15-01-2013, 01:58 AM
(This post was last modified: 16-01-2013, 02:29 AM by Anthony Thorne.)
Ramsay makes good points, but his observation that Peter Powers phoning in on 7/7 to note the 'odd coincidence' of the drills makes those drills innocent of suspicion seems off base to me, unless one assumes the conspirators would have been itching to let Powers know exactly why they wanted preparatory and obfuscatory drills running in synch with their live action replacements. The same template occurred on 9/11, when various drills and exercises (too many to count, and this has been exhaustively documented elsewhere) left various officials scratching their head at the coincidence, and noting the odd occurrence to the media. A majority of those officials were likely kept in the dark, but I'm disinclined to view their lack of knowledge as evidence of the 9/11 drills being innocent exercises. (Ramsay is a fine writer who, I personally think, occasionally errs in judgement. I won't dispute his knowledge of British politics however).
From memory (writing this at work) the Cottrell book notes numerous Italian-language references in its bibliography which Cottrell has evidently read and digested. John Leonard from Progressive Press mentioned to me years ago that he was aware of some of the newer Italian books and wished he could translate them for the US market, and the Cottrell book fulfills his interest in the subject. If Cottrell was referencing those other sources however, he and Leonard should have made some extra efforts to document the factual basis for the book's assertions. Even so, I still find much of the book compelling.
From memory (writing this at work) the Cottrell book notes numerous Italian-language references in its bibliography which Cottrell has evidently read and digested. John Leonard from Progressive Press mentioned to me years ago that he was aware of some of the newer Italian books and wished he could translate them for the US market, and the Cottrell book fulfills his interest in the subject. If Cottrell was referencing those other sources however, he and Leonard should have made some extra efforts to document the factual basis for the book's assertions. Even so, I still find much of the book compelling.