ert presented what is certain to be a highly controversial talk at the Commonwealth Club, San Francisco, based upon his upcoming book "Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil."

Founded in 1903, the Commonwealth Club -- the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum -- has played host to a diverse and distinctive array of speakers, from Teddy Roosevelt in 1911 to Erin Brockovich in 2001. Along the way, Martin Luther King, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Bill Gates have all given landmark speeches at the Club.

In his talk Mr. Ruppert said: "In my new book I will be making several key points:

1. I will name Vice President Richard Cheney as the prime suspect in the mass murders of 9/11 and will establish that, not only was he a planner in the attacks, but also that on the day of the attacks he was running a completely separate Command, Control and Communications system which was superceding any orders being issued by the FAA, the Pentagon, or the White House Situation Room;

2. I will establish conclusively that in May of 2001, by presidential order, Richard Cheney was put in direct command and control of all wargame and field exercise training and scheduling through several agencies, especially FEMA. This also extended to all of the conflicting and overlapping NORAD drills -- some involving hijack simulations -- taking place on that day.

3. I will also demonstrate that the TRIPOD II exercise being set up on Sept. 10th in Manhattan was directly connected to Cheney's role in the above.

4. I will also prove conclusively that a number of public officials, at the national and New York City levels, including then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, were aware that flight 175 was en route to lower Manhattan for 20 minutes and did nothing to order the evacuation of, or warn the occupants of the South Tower. One military officer was forced to leave his post in the middle of the attacks and place a private call to his brother -- who worked at the WTC -- warning him to get out. That was because no other part of the system was taking action.

5. I will also show that the Israeli and British governments acted as partners with the highest levels of the American government to help in the preparation and, very possibly, the actual execution of the attacks."

"There is more reason to be afraid of not facing the evidence in this book than of facing what is in it," said Mr. Ruppert.

On July 22, 2004 the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, "chartered to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks," released its public report.

Since September 11, 2001, about 5,000 foreign nationals have been detained by the United States and denied basic constitutional rights in the name of "wartime" expediency. On March 4, 2004, a German court overturned the world's first and only conviction in connection with the September 11 attack on America "because the U.S. withheld crucial evidence." On September 1, 2004, prosecutors asked a federal judge to end the terror case against what they once called a "sleeper operational combat cell" based in Detroit. "The developments were a stunning reversal in a case once hailed by Attorney General John Ashcroft as a major victory in the war on terror," the New York Times reported.

We invite our readers to read "Crossing the Rubicon" -- to be released mid-October, and to challenge Mr. Ruppert on the "facts" and arguments he presents. We believe there are still many gaps in the evidence publicly available to draw a definitive conclusion.

As the WTC burned and crumpled, Mossad agents danced, celebrated and filmed the atrocity