(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The Wall Street Journal published an editorial this week, criticizing Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy for questioning the 9/11 Commission’s account of what happened on Sept. 11, 2001.
In doing so, the WSJ editorial board displayed its own ignorance of the 9/11 Commission’s shortcomings—some of which have been revealed in recent months, only to be ignored by the newspaper.
The WSJ’s attack on Ramaswamy stems from his recent appearance on conservative personality Alex Stein’s show, where he was questioned about the attacks.
“I don’t believe the government has told us the truth. Again, I’m driven by evidence and data,” Ramaswamy responded.
“What I’ve seen in the last several years is we have to be skeptical of what the government does tell us. I haven’t seen evidence to the contrary, but do I believe everything the government told us about it? Absolutely not. Do I believe the 9/11 commission? Absolutely not.”
.@alexstein99: "Was 9/11 an inside job or exactly how the government tells us?"@VivekGRamaswamy: "I don't believe the government has told us the truth. We have to be skeptical. Do I believe everything the government told us about it? Absolutely not." pic.twitter.com/nLhUtuvCZ5
— BlazeTV (@BlazeTV) August 2, 2023
In its editorial, the WSJ blasted Ramaswamy’s statements for “indulging the worst instincts of talk-show hosts, and reducing every story to grand-scale government deceit.”
“His original answer flirted with the possibility that the government covered up facts about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks,” the editorial said.
“Back on planet Earth, the 9/11 Commission was one of the better efforts at government accountability in recent memory, and its findings have never been discredited by anyone credible. One irony of Mr. Ramaswamy’s answer is that conspiracy theories about 9/11 started mostly in left-wing precincts.”
Contrary to the WSJ’s bald assertion, the 9/11 Commission’s findings have been discredited by researchers of all ideological stripes, and even by some of government’s own investigators.
Just this year, veteran national security reporter Seth Hettena published a government document in March, citing two unnamed FBI agents who allegedly said that the CIA was monitoring and attempting to recruit two of the 9/11 hijackers in the lead-up to the attack.
While the 9/11 Commission report does mention the allegation that Saudi Arabian intelligence officers financially supported these two hijackers—Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar—it makes no mention of CIA recruitment efforts.
Even more recently, the U.S. government finally released the notes of the 9/11 Commission’s interview with Saudi Arabia Prince Turki bin Faisal, some 20 years after its interview with him took place.
The 9/11 Commission’s report made no mention of this interview, which was kept secret for years. Even if the interview had been included in the report, the 9/11 Commission didn’t question Turki about his intelligence agency allegedly sponsoring al-Hazmi or al-Mihdhar, according to the notes from the interview.
Perhaps the WSJ editorial board would know these facts if the newspaper covered them.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
