You know America is such a funny place, land of the free home of the brave. Freest of the free but there are some topics that are strictly verboten! I can call the President a war criminal and a murderer and most people will just nod saying well you're entitled to your opinion. But if you begin to present evidence to that affect, with apologies to Rod Serling you've just crossed over into the Twilight Zone. You are a conspiracy theorist and in America a conspiracy theorist is only one step above child abuser, scab or a racist.

Now understand at a murder investigation the police use detectives and technicians to gather evidence and formulate a theory as to who might have committed the crime. Then they take their case to our court systems the judge or jury decides by the weight of evidence whose theory they accept as most likely being true. Now the police detective looks for a motive, for who would be capable of the crime and who doesn't have a good alibi or stories don't ring true. But now you're no investigator heck you don't even have a badge! But Bart Simpson once asked "Do you have to get all A's to be a policeman?" You're a conspiracy theorist, your just looking for who may have had motive and the ability to commit the crime and who doesn't have a good alibi and when their stories don't ring true, see the difference?

It seems that every time I try to research some aspect of 911 I end up somewhere else. I was trying to find out about the tapes of interviews with the New York tower air traffic controllers I was just being curious not looking for conspiracy.

"Six air traffic controllers provided accounts of their communications with hijacked planes on Sept, 11, 2001, on a tape recording that was later destroyed by Federal Aviation Administration managers, according to a government investigative report issued today. It is unclear what information was on the tape because no one ever listened to, transcribed or duplicated it, the report by the Department of Transportation inspector general said"

Hours after the hijacked planes flew into the World Trade Center Towers, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field, an FAA manager at the New York Air Route Traffic Control Center gathered six controllers who communicated or tracked two of the hijacked planes and recorded in a one-hour interview their personal accounts of what occurred, the report stated. The manager, who is not named in the report, said that his intentions were to provide quick information to federal officials investigating the attack before the air traffic controllers involved took sick leave for the stress of their experiences, as is common practice.

According to the report, a second manager at the New York center promised a union official representing the controllers that he would "get rid of" the tape after controllers used it to provide written statements to federal officials about the events of the day. Instead, the second manager said he destroyed the tape between December 2001 and January 2002 by crushing the tape with his hand, cutting it into small pieces and depositing the pieces into trash cans around the building, the report said. Washington Post Thursday, May 6, 2004

Now if you are the trusting sort you might say he just made a mistake. But now if you're of a suspicious nature or a low down conspiracy theorist you might ask, why destroy the tape? What reason? Negligence? Do you suppose it went something like this? "Bill when the first plane hit the tower what were you doing?" Well sir, I had just burnt my lip on my crack pipe so I went down to the bar to get another beer." "And John is that how you remember it?" "I don't know sir I was asleep at the time." Under those conditions I could understand the FAA destroying a tape. But there is absolutely no evidence that the controllers did anything wrong, so why did they destroy this tape?

The official reason,

According to the report, a second manager at the New York center promised a union official representing the controllers that he would "get rid of" the tape after controllers the used it to provide written statements to federal officials about the events of the day. It is unclear what information was on the tape because no one ever listened to, transcribed or duplicated it, the report by the Department of Transportation inspector general said.

Well that makes perfect sense, everyone knows what a close relationship unions and management have. What it tells me a low down conspiracy theorist is the controllers in deed did nothing wrong. So, again why destroy the tape? Officially it was used it to provide written statements to federal officials about the events of the day. Why that answer makes perfect sense except as Colombo would say "Ah just one more thing didn't you say?

"It is unclear what information was on the tape because no one ever listened to, transcribed or duplicated it, the report by the Department of Transportation inspector general said"

Pea cue Lar ain't it? So according to Federal officials, the air controllers that had communications with the high jacker's after the event then gave statements on tape for the purpose of supplying a basis for a written statement. But the tape was never listened to or transcribed but destroyed and then obliterated into irretrievable pieces and the controllers then gave written statements under the auspices of their government employer. Can anyone out there in Internet land give me a reason other than that the taped statements didn't match the written statements? You see I have a suspicious nature and after all I'm a low down conspiracy theorist.

What does the government say?

"We believe the audiotape in question appears to be consistent with written statements and other materials provided to FBI investigators and would not have added in any significant way to the information contained in what has already been provided to investigators and members of the 9/11 commission," said FAA spokesman Greg Martin.

But how can you be so sure? I guess we'll just have to take your word for it, besides what else could he say and there is no evidence is there?

One controller said she asked to listen to the tape in order to prepare her written account of her experience, but one of the managers denied her request.

I wonder why? Wasn't that the stated purpose of making the tape in the first place? But then you already know what I think; I'm a low down conspiracy theorist.