An Open Letter to Larry Silverstein

Dear Mr. Silverstein,

You will doubtless be aware that the internet is overrun with all sorts of lurid conspiracy theories surrounding the events which took place in New York City on the 11th of September 2001. These disturbing rumors are undermining the people's faith in their elected government and calling into question who REALLY runs America today and in precisely WHOSE interest. As the owner of the leases on the World Trade Center site, YOU PERSONALLY are in a unique position to allay people's fears and put an end to the endless conspiracy theories which have only grown stronger and more persistent over the last 6 years.

There are just a few basic questions that you need to address as a matter of great urgency. In doing so you can quash untold numbers of fanciful stories and reassure the public that there was no illicit government involvement in the slaughter of 2,974 innocent Americans on that fateful morning, and that the horrors that took place that day were solely due to Arab terrorists - unassisted by any third party acting on behalf of Israel and/or certain US government agencies.

You are recorded on video as well as radio as having made the following statement (in respect of Tower 7) which I quote here verbatim:

LS: "I remember getting a call from the Fire Department commander to tell me they were not sure they were going to be able to contain the fire. They said, you know, 'we've had such terrible loss of life that the smartest thing to do is to pull it.' And they made that decision to pull and we watched the building collapse."

Now this statement is unsatisfactory for a number of reasons, not least of which is the fact that I have employed an expert in body language at my own expense who has repeatedly watched the video tape of your above statement and declared your words, with a 98% degree of certainty, to be lies.

Mr. Silverstein, you need to answer just a handful of questions to set the matter to rest. It will only take a few moments of your valuable time and could be a great comfort to the more than 17,000 families which were in various ways, devastated by those 'terrorist attacks.'

1. Who was the Fire Department commander you referred to on that day who recommended that building number 7 be brought down?

2. Why did he only refer to ONE fire when as we all know there were in fact multiple fires, independently documented on film, burning throughout the building?

3. Why do you suppose he recommended a controlled demolition of the building in view of the fact that no other skyscraper in history had ever before collapsed due to fire? What led him to believe this one was a uniquely dangerous exception?

4. Given that the controlled demotion of such a large building typically takes a highly skilled team working 24 hours a day for at least a week to complete, how do you account for the fact that the building was successfully brought down (or "pulled" as you put it) within considerably less than 8 hours?

5. How do you account for the fact that the operation to "pull" the building was carried out in RECORD time on a day when the city of New York was in total and utter chaos and the likelihood of getting ANYONE other than the emergency services to do ANYTHING beyond simply rescuing the trapped and injured was virtually nil???

6. Which (unbelievably efficient) firm was contracted at zero notice and under impossible conditions to undertake the remarkably successful controlled demolition of this massive building in less than a third of just one day? The city of New York may need this valuable recommendation in the event of future attacks.


If you could see your way clear to answering the above points, then I'm sure a lot of folks' minds would be put at ease, and equally importantly, respect and trust in our government could be restored. I look forward to hearing your answers as soon as possible. You know you WILL be compelled to answer before a Grand Jury one day if you don't answer now, so it's best to get it out of the way in advance, don't you think?


Yours in breathless anticipation,

Phaedrus.