Since 9.11, many people have asked the question, "What did the U.S. know, and when did it know it?" Mike Ruppert is one of the most prominent investigators of this question (see copvcia.com), and he delivered lectures in Portland on April 12 and 13, and in Eugene on April 14. portland indymedia reporters interviewed Ruppert in both cities.

About Mike Ruppert: Ruppert's history of muckraking goes back 25 years. In 1977, as an LAPD narcotics investigator, he discovered that the CIA was trafficking drugs. As an independent journalist in the time since, he has targeted issues such as the motivations and atrocities of U.S. foreign policy, the shenanigans of the global financial system, and the continuing complicity of the CIA in international drug trade. Ruppert is hardly alone in the allegations he makes. Indeed, these issues are the bread-and-butter of 'the Left' and are taken quite seriously by organizations like Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, publications like the Nation, and thinkers such as Noam Chomsky.

Attacks from 'the Left': Yet, when the subject is 9.11, some of the most shrill attacks on Ruppert have come from 'the Left'. Even the websites of the quasi-anarchist Indymedia network have almost entirely ignored 9.11 investigations in their feature sections, though posts on the topic to their newswires have met with both accolades and criticism. "Criticism", though, is too generous a word to describe rhetoric that outright dismisses any 9.11 investigation without examining the evidence at all.

Ruppert's thesis: Ruppert's thesis is simple: The government is lying to us about 9.11. He does not claim that the government orchestrated the attacks, only that it had foreknowledge of them and did not act to prevent them. Such a scenario has precedent in the example of Pearl Harbor.

Ruppert's sources: For those whose minds are open to the idea that the U.S. Government doesn't always tell the truth, Ruppert offers a detailed, well-researched, carefully-built case. His evidence is drawn exclusively from mainstream media reports, government documents, and court testimony. "I refuse to speculate," he said in Eugene on Sunday. "That's journalistic suicide." Can the official 9.11 narrative as put forth by the U.S. Government and the corporate media stand up to the same rigorous standards of proof? Perhaps Ruppert's critics should start there.

Others are asking questions: Ruppert is not alone in asking questions about 9.11. Cynthia McKinney has called for a full government investigation, and Michael Moore feels the media should be doing more digging, too. Other public figures are expected to emerge soon. Last weekend, the Atlanta Journal was hosting an online poll in which nearly half the respondents said they believed the governement is hiding something about 9.11. The poll disappeared from their website but the original page is archived here.

The interviews

PORTLAND: On Saturday, April 13, two portland indymedia reporters interviewed Mike Ruppert in Portland. Many questions were taken from this post, in which the reporters solicited interview questions from portland indymedia readers.

• transcript
• AUDIO, hi-bandwidth:
  Part 1 (30.7 mebibytes)
  Part 2 (37.8 mebibytes)
• AUDIO, faster download (16kbps):
  Part 1 (6.5 mebibytes)
  Part 2 (8.0 mebibytes)
• VIDEO highlights will be presented at the next portland indymedia video showing.

EUGENE: On Sunday, April 14, two more portland indymedia reporters interviewed Ruppert in Eugene.

• transcript
• Commentary/analysis:
  "9.11 investigation: Why I believe Mike Ruppert"
  "Mike Ruppert: One Man's Search For The Truth"