Fox suggests Rosie fired over 'leaked' video of 9/11 talk David Edwards and Muriel Kane

Published: Tuesday May 29, 2007 Print This Email This (Update at bottom: 9/11 activist slams 'absurdity' of Fox report) "Is this the real reason?" Fox News asked Tuesday, why Rosie O'Donnell is no longer on The View, before playing a YouTube video of O'Donnell warming up her audience by "ranting" about suspicious events she says were omitted from the 9/11 Commission Report. Most accounts have stated that O'Donnell's departure was due to an on-air fight over Iraq with co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck. The Fox hosts speculate that the video might have come from an audience member's cellphone, and then comment briefly on how "people go off on this topic when Rosie talks about World Trade Center Building Number 7," before cutting to a story about a giant lizard. The video was also posted at the Screw Loose Change blog, which characterized O'Donnell as "raving about WTC 7 being omitted from the 9-11 Commission Report" -- adding "like the 9-11 Commission was concerned about a building in which nobody died, which was not a direct target of the attacks." Loose Change is an internet documentary which has received widespread press coverage over the last couple of years. Although many "9/11 truth movement" activists have criticized prior edits of the documentary, including a since-removed section which claimed video "proof" that the World Trade Center had been blown up, billionaire Mark Cuban is planning to finance a theatrical release after its latest edit, with actor Charlie Sheen possibly providing narration. "And anyway, the notion that the 9-11 Commission Report (PDF file) does not mention WTC 7 is wrong," Pat at Screw Loose Change writes, before citing four references to it, including page numbers. However, none of these selections refer to the destruction of WTC 7, which has perplexed many scientists, government investigators and architects over the years. "Never in the history of the world has a building fallen from a fire into its own footprint eliminating the core, twenty-five steel beams," O'Donnell said during the warm-up. "Physics-wise," O'Donnell said, such an occurrence is "impossible." Reporting for New York Magazine last November, Mark Jacobson noted that, along with the 9/11 Commission Report, WTC 7 was also "given much shrift in the subsequent 'Final Report on the Collapse of World Trade Center Towers,' compiled by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)." Dr. S. Shyam Sunder, head of NIST, told Jacobson that they had "preliminary hypotheses" regarding WTC 7 and "are studying the horizontal movement east to west, internal to the structure, on the fifth to seventh floors." "But truthfully, I dont really know," Sunder admitted. "Weve had trouble getting a handle on building No. 7." Sunder told Jacobson that the building's omission from their report was only "a matter of staffing and budget," and that they "hoped to release something on 7 WTC by the end of the year." However, no NIST explanation has been released as of yet. The following video clip is from Fox News' America's Newsroom, broadcast on May 29. 9/11 activist slams 'absurdity' of Fox report William Rodriguez, a former World Trade Center maintenance worker who became a 9/11 activist after helping rescue fifteen of his co-workers, penned a letter which attacks Fox News for rumormongering about O'Donnell's firing. "Fox news came out today with the rumor that Rosie O'Donnell was fired because she mentioned my story to a live audience of The View that was recorded by a spectator and posted on the Internet," Rodriguez wrote in a letter obtained by RAW STORY . "The absurdity of their comments and their lack of investigative skills to even research that what she was talking about, makes Fox look like always, a far right demagogic network with no desire to look on the real evidence of 9/11. They finished by attacking the messenger like always." Rodriguez continues, "Rosie did not get fired by mentioning me. I canceled the appearance before Rosie decided to quit, due to my many efforts in Washington and nationwide." At her blog, O'Donnell heard from a reader on Fox's reporting: "Fox says you left because of a video of you talking about wtc7 to the audience during a commercial break. Um, you talked about that on air! And you need to keep talking! Perpetuate the conversation!" In response, O'Donnell blogged back in her usual style: "william rodriguez

my friend

google him

i didnt get fired for talking about him

he was a booked guest in fact" At the end of his letter, Rodriguez, who serves as President of The Hispanic Victims Group (and his personal website can be found at this link) writes, "I am still working hard for the truth and Rosie is by my side."



