There was no fooling former Air Force and commercial pilot Russ Wittenberg the morning of 9/11. He knew it was an inside job from the get-go, knowing the ‘big boys’ were up to the same dirty tricks they played in the Kennedy assassination and Pearl Harbor.
The government may have fooled millions of Americans with its cockamamie official story, but the former fighter pilot who flew over 100 combat missions in Vietnam and who sat for 35 years in the cockpit for Pan Am and United, wasn’t one of them.
Now, almost four years later, Wittenberg is still shaking his head in disbelief more than ever, saying the country he loved and fought so bravely 40 years ago has fallen in the deep, dark and sinister hands of fascist leaders who are quickly turning America into a military state.
Although back in the beginning he seemed like a lone wolf in the hen house, he’s noticed, especially in the last six months, more Americans waking up to the cold reality that the U.S. government staged 9/1l, started an illegal war in Iraq and basically is criminally responsible for killing hundreds of thousands of innocent lives here and abroad.
Even though it’s a hard pill for some to swallow, Wittenberg says Americans need to “wake up and wake up fast,” holding those in government responsible even though it may mean a total makeover of the American political system.
And for these despicable actions now taking place in the name of freedom, the former F-100 Vietnam fighter pilot, who knows what it’s like to be in harms way, directed a little military jab toward the Commander and Chief, saying: “Oh, why doesn’t he wake up and just fall on his sword.”
Talking about his obvious disgust for the Bush administration, he bundles 9/11 into the neo con’s “neat little contrived war package,” saying it was the lynch pin needed to usher in a state of constant fear, a climate of war and a perfect setting for the unconstitutional Patriot Act and eventual martial law.
“If you would have told me back in the 1970s this was going to happen to America, I would have never imagined it. It’s just not the same country I grew up in as all our Constitutional freedoms are being stripped away right before our very eyes,” said Wittenberg in a telephone conversation from his home in Carefree Az., a picturesque and serene place on the map near Scottsdale.
“The government story they handed us about 9/11 is total B.S. plain and simple. I also thoroughly went over the recent 9/11 Commission report, finding about 110 outright lies and numerous other half-truths and omissions in an obvious cover-up of not only the truth but of a criminal investigation.
“Condaleeza Rice lied through her teeth when she testified and if I would have had her on the stand for 10 minutes, I would have had her in tears.”
Concerning 9/11, Wittenberg knew right off the bat the hijackers - who couldn’t handle a Piper Cub - couldn’t fly the ‘big birds” he flew for so many years, knowing the planes were also incapable of performing such high speed maneuvers as the government claimed.
He also knew the possibility of jet fuel bringing down the towers made no sense. In fact, he knew the whole 9/11 story made about as much sense as crossing the Atlantic in a row boat.
And right after 9/11 when it was unpopular and considered almost treasonous to question the government, Wittenberg became the first commercial airline pilot with experience flying the jets used in 9/11 to publicly denounce the government story.
Although speaking publicly on many occasions about the fictitious government account of 9/11, it wasn’t until Sept. 16, 2004, his controversial remarks aired on Wing TV, sparking a heated debate among pilots and others clinging to the flimsy government account.
Knowing the flight characteristics of the “big birds” like the back of his hand, Wittenberg convincingly argued there was absolutely no possibility that Flight 77could have “descended 7,000 feet in two minutes, all the while performing a steep 270 degree banked turn before crashing into the Pentagon’s first floor wall without touching the lawn.”
Wittenberg claimed the high speed maneuver would have surely stalled the jetliner sending it into a nose dive, adding it was “totally impossible for an amateur who couldn’t even fly a Cessna to maneuver the jetliner in such a highly professional manner, something Wittenberg said he couldn’t do with 35 years of commercial jetliner experience.
“For a guy to just jump into the cockpit and fly like an ace is impossible – there is not one chance in a thousand,” said Wittenberg, recalling that when he made the jump from Boeing 727’s to the highly sophisticated computerized characteristics of the 737’s through 767’s it took him considerable time to feel comfortable flying.
“I had to be trained to use the new, computerized systems. I just couldn’t jump in and fly one,” he added.
Finding more inconsistencies with the government story about Flight 77, Wittenberg recalled the recent statements made by a flight controller on an ABC 20/20 television program three months ago.
“If you listened to her carefully only an experienced pilot probably would have known that what she was saying was scripted,” said Wittenberg. “Remember the transponder was turned off on Flight 77 and when this occurs, all the particular flight data like air speed and even the plane’s flight identification goes with it.
“All that’s left on the controller’s screen is a green blip, that’s it. But here you have this flight controller on 20/20 saying she was tracking the flight with specific air speed and other coordinates which was totally impossible once the transponder was turned off. How would she even have known the flight number? The whole story is a pack of lies and this is just another example.”
And from the moment Wittenberg called attention to the lies, he’s been in the cross hairs defending his story, defending it by using a little bit of psychology, a lot of history and asking critics to answer questions before drawing conclusions.
“I’ve learned over the years, it’s hard to change anybody’s mind when they really aren’t listening,” said Wittenberg. “So, I just decided to fire back a lot of questions to those people who believe the government story.
“I ask them explain how Building No.7 collapsed? I ask them why haven’t the “black boxes” been recovered? I ask them to explain how jet fuel – fuel that burns cold not hot -- could bring down two high rise structures when more than 90% of the fuel on board burned outside the buildings?”
And Wittenberg has hundreds of other tough questions ready, but said it’s also important to put 9/11 and the Iraq war in a historical prospective.
“Is 9/11 and the phony war on terror any different or more serious than Pearl Harbor and World War II?,” asks Wittenberg. “The bottom line is all wars are contrived and it is these rich bankers and financiers who have pulled the strings and who have put these contrived events like 9/11 and Pearl Harbor into motion.”
Turning to the recent London bombings, Wittenberg said he’s tired of the “talking heads’ trying to analyze how to counter terror when “the real cause and effect issues” about the root problems with America and the world are being ignored.
“It’s simply bizarre. Maybe our one-sided foreign policy that keeps getting us into all this trouble around the world should be seriously questioned,” said Wittenberg. “If we are really fighting terror, why are our borders just to the south completely wide open? It’s a joke.”
Claiming the entire neo con scenario now playing out in America and around the world is based on the attempt to establish a one world government controlled by a select few, he said it’s difficult to figure out their true motives, adding he can only offer an educated guess based on what he’s studied and read.
“Power corrupts, money isn’t enough and these people want total control,” added Wittenberg. “These elites actually think they are better than everybody else and basically want power and control over the diminishing resources by creating a one world government.
Regarding another terror attack on American soil coming on the heels of the London bombings, he said “it’s not if but when,” claiming the unconstitutional Patriot Act is waiting in the wings to silence those Americans who may not fall in line with the government’s eventual takeover.
“They passed it for a reason. The problem with our two party system is that the same group of gangsters controls both parties,” said Wittenberg, who didn’t vote for Bush or Kerry in the last election and was the former Arizona state chairman for Pat Buchanon’s failed presidential run in 2000.
Although Wittenberg remains politically active and abreast of world affairs, he has left the political forefront, trying instead to raise public awareness about the danger of the neo con agenda.
“More people are listening now, but it doesn’t surprise me that still a lot of people just don’t want to get involved, thinking things are just fine in America,” he added. “These people are perfectly content to play golf, watch the ballgame and not get involved.”
Wittenberg, who retired the day before 9/11 having a strange and unexplainable premonition, said high gas prices have led him to sell his private plane, saying it was getting too expensive to even “fly for fun’ anymore.