Karen S. Johnson

Arizona state senator Karen S. Johnson, a Republican, says she suspects a government conspiracy and calls for a new investigation into 9/11. Calling attention to the unexplained collapse of WTC Building 7, she writes: “Why, for example, did Building 7 collapse? It wasn’t hit by a plane, as the towers were. The 9/11 Commission Report completely ignores Building 7. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) report discounts fire as a cause and concludes that the reasons for the collapse of Building 7 are unknown and require further research. But when FEMA issued this report, it already cleared the site and disposed of the dust and steel (evidence from a crime scene), thus possibly committing a felony and complicating any ‘further research.’ The National Institute of Standards and Technology, a federal agency, which evaluated the collapse of the towers, has yet to issue its report on Building 7. ‘We’ve had trouble getting a handle on Building 7,’ said the acting director of their Building and Fire Research Lab. Yet a number of private-sector engineers, architects, and demolition experts have not had that problem. They think Building 7 came down by controlled demolition. The building collapsed suddenly, straight down, at nearly free-fall speed. People heard the explosions, and saw the squibs and the characteristic billowing clouds of pulverized concrete so unique to demolitions. There is no reason to think that Building 7 came down for any other reason than explosive demolition.” [Arizona Republic, 5/3/2008]