Marcus Icke on George Sleigh

December 4, 2005,

WTC1 Witness Reports

Reproduction And Analysis Of Claimed Flight 11 Witness Reports And Recordings

By Marcus Icke

From "How The Twin Towers Collapsed". A Darlow Smithson Production in association with Channel 4 Television, Channel 4 International and the Learning Channel. Channel 4 Television Corporation 2001. First transmitted in the U.K in December 2001.

The story behind Sleighs report is a long one.  It started with an alleged report from him posted at CNN’s web site on the 14th September 2001

Survivor saw inside hijacked jet - September 14, 2001 Posted: 10:18 AM EDT (1418 GMT)

George Sleigh escaped from the north tower of the World Trade Centre before it collapsed LONDON, England -- A British-born architect who survived Tuesday's attack on the World Trade Centre watched in horror from his 91st-floor office as a hijacked jet smashed into the building. George Sleigh, 63, originally of Gateshead, England, told the Newcastle Evening Chronicle he was close enough to the point of the initial impact to see people in the cockpit of the hijacked American Airlines Boeing 767.

"When I close my eyes and picture that airliner coming towards me and the people in the cockpit it is like a dream," Sleigh said. After hearing the whining engine of the jet, "I looked up out of the window and just a few feet away from the building was this huge jet plane," he said. "The wheels were down and I could see the people in the cockpit. I thought to myself, 'Man this guy is low in the air,' but I still thought it would clear us. But then it smashed into the tower a few floors above me. "I couldn't believe it, even now it seems insane that anyone would do that, even a crazed terrorist."

I reproduced this statement in my own article "Was Flight 11 A 767?" that was published in April 2004. In the paper I questioned the likelihood of the statement being genuine and in September 2004 Sleigh contacted me to set the record straight.

"At no time have I ever indicated to anyone that I saw people in the cockpit. Some of the British tabloids attributed that quote to me and subsequently I refused to grant interviews with those tabloids. As is pointed out in the article, if I had seen people in the cockpit I would not be around to discuss it."

"Every time I have discussed my account I have made it quite clear that what I witnessed was a large passenger jet (model or airline unknown) flying above my location with the wheels up, I particularly commented on the smooth underbelly of the plane. I have never indicated to anyone that the undercarriage was down!"

Also,

"I was in my office on the north side of the 91st floor. I was alerted by a loud roar to look out of my window and saw the plane approaching about 3 or 4 plane lengths away. I can remember it as clearly as if it were yesterday. I recognised it only as a large passenger jet, with a light coloured, and smooth under-body. I had no time to react as the plane almost instantaneously hit the building above my location. We exited from our floor as quickly as possible taking the only stairway that remained accessible to us - the other two stairwells were blocked. We were to find out later that no one above our floor escaped. I continue to praise God for sparing my life that day."

And later,

"The plane definitely had engines on its wings."

"I only recall that the undercarriage was light - I have been quoted as saying it was white, but I only saw the plane for a few seconds before it hit the building."

"USA TODAY December 19, 2001 in an article by Dennis Cauchon in which I said regarding the plane that 'The wheels are up, the underbelly is white, and 'man, that guy is low' ' ".

"Dean E. Murphy, a reporter from the NY Times "SEPTEMBER 11: AN ORAL HISTORY", page 41 "I saw the nose of the plane and then the smooth underbelly and one of the wings. It was just above me, a little to the right, and slightly bent so that the wing over me was higher than the other wing. I couldn't see any windows or recognize any markings but I noticed the landing gear was up."

David M. Bresnahan "TERROR IN AMERICA", page 27 "It was above us and to my right, so I saw the underbelly of the plane. I noticed that the wheels were up. That kind of registered with me".

What this demonstrates is that CNN had either deliberately or accidentally modified George Sleighs original report to add details that were not originally there, and that Sleighs recollection of the incident changes slightly each time he asked to recall it.