The best evidence for the existence of the truck (sometimes referred to as a "van") is an audio of the New York Police Department radio transmissions on that day, which were recorded by a ham radio operator. The operator is identified in the video below as WB6NYC, aka Robert Sanford, who was at the time working as an emergency coordinator for the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) in New York City.
Some information about Robert Sanford from the above link:
"Robert Sanford went about his life as he usually does. 11th September started off early for Robert - about 6.00 am, but who cares...... Robert is an Amateur radio enthusiast (as I am) and when he learned about the events unfolding in New York Robert was on the case immediately.
During the next few hours Robert recorded some of the most amazing audio that he had ever had to listen to - and probably some of the saddest content. Events on 11th September are known to most people on Earth, but when you actually listen to the audio recordings that Robert captured it WILL change your view of the whole thing known as Incident 0727.
Here's some info about Robert in his own words:
After some 20 years in New York City I have decided to get the hell out of Dodge and make the nice quiet town of Sausalito my new home town. I was the Emergency Coordinator for ARES, the Radio Officer for RACES and the SKYWARN Coordinator for New York City.
I recently have taken on the position as Southern Marin Communications Leader for Marin RACES which falls under the jurisdiction of the Marin Sheriffs Department Office of Emergency Services. So far it has been a very pleasant experience and have found all of the Fire and Police departments out here very helpful and interested in Amateur Radio's role in disaster preparedness."
In the audio at 1:42, 1:54, and 2:32 mention is made of a "remote controlled plane filled with explosives" - the location is given as "King and 6th Avenue".
Several requests are then made to the officer reporting on the plane to "10-5 (repeat) the message about the plane". At 3:51 an officer states "Central, I got a message on that, uh, plane. It's a big truck with a mural painted of an airplane diving into New York City and exploding".
At 4:05 an officer makes a request for the Bomb Squad and the ESU (Emergency Service Unit) of the NYPD to go to King Street. ESU also functions as a SWAT unit. From above link: "The personnel selected for ESU become highly trained, elite members of the NYPD who perform rescue, SWAT and other high risk tactical, counter-narcotic and counter-terror operations."
At 4:20 in the audio one of the officers on the scene states that two men got out of the truck and ran away from it, and that they are holding the two men. At 4:34 "F***ing beat the s*** outta them!" plus sounds of a commotion are heard. At 4:45 the statement is made "We have the suspects who drove in the van, the van exploded". At 5:00 "Put 'em up, put 'em up." ("Put your hands up".) Mention is made of an explosion at 5:03 and then again at 5:36. At 6:10 a request is made to contact the chief of OCCB, the Organized Crime Control Bureau.
The truck was also mentioned in the Mineta Transportation Institute Report (September 2003) and the mural in that report (page 28 in the .pdf file) is described as "a plane crashing into the World Trade Center".
"Mineta" refers to Norman Mineta, Secretary of Transportation under George W. Bush, appointed to the position in 2001. Norman Mineta is also mentioned several times in the official 9-11 Commission Report.
There are no photos of the truck. Mock-ups, apparently done with Photoshop style software, have been surfacing.
Below is the scanner recording (apparently an edited version - the original is at this link.)
Critics have stated that there is no 6th or 7th Avenue next to King Street in Manhattan as heard on the audio. The King Street location was between Avenue of the Americas, which New Yorkers habitually refer to as 6th Avenue, and Varick Street, which feeds into 7th Avenue.
In a 9-16-2001 New York Times article titled After Shining Decade, City Dwellers Reassess Face of Their Reality by Adam Nagourney, mention is made in the 8th paragraph of the truck found on King Street in Soho:
Contrast that with the audio above and then this excerpt from page 28 of the pdf file of the Mineta Transportation Institute Report, which gives a different story:
Mineta Transportation Institute Report, p. 28 |
A panel truck with a painting of a plane flying into the World Trade Center was stopped near the temporary command post. It proved to be rented to a group of ethnic Middle Eastern people who did not speak English. Fearing that it might be a truck bomb, the NYPD immediately evacuated the area, called out the bomb squad, and detained the occupants until a thorough search was made. The vehicle was found to be an innocent delivery truck.
I also contacted the NYPD and was referred to the Freedom of Information Law unit (FOIL). I made a request referencing the same information and patterned it based on a sample letter used by attorneys.
About a month later, I got two responses from the NYPD. The first was a letter stating "this unit is unable to locate records responsive to your request..."
The second letter, oddly, came a few days later.
It stated that "Your request has been assigned to Police Officer [ ] of this office, and it is estimated that processing of your request will be completed by 3/11/12."
The reasons given for the delay were:
1. "Numerous records must be reviewed in order to determine whether disclosure is required." and
2. "Records have not yet been received by other NYPD unit(s)."
A couple of weeks after the "completed by" date, I contacted Officer [ ] at the FOIL Unit. He stated that the first letter was correct and that the second "must have been a clerical error". He also stated that he acted on the second letter, "went above and beyond" normal efforts to find the information, and still came up with nothing. When I asked about the New York Times article, he said "We're not the New York Times."
The FOIL unit of the NYPD is known for being notoriously slow, "habitually withholding information and flouting government transparency laws", according to a recent article in the Village Voice: FOIL'd Again: Why Doesn't the NYPD Want You to Know Anything?
I am not questioning the veracity of the officer in charge of this detail. However, it is difficult to tell, given the past history of the FOIL Unit, whether there is no information on the King Street incident or whether the officer was not allowed to disclose any.
In November of 2011, a revision to the FOIA rules was defeated. This revision would have authorized the government to inform the public that requested records do not exist even if they do.
An article on the defeated revision states that "Under normal practice, which seems Orwellian enough, the government may assert that it can neither confirm nor deny that relevant records exist if the matter involves national security." Could this be why no records on the King Street van have been forthcoming?
Adam Nagourney became the New York Times' Los Angeles bureau chief in 2010. As a last ditch effort, I emailed Nagourney about his New York Times piece from 2001. A response came in less than 1 hour (click to enlarge). It read "Hey sorry. Way too long ago don't remember any more."
Was the mural on the truck a depiction of a remote controlled plane? Was the truck used to distribute goods to Israelis who would then sell them from mall kiosks?
From the Wall Street Journal 12-3-08 "Shalom Christmas Shoppers: Israelis Sell Toys, Cosmetics at the Mall" |
Other goods sold by Israelis include but are not limited to: Dead Sea cosmetics, remote controlled planes and helicopters, and hair extensions. Did the King Street truck belong to Urban Moving?
Would ethnic Middle Eastern people, as stated in the Mineta report, simply be code for "Israelis"? If in fact "the vehicle was found to be an innocent delivery truck", then why did it explode, and why did the occupants run away just before the explosion?
I am no longer interested in pursuing this wild goose chase to find information. I am leaving this up to an organization or concerned individual(s). They need to go through the process of asking for the information, and when they don't get it, filing a class action suit.
File it against the City of New York, the NYPD, Rudolph Guiliani and Bernard Kerik as defendants. The crime of aiding and abetting the cover-up of a terrorist act should be one of the charges. Take a cue from the New York Times suit against the NYPD FOIL Unit.
We Are Change New York City, are you listening?
Related:
List of 9-11 Police and Fire Radio Transmissions
Archive of 9-11 Emergency Radio Transmissions
Confirming the Exploding-Mural-Van Coverup