Jennifer Steinhauer, Peter Duveen, Chief Tom Vallebuona & Captain Chris Boyle: Pancake Theory or Domino Effect?

Several pieces of evidence in the written record of the 9/11 attacks in New York and Arlington support a version of reality at odds with what it would appear to be in the limited and stylized photographic record of the event.

For instance, a little-known article by Jennifer Steinhauer published in the New York Times on September 13, 2001, As Remnants Collapse, Workers Run For Cover, describes "the steel and concrete wreckage of the south tower" falling about 5 p.m. on Wednesday the 12th---32 hours after the buildings were struck, This caused a "rolling pillar of smoke" similar to the three pyroclastic dust clouds on September 11th. Although Steinhauer quotes an unnamed firefighter as yelling, ''[t]hat part will go! We are waiting for it to collapse,'' only moments before it did so, she attributes the timing to "seeming aftershocks"---while limiting her description of the ruin, calling it only the "remaining floors of the south tower."

This single-source reference to a dramatic "stampede" by rescue workers "fleeing" danger 24 hours after the already delayed destruction of Building 7, was effectively unknown until December 2008, when Peter Duveen posted hard copies of five articles from the Times, and three from the New York Post into digital existence online. Since all eight contain information which calls into question details of the official narrative of the attacks, it seems plausible that an effort was made to suppress the journalism, an effort which was entirely successful for eight years.

It would not be surprising perhaps, given the tumult in the days following the attacks that even a significant occurrence could fail to be reported on. What is surprising however, is reconciling this newly perceived physical reality with seemingly deliberate lacuna in the homogenized image record---what has been perversely touted as being the most heavily photographed event in world history.

A larger implication here is the ability of thousands of responders to Ground Zero to keep this encore dust cloud a secret---although several oral histories allude to the matter.

In one of them, that of Battalion Chief Tom Vallebuona, we can also see the subsequent efforts of government operatives posing as 9/11 truth seekers who attempt to cover-up the truth with disinformation. Vallebuona is quoted in full by both Killtown and The Web Fairy,

"We thought 7 World Trade Center was going to fall and push the side of the World Trade Center that was still standing, and then it was going to go into 90 and I thought the scaffold was going to fall and cover the block and kill another 30 people." Cached

although they don't draw any significance from the statement. While a poster on an abovetopsecret thread, 186000, Swampfox46_1999, truncated the quote, and nips potential nagging doubts in the bud with a bald-faced lie.

"We thought 7 World Trade Center was going to fall and push the side of the World Trade Center that was still standing." (Before you jump on this one, this refers to the five story piece of exterior metalwork from WTC1) Cached

Quoting Battalion Chief Tom Vallebuona in a fuller context, and referencing his remarks to a site plan, makes it plain he feared Building 7 could have a domino effect on the South Tower, which could then impact 90 West Street.

"90 West St. also had next to it a scaffold covering the whole building and with everything we've been through with scaffolds, I mean that scaffold would have covered the whole block. We were very concerned about the scaffolding, so we tried to knock down the fire.
snip...
"I couldn't get rid of that feeling like everything is going to collapse. 7 World Trade Center---I couldn't even watch that. I said that's enough. I refused to watch that. I took R-and-R. I said you guys can watch that one.
snip...
"We thought 7 World Trade Center was going to fall and push the side of the World Trade Center that was still standing, and then it was going to go into 90 and I thought the scaffold was going to fall and cover the block and kill another 30 people."

The South Tower was 208-feet square in plan and it sat about 300 feet from 90 West Street. That is about the height of a thirty-story building. Another fire department oral history is explicit about the height of the South Tower remains:
Captain Chris Boyle:

"First, we went to Liberty and Church and that was the big pile from the south tower that came down. There was a pile there, had to be 15, 20 stories high with guys roaming around on the pile."

This would be a good point to remember that before Ground Zero became known in the public imagination as "the pile," it was referenced in the media as "the pit." Sending out the right signals about the amount, nature and composition of the debris is one thing. Inventing a "pancake" demolition theory that could incorporate standing sentinels of massive steel core columns is something else. Like the total absence of any images showing fire in the south face of Building 7, the motive for the cover-up is very clear.

Another reference from Perrugia, John, the EMS Division Chief in charge of planning for
the Chief of Department's office.

"I looked up and saw this big gaping hole where the south tower used to be. That's the first point that I realized that the south tower had collapsed. Maybe ten or 15 stories high left of it. Probably most of it being a pile of rubble."

A partial list of photo-journalists active in the southeast quadrant of Ground Zero on 9/11, would include Todd Maisel, Ricky Flores, Lori Grinkler, James Nachwey, Thomas E. Franklin, Glen Petit, while publisher Kevin Sutavee, was also located there late in the day with his video camera. (Here's a bunch more. I have a very special blog coming up on the Turnley twins. David Swanson Carolina Salguero, Klaus Reisinger, Rick Falco, Aristede Economopoulos, Mary Altaffer, Peter Turnley, David Turnley) None of them captured a landscape overview that included the South Tower. Most of these professionals only have only a few images in the public record each. We should ask their editors to share the full sequence of any images they took that day as a context---even if utterly banal, the public would benefit.

In his oral history, Battalion Chief Tom Vallebuona, offered up a bit of wry sarcasm, which was spared the blackout marker:

"I walked by where they had the landing gear or whatever in the street, I mean I'm looking, I'm saying what are you kidding me?

On Edit, December 13: I just found the first official mention of the event in the record. From the Office of Emergency Preparedness, Situation Report #7, dated September 15, 2001 1200 Eastern, maintained in a pdf found in the "old" 911digitalarchive.org site

"Shortly after 1000 hours the south tower of the World Center collapsed. Within the next half-hour, the northern tower of the World Trade Center also collapsed.

"At approximately 1730 hours a third tower in the World Trade Center complex, Building #7, also collapsed.

"Wednesday evening, September 12, another building within the World Trade Center Complex collapsed. No additional casualties are expected due to this. However, it may make recovery more difficult."

On Edit, Dec. 14: I just found the first mention of official disinformation concerning this subsequent collapse on September 12---in the Police Commissioner, City of New York, Bernard B. Kerik's September 27, 2001 memorandum to Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, titled, "Weekly Report."

NY B33 NYPD Weekly Reports to Giuliani Fdr- 9-27-01 Report

[Somebody posted the document to Scribe, but the Cached version is the only one working at the moment, it seems.]

"Because of known suspected or potential structural damage to other buildings, most mass transit service was suspended south of 14th Street at 9:03 a.m. on September 11. This precaution proved prudent when on Tuesday, September 12, 1 Liberty Plaza experienced a partial collapse In addition to the total destruction of 1 and 2 World Trade Center, and the partial collapse'of 1 Liberty Plaza, buildings 3, 5 and 7 World Trade Center were also destroyed."

This is an odd and weak attempt to disguise the truth. In her article written on September 13th, Steinhauer directly references the building at 1 Liberty Plaza as being not in danger of collapse

"Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen said last night at a news conference that engineers were busy inspecting neighboring buildings in response to reports of a crack in 1 Liberty Plaza, the 64-story high rise. That plaza has sustained structural damage, but officials said last night that although they had not determined the extent of the damage to that building or others on Liberty Street, they did not believe that it was in imminent danger of collapse."