The most famous figure yet to hop on board the truth train and bring these valid but skewed concerns to America’s attention is the gainfully employed prime time actor Charlie Sheen, then anchoring "Two and a Half Men," and nowhere the pits of obscurity. In his March 20 2006 comments on Alex Jones' radio show, he agreed with Jones that “we're not the conspiracy theorists on this particular issue […] It seems to me like 19 amateurs with box cutters taking over four commercial airliners and hitting 75% of their targets, that feels like a conspiracy theory.”
Sheen's concerns sounded by-now-boringly familiar; he related on seeing Flight 175 hit the South Tower “it just didn't look like any commercial jetliner I've flown on any time in my life.” On the collapses of the Twin Towers and Tower 7, he said “it sorta look[ed] like those buildings came down in a controlled demolition.” Regarding the Frustrating Fraud over the Pentagon attack, Jones (who elsewhere has called this a honeytrap) incredulously cited it "just disappeared into a fourteen foot hole." Sheen admitted “I don’t know what a Boeing jet is going to do into a reinforced limestone façade,” but questioned the precision of the jet’s attack and was just starting to voice the by-then well known list of doubts when Jones cut him off for a commercial break. [1]
Not that I’m into Hollywood gossip on the integrity of Sheen’s intelligence or clarity of mind, and frankly I'd probably like the guy, but he does have dubious experience in calling attention to the video evidence of crimes and it can't go unnoticed. At a party in 1991 he got his hands on a copy of a horrific Japanese snuff film depicting a samurai in full costume hacking a captive girl to death. Sickened by the cruelty of it, Charlie immediately turned it over to the FBI, but in reality what he’d seen was "Flower of Flesh and Blood," the first installment in the Guinea Pig series of well-produced fake snuff films. According to the San Francisco Chronicle:
“The FBI confiscated Sheen's tape and proceeded to investigate all involved […] the Japanese [producers] took this time to release ‘Guinea Pig Two: The Making of Guinea Pig One,’ revealing the technical sleight of hand in all its bone-cracking glory. After viewing this film, the FBI backed off and dropped the investigation.” [2]
Sheen (left) closely analyzed the video evidence (right), and found no sign of airplane debris.
Now after 9/11, Sheen’s legendary video analysis talents were needed again, and his conclusions as aired with Jones earned him the praise of the movement. On March 22, just two days after the interview, CNN’s Showbiz Tonight ran coverage of Sheen’s “9/11 shocker.” The show was remarkably open and uncritical of his astonishing comments, and the self-congratulatory response from the Truth community is telling. 83% of respondents in the show’s poll supported Sheen enthusiastically, despite Free Republic’s efforts to get their readers to vote against it. [3] The show helped bolster the impression that the movement was winning, but of course I’d guess about 75% of the people even viewing this segment were Truthers to begin with, tipped off in advance to tune in and show their support.
The people who run the "Factivism" website were inspired enough to create the tribute site Bravocharlie911.com, giving visitors a chance to praise (or less often curse) the actor. The Factivism website was having technical troubles when I visited on November 5, but clarified that they were also behind Oprah911.com, a website to urge Oprah Winfrey to bring 9/11 Truth to her massively-watched daytime talk show. In September 2006, that venture was dropped after Oprah's lawyers sent “Yossarian” at Factivism “a bunch of really nasty letters demanding that I cease and desist. So much for Oprah.” By this time, Bravocharlie911 had “served its purpose,” or at least ran out of things to say, and had been pulled as well with no word on legal maneuvers. [4] The Factivism site itself went down, set to “return shortly,” by the time I went back to look for more info two days later.
I drew a small measure of conciliation knowing even a comfortably famous person could share my suspicions from the very beginning. But to convey his doubts, Sheen was clearly drawing on the confused arguments of the IPS/Loose Change pedigree, no doubt scored at another Hollywood party. Of all the people to call on in the celebrity world, Mr. Can’t-tell-fact-from-fiction is the one that pops to the top.
(Thanks to fellow "Charlie" and total freak the Bizarre Alien for this "hot street tip")
Sources:
[1] Jones, Alex and Paul Joseph Watson. “Actor Charlie Sheen Questions Official 9/11 Story.” Prison Planet. March 20 2006.
[2] Mikkelson, Barbara and David P. Snopes.com. “A pinch of Snuff.” Last Updated October 31 2006.
[3] “CNN Poll Ends At 83% In Support Of Charlie Sheen.” Prison Planet March 27 2006
[4] Yossarian. “Bravo Charlie, Exit Stage Left.” Factivism. September 2006. (link still broken? original url: http://www.factivism.com/story.php?title=Bravo-Charlie-Exit-Stage-Left)
