The New Pearl Harbor
| Company type | Book |
|---|---|
| Industry | Publishing |
| Founded | 2004 |
| Founder | David Ray Griffin |
| Products | Non-fiction book |
The New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions About the Bush Administration and 9/11 (2004) is authored by David Ray Griffin, a retired philosophy professor from the Claremont School of Theology. The book draws comparisons between the September 11 attacks and the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Its title alludes to a 2000 report by the Project for the New American Century, which claimed that only an event akin to a "new Pearl Harbor" could prompt swift changes in military and defense strategies.
This work was among the 99 books officially recommended to members of the 9/11 Commission and was reportedly found on Osama bin Laden’s bookshelf during the operation that led to his death.
Content
Griffin puts forward evidence and arguments implying that the George W. Bush administration was involved in orchestrating the September 11 attacks, portraying them as a deliberate false flag event.
The foreword is penned by Richard A. Falk, professor emeritus at Princeton University.
The first section examines the details of 9/11, including an analysis of each hijacked flight and the conduct of President George W. Bush alongside his Secret Service. The second section explores four "disturbing questions":
- Whether US officials possessed prior knowledge of the attacks
- Whether they hindered investigations leading up to 9/11
- Whether they had reasons to permit the attacks to occur
- Whether they obstructed efforts to capture suspects and investigate after 9/11
Critical response
Critic Chip Berlet contends that many assertions in the book are easily disproven and rely on speculative reasoning. Griffin disputes these critiques and has engaged in debates with Berlet.
Ex-CIA operative Robert Baer commented in The Nation:
Griffin swiftly embraces grand conspiracy theories at high levels. Once a thoughtful theologian before 9/11, he now echoes more extreme conspiracy narratives popularized by Thierry Meyssan in L'Effroyable Imposture (9/11: The Big Lie), a widely read French publication.
Baer also observes that although Griffin’s subtitle, Disturbing Questions About the Bush Administration and 9/11, implies an inquiry into facts, "his conclusions appear predetermined."
In a January 2002 piece for The Guardian, Baer expressed skepticism regarding bin Laden’s sole responsibility for 9/11: "[D]id bin Laden act alone, through his own al-Qaida network? About that I'm far more certain and emphatic: no." He later clarified his stance, stating he does not believe that explosives brought down the World Trade Center nor that a missile struck the Pentagon, emphasizing his CIA experience in orchestrating covert operations made such insider involvement unlikely.