April 23, 2007

"He is the custodian of truth that can save the world—he is the 9/11 key master—the key to unlocking the truth."

So says 9/11 conspiracy theorist Kevin Barrett about William Rodriguez, who spoke at the University of Wisconsin yesterday. Rodriguez was a janitor at the World Trade Center, who, because he held one of the few master keys, helped save many people on 9/11. They say he was the last individual to make it out of one of the collapsing buildings alive.
At 8:46 a.m. he heard an explosion. “Boom!” Rodriguez imitated. He heard a man screaming “Explosion! Explosion!” from underneath. “I wanted to say a generator blew up. I thought it was a bomb.”

This piece of evidence may show explosives were used in accompaniment to the hijacked planes, he said. When the plane hit, “the walls cracked and the building shook.”...

Barrett said Rodriguez wrote to him, and wanted to visit to “set the record straight,” after the College Republicans hosted a 9/11 survivor in March and much of the talk surrounded Barrett’s conspiracy theories.
More here:
[He spoke of] his belief that explosives were detonated in the basement of the building, where he was that morning.

At 8:46 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001, Rodriguez, who was two levels below ground, said he felt a large explosion that “pushed him upward into the air” seven seconds before the plane hit the building.
I'm sorry to see this heroic man become caught up in the conspiracy theory.

18 comments:

Palladian said...

An explosion in the foundation of the building at 8:46 and yet the building didn't collapse until 10:28 AM? The buildings collapsed because of structural failure at the impact site and the subsequent pancaking of the floors from the top down, not because of a structural failure in the foundation. It's sad that Barrett and his vampires have managed to turn so many uneducated, vulnerable and paranoid people, including this heroic, probably traumatized man, into zombies to propagate their revolting lies.

hdhouse said...

Well this one is easily dismissed by all but it gives him a few minutes in the limelight. Unfortunately or fortunately for me, my daughter exited the WTC and the plane struck while she was still coming out of the immediate area and reported no prior vibrations let alone a blast.

As to what Ann said : "sorry to see this heroic man become caught up in the conspiracy theory..."

I give the guy a little slack ...call it capitalism run amuck....but in reminder, we do have a president who bet the farm that Iraq was in the midst of this and, in comparison, the Janitor is quite harmless.

The Bearded Professor said...

he felt a large explosion that “pushed him upward into the air” seven seconds before the plane hit the building.

Because whenever I feel an explosion pushing me into the air I immediately start counting the seconds until the plane hits the building.

The Drill SGT said...

agreeing with HDhouse...

remember that the WTC was the target of a huge bomb in the basement in 1993. So there was history and experience with the sensation of a basement explosion.

Now consider other things:

1. any explosion violent enough to damage the structural integrity of the WTC towers would have been felt by, what?, 100,000 people in the surrounding area?

2. The path station runs under the WTC complex. As I recall, there were NO reports that it was destroyed prior to the collapse of the WTC.

3. If the WTC towers had been the subject of structural damage and an explosion big enough to do it, why didn't the people in the second tower flee immediately?

Crimso said...

"we do have a president who bet the farm that Iraq was in the midst of this and, in comparison, the Janitor is quite harmless."

Wrong on both counts.

I'm Full of Soup said...

If this guy is so famous, well-known and his story is true, why is it that when I googled his name, the oldest news article is fairly new (March of 2007)??

This guy's story sounds like a scam to me.

Laura Reynolds said...

I guess some would put the 9/11 conspiracy folks in same camp as the JFK assassination conspiracy industry. But I see them more like the fake moon landing theorists. Heck even the aliens landing in Roswell is more "believable".

Sloanasaurus said...

Heck even the aliens landing in Roswell is more "believable".

This is a great point. I think most conspiracy theorists are the way they are because of a lack of self confidence and lack of knowledge about who works in the government and how the government works. They must believe that people in the government are so much more intelligent and smarter that such conspiracies are obvious, when in truth, the people working for the government are mostly average people.

Sloanasaurus. Read more at John Adams Blog

Tim said...

"I think most conspiracy theorists are the way they are because of a lack of self confidence and lack of knowledge about who works in the government and how the government works."

I disagree. I think they are projecting.

paul a'barge said...

When this guy contacted that Barrett moron, trying to hitch his (Rodriguez) wagon to the nut job train, he stopped being a hero and rejoined the zero club, of which Barrett is a founding member emeritus.

Unknown said...

Barrett is a one-man college wrecking crew.

This lunacy is all too common and must be shown to America, academia's cash cow.

tjl said...

Another sad case of a fool irresistibly drawn into the vortex. Soon he'll be posting crazed drivel on this site along with dave tm.

PC said...

The position of the conspiracy theorists is so absurd that when reading this, I couldn't help but think of the Keymaster in Ghostbusters.

Tibore said...

"911 Myths.com... Reading between the lies (pay special attention to the link on debunking myths about demolition).

Debunking 911 Conspiracy Theories (There are various subpages answering the charges of demolitions use).

Journal of Debunking 9/11

The James Randi Educational Foundation's (JREF) posting board about conspiracy theories (of which has been dominated for a while now with 9/11 conspiracy fantasy) is also a good resource for info about the idea that bombs were used on 9/11.

-----

Willie Rodriguez is a hero for his actions in saving lives during 9/11. Absolutely, undeniably. However, it does not mean he's correct about bombs in the WTC, it does not give him the engineering expertise to be authoritative about the reasons for the buildings collapse, and it does not mean he's right when all other testimony and evidence about explosives being used contradicts his own statements. He is a hero, but he is not an expert on the collapse. Period. He deserves a medal for saving lives that day, but he deserves to be read the riot act for helping to spread lies and mistruths about the reasons for the towers' collapse.

Being a hero for saving lives doesn't mean you're exempt from adherence to reality. Regardless of his selfless acts, he's wrong about the collapse.

TMink said...

Glad your daughter was safe hdh.

Popular Mechanics has the book on this and Katrina. Full of nice, hard, crunchy facts.

Trey

Revenant said...

I feel vaguely dirty even dignifying this bullshit with a response.

The 1993 bombing was felt throughout the entire building and blew a massive hole through five sub-basements, wounding over a thousand people, killing six, and cutting off power and phone service to the entire building.

This supposed "bombing" did no apparent damage to any sub-basements or any other part of the building, killed nobody, caused no disruption in power or phone service, and was felt by nobody other than this janitor and, supposedly, some people who were with him (who were "pushed into the air" by kinetic energy that then mysteriously dissipated before affecting the rest of the building). Moreover this mysterious "explosion" took place in some equally mysterious part of the sub-basement structure that nobody knew about, since people escaped from all parts of the sub-basements prior to the collapse and none reported damage from a bomb.

And to top it all off, this mysterious explosion then proceeded to accomplish... nothing. Because, as we all saw live on television, the collapse of the building started at the top, where the plane damage was located.

hdhouse said...

Hey, why putz around with a Janitor theory when you can get the souped up versions:

http://www.flixya.com/ufo-0

http://www.angelsfortruth.com/WTC%202%20Mystery%20Solved.html

The janitor is small potatos.

b. j. edwards said...

Look at this trick:

William Rodriguez, April 21, 2007:

"Rodriguez, who was two levels below ground, said he felt a large explosion that “pushed him upward into the air” seven seconds before the plane hit the building."

William Rodriguez, Sept. 11, 2001:

"We heard a loud rumble, then all of a sudden we heard another rumble like someone moving a whole lot of furniture," Rodriguez said. "And then the elevator opened and a man came into our office and all of his skin was off."