From: Boston 9/11 Truth
Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2007 01:48:04 -0500

Subject: CLARIFICATION WANTED FROM WIESENTHAL CENTER

25 November 2007
Mark Weitzman
Simon Wiesenthal Center
59 East 42nd Street, Suite 1600
New York, NY 10017

Dear Mr. Weitzman,

It is with deep concern that we are requesting both a clarification and a retraction
regarding several remarks you made at the Homeland Security sub-committee hearing on
Terrorism Risk Assessment held on 6 November 2007.

In reference to the content of your PowerPoint presentation, you stated, “The
presentation begins with a look at how 9/11 is viewed in some eyes online, including
those who applauded it as well as some conspiracies sites. The presence of the
conspiracy site is significant, since so much of what passes as fact online is actually
based on some form of conspiracy.” You later went on to say, “These people are
constructing their own version of reality, full of conspiracy theories, full of
doctored videos, that will recruit or inflame the emotions.”

Given that the explicit mission of the Simon Wiesenthal Center is to confront “hate and
terrorism” by “promoting human rights and dignity…. and teaching the lessons of the
Holocaust for future generations,” we find your flagrant use of the characterization
”these people” to not only be incongruent with your stated mission, but also a chilling
reminder of the rhetoric used to demonize Jews, Catholics, homosexuals, gypsies, et.
al. during the reign of the Third Reich in the early and mid-twentieth century. By
“these people” are you referring to Mindy Kleinberg, Kristen Breitweiser, Patty Casazza
and Lorie Van Auken, all widows after the 9/11 attacks who for 441 days battled against
government apathy in bringing about a 9/11 investigation, whose stories and continued
demands for answers are frequently referenced and who openly endorse many 9/11
websites? By “these people” are you likewise referring to Rabbi Michael Lerner, the
prominent progressive Jewish activist who stated, “I salute the people … who are doing
an amazing job of exposing what may prove to be one of the most perverse conspiracies
in the history of democratic governments,” or are you referring to highly decorated
USAF Lt. Col. Robert Bowman PhD, Director of Advanced Space Systems under presidents
Jimmie Carter and Gerald Ford, who defines the actions of many in the current
administration regarding government misconduct on 9/11 as being nothing short of
treasonous, and who similarly endorses the research and activities of many 9/11
websites? Had we paid attention to the plight of “these people” in the 1930s, six
million innocents might have been spared their horrific fate and the Holocaust might
have been reduced to a perverse aberration.

Equally disturbing in your PowerPoint presentation is the juxtaposition of the website
Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth.org with Taliban recruitment sites detailing
how to make bombs, take captives and blow up buildings. How and why you equate American
architectural and engineering professionals examining the nature of the destruction of
three American architectural icons with radical fringe elements of Islamic extremism is
not only unfathomable, but can justifiably be construed as being motivated by malicious
intent. Within the context of the liberties protected in our constitutional republic,
the United States of America is the freedom of intellectual pursuit and the right to
challenge our government, its policies, its actions and non-actions.

Again, public clarification by you and the Simon Wiesenthal Center regarding these
misconstrued associations is in order. Concerned and patriotic citizens across the
country are anxiously waiting for your response.

Sincerely,
Boston911Truth
Boston, Massachusetts
http://www.Boston911Truth.org
tr...@boston911truth.org

Weitzman replies with a canned script::

From: Mark Weitzman
Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2007 12:36:35 -0500
To: Boston 9/11 Truth
Conversation: CLARIFICATION WANTED FROM WIESENTHAL CENTER
Subject: RE: CLARIFICATION WANTED FROM WIESENTHAL CENTER

Dear Boston 9/11 for Truth,

Over the past few days I have received a number of emails regarding my testimony to the
House Committee on Homeland Security. Much of those emails appear to have been based on
misapprehensions of my testimony. My testimony was about “the Internet as a tool for
violent radicalization”, and not about 9/11. My reference to 9/11 consisted of 1
sentence out of 6 pages of testimony, and in that sentence (with 2 out of 38
accompanying PowerPoint slides) I referenced “how 9/11 is viewed in some eyes,
including those who applauded it as well as some conspiracy sites.” I then continue by
illustrating the types of conspiracy theories often found online, such as those based
upon of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the infamous antisemitic text, or that
generally blame the US government in a pernicious manner (i.e. for intentionally
spreading the AIDS virus), or that have the “entire Western World engaged in a
conspiracy against Islam” Nowhere in there is there any mention of 9/11! In this regard
our only concern with 9/11 is when the inquiries slide into incubators for hate (i.e.
“This fake Hamas soldier wearing a "Star of David" is as much a Zionist as the 9-11
terrorists Chertoff covers for. Chertoff is the son of a terrorist himself. Don't let
him off the hook!”).

Finally, in my recommendations, I never urged any type of censorship. In fact, I
specifically state that (#5) that any steps taken in regard to the Internet must be
done legally, and over the course of a decade in dealing with this issue I have
consistently stressed that the First Amendment must be maintained in the virtual as
well as the real world. I have even argued that in conferences in Europe when attempts
were being made to impose international controls on the Internet, saying, as I did last
year in Berlin that we should “avoid getting bogged down in a useless debate on the
First Amendment” because we (in the US) are not going to erase it, nor should we.

Please feel free to share this with any interested parties.

Sincerely,

Mark Weitzman

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