16] Marv Wolfman,Don Heck and Romeo Tanghal, “Eye of the Beholder!” Wonder Woman 41, no. 287 (January 1982): 10.
[17] John Byrne, Ron Wilson, Frank Giacoia and Kevin Dzuban, “Aftermath!” The Thing and Ben Grimm 1, no. 100 (June 1983): 24.
[18] Chris Claremont, John Romita Jr. and Steve Leialoha, “Two Girls Out to Have Fun!” The Uncanny X-Men 1, no. 189 (January 1985): 2–3.Chris Claremont, John Romita Jr. and Steve Leialoha, “Two Girls Out to Have Fun!” The Uncanny X-Men 1, no. 189 (January 1985): 2–3.
[18] Chris Claremont, John Romita Jr. and Steve Leialoha, “Two Girls Out to Have Fun!” The Uncanny X-Men 1, no. 189 (January 1985): 2–3.Chris Claremont, John Romita Jr. and Steve Leialoha, “Two Girls Out to Have Fun!” The Uncanny X-Men 1, no. 189 (January 1985): 2–3.
[19] Frank Miller, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns #4 (New York: DC Comics, 1986), 18-19.
[20] Frank Miller, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns #1 (New York: DC Comics, 1986), 38, 42.
[21] Pepe Moreno, Rebel (New York: Catalan Communications, 1986), 51.
[20] Frank Miller, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns #1 (New York: DC Comics, 1986), 38, 42.
[21] Pepe Moreno, Rebel (New York: Catalan Communications, 1986), 51.
[22] Ibid., 67.
[23] Simon Furman, Jose Delbo and Danny Bulanadi, “Rhythms of Darkness!” Transformers 1, no. 67 (June 1990): 2–3.
[24] Todd McFarlane, “The Sabotage Cross-Over Part One” X-Force Joins Spider-Man 1, no. 16 (November 1991): 9.
[23] Simon Furman, Jose Delbo and Danny Bulanadi, “Rhythms of Darkness!” Transformers 1, no. 67 (June 1990): 2–3.
[24] Todd McFarlane, “The Sabotage Cross-Over Part One” X-Force Joins Spider-Man 1, no. 16 (November 1991): 9.
[25] Francisco Ibanez, Las Aventuras de Mortadelo y Filemon: El 35 Aniversario (Barcelona: Ediciones B, 1993), 46.
[26] Donna Watson, “Superman comic showed attack,” Daily Record (Scotland), September 14, 2001.
[27] Frank Miller, Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again #1 (New York: DC Comics, 2001): 1–2, 20, 47; Frank Miller, Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again #3 (New York: DC Comics, 2002), 45–47, 53.
[28] Tasha Robinson, “Frank Miller,” A.V. Club, December 5, 2001, http://www.avclub.com/articles/frank-miller,13748/
[29] New York Times, May 2, 1968.
[30] Le Point, March 19, 1979.
[31] Brava Casa, April 2001.
[32] Kenn Thomas, The Conspiracy Files: Evidence Behind the World’s Most Notorious Theories (Sydney: Murdoch Books, 2007), 50–1.
[33] Mysteries of the Unexplained: How Ordinary Men and Women Have Experienced the Strange, the Uncanny and the Incredible (New York: Readers Digest Association, 1982), 65.
[34] Wikipedia, s.v. “Milton William Cooper,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_William_Cooper (accessed September 30, 2008).
[35] William Cooper, Hour of the Time, WBCQ, June 28, 2001.
[36] “In July 2001, Alex Jones Warned of Globalist Plan to Use Bin Laden to Attack America,” Alex Jones’ Prison Planet.tv, August 26, 2004, http://prisonplanet.tv/articles/august2004/082604alexwarned.htm.
[37] Alex Jones, Infowars, Genesis Communication Network, July 25, 2001.
[38] Richard Pendlebury, “A New Nostradamus?” Daily Mail, December 1, 2001.
[39] “Predictions Hit Bullseye: British and Australian Psychics Who Foresaw Concorde Crash and 11 September Disaster,” Strange Days, Fortean Times, September 2002, 16.
[40] Pendlebury, “A New Nostradamus?”
[41] Real Premonitions. First broadcast 8 March 2007 by A&E. Directed by David Grabias and written by David Grabias.
[42] Pendlebury, “A New Nostradamus?”
[43] Ibid.
[44] Ibid.
[26] Donna Watson, “Superman comic showed attack,” Daily Record (Scotland), September 14, 2001.
[27] Frank Miller, Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again #1 (New York: DC Comics, 2001): 1–2, 20, 47; Frank Miller, Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again #3 (New York: DC Comics, 2002), 45–47, 53.
[28] Tasha Robinson, “Frank Miller,” A.V. Club, December 5, 2001, http://www.avclub.com/articles/frank-miller,13748/
[29] New York Times, May 2, 1968.
[30] Le Point, March 19, 1979.
[31] Brava Casa, April 2001.
[32] Kenn Thomas, The Conspiracy Files: Evidence Behind the World’s Most Notorious Theories (Sydney: Murdoch Books, 2007), 50–1.
[33] Mysteries of the Unexplained: How Ordinary Men and Women Have Experienced the Strange, the Uncanny and the Incredible (New York: Readers Digest Association, 1982), 65.
[34] Wikipedia, s.v. “Milton William Cooper,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_William_Cooper (accessed September 30, 2008).
[35] William Cooper, Hour of the Time, WBCQ, June 28, 2001.
[36] “In July 2001, Alex Jones Warned of Globalist Plan to Use Bin Laden to Attack America,” Alex Jones’ Prison Planet.tv, August 26, 2004, http://prisonplanet.tv/articles/august2004/082604alexwarned.htm.
[37] Alex Jones, Infowars, Genesis Communication Network, July 25, 2001.
[38] Richard Pendlebury, “A New Nostradamus?” Daily Mail, December 1, 2001.
[39] “Predictions Hit Bullseye: British and Australian Psychics Who Foresaw Concorde Crash and 11 September Disaster,” Strange Days, Fortean Times, September 2002, 16.
[40] Pendlebury, “A New Nostradamus?”
[41] Real Premonitions. First broadcast 8 March 2007 by A&E. Directed by David Grabias and written by David Grabias.
[42] Pendlebury, “A New Nostradamus?”
[43] Ibid.
[44] Ibid.
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