BBC Editor Attempts to Justify BBC Programme on 7/7 Conspiracy Theories

This is from The Editors which in the BBC's own words is

a site where we, editors from across BBC News, will share our dilemmas and issues.

This particular piece is discussing an upcoming programme called The Conspiracy Files: 7/7 on BBC Two at 9pm on Tuesday 30 June ( if you can tune in ).

The preview is written by Mike Rudin, who seems to be the BBCs conspiracy buff (All posts on "The Editor"s by Mike Rudin).

The Conspiracy Files: 7/7

Mike Rudin | 08:53 AM, Wednesday, 24 June 2009

The bombings on 7 July 2005, which killed 56 people and injured 784, England's worst terrorist atrocity, are the subject of one of the most difficult programmes in the Conspiracy Files series. Difficult because it is still an understandably sensitive subject for survivors and relatives of victims.

ut I also think it is important to investigate the conspiracy theories that continue to develop around 7 July attacks, because they play on the fears of the Muslim community and spread a highly divisive and damaging message. The programme carefully and analytically works through the allegations and the evidence to separate fact from fiction.

There have been three official reports into the bombings. However, a host of internet films continue to scrutinise every word and every picture for signs of a hidden truth.

The programme, to be shown on BBC Two at 9pm on Tuesday 30 June shows that on one occasion one sceptic was right and spotted a significant error in the Home Office narrative. The government had to apologise for suggesting in a report, nearly a year after the attacks, that the four bombers had boarded a train which had actually been cancelled.

At the end they throw in a quote from a victim of the attacks to ram the message home.

If people in mosques think that the Government is so antagonistic towards them that they're actually willing to frame them for a monstrous crime they didn't commit what does that do to levels of trust? That is a problem for the government and for everybody in this country.

I find it interesting that she says the Muslim Community as a whole was framed, and that if you believe the conspiracy theories then you are contributing to the lack of trust (and therefore the terror problem?)

Seems the BBC is trying to win over a few minds before the programme airs.

It may well be worth a view.

I don't believe that the 7/7 attacks were instigated or abetted by the British government, but it's better that debate on the issue is allowed, though relatives of the deceased will likely protest.

Conspiracy Files shows are invariably debunker-oriented-- I expect Truther-types won't be particularly happy with the show.

how much faith are people supposed to put in a officialdom that says the bombers boarded a train that had been canceled?

clearly either the level of investigation being carried out is of such a low standard as to be incompetent or the official line is fabricated. either way, to suggest that attempting to attain the truth is a problem for the country is horribly short sighted.

I wont be happy because they will never show videos like this -

www.youtube.com...

Work out the odds on his prediction !

[edit on 24-6-2009 by slylee]

[edit on 24-6-2009 by slylee]

reply to post by slylee


You are so right, the odds are astronomical.

Here's the vid:

The 7/7 attacks are another oddity,I am in two minds as to who realy planned them.

The thing that gets me is the suicide aspect to this,when one reflects on the Madrid bombings that were not.
I cant understand how these men would do these terrible acts,and it makes it more so that there were westernized

Why didnt they do the bombings the Madrid way?Was the suicide bombings designed to install further fear,and thats why it was used

Then we had bomb attacks stopped near nightclubs and of course at Glasgow airport.Somehow the gas cannisters never exploaded

One could almost think that the cannisters were never ment to expload(unknown to the terrorists).Wouldnt surprise me if our intel services brainwashed these people and made sure the cannisters were empty

And the video in this thread opens it all up!What are the chances?Seems the same plan as 9/11 when they had the same exercises going on

Originally posted by noangels
And the video in this thread opens it all up!What are the chances?Seems the same plan as 9/11 when they had the same exercises going on

The odds are about the same as a those of a a fire drill being held somewhere in the City on the same day a fire occurs somewhere in the City Although obviously in the case of a Crisis Management exercise rather less people are involved and everyone just sits around a table.

The only coincidence is that both the Crisis Management guy and the terrorists had the same ideas as to which stations to target for maximum disruption. Spooky!

(Presumably other firms holding crisis management exercises that day played out different scenarios - maybe a plane crash? or a spanish 'flu epidemic? And so didn't get mentioned.)

lol I get you,but I have a sneaky feeling there are a lot more fires than terrorist attacks-so the odds would be far greater.

But yeahh,spooky indeed!

Originally posted by noangels
lol I get you,but I have a sneaky feeling there are a lot more fires than terrorist attacks-so the odds would be far greater.

But yeahh,spooky indeed!

Well, put it like this, given that explosions on the underground are one of the most obvious/probable forms of terrorist attack, and that most if not all London City firms hold at least one Crisis Management Exercise every year, how many such exercises involving a similar scenario to 7/7 do you think have taken place in the past 15 years without any real terrorist attack occurring the same day? Hundreds? Probably thousands .....

Originally posted by Essan

Originally posted by noangels
lol I get you,but I have a sneaky feeling there are a lot more fires than terrorist attacks-so the odds would be far greater.

But yeahh,spooky indeed!

Well, put it like this, given that explosions on the underground are one of the most obvious/probable forms of terrorist attack, and that most if not all London City firms hold at least one Crisis Management Exercise every year, how many such exercises involving a similar scenario to 7/7 do you think have taken place in the past 15 years without any real terrorist attack occurring the same day? Hundreds? Probably thousands .....

But it isn't just the locations, the bombs, it's the timing of it too. If you had a drill running at one station then ok, but three? Out of a couple of hundred, at the same time!

That really is pushing the USS Coincidence out a bit too far!

I guess we'll never know.

Originally posted by Essan
The odds are about the same as a those of a a fire drill being held somewhere in the City on the same day a fire occurs somewhere in the City

I'd really like to know how you worked that out. There are fires and fire drills every week in a city the size of Loindon. Terrorist attacks are much rarer, let alone terrorist attacks that cause massive disruption and loss of life. I can think of only two other terrorist attacks over the past few years, the Soho nail-bombing and the IRA bomb attack on Victoria Station.

If you can come up with a statistical analysis that demonstrates the accuracy of what you're saying, please do, I'd love to see it.

The only coincidence is that both the Crisis Management guy and the terrorists had the same ideas as to which stations to target for maximum disruption. Spooky!

No, that's not the only coincidence. It's also a coincidence that the two major terrorist attacks in the UK and US coincided exactly with secret exercises that were designed to mimic exactly the kind of atrocity that occurred: it's a coincidence that the then General Manager of London Underground was connected to the CIA. A few weeks later he melted away. I forget the guy's name, but when I first heard this, shortly after the attack, I looked it up on the LU website and there he was. As I say, a few weeks later he'd been replaced by someone else with no explanation

It's also a coincidence that it happened on the day of the G8 protests, very handy to defuse dissent and take attention away from the protesters so Blair could make one of his little speeches about freedom and democracy and standing up to terrorists and all that hooey.

(Presumably other firms holding crisis management exercises that day played out different scenarios - maybe a plane crash? or a spanish 'flu epidemic? And so didn't get mentioned.)

That argument only works if you can demonstrate how many other firms, if any, were holding crisis management exercises. Fire drills have to be held every week by law, even if it's just an alarm going off and nobody moving.

Fires and fire drills are an everyday occurrence. Terrorist attacks are not. That argument, I'm afraid, is deeply flawed.

Originally posted by Essan
Well, put it like this, given that explosions on the underground are one of the most obvious/probable forms of terrorist attack,

Benefit of hindsight. Perhaps you'd care to review previous terrorist attacks in London? You can do so at the wiki page.

You might note that there is only one terrorist attack on the Underground and that was from the 19th century.

Several mainline stations have been attacked, but reviewing the history just shows how many high-profile targets London has to offer.

So that first part of your "given" actually isn't. How about the second part?

and that most if not all London City firms hold at least one Crisis Management Exercise every year,

OK. If you're going to assert this as a "given", a "fact", a "datum", then we'll need rather more evidence to back that up than a simple assertion. I'd like to know how many firms have crisis management programs, and I'd like to know how many of them involve planning for terrorist attacks. I rather think that crisis management doesn't usually involve a terrorist attack, because there are so many other more probable scenarios. Fire, for example, or a gas leak or explosion.

how many such exercises involving a similar scenario to 7/7 do you think have taken place in the past 15 years without any real terrorist attack occurring the same day? Hundreds? Probably thousands .....

Actually, I think just the one. If you can actually provide evidence to back up your claims and your rather shady statistical guessing, that'd be great. But until you can this doesn't look like an argument to me.

On a general level the programme will be another exercise in BBC damage limitation.

Will it deal with all the anomalies?

Mind the Gap

Should we trust the BBC?
9/11 and the BBC