Conspiratorial Incompetence

Montecito Journalist Peter Lance Indicts the FBI for 9/11
Negligence

by Sam Kornell

Peter Lance empathizes with those who
think the federal government was involved in 9/11. “After all the
lies about WMD, after Iraq, after Katrina,” he said, “I think it’s
understandable that many Americans are very, very angry with the
Bush administration, and their anger has led them to some dark
places.” But after five years of research, Lance said he hasn’t
uncovered “a single shred of evidence” that the government knew
about 9/11 or helped it happen.

Lance is an excitable, fast-talking journalist who lives in
Montecito. Since September 11, 2001, he has written two books about
FBI incompetence in the months and years preceding the attacks; a
third, Triple Cross, was published in September. Lance’s
repudiation of 9/11 conspiracy theories distinguishes him from the
42 percent of Americans who suspect federal officials assisted in
the attacks or took no action to stop them so that the U.S. could
go to war in the Middle East, if a July poll by the Scripps Howard
University is to be believed. Yet it also firmly aligns him with
the judgment of every professional news organization in the United
States.