- Pacific
Jesse Ventura Tells AFP He
Won’t
Back Off Publicizing 9-11 Views
By Mark Anderson
On April 9, this editor for AMERICAN FREE PRESS had the
opportunity to speak directly with famed ex-professional wrestler, author and former
governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura in order to discuss a host of subjects, including
censorship of his column on the Sept. 11 attacks and his provocative conspiracy show,
which airs on cable television.
Ventura confirmed that his TRU-TV cable series on major conspiracies, which some assumed
had been canned after its first installment concluded early this year, is alive and well.
A new season with 10 episodes will hit the airwaves in the fall of 2010, he said.
While the former Navy Seal who became a high-profile
independent Minnesota governor would love to specify the 10 topics, he was not yet fully
at liberty to reveal what they are, though he did say one is about the shooting of John F.
Kennedy. “Initially there were seven episodes; now they’re ordering 10
more,” he stated in an upbeat manner, while noting that some decisions still have to
be made on what will air and in what order.
“We have 20 conspiracies that we’ll have to pare down to 10. I’ll have to
battle with the network, but in the end we’ll settle on 10 of them. They promised
JFK. There is no pecking order at all.”
The straight-talking Ventura had just finished filling in for CNN’s Larry King Live
as a guest host when he spoke with this AFP writer. Notably, Ventura had Rep. Ron Paul
(R-Texas) as one of the guests on the show the evening of April 9. Another was
“defrocked” former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich who, despite harboring more
liberal views than Paul, concurred with the Texas congressman on several matters,
particularly Paul’s insistence that the United States end its interventionist foreign
policy that is a factor in bankrupting the nation.
Ventura, though he appeared on an establishment media show, remarked without hesitation
that America’s constant wars continue because certain connected people get rich from
them.
Ventura may be famous for having been a wrestler, but his brawn is complemented by brains
and a tough-mindedness often missing in political and journalistic discourse these days.
One of the main issues he wrestles with now is resistance to his frank discussion of the
conventional story of what really happened on 9-11-2001. Recently, The Huffington Post
Internet news site quickly took down a column Ventura had posted there that questioned
the government’s 9-11 story. Ventura’s column mentioned San Francisco architect
Richard Gage, whose group, Architects and Engineers for 9-11 Truth, has grown to more than
1,100 architects, engineers and other technical experts who have presented considerable
evidence to challenge conventional 9-11 “wisdom.”
Ventura minces no words when it comes to 9-11, which is the touchy topic that likely is
the main factor keeping corporate news organs from reviewing a book on conspiracies
written by a man who commands the attention of a large cross-section of Americans,
including young activists.
Ventura was well received by thousands of young activists at Paul’s huge
counter-convention for renegade Republicans and independents in Minneapolis in September
2008, held at the same time as the establishment Republican National Convention nearby in
St. Paul. This AFP writer first met Ventura there and shot a video interview of him,
discussing ballot-access laws and other hurdles that make it hard for independent and
“third party” candidates to get elected to office and make needed changes.
In 2004, Ventura found himself informing young Americans by conducting a class on
third-party politics as a guest teacher at Harvard University, where he attracted a record
turnout of 300 students in the lecture hall.
While recalling that The Huffington Post pulled his 9-11 article only one hour
after it was posted—much faster than the 24 hours some readers assumed—Ventura
indicated he will not drop the 9-11 issue.
Ventura agreed with this writer’s observation that pure logic demands that we
question how airplane impacts and jet fuel fires alone could destroy both 110- story
towers (the government theory).
“How could [the twin towers] be pulverized into powder [by a fire]?” he said.
“[The destruction of the towers] threw steel girders 500 feet.”
He recalled the irony of Arianna Huffington bugging him for a long time to post his
articles on her Internet site, only to mistreat him later.
“She was on my case for two years,” he said. He remarked that while the policy
of the Post is, “they don’t do conspiracy theories,” the Post will
not hesitate to run articles on other conspiracy theories, including the government’s
conspiracy theory on Osama bin Laden’s alleged deep involvement in masterminding
9-11. Ventura’s one other column submitted
to the Post, about the Obama administration’s war on drugs, was posted without
a problem. But Ventura will not write for the Post ever again.
Meanwhile, he is chagrined that his latest book, American
Conspiracies: Lies, Lies and More Lies That the Government Tells Us, has been on
the New York Times Bestsellers’ List for more than four weeks at the time of this
interview, but that the Times and other major media seem indifferent to providing more
publicity.
“Nobody in the mainstream press has reviewed my book,” he said. “I brought
that up on Larry King Live tonight. I get the feeling it could be another two months in
the top 10—and it still won’t get reviewed.”
Ventura also told AFP that the BBC denied his recent request for legal permission to use
well-known news footage on his TRU-TV series that shows a BBC reporter reporting that
World Trade Center Building 7—the third building to crumble that day, though it was
not hit by a plane—had already fallen, when, at the time she reported it, the
building had not fallen yet and was clearly visible in the background, along the Manhattan
skyline.
“All we wanted to do was ask the reporter, ‘Who told you that building had
collapsed?’ ” Ventura said. “She got done with the broadcast at 5 p.m., and
the building did not collapse until around 5:20.”
Mark Anderson is a longtime newsman now working as the deputy editor for American
Free Press. Together he and his wife Angie provide many photographs of the events they
cover for AFP. Mark welcomes your comments and inputs as well as story leads. Email him at
at truthhound2@yahoo.com. (Issue # 17,
April 26, 2010) LISTEN TO
AFP'S PODCAST WITH JESSE VENTURA