Reopen 9/11 Campaign
Walter began a series of advertisements about the September 11, 2001 attacks in October 2004, which included full page ads in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, and 30 second cable television spots on CNN, Fox News, and ESPN. They implied that no plane flew in to The Pentagon, and that 7 World Trade Center was brought down by internal explosives. They called for a new investigation into what happened on September 11, and referred viewers to the website reopen911.org. In conjunction with the campaign, Walter sponsored an October 2004 Zogby poll, which found that 66% of New York City residents wanted a fuller investigation of the events of September 11.
Walter's theory is that the hijacked planes were replaced by remote controlled drones that were crashed into the World Trade Center and Pentagon, while the buildings were brought down by preset explosives, to create a pretext for the war in Afghanistan and 2003 invasion of Iraq. At the web site, Walter offered a US$10,000 reward for a mathematical proof of how the World Trade Center buildings collapsed from the fire and impact, the way the 9/11 Commission said. By 2005, the reward had grown to $1,000,000 for proof that explosives were not used in the collapse of the World Trade Center.
On November 10, and November 11, 2004, Walter appeared on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360°, where he debated journalist Gerald Posner about the claims made by the campaign. On May 9, 2005, Walter was featured on the "Conspiracy Theories" episode of Showtime cable television program Penn & Teller: Bullshit!,
As of December 2004, Walter estimated the total cost of the campaign at more than $3 million; by December 2005 it rose to $5.5 million.
In May 2005, Walter financed European tours of speaking engagements for William Rodriguez and his lawyer in the Rodriguez v. Bush lawsuit, Philip Berg. Rodriguez claims that he saved hundreds of people in the World Trade Center who were trapped behind locked fire escape doors.
In 2006, Walter traveled to Malaysia with Rodriguez, appearing at a conference with Michael Collins Piper. Rodriguez and Walter also traveled to Venezuela.
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Famous quotes containing the word campaign:
“The fact that a man is to vote forces him to think. You may preach to a congregation by the year and not affect its thought because it is not called upon for definite action. But throw your subject into a campaign and it becomes a challenge.”
—John Jay Chapman (1862–1933)