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Barrett plans trip to Morocco to seek 9/11 hijacker
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Also by Pedro Oliveira Jr.:
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Former University of Wisconsin lecturer Kevin Barrett said Thursday he will travel to Morocco in an attempt to find and interview a man accused of hijacking an airplane and flying it into the World Trade Center.
Barrett, widely known and criticized for his 9/11 conspiracy theory, announced at the state Capitol that he will head to Casablanca this Sunday and try to locate Saudi Arabian pilot Waleed al-Shehri.
The 9/11 Commission has said al-Shehri stabbed two unarmed flight attendants and crashed a plane into the World Trace Center five and a half years ago. According to Barrett, al-Shehri is alive and working in Morocco as a pilot.
"Since our government won't do its job and investigate what really happened on 9/11, I, as a U.S. citizen, will fly to Morocco and try to find out what's going on," said Barrett, who taught an introductory-level Islam course at UW in fall 2006.
According to a 2001 BBC report, a week after 9/11, al-Shehri visited the U.S. embassy in Morocco to claim his innocence and admitted the photos and the biography of the suicide hijacker were indeed his.
"Indications are that he was hired by the CIA to play a role and be a patsy for 9/11," Barrett said.
He intends to bring al-Shehri back to the U.S. or at least interview him and try to find out his true involvement with 9/11.
Despite criticism, Barrett said he is still hopeful he will prove his conspiracy theory and al-Shehri will come to the U.S. to testify in his favor.
Barrett is publicly associated with Scholars for 9/11 Truth, a private organization that believes the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon were an inside U.S. military job.
"I hope that in 10 years I'll be offered a chair in conspiracy theory studies at the University of Wisconsin," Barrett said. "But for now I'm just an unemployed Ph.D."
Barrett said he has applied for a position as a lecturer in UW's English department teaching a 300-level course about The Canterbury Tales. He said he has all the qualifications necessary for the job and is hopeful UW will rehire him for fall 2007.
"The class has nothing to do with Islam and there is no way I would be able to mention any theories," Barrett added.
However, university officials said they have not received Barrett's application.
English department chair Michael Bernard-Donals denied any knowledge regarding the matter, adding he would be the person to know if Barrett had indeed applied.
UW Assistant Director of State Relations Don Nelson confirmed Bernard-Donals' account and added UW "currently has no intention to hire Kevin Barrett."
During the Thursday morning press conference, Barrett challenged Rep. Stephen Nass, R-Whitewater, to a debate regarding 9/11, but the representative was out of the office for the day.
"Barrett's action today proves again why he should not be employed by any university in this state," said Mike Mikalsen, a spokesperson for Nass. "He is only looking for media coverage."
The lecturer also presented Nass with two 9/11 conspiracy books and said he hopes the official accepts his offer to debate or "apologizes and admits he was wrong about 9/11."
"I was hoping [Nass] would show up, but once again he refused to meet me face-to-face," Barrett said.
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Barrett need look no further than I-580 in California. 4/29 - Never Forget! - Germain Q. Stemme
probably would’ve been pertinent to mention that Barret did a Fulbright in Morocco studying Sufi literature
So now he thinks he can teach the Canterbury Tales? Honestly, I think this makes him look worse than his crazy conspiracy theories.
Wait. The English Dept. doesn’t have a record of his application? Hmm. I bet the CIA is behind this, too.
Pedro Oliveira needs a tape recorder. Here he misquotes me at least three times, all of them tending toward defamation. He had an opportunity to verify quotes with me but did not do so. I will be requesting an apology and correction.
I hope he gets shot
Well, clearly Oliveira is part of the conspiracy as well, yes. Misquoted? By a reporter? Barret, you act like this is your first run-in with the press. You don’t even rate being able to clear stories before they run, and with a campus paper no less.
Im sure if a terrorist attack happens when he is in morocco it will be the CIA’s fault.
I think the English Deptartment should hire Barrett. He is very good at telling tales.
This shows how shallow minded the University of Madison has become. Once known as an open minded campus looking for freedom of thought has become an agent of the thought police. Kevin Barrett is a fine speaker with a wide range of intellect and should be hired to offer an alternative to the neocon view protecting university. As far as Germaine’s comments go. Was that bridge fireproofed? What part of the steel failed exactly? What grade of steel was it? Did the bridge explode like the WTC? If the bolts melted, why does NIST report that the bolts on the connectors did NOT melt? In fact, NIST states that the connectors were so persistent that they pulled the columns inward. The fact still remains that the steel samples NIST collected showed low temperature fires (all under 1100 degrees farenheit.) So, the fire couldn’t have melted the steel according to their own samples that they collected and tested via paint deformation tests. 911 was an inside job, it’s just that most people can’t bear to accept that possibility.
This is not the first time Oliveria has been accused of misquoting someone. Barret is an idiot, but Oliveria is irresponsible. Pedro, if you can’t write a story without changing someone's words to make them fit, maybe you need to pursue a new career.
i wonder what all these liberals would be saying if Bill Clinton was in office during 9/11 Think about it
There is difference between being an open minded university, and paying someone who make absurd claims that have been clearly proved false. Do you think the university should hire someone to teach a class about WWII who doesn’t believe the Holocaust happened? I would sincerely hope not.
I don’t believe that Barrett even said what department he was applying for when I was listening to him in his “press conference”. He left it up to the reporters to dig that up.
The collapse of the freeway segment in the Bay Area disproves any of these assessments that 9/11 was a hoax, as the steel rebar in the concrete bridge gave away due to the heat. PS-Gasoline burns at a much lower temperature than jet fuel.
It’s always funny that members of the 9/11 Denial Movement end up spiraling down in an orgy of increasingly irrational thinking and behavior.
Kevin Barrett is no exception, now having to deal with the fact that he has discredited himself with a barrage of misrepresentation of the facts.
Barrett knows perfectly well that a supposed still-alive hijacker is bogus and an outright lie. He has been shown the truth numerous times in numerous forums and has been unable to refute the truth of that fact.
See: http://911myths.com/html/waleedal-shehristill_alive.html
Barrett is destroying himself, drunk with the knowledge that he can say anything we wants and a bevy of 9/11 Deniers will be cheering him on.
His credibility is gone; his career as a professor of anything is likely already destroyed. He has only himself to blame.
At least Barrett will be out of the country awhile. Every time he lectures or issues a statement it makes UW look stupid for letting him teach here.
Waleed al-Shehri has been found!!!
(On his martyrdom video tape.)