"Professor's 9/11 theories outrage NH leaders"

[CNHT]

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Professor+'s+9%2F11+theories+outrage+NH+leaders&articleId=0a013444-f391-4eaf-ae95-24cab674130b

Professor's 9/11 theories outrage NH leaders
By STAFF REPORT


A tenured professor of psychology at the University of New Hampshire believes an "elite" group within the federal government orchestrated the September 11th attacks on America.

William Woodward has already raised that possibility in his classroom and later this year hopes to teach a class that would explore Sept. 11th "in psychological terms -- terms like belief, conspiracy, fear, truth, courage, group dynamics."

He may not get the chance. Several state leaders yesterday criticized Woodward for bringing the radical theories into the classroom.

"In my view, there are limitations to academic freedom and freedom of speech," said U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H.

"I believe it is inappropriate for someone at a public university which is supported with taxpayer dollars to take positions that are generally an affront to the sensibility of most all Americans," Gregg said.

Others were equally blunt.

New Hampshire Senate President Ted Gatsas, R-Manchester, a UNH alum, said, "I would think the board of trustees and the acting president (of UNH) would take a long, hard look at someone who advocates that kind of nonsense."

Sen. Jack Barnes, R-Raymond, said he's embarrassed the professor works at his alma mater.

"I compare this guy with the idiots out there who say the Holocaust never occurred," Barnes said.

"Maybe we'd better check the UNH budget very closely next year if they have guys like that teaching our kids," Barnes said.

Woodward, an acknowledged member of several leftwing political action groups, belongs to the Scholars for 9/11 Truth.

The group contends that "pods" attached to the jet airliners actually steered planes into the Twin Towers and explosives planted inside the buildings were then set off.

The group also has advanced various conspiracy theories about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

The 9/11 Commission that investigated the terrorist attacks concluded 19 young Arabs acting at the behest of Islamic extremists based in Afghanistan were responsible.

Woodward told the Sunday News he's convinced "there was a genuine conspiracy on the part of insiders at the highest level of our government."

But in last week's interview, the Yale-educated professor said, "I am very careful about what I offer to students.

"I just can't come across as having one strong position, even though in my heart I do."

Woodward said he did raise the topic in his political psychology class last spring semester, after showing the film "The Great Deception," He offered the film "as a different perspective than you see in the mainstream."

One of the students in Woodward's political psychology class where the topic came up was Zack Bazzi, a UNH psychology major and National Guardsman who served in Iraq.

Bazzi said it was common for Woodward to share "different versions of different events in history" in the upper-level course. "He certainly doesn't try to indoctrinate the kids," he said. "He just puts it out there."

"Do I agree with it? No. The overwhelming majority of the facts obviously show that 9/11 was a terrorist act conducted by terrorists from Middle Eastern backgrounds."

Bazzi said Woodward was "systematically careful" when he shared his own, often controversial, views on any topic. "I will stress he would always present this as his opinion, and he'll acknowledge it's controversial, he'll acknowledge a lot of people think he's out there. Then he'll present it and move on."

What did Woodward say about Sept. 11th? "From my recollection, he said the government's theory on it is wrong and it's flawed and he thinks there are alternative theories to be explored," Bazzi said. "From my recollection, not one person in the class agreed with him."

Woodward said he hopes to develop a course that would explore Sept. 11th in psychological terms. But because of the sensitive nature of the topic, he would seek guidance from his department chairman and his dean before he proceeds.

Embracing such conspiracy theories about Sept. 11th is not constructive for Americans who face a immediate threat from terrorists "who want to kill Americans because they don't like us," Gregg said.

"It is insensitive, inappropriate and inexcusable to make such statements," he said, "and not far from making racist statements and using hate statements."

Sen. Barnes said, "He has got the right to say what he wants, but he is so full of baloney."

Gatsas said he does not believe the Legislature would be mean-spirited enough to punish the university through next year's budget. But he said, "People from New Hampshire died in that event. It's important to preserve their memory. This kind of thing is uncalled for."

Woodward doesn't hide his political views; he's a member of New Hampshire Peace Action and several Seacoast groups that plan anti-war activities and question the official story surrounding Sept. 11th. And he is currently awaiting trial for criminal trespassing, after he and five others who call themselves "the Dover Six" were arrested during a May sit-in at U.S. Rep. Jeb Bradley's office to protest the Iraq war.

His Quaker tradition, Woodward said, compels him to "speak truth to power."

"I know there could be consequences, but if only more people would speak out, then we would have a safer world," he said. "We need to be vigilant."

Former Gov. Walter Peterson, a University System of New Hampshire trustee, said the professor, who has tenure protection, should not be fired.

According to the American Association of University Professors' policy on academic tenure, a tenured professor can be terminated only for "adequate cause."

"I don't think trustees should be trying to influence professors and what they say, but if it gets too bizarre, the division director or dean or, probably more appropriately, the chairman of the department, should have a chat with him," Peterson said.

As for Woodward's views on 9/11, Peterson said, "The most effective tactic is to laugh it off. That's crazy.

"If a person can back that up with evidence and have a sound academic reason, that's one thing," he said. "It sounds pretty far-fetched for me."

Bazzi said professors like Woodward should not be censored for exposing students to radical ideas. "It's America. It's a free country."

"He has the right to say his opinion but we have the right to disagree with it."

And academic freedom is even more important at a publicly funded school like UNH, "where most of us regular folks go that can't afford to go to private schools," Bazzi said.

If you remove a professor such as Woodward for his controversial views on Sept 11th, he asked, "Where do you draw the line? It's a slippery slope. Somebody's going to be offended by what another scholar says."

[Kat Kanning]

All the worst people turned out to slam him.

[CNHT]

All the worst people turned out to slam him.

Well whether you agree with him or not, what ever happened to freedom of thought and speech?

He's considered an extreme left-winger but there are also those on the right who have had these questions as well.

As long as this is just a discussion and not an incitement to violence of any kind, he should be free to discuss his ideas with his class.

It is not like anything we will do will ever uncover what happened there, but people like to discuss it I guess.

[Kat Kanning]

I wrote to him and asked for a rebuttal or article for the Keene Free Press.

[Russell Kanning]

He's considered an extreme left-winger but there are also those on the right who have had these questions as well.

See ... only extremists have questions about 9/11.

[CNHT]

He's considered an extreme left-winger but there are also those on the right who have had these questions as well.

See ... only extremists have questions about 9/11.

I would not say 'only extremists' have questions...lots of people have 'questions' and there is nothing extremist or criminal or sinister about that. It's called free speech. But it seems so ingrained (public schools?) in certain people  to use the tactic to try to stop all discourse by denigration, accusations of all sorts of bad connotations, and politically correct shaming you into not talking about a subject with which they disagree, that even so-called freedom lovers do it, all the time. They are becoming what they hate....

[mraaron]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQyYuWXp3E8
March 4, 2001....6 mos. before 9/11... The Lone Gunmen series aired on FOX TV.
The pilot episode of this X-Files spinoff was about a commercial airliner having its navigation system hijacked and being flown into the World Trade Center via remote control by a covert group within the US government in order to create an alleged terrorist attack on the US.
This pilot episode was filmed between March 20 - April 7, 2000, 19 months before 9/11.

   Very eerie.  I don't believe the official story.  I saw too many coincidences on 9-11 anyway starting at about 8AM eastern time.  Then after the second attack on WTC the power went off in my town for awhile.  I turned on my radio to see if the AM civil defense station in  St Louis was still up.  I thought maybe somebody hit the US with an airburst nuke in a preemptive strike(EMP) but apparently most of Southern Missouri was without power.  It was really weird.  We never found out what caused the power to go out either.  The people at the AM civil defense station newsroom heard the power outage reports, coupled with the fact that the federal building in St Louis was EMPTY of people, and could actually be heard in the background calling family.  I shut the radio off, and had a beer.  I figured it was safest to stay off the streets. When the power came back on, all that was on TV were tape loops of the planes crashing.  The only thing I could find other than that was a Bill Dance fishing show.  So I watched that and waited for something to happen.  By 1PM I went to bed, because I was up the whole night before.   I got up at 9PM, and people had been watching the same stuff ALL DAY.   The fact that people continued to watch the same story over and over was even stranger than 9-11 itself.   

[Braddogg]

"In my view, there are limitations to academic freedom and freedom of speech," said U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H.


Ugh.  Judge Dredd strikes again.

[Michael Fisher]

I still do not believe in a government conspiracy regarding 9/11, excluding the fact that the US government funded Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda long ago to fight against the USSR in Afghanistan

They're doing the same thing right now by providing US taxpayer dollars to existing Iranian terrorist groups in order to destabilize Iran's existing government. This is a fact as far as I am aware, not a theory.

<sarcasm> How dare this professor question authority AND the official US government press release? He's definitely not a patriot. He's probably some kind of anti-American, troop-hating, freedom-hating liberal. Next thing you know, he'll start whining about our foreign policy. Typical liberal scumbag! </sarcasm>

"In my view, there are limitations to academic freedom and freedom of speech," said U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H.

Ugh.  Judge Dredd strikes again.

Why am I not surprised?

[tracysaboe]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQyYuWXp3E8
March 4, 2001....6 mos. before 9/11... The Lone Gunmen series aired on FOX TV.
The pilot episode of this X-Files spinoff was about a commercial airliner having its navigation system hijacked and being flown into the World Trade Center via remote control by a covert group within the US government in order to create an alleged terrorist attack on the US.
This pilot episode was filmed between March 20 - April 7, 2000, 19 months before 9/11.

   Very eerie.  I don't believe the official story.  I saw too many coincidences on 9-11 anyway starting at about 8AM eastern time.  Then after the second attack on WTC the power went off in my town for awhile.  I turned on my radio to see if the AM civil defense station in  St Louis was still up.  I thought maybe somebody hit the US with an airburst nuke in a preemptive strike(EMP) but apparently most of Southern Missouri was without power.  It was really weird.  We never found out what caused the power to go out either.  The people at the AM civil defense station newsroom heard the power outage reports, coupled with the fact that the federal building in St Louis was EMPTY of people, and could actually be heard in the background calling family.  I shut the radio off, and had a beer.  I figured it was safest to stay off the streets. When the power came back on, all that was on TV were tape loops of the planes crashing.  The only thing I could find other than that was a Bill Dance fishing show.  So I watched that and waited for something to happen.  By 1PM I went to bed, because I was up the whole night before.   I got up at 9PM, and people had been watching the same stuff ALL DAY.   The fact that people continued to watch the same story over and over was even stranger than 9-11 itself.   

People Magazine posted an interview a few years back about how the x-files creators were being interigated by the U.S. government. Asking them questions like "How did you know" etc. Apparently they were accessing their right brain in the creative process so well they started remote viewing actual covert government activities.

Tracy

[John]

U.S. senator (R-NH) GREGG supports limitations on Academic Freedom & Free speech.  WOW!  Why is that not a surprize?  (Been in Washington a bit too long there Mr. Judd GREGG?)

When the Republican Party falls - and it is already falling down from the top - they will blame people like me (and probably you) for having not "stuck" with them.  Well, Mr. Big Party dude, I ain't "stuck."

One old Republican used to talk about how he did not leave his old party - THEY LEFT HIM!

Hey you, Mr. Republican BIG-GOVERNMENT-KNOWS-BEST-BOYS, save your whinning - and don't blame us.  Try looking in the mirror!
It is because of jerks LIKE YOU that some of us are giving up on voting.
Check - if you dare look in the mirror - and see if the non-voters are the majority.

[Dave Ridley]

Professor's 9/11 theories outrage NH leaders

http://unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Professor%27s+9%2f11+theories+outrage+NH+leaders&articleId=0a013444-f391-4eaf-ae95-24cab674130b

<< "In my view, there are limitations to academic freedom and freedom of speech," said U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H.>>

guys do you know if professors at unh get state funding and if so how much?  If they get none, or very little then this professor is worthy of some backup.

[KBCraig]

I'm not outraged, but I disagree strongly with this professor (and others who believe similarly, some of whom are right here on this forum).

I'm about facts, not emotion. So, "outrage" doesn't apply. I simply believe he's wrong. That said, I don't believe he should be shut down just because his opinion is unpopular (or wrong). Free speech applies to all, but especially to unpopular speech.

I don't think any schools at any level should have taxpayer funding. But so long as schools and teachers are paid by public funds, they must accept that they can be fired for insulting those who pay their checks, just as surely as if they worked for a private corporation.

Kevin

[Kat Kanning]

I merged the two discussions of this incident.

[Kat Kanning]

Got a nice reply from the professor:

"Dear Kat,
I will try to write something for you soon, once I see how the university community (and Homeland Security) respond.I will take the liberty of sharing your letter with the Seacoast 9/11 Questions Committee.
Bill"