Truth Jihad: The greatest book you haven't read

Truth Jihad: My Epic Struggle Against the 9/11 Big Lie
by Kevin Barrett

Kevin Barrett is a lightning rod. When most 9/11 Truthseekers temper their words to fit into mainstream society, Barrett just rolls up his sleeves and wades fearlessly into the fray. He comes off as the sort of guy who would go to a state dinner with the President and, while everyone else is playing it safe in hopes they'll get to shake the boss's hand, he'd be telling the room how the President's policies are killing millions of people. I love it.

What's so great about Barrett is his complete lack of pretension. This is no ivory tower liberal or brooding neo-Marxist. He speaks to you in a voice vaguely reminiscent of a favorite high school teacher, telling funny stories and cracking jokes, all the while sneaking tidbits of shocking secret truth into your inner ear.

This book is amazing - two parts autobiography, one part expose of the truth behind the 9/11 attacks, and one part spiritual meditation on the power of faith and radical trust.

If this book doesn't spark America's silent majority into a massive anti-Bush outrage, it certainly won't be Barrett's fault. Publicizing the existence of this book, and the truth contained within, should be the patriotic duty of every red-blooded American citizen from this moment forward.

For those of you who've been living under a rock for the last 5 years, America was hit on September 11th, 2001, by a series of attacks which led to the most vicious set of overreactions this country has seen since the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the imprisonment of Japanese Americans throughout World War Two.

Thanks to the September 11th "terror" attacks, our country is a very different place than it was five years ago. Then, wiretapping of Americans was something done in secret, without Congressional approval. Now, the President and his minions can spy on anyone they want without a warrant, hold them indefinitely without trial and ship them to foreign countries where torture is not illegal, where private intelligence contractors can torture, rape and kill them without any judicial review. The President of the United States has become like some terrifying Latin American dictator without even a nasty resolution from Congress. America is but a shell of its once-democratic self.

America has become the world's worst nightmare: a psychotic nation, inflicting massive suffering on untold millions of people like some Texas teenager blasting frogs with firecrackers for sport.

Thanks to the "terror" attack of 9/11, or as Barrett refers to it, the 911 Reichstag Fire, we have lost our democracy and most of our precious freedoms. What little we have left, we owe to people like Barrett, hard-core activists who have risked everything to bring the truth to the people.

That truth? That 9/11 was an inside job, and We the People let it happen. Not the President. Us. And unless we punish the individuals responsible, including the President, we will never restore democracy and freedom to the land of the Free.

Truth Jihad lays out Barrett's journey from hippie college student to family to Muslim convert, 9/11 Truth activist and professor of Islamic Studies at UW-Madison. There are so many fascinating moments it's hard to include them all in one review. The greatest thing about Barrett has to be his willingness to defy authority. Somehow he's able to keep cool in the face of total denial, if not outright hostility, and to use jokes to turn the argument around on his opponents. For a great example, check out this exchange from his confrontation with uber-Bush-apologist Sean Hannity of Fox News,in which Hannity accuses Barrett of corrupting the minds of America's youth:

Hannity: .... hang on a second. Well, they're sitting in a classroom, and you have a position of authority. I'm wondering - the question is whether or not you're the most competent to teach them. And most people think you're a nut. Most people think you're usually not even worth listening to.

Barrett: Well, actually, no, they don't. We just had a poll here in Madison, and we found that 90% of the respondents, a Channel 3000 poll, said that I should be allowed to teach. Only 10% said I shouldn't.

Hannity: Well, that's the question at hand. I agree that that's the question. I don't think what your views are ...

Barrett: And 60% agreed with me about the questions I'm raising about 9/11. 60% of the respondents. You're in the minority.

Hannity: I think you have every right to speak. I don't think this is the proper forum, though, for people that hold extremist views like yourself.

Barrett: No, you guys are extremists. Fox News is the biggest bunch of extremists on the planet.

Hannity: I got it. But reasonable people see you as an extremist, and I don't think you're the most appropriate guy to teach that class. My guess is - my final thought is we can do better than you. That's my point.

Barrett: Well, I don't think you're the most appropriate guy to be on the airwaves spewing your venom throughout this country. I think you guys should be taken off the airwaves because you are the guys who are responsible for high treason, not the New York Times.

In addition to taking on the right-wing bloviators on Fox News, Barrett has a lot to say about those on the Left who have ignored this frightening truth. He has an interesting take on what makes these Left gatekeepers want to stick to the official story of what happened on 9/11. According to Barrett, these Chomsky readers prefer to believe that what happened on September Eleventh was not a false flag terror operation but rather an example of "blowback", conducted by people with legitimate grievances against the United States. This view affirms their correctness about the gross imperialism of the US, and the depth of anger held in the developing world for our actions there. It keeps the Left gatekeeper in a position of knowing self-righteousness, and it allows them to feel superior to our leaders because they see the attacks as somehow being our just desserts. This is why it's so hard to convince them otherwise, because the myth feeds into their own story so nicely.

In this book, Barrett talks a lot about his life, his journey from hippie student to devoutly faithful activist, and every chapter is a new adventure. He has plenty to say about the right-wing media, the 9/11 Truth Movement, and about all of us who have been subjected to this national nightmare for the last five years. By reading about his life, and discovering what he's gone through to bring this truth to the American people, you get a sense of how hard it must have been for him, and yet, how very necessary. For Barrett, resolving the crisis in American politics brought about by the 9/11 attacks is the fundamental problem facing mankind today. It affects our actions in the Middle East, our relationship to the Muslim world, and the government's actions against our own citizens here at home. If we can solve this crisis, we may just be able to save the world. And Barrett gives you the sense that such a thing might even be possible.

If you buy one book about the 9/11 Truth Movement this year, make it Kevin Barrett's "Truth Jihad". You'll be glad you did. And once you've read it, get involved. The world needs as many committed activists as it can get. And this is one issue that isn't going to solve itself.

Here's a link to "Truth Jihad"s review page. Don't take my word for it!

Categories: Recommended Reads, 9/11 Truth