Thierry Meyssan
Encyclopedia
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and political activist.
He is the author of investigations into the extreme right wing (particularly about the National Front Militias, which are the object of a parliamentary investigation and caused a separation of the extreme right wing party), as well as into the Catholic Church (Opus Dei
Opus Dei
Opus Dei, formally known as The Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei , is an organization of the Catholic Church that teaches that everyone is called to holiness and that ordinary life is a path to sanctity. The majority of its membership are lay people, with secular priests under the...
, for example).
Meyssan is best known for his controversial book 9/11: The Big Lie
9/11: The Big Lie
L'Effroyable imposture is the original French title of a highly controversial 2002 book by French journalist and political activist Thierry Meyssan. Its English edition is entitled 9/11: The Big Lie....
(L'Effroyable imposture), in which he challenges the official account of events of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Career
In 1994, Meyssan became a staff member of the Parti Radical de Gauche, a center-left political organization, and he participates in the campaign of Bernard TapieBernard Tapie
Bernard Tapie is a French businessman, politician and occasional actor, singer, and TV host. He was Ministre de la Ville in the government of Pierre Bérégovoy, a businessman specializing in recovery for bankrupted companies, among which Adidas is the most famous ; and owner of sports teams...
(1994 European elections) and Christiane Taubira
Christiane Taubira
Christiane Taubira or Christiane Taubira-Delannon is a French politician. President of her party Walwari, she has served as a deputy at the French National Assembly since 1993, and was re-elected in 1997. Non-affiliated in 1993, she then voted for the investiture of the conservative Edouard...
(2002 presidential elections).
In 1994, he founded Voltaire Network
Voltaire Network
The Réseau Voltaire is an international non-profit organisation, based in Paris. It stated aim is the promotion of freedom and secularism , that is separation of church and state, faith and politics...
and also created Project Ornicar, associations promoting freedom of expression and thinking, of which he is currently president.
From 1996 to 1999, he worked as substitute coordinator of the National Committee of Surveillance against the extreme right, which held weekly meetings with the 45 major political parties, unions and associations belonging to the French left wing in order to draw up a common response to escalating intolerance.
Between 1999 and 2002, Meyssan replaced Emma Bonino
Emma Bonino
Emma Bonino is an Italian politician, former Member of the European Parliament and current Member of the Italian Senate. She is a leading member of the Italian Radicals, a political party that supports economic and social libertarianism, and human rights...
in the leading post of the Anti-prohibitionist Radical Coordination, an international organization aiming to decriminalize drug use as a means to cut organized crime's main source of income.
Publication of The Big Lie
In 2002, he published the controversial work on the September 11 terrorist attacks—9/11: The Big Lie9/11: The Big Lie
L'Effroyable imposture is the original French title of a highly controversial 2002 book by French journalist and political activist Thierry Meyssan. Its English edition is entitled 9/11: The Big Lie....
—in which Meyssan argues that such attacks were organized by a faction of what he calls "the US military industrial complex" in order to impose a military regime. The book was translated into 28 language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
s; it was followed by Le Pentagate, a book arguing that the attack against the Pentagon was not carried out by a commercial airliner but a missile
Missile
Though a missile may be any thrown or launched object, it colloquially almost always refers to a self-propelled guided weapon system.-Etymology:The word missile comes from the Latin verb mittere, meaning "to send"...
.
The central thesis
Thesis
A dissertation or thesis is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings...
of Le Pentagate, that a Boeing 757 did not hit The Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
, has been heavily criticised by other prominent 9/11 conspiracists
9/11 Truth Movement
9/11 Truth movement is a collective name for loosely affiliated organizations and individuals who question the accepted account of the September 11, 2001, attacks....
such as Jim Hoffman
Jim Hoffman
Jim Hoffman is a website engineer in Oakland, California, who created several web sites about the September 11, 2001 attacks that analyze and suggest alternative accounts for the events of that day, often described as 9/11 conspiracy theories. His primary website, , serves as an archive of...
.
He started a campaign at the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
to initiate an international investigation commission to revisit the general consensus regarding the 9/11 attacks, but he was not able to reach his objective. There was little support, except from the Arab League
Arab League
The Arab League , officially called the League of Arab States , is a regional organisation of Arab states in North and Northeast Africa, and Southwest Asia . It was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945 with six members: Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan , Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Yemen joined as a...
and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Later activities
In November 2005, Thierry Meyssan presided over the Axis for PeaceAxis for Peace
Axis for Peace was a conference organised by Voltaire Network to"gather political and intellectual personalities... already committed against the war logic and who wish to install a permanent structure that could make the voice of peace be heard."...
2005 Colloquium, which gathered over 130 participants from 37 nations in order to discuss the international situation and call a people’s mobilization in favour of international law
International law
Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
and world peace and against the neoconservative trend.
Meyssan is staying in Damascus (Syria). He is a journalist for the Russian weekly magazine Odnako (Однако).
Other areas of research
Meyssan also believes the Beslan massacreBeslan school hostage crisis
The Beslan school hostage crisis of early September 2004 was a three-day hostage-taking of over 1,100 people which ended in the deaths of over 380...
was thought out and perpetrated by the CIA, through the terrorist leader Shamil Basayev
Shamil Basayev
Shamil Salmanovich Basayev was a Chechen militant Islamist and a leader of the Chechen rebel movement.Starting as a field commander in the Transcaucasus, Basayev led guerrilla campaigns against the Russian troops for years, as well as launching mass-hostage takings of civilians, with his goal...
, who Meyssan insists was a CIA strawman. The purpose of the massacre in Beslan had been, claims Meyssan, an attempt by the USA to gain control of the resources of the Caspian Sea
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of and a volume of...
.
2011 Libyan civil war
On August 22, 2011, Meyssan while stuck at the Rixos Hotel in Tripoli, reported live, by voice, to the Russian program Russia TodayRussia Today
Russia Today may refer to:* Russia Today, an English language 24-hour television news channel from Russia. It was launched in 2005 and is not related to an online news service of the similar name operated by EIN News...
. Stating that contrary to most reports, Gaddafi forces had driven the rebels from most of the city. At the same time he described that he felt he was in danger, accusing all of his fellow journalists of being spies from the CIA and the MI6, since he felt that he was the only journalist trapped at the Rixos that seemed to be reporting first-hand knowledge of who was winning the battle for Tripoli.
That same day, Meyssan reported that Western agents, disguised as journalists at the Rixos hotel (as he had previously indicated) had marked him for assassination and that escape routes in the city had been blocked to prevent him from fleeing. Stating that the identities of these spies would be released in due course.
Works
- La Protection des homosexuels dans le droit européen de Collectif, Projet Ornicar éd. (Paris), 1993, ISBN 2-910209-00-8.
- L'Intégration des transsexuels de Collectif, Projet Ornicar éd. (Paris), 1993, ISBN 2-910209-01-6.
- Charles Millon, le porte-glaive de Collectif, Golias (Lyon), 1999, ISBN 2911453395.
- L'Énigme Pasqua, Golias (Lyon), 2000, ISBN 2911453883.
- Terrorisme en soutane : Jean-Paul II contre l'IVG par le Réseau Voltaire pour la liberté d'expression, L'Esprit frappeur (Paris), 2000, ISBN 2844051413.
- 9/11 The Big Lie, Carnot Publishing (London), 2002, ISBN 1-59209-026-5.
- Pentagate, USA Books (New York), 2002, ISBN 1-59209-028-1.
- Os Senhores da Guerra, Frenesi (Lisboa), 2002, ISBN 972-8351-67-4.
- Foreword (with Jean ZieglerJean ZieglerJean Ziegler is a former professor of sociology at the University of Geneva and the Sorbonne, Paris. He was a Member of Parliament for the Social Democrats in the Federal Assembly of Switzerland from 1981 to 1999...
), Le Cartel Bush, Timéli (Genève), 2004, ISBN 2-940342-05-9. - Politicamente Incorrecto, postface by Fidel CastroFidel CastroFidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
, Ciencias sociales (Cuba), 2004, ISBN 959-06-0640-7. - Foreword (with José SaramagoJosé SaramagoJosé de Sousa Saramago, GColSE was a Nobel-laureate Portuguese novelist, poet, playwright and journalist. His works, some of which can be seen as allegories, commonly present subversive perspectives on historic events, emphasizing the human factor. Harold Bloom has described Saramago as "a...
), El Neron del siglo XXI, Apostrofe (Madrid), 2004, ISBN 84-455-0258-1. - L'Effroyable imposture 1 & Le Pentagate, Nouvelle édition annotée, Demi-lune (Paris), 2007, ISBN 978-2-952557-16-0.
- Resistere alla menzogna in Zero, Perché la versione ufficiale sull'11/9 è un falso (avec Giulietto ChiesaGiulietto ChiesaGiulietto Chiesa is an Italian journalist and politician, and was a Member of the European Parliament for North-West with the Independent - Di Pietro-Occhetto List Civil Society. Originally he represented Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, since 2006 - Party of European Socialists...
), Piemme (Milan), 2007, ISBN 978-88-384-6838-4. - L'Effroyable imposture 2. Manipulations et désinformation, Editions Alphée-Jean-Paul Bertrand (Paris), 2007, ISBN 9782753802391.
Further reading
- Presentation by Thierry Meyssan under the auspices of the Arab League, Zayed Center, April 8, 2002.
- French author calls for probe into September 11 attacks, Khaleej Times, April 9, 2002.
- James S. RobbinsJames S. RobbinsJames S. Robbins is the award winning Senior Editorial Writer for Foreign Affairs at the Washington Times, an author, political commentator and professor, with an expertise in national security, and foreign and military affairs...
9/11 Denial. The French bestseller and its company, National Review, April 9, 2002. - Thierry Meyssan, The "Clash of Civilizations", Voltaire Network, June 4, 2004.
- Did a Plane Hit the Pentagon? French Conspiracy Theorist Claims It Did Not, U.S. Departement of State, June 28, 2005.
- Thierry Meyssan, Operation Sarkozy : how the CIA placed one of its agents at the presidency of the French Republic 26 July 2008
External links
- Voltaire Network Official Web Site
- Axis for Peace, Official Web Site
- snopes.com
- Pentagon missile hoax
- The Pentagon No-757-Crash Theory Booby Trap for 9/11 Skeptics