Sept. 13, 2026 (EIRNS)—The 171st consecutive weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) commemorated the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States and became a strategy session on how to use some incredible openings we now have to build a political movement and educate the population. Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder of the Schiller Institute and initiator of the IPC, called the 9/11 attacks one of the biggest false flag events in history, used as a “Reichstag Fire” to impose a surveillance state on the United States—not to “protect” the population, but to control the population.
A video was shown of her late husband, Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr., speaking on January 3, 2001 warning that the incoming President George W. Bush administration would not be able to deal with the growing economic crisis, and needed a “Reichstag Fire”–type incident to impose crisis management. Zepp-LaRouche added that while the September 11 attacks were unfolding, Lyndon LaRouche was speaking on a live radio broadcast, the Dr. Jack Stockwell Show in Salt Lake City, Utah, and immediately dismissed the official narrative that a disgruntled recluse living in a cave could inflict this level of destruction. LaRouche knew from his years working on the policy that President Reagan announced on March 23, 1983, as the Strategic Defense Initiative, and through his resultant knowledge of the U.S. air defense/NORAD systems, that this had to be an “inside job,” involving corrupt elements of the U.S. intelligence apparatus.
Zepp-LaRouche recounted a Jan. 2002 interview, where LaRouche emphatically made the point that an attack on the Pentagon would automatically put the entire U.S. thermonuclear arsenal on high alert, and that we were very close to nuclear war. It was extremely important, therefore, she said, that Russian President Vladimir Putin was the first world leader to call President Bush to offer support and even offered to put Russiaʼs nuclear arsenal on stand-down to lower any threat level to the U.S. However, this offer of friendship during a time of crisis was misused. Zepp-LaRouche said, that if the United States is ever going to regain its status as a true republic—an appropriate thing to do on its 250th birthday—it must reexamine these missteps, by fully investigating the 9/11 attacks, as well as the chain of events which followed, including the so-called War on Terror, and the takedown of Constitutional rights under the Patriot Act.
The BRICS nations are meeting in New Delhi and are certainly discussing President Trumpʼs Iran War and the soaring oil prices that the war has caused. These prices will continue to rise, as a second major waterway, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, has been taken over by Yemen’s Iran-allied Ansar Allah (Houthi) fighters, who, in their war against Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces, have seized full control of Yemen’s Red Sea coastline.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz has exposed that Prime Minister Netanyahu likely knew about the October 7 attacks 10 days in advance. Those Hamas attacks continued for 6 hours before there was any response from the Israeli military. Netanyahuʼs official narrative is coming apart.
Earlier in the week, Germanyʼs Alternative für Deutschland Party (AfD) won a landslide victory in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt. This is seen as a complete rejection of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and his war drive against Russia.
Was Cheney Part of the 9/11 Coup?
Retired CIA analyst Ray McGovern, co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), spoke next, telling the audience that if they want to understand the world today, they must read EIR magazine. He began by outlining his personal experience while questioning former Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta five years after the 9/11 attacks, following an examination of Mineta’s testimony to the 9/11 Commission. McGovern called this commission a “political commission.”
McGovern described Mineta’s testimony. Mineta said that Vice President Dick Cheney was already in the PEOC (President’s Emergency Operations Center) when Mineta arrived, at approximately 9:25 am. This conflicts with the officially reported arrival of Cheney, 9:58 am, after the Pentagon attack, which occurred at 9:37. Mineta described a young man repeatedly entering the room and informing Cheney about an incoming plane, later thought to be American Airlines Flight 77, which was approaching Washington and was presumed to be flown by hijackers: 50 miles away, 30 miles away, then 10 miles away.
Mineta said the young man eventually asked Cheney whether “the orders still stand?” to which Cheney whipped his head around, barking: “Of course it still stands, have you heard anything to the contrary?” Mineta even remarked years later, at an event in Seattle, that his testimony of this account was left out of the 9/11 Commission Report.
In 2006, McGovern had the opportunity to corner Mineta on this very account during Constitution Day at Georgetown University, where they were both honorary Constitution readers. McGovern asked: “Who was the young man? Was he in uniform?” Mineta said he could not recall the young man, nor whether he was in uniform.
When asked about the implications of what Cheney said following the question from the young man—“if the orders still stand?”—Mineta began to behave very bizarrely. McGovern, referring to Mineta’s testimony before the 9/11 Commission, continued: “ ‘Minutes later’ [after Cheney’s remark]—that’s why the difference in the timing is so important—‘Minutes later,’ according to Mineta, ‘the Pentagon was hit.’ I asked Mineta if he would agree that the timing suggested the logic that Cheney had issued a stand-down order of some kind? Well, what happened? He closed his eyes momentarily. It was as if a warning had been etched on the inside of his eyelids:”Speak only of the plane in Pennsylvania!”
“It was bizarre,” McGovern said. “It was as if a robot took over. For the next eight minutes, Mineta refused to move beyond those parameters. As I said, the 9/11 Commission simply ignored Mineta’s formal testimony—hardly a surprise since it totally ignored other inconvenient facts, like the collapse of the World Trade Center Building Seven without an airplane to blame it on. But the very revealing questioning of Mineta by Lee Hamilton is available for all to see on YouTube.” He called the 9/11 Commission a joke, and pointed out that the part of the Pentagon that was hit held important financial records, which were all destroyed. He went on to praise the work and grit of the “Jersey Girls,” who are the widows of the men killed during the 9/11 attack, demanding a real commission.
McGovern said that former U.S. Army four-star General Wesley Clark correctly warned that the United States wanted a pretext to attack seven countries in Southwest Asia, starting with Iraq, which might be a threat to Israel. After 9/11 everything changed, and false narratives could easily be fabricated. McGovern later warned that he is concerned about what President Donald Trump might do to interfere with the midterm elections, saying that Trump could use U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents as his “brown shirts,” or call on allied governors to use the National Guard. He concluded by saying, “We have to act as our forefathers and mothers did 250 years ago, get a hold of ourselves, get a hold of the truth, and meanwhile, let’s not get depressed. Let’s go to Beethoven’s 9th.”
The True Threat of Ashcroft’s Nomination
A video clip from January 2001 was shown in which Lyndon LaRouche answered a question from the Congressional Black Caucus about how to stop John Ashcroft from becoming U.S. Attorney General. LaRouche explained that Ashcroft was a racist, but the threat that he represented goes beyond the “Southern Strategy” of President Richard Nixon. Ashcroftʼs role would be to allow the U.S. Constitution to be replaced by a crisis-management-type structure. This means a secret government with a secret police and endless wars. LaRouche said that we cannot be like the dumb Germans who saw Hitler as a threat, but said that they would kick him out in the next election—except there were no more elections. Helga Zepp-LaRouche mentioned that Silicon Valley’s Palantir Technologies founder Peter Thiel has approvingly said that the 9/11 attacks were a defining moment to establish a police state.
Whistleblower and former NSA technical director, Bill Binney, spoke of the electronic surveillance program that he developed, Thin Thread, which was rejected because the program facilitated national security without violating the 4th Amendment. However, NSA Director Gen. Michael Hayden and Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet wanted complete surveillance of the American population and, in the end, spent billions extra for a system which has violated the Constitution 250,000 times by accessing data without a warrant or by “parallel constructions,” i.e., using fake evidence to justify spy operations.
Binney has warned about the unconstitutional and totalitarian Section 1021 of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act which allows indefinite detention and other crimes. He has also warned about the NSA program Treasure Map designed to map the entire Internet—“any device, anywhere, all the time.” When Binney confronted officials about the unconstitutional activities of his agency, they seemed to always respond with, “We have been given special authority,” but Binney said that there is no authorization to violate the Constitution. These corrupt officials were afraid of Binneyʼs Thin Thread program, knowing that it could be used to find criminal activity in the federal government. Binney will be speaking at a Jose Vega for Congress event (New York C.D. 15, The Bronx) on September 13 at 11 am, because these problems can all be fixed and he wants to address young people with his solutions. Ray McGovern encouraged people to see the movie about Bill Binney titled, A Good American.
Jason Ross, science advisor to The LaRouche Organization, addressed the issue of artificial intelligence (AI) leading to “extinction,” saying that the real concern is the intent behind the technology. Ross told young people that they have to act on the world that they want to see develop. McGovern responded, saying that what is needed is the concert later in the evening where Beethoven and Schillerʼs idea that “all men become brothers” will be presented.
Jack Gilroy from Pax Christi spoke of the growing support for the letter calling on Pope Leo XIV to intervene for peace as Pope John XXIII did during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. A second letter by Peter Kuznick, a professor of history at American University, also has a growing following. Gilroy plans to establish a giant database of peace activists.
Terry Strada, national chair of the 9/11 Families & Victims United for Justice Against Terrorism, who intervened that morning during the 9/11 commemoration event held at the National September 11 Memorial in Lower Manhattan, sent a message of support to the IPC meeting.
Helga Zepp-LaRouche ended the event calling for a movement of “World Citizens.” We all must become beautiful souls and geniuses. We were born for something better.
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