Questioning the official explanation of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks due to recently-released studies, a group of New Hampshire citizens and politicians is attempting to rally support for a new investigation into the attacks. Members of "Vote for Answers New Hampshire" are petitioning residents of towns across the state to place resolutions in warrant articles measures passed at annual town meetings supporting a new investigation into the attacks, according to Gerhard Bedding, the group's spokesman.
The group has gained the required support to bring the resolutions up for a vote in 11 towns and will attempt to do the same in Hanover, Bedding said.
The resolutions would call on New Hampshire's congressional delegation to push for a new federal investigation that would take into account forensic findings that, the group says, contradict the official account published by the 9/11 Commission and other agencies, according to the group's web site.
A 2009 report found the presence of thermite, an explosive compound, in dust from the collapsed buildings a fact that previous investigations have not accounted for, according to Bedding. A 2008 National Institute of Standards and Technology report on the collapse of 7 World Trade Center, which fell after being damaged by falling debris from the Twin Towers, included several "contradictions," Bedding said.
The group has claimed that much of the information about the collapse of 7 World Trade Center indicates that the building was destroyed by a controlled demolition, and not damage from a terrorist attack, according to its web site.
A significant amount of information about the attacks was also kept from the 9/11 Commission by the CIA and other federal agencies, making its findings inaccurate, according to Bedding.
Bedding said the purpose of the petition, however, is not to advocate a specific theory, but rather to call for further investigation.
"We are not advocating any specific course of events," he said. "Just look at the evidence."
The group has successfully filed petitions in 11 towns across New Hampshire, Bedding said, including Exeter, Peterborough and Rindge. Twenty-five signatures are typically needed to put a petition warrant article on the ballot, he said.
If passed in town meetings, the warrant articles would have no formal effect on the decisions of congressional representatives. Group members hope, however, that the resolutions will spur action at the federal level through New Hampshire's representatives in Congress.
The group's organizers have not yet filed a petition in Hanover because Hanover's deadline to introduce similar measures is later than in most other New Hampshire towns. The deadline for many of those towns passed Tuesday, Bedding said.
In order to put their petition on the ballot in Hanover, members of the group will have to obtain 25 signatures by April 2, deputy town clerk Betsy McClain said. Citizens would then debate and vote on the petition at a May 11 town meeting, she said.
McClain added that while approximately 200 residents attend the meeting each year, this particular petition warrant article may spark increased interest.
Several New Hampshire politicians are members of the group, according to organization's web site. Former Keene Mayor Michael Blastos and state Rep. Peter Allen, D-Harrisville, Rep. Charles Weed, D-Keene, and Rep. Barbara Hull Richardson, D-Richmond are listed as members.
Bedding, who grew up in the Netherlands during Nazi occupation, said the present suppression of scientific inquiry in the United States parallels repressive policies implemented by the Nazi regime. He added that it is critical to investigate the 2001 terrorist attack further because it was used as the justification for what he called the "terrorist policies" of the Bush administration.
Vote for Answers plans to put the petition on the ballot in more than 100 towns next year, Bedding said. Including the petition on more towns' ballots, he said, will place more pressure on New Hampshire's congressional delegation.
"If towns begin to express interest, that is the best way to make this visible," Bedding said. "We will take it from there."
Norwich, Vt., resident Shelby Grantham, who is coordinating the group's actions in Hanover, could not be reached for comment by press time.
