Incoming FDNY chaplain questions 9/11 story

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MikeK
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Incoming FDNY chaplain questions 9/11 story

Post by MikeK »

We have a new Cleopatra, the queen of de nile.
Incoming FDNY chaplain questions 9/11 story
BY CAROL EISENBERG
STAFF WRITER

September 30, 2005

An imam slated to be sworn in Friday as the second Muslim chaplain in Fire Department history said he questioned whether 19 hijackers were responsible for the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and suggested a broader conspiracy may have brought down the Twin Towers and killed more than 2,700 people.

In a telephone interview Thursday, Imam Intikab Habib, 30, a native of Guyana who studied Islam in Saudi Arabia, said he doubted the United States government's official story blaming 19 hijackers associated with al-Quaida and Osama bin Laden.

"I as an individual don't know who did the attacks," said Habib, 30, a soft-spoken man who immigrated to New York in July 2000 after spending six years in Saudi Arabia getting a degree in Islamic theology and law. "There are so many conflicting reports about it. I don't believe it was 19 ... hijackers who did those attacks."

Asked to elaborate on his reasons for doubting that story, he talked about video and news reports widely disseminated in the Muslim community.

"I've heard professionals say that nowhere ever in history did a steel building come down with fire alone," he said. "It takes two or three weeks to demolish a building like that. But it was pulled down in a couple of hours. Was it 19 hijackers who brought it down, or was it a conspiracy?"

Questioned about who he believed was responsible for the attacks, Habib said he didn't know. He said, however, that he did not expect to raise his doubts with rank-and-file firefighters -- nor did he share them two weeks ago when he participated in several Sept. 11 memorials on behalf of the Fire Department.

"My position as a chaplain is that whoever did it, it's a tragic incident," he said. "I feel sorrow for the families who lost loved ones and for the firefighters who died in it. Whoever did it, it was a very wrong thing. It's always wrong to take an innocent human life."

A spokesman for the Fire Department, Frank Gribbon, said that Habib was recommended by the department's Islamic Society and was hired "based on his credentials as a religious person. We don't ask new employees about their political views before we hire them."

Stephen Cassidy, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, could not be reached for comment.

Habib's remarks about the attacks came in response to questions about whether he thought firefighters would accept a chaplain who had been educated in Saudi Arabia.

He said he did not expect that to be an issue because "I come from a country where you're accustomed to living with people of different ethnic, religious and racial backgrounds."

When pressed further about whether the hijackers' backgrounds -- 15 of whom were Saudi -- might make his training an issue for still-grieving firefighters, he went on to express his own doubts about the hijacker story.

Habib was one of several imams recommended for the chaplain's job by the Islamic Society for the Fire Department, as a result of his work teaching junior high students at Al-Ihsan Academy in Ozone Park, a private Islamic school, where he worked for about five years.

"He's a good man," said Hakim Braxton, president of the Islamic Society. "Any statements he's made, he's responsible for ... But I would ask that the citizens of this city give him a chance and judge him on his actions."

Braxton also stressed that neither he nor anyone in the Islamic Society would agree with anyone who tried to justify the terror attack in any way. "I lost friends, family, co-workers," he said.

Braxton described Habib as a "humble, grounded and family man, which is a good thing in this job, because he's trying to help everyone and he's representing a very diverse community."

Habib himself said he saw his role as ministering to every member of the Fire Department, not just to Muslims.

"Being a chaplain in the Fire Department, I serve the whole Fire Department," he said.

Copyright 2005 Newsday Inc.
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Kevin Mackie
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Post by Kevin Mackie »

This guy is more ignorant than an OJ juror.

The engineers who build the WTC know exactly how the building failed. It's been investigated and documented thoroughly.

No conspiracy should ever be considered by someone in their right mind.

Maybe someone will wise up after reading his comments.
Rick Wilson

Post by Rick Wilson »

Sad.
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Panther
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Post by Panther »

[devil's advocate == on]

As already stated, it is documented that the twin towers could have failed and collapsed from the intense heat/fire because of the burning jet fuel and how that weakened the steel causing the collapse of the towers. From that standpoint, the Iman looses credibility by his comments. However, there are enough other "discrepancies" in the details to make someone wonder about the "official" version. With those discrepancies in mind and coupled with someone's personal background (perhaps Islamic as the Iman), it is easy to see why he would question the official version of events and not want to believe that the hijackers were responsible.

Just because people who look at or believe conspiracy theories aren't in their right minds, does not mean that the theories aren't correct! :o

[devil's advocate == off]
IJ
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Post by IJ »

Dare I ask what these discrepancies are? The supposedly insufficient pentagon hole? Haven't heard of others. The video admission by OBL and the well described execution of the plan and description of the effects seems pretty solid to me. I understand what you're saying about his background and know that it affects a lot of perception (the OJ case was a perfect example, if you think back to the racial divide over the outcome), I'm just curious what tidbits might play into his reasoning in anything but a delusioned way.
--Ian
AAAhmed46
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Post by AAAhmed46 »

I dont think there is a conspiracy going on. I do however think that the media has not been asking certian questions about the terrorists.

Some of these men were educated and wealthy, so why would they do this? I ask myself these questions all the time. Why?

Of coarse, we can say they were not rational, and for all accounts they are NOT rational.But they didnt start that way. We DO talk about the psychology of it some times, but not enough. Why would these rich spoiled saudi's(well one of them was iranian, but he was also rich) throw thier rich spoiled lives away?
Hell, people see me as pretty religious, but if i had what they had, i would never throw my life away for some stupid #####.


EDIT:WHOOPS, there i go rambling off topic again.

*shakes head at self* this should be in a different thread.

So anyway, yeah, your right, it is pretty sad. Talk about denial.....
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Panther
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Post by Panther »

IJ wrote:Dare I ask what these discrepancies are? . . . I'm just curious what tidbits might play into his reasoning in anything but a delusioned way.
Please note that I was taking a devil's advocate position. There are a LOT of different conspiracy theories about various aspects of 9/11/01. Some are more outlandish than others... some have been well documented and actually seem to be somewhat plausible... others go so far as implicate a large scale international conspiracy. I can easily understand how someone, who perhaps doesn't like the way the story is told currently, could pick up the mantra of any one of the conspiracy theories that they feel tells a more palatable story for them. Don't take that as my endorsement of any of the many different versions of events that have been put forth... or even an endorsement of the "official" version of events.
cxt
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Post by cxt »

The Left commonly states that poverity causes crime.

From what can be gathered by 9/11 and folks like OBL.

Its weath, privlege and education that causes crimes.

;)
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Akil Todd Harvey
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Post by Akil Todd Harvey »

There are no theories about what occurred on 9/11 that are not some form of a conspiracy theory.......

The theory that we prefer is the one in which 19 Muslim hijackers conspired to fly planes into the world trade center towers and into the pentagon..........(May God Punish them for their despicable deeds).

Thus we have a preferred theory of conspiracy, all others are debunked, but all theories of what happened that day involve conspiracies of some sort.


The only question is which conspiracy theory you believe.......
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IJ
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Post by IJ »

Of course what we mean by the term "conspiracy theory" is not that someone conspired against the USA (that much seems certain) but that certain individuals have a paranoid, speculative, imaginary, or delusional tact to their particular theory.

Calling all the theories "conspiracy theories" is like saying that evolution and gravity are just "theories." Some clearly have more weight behind em and some are wishful thinking.
--Ian
cxt
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Post by cxt »

Problem with claims of how long that it takes to knock down a steel reinforced bldg is that its false logic.

It takes "longer" to tear one down when you are doing it correctly, with minimum use of explosives, care not to be too loud and safty regs in mind etc.

Vastly innacurate to use such a controlled activity to compare to ramming a fully loaded plane of that size into the upper floors.

Kinda like saying cars CAN'T be crushed in a matter of minutes since it takes hours to fully strip one down to parts.
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