Photo by Kyle Hence

Bill Douglas – American Visionary
Interview by Jan Hoyer
Email: jhoyer@digitalstyledesigns

Bill Douglas is a founding member
of the 9/11 Visibility Project and former
Midwest Director of 911Truth.org

In a December 2, 2002 BUZZFLASH.com
Commentary, you stated that,
"The obvious media bias is the most
dangerous threat to US democracy."
Q: Do you still believe this statement to be true?

A: Yes, IF we had a real critical investigative media
there would be such outrage in this country about
Bush's theft of the election, his deception to get us
into this war, his cover up of the Enron scandal, the
failures on 9/11, etc. It is the failure of U.S. media
that is largely responsible for the disasters facing
America. The Bush's, Cheney's, Rumsfeld's and
Wolfowitzes would not have any popular support if
the corporate media did its job.

Q: What caused your initial involvement
with the September 11th issue?

A: Like thousands of other Americans I became
increasingly disturbed by the Bush administration's
attempts to curtail any 9/11 investigation. I grew
more and more alarmed at the shabby way the
Bush Administration has treated the 9/11 families
struggling for the truth of 9/11. Then I saw the Canadian
documentary on 9/11, "The Great Deception," and
it confirmed in detail the suspicions that I and
many others had had, that the breakdowns on
9/11 were too vast and pervasive to be explained
away with the official story. I and many other
Americans realized there was a cover-up going on
by the Bush administration, and that U.S. media was
doing a miserable job of searching for the truth.

Q: What was the reception to your 9/11 concerns at
that time, compared to today?

A: In the beginning the peace and justice
community largely failed to even contemplate
the idea that we were being deceived about 9/11.
David Corn of The Nation did great damage to
the 9/11 truth movement by lambasting those
who were researching the issue. This caused many
in the movement to turn off their logic and refuse
to even look at the facts of 9/11, and how these facts
radically challenged the official story.

Pressure is coming from outside the U.S.
to force Americans to look at a very disturbing
reality that we are being deceived about 9/11.
For example, 30% of German people believe
the Bush Administration was complicit in 9/11,
and over a million Canadians have seen "Zwicker's
documentary" which suggests the same thing.
This reflects a growing awareness worldwide.
American media could only ignore this for so long
before they had to actually take note that there
are major problems with the Bush administration's
official line about 9/11.

Q: In your opinion, what are three most critical
questions about the September 11th attacks?

A: Let me give you five questions.
1) How could the most secure building
in the world be hit by an aircraft with no
interceptor jets flying with it, when two
other buildings had just been hit, and
the first plane went off course nearly an
hour and a half before the plane hit the
Pentagon?
2) Why were all FAA and DOD standard
operating procedures broken on 9/11
by the FAA and DOD?
3) Why did the Bush Administration try to prevent
a 9/11 investigation and then initially appoint
Henry Kissinger as Chairman?
Roosevelt commissioned TEN independent
investigations within weeks after Pearl Harbor
was attacked.
5) Why hasn't the SEC and Bush Administration told
us who made the insider stock trades against
United and American Airlines the day before
9/11, and particularly at AB Brown Trust which was
chaired by the [then-]current Executive Director of the CIA,
Buzzy Krongard, prior to his induction into the CIA?
Why is $2.5 million of that winning still unclaimed,
and why did the [then-]current head of AB Brown Trust
quietly resign only 4 days after 9/11/2001?

THERE ARE MANY OTHER LEGITIMATE QUESTIONS
WHICH REMAIN TO BE ANSWERED

Q: Do you believe that citizen activists are
making a difference in uncovering the truth
about the 9/11 attacks?

A: ABSOLUTELY. When you view the documentary
"The Great Deception," and read the book "The War
on Freedom," and tell others about it, and encourage
others to call, fax and phone the 9/11 Commission
and write letters to the media, and stand in public
with signs reading "STOP THE 9/11 COVER UP" you
have the ability to affect others.

The corporate media, if it were a REAL media,
would make the 9/11 issue THE ISSUE, it would
be on all the tv talk shows, and headlines on
all the newspapers day after day. After all, 9/11
is the most horrific and LEAST examined event
in modern American history, and our President
was deeply involved in a cover up. But, since the media
isn't doing that, activists have a profound impact
by raising this issue, and urging people to seek
out the 9/11 stories on page 20 or 24 of the
newspaper.

This democracy simply will not last if those who are aware
do not act aggressively. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said,
"When we remain silent about things that matter, our lives
begin to end." We simply cannot remain silent. Our very
democracy depends on what we do now at this critical point in
time. Get involved.

Q: On September 4th at the President's protest, you
carried another sign with a graphic photo of an
Iraqi young child with his skull torn away.
Why did you create and hold this disturbing sign?

A: Americans are asked to pay for 2,000-pound bombs
to drop on people. That is what bombs are created for.
However, our media will not allow Americans to see exactly
what such weapons actually do in reality. This is very
unhealthy.

It is a psychosis that enables us to allow things done
with our taxes and in our name that are not acceptable
to the average American. When someone's drinking or
gambling gets destructively out of control, families may
have an "intervention," whereby they sit that person down
and force TRUTH on them, even though the person likely
finds that truth "distasteful." However, the result of truth
is often an experience of healing. It is painful to look at
truth, when the truth is painful. But, it is psychotic to NOT
look at truth that is painful, and it enables us to continue
psychotic behavior like dropping bombs on human beings,
human beings who did NOTHING to us.

So, by showing that revolting photo of that horribly injured
Iraqi child, I was doing what CNN, FOX, or other corporate
media should be doing, which is showing Americans what
happens to human beings when they allow their tax dollars
to be spent in this way.

Q: Bill, you have expressed strong opinions about the
care of America's veterans. What personal experience do
you bring to this?

A: It is a disgrace the way veterans are treated.
A huge percentage of America's homeless population
are Vietnam veterans. The trauma of war is so revolting,
so deeply fracturing to a human's psyche that those who
truly experience real combat never truly heal from it.
My father was wounded in World War II, and suffered
from delayed stress syndrome his entire life. When in
desperation he went to the VA hospital when I was young
they said there was no money for counseling or therapy
for him. They said he could take drugs for the
rest of his life, or committ himself into the psychiartric
hospital at the VA.

Nothing to help him rebuild his psyche thru therapy
and counseling . . . there was no funding for that.
This country is all too eager to create new combat
veterans, and all too eager to dump them like garbage
after the war.

I was shocked to read that the Massachusetts Veterans
parade tried to prevent Veterans for Peace from marching
on Veterans day, saying "we don't consider them real veterans."
I met Ron Kovic, played by Tom Cruise in the movie "Born on
the 4th of July." When Ron joined Veterans Against the War and
tried to attend the Republican National Convention, Republicans
spit on him because of his opposition to the war. So, the fact
that Ron had lost use of both legs in Vietnam in combat injuries
. . . didn't matter. To them he wasn't an American.

My father saw more combat than most people in the world.
He was sick of war. He wanted to see global disarmament
and would have been disgusted at our recent pre-emptive
attack on Iraq. I honor my father's sacrifice by fighting
for peace and democracy here, which he gave everything
to preserve.

Q: On September 16th you were arrested at the Laura Bush
protest for disorderly conduct, a charge you deny.
Do you believe you were singled out by police
because you carried the sign "What is Bush Hiding
about 9/11? Stop the 9/11 Cover-up!"?

A: My feeling is that the Secret Service put pressure
on KCPD to be stern with protesters, and created an
overzealous situation. I did nothing illegal. I was
arrested in a legal crosswalk on a legal street, and
I was over 100 feet from any police line when arrested.
My protest sign was given a mug shot, and a detective
asked me if my writing was "subversive."

(Bill Douglas' Kansas City arrest ordeal was written about
in The Nation magazine and also included in an article
by abcnews.com - Muffled Voices. Bill's case was
subsequently dismissed)
http://kcindymedia.org/feature/display/673/index.php

Q: What is your personal philosophy regarding
attempts to belittle and intimidate activists and
peace-loving Americans?

A: Those who question their government
are the greatest patriots. The BEST of friends
are the ones that tell us the truth when we get
off track. After 9/11 due to Ashcroft and Bush's
carefully worded speeches . . . suddenly, any
American who questioned Bush and Ashcroft's
absolute LUNACY . . . were called "traitors."

This is the most UN-AMERICAN administration
in modern history, for that reason alone.
Those Americans who in the face of this
intimidation reach deeply within their souls
to struggle for truth, and compassionate
solutions to our national and international
challenges are incredibly inspiring heroes.

Brad Grabs, Ira Harret, and many many others
reflect a greatness that I find historic in proportion,
and they are two of millions throughout America who
are exhibiting such courage. They will never be
celebrated in history books, they will never be rewarded
in any way . . . but they follow their soul and put
everything on the line.

The Israeli soldiers who sit in prisons rather than
attacking Palestinian neighborhoods are heroes
of such epic proportions. The pressure we feel
here is much less then what these brave young
men are feeling in Israel. When I hear these
stories it steels in me, it provides sustenance
to my soul. It helps me believe what Gandhi
told us, "there are tyrants in the world, but in
the end, they will always fall." Human beings
have an allergic reaction to injustice that
cannot be suppressed by any government,
that eventually is irrepressible.

We are living in dark times for our nation,
teetering on the edge of losing our democracy
to fear. We hunger for hope and vision. The Bible
warns, "those without vision . . . perish." America's
potential to be a light of peace, rationality and hope
is being squandered. Yet its promise still exists
. . . if we can rediscover our vision.

George Bush's America is un-American.
It is based on fear and weaponry. We
must rediscover our "faith." Einstein once
wrote, "The most important question you
can ask yourself is . . . is the universe a friendly
place?" All our actions proceed from that basic
question. George Bush wants us to feel that the
universe is a TERRIFYING place. He wants us to
hate the French, distrust the Canadians, Germans,
Mexicans, even other Americans, and in fact the
majority of the world who opposed his illegal attacks
on Iraq. Personally, I see these people in the world
as good friends trying to help us see, "intervening,"
to help us out of our psychosis of fear.

The majority of the world is still sane, even though
they have experienced terrorism more than we have.
We have nothing to fear, but fear itself. Keep the faith.
Behave as if we still have our democracy. They have no
power over any of us, so long as we can maintain our faith
in the friendliness of the universe.

Our soul force, as Gandhi and Dr. King spoke of, is greater
than anything that Washington can ever foment . . . and it comes
from a higher place that cannot be touched. It is incorruptible
and limitless. The massive anti-war protests that exploded across
the planet before the war on Iraq stunned the Bush Administration.
They'll never admit it, but it did. It was a shining light of hope
for us all.

The Chinese character for "crisis" is made up of
two other characters "danger" and "opportunity."
The world's diseases are coming to the surface,
greed, globalization, pollution, global warming,
are being rubbed in our faces to a point that
they cannot be ignored any longer. Awareness
is the first step in healing. As dark as things are,
as the 9/11 investigations bring to light the truth,
this will unleash a chain of revelations and awakening
in America that may be the healthiest and most hopeful
event in our history . . . it will disillusion Americans.
And that is good. There is something very dangerous
about living in a world of "illusion" when you are the
world's only super-power. It will be humbling.
But, the meek shall inherit the earth.

Like others longing for truth and vision,
I do fear . . . but I also hope. We have
the "opportunity" to see an American
and world renaissance in coming years.
Let's renew our faith in the friendliness
of the universe and in that faith dedicate
our lives to bringing truth to light.