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What you don't fail to reveal is that 40 - 50% of Americans believe their own government was directly involved in the atrocities of 9/11. Whether this is true or not, it is a significant number...and should at least be mentioned.

Ta
Nik

If 12/7, 1941 and 9/11, 2001 had been handled honestly, effectively and with available knowledge then the world would now be a much safer place.
The Achilles Heel of 'Terrorism'is negotiation and not war. When will they learn?

What was the piece the cellist played at the end of the program, all I caught was Paxman saying, 'made famous by Pablo Casals'?

What a whitewash. By what right was Martin Amis on the programme with his establishment line? Why was there no mention of the 50% view in Manhattan that there was some degree of (one-way) collusion by the US government? I bet Paxton is scared stiff of being called a conspiracy theorist. Much more fun to toe the line and chat with the big boys about excitingly macho wargames than actually do any investigation.

One of the most sensible and mature debates i have watched concerning these events. General Sir Rupert Smith s logic to me seemed undeniable, his views will no doubt be ignored at the highest level.

Unbelievable that the panel of 'experts' completely failed to address the complexity of the situation in the Islamic world. The Islamic terrorist did not just appear miraculously, bound on destroying our perfect western society because they suddenly felt like it! Virtually no
mention was made of the main cause of Islamic fundamentalism - western policy towards the middle east before and not just after 2001, which has caused exasparation among even moderate Muslims. How can one seriously understand the war on terror and the important issues without mentioning the background?!
Martin Amis' comment that the multicultural society which Britain rightly prides itself on is a 'luxury' is simply disgusting.

Can anybody identify the musical extracts used on Monday's programme?

I think it was also used for the Auswitz series.

Good programme tonight - with music providing the most eloquent final comment. Steven Isserlis - magic.

Thank you

A hugely misleading and historically inaccurate program but typical of the rightwing American bias that characterises so much of Newsnight's coverage.

Soon after the 9/11 atrocity Tony Blair issued a dossier blaming it on Saddam Hussein. Why is there never any mention of this in the media? The hijackers were mostly from Saudi Arabia - there was no justification for the invasion of Iraq.

The big unmentionable in all this is *oil*. It is why we (the British) created Iraq in the first place. The idea that the invasion of Iraq was not about oil was absurd at the time - and is even more so now that the "Project For The New American Century" and other neocon writings have been exposed.

The neocons thought that Iraqi oil would pay for the war but it did not. Apart from the terrible human cost the monetary cost is $250bn so far with no end in sight. The source of American power is oil but it no longer has enough of its own. With world demand for oil exceeding supply the price of oil is sure to remain much higher than it was in 2003.

America may not have many soldiers in Saudi Arabia but it has established a series of bases in the Gulf States. It also has bases to protect its oil interests in many other parts of the world. More oil wars seem inevitable but hopefully Tony Blair will not be arround much longer to involve us in them.

Thank you and thank God for Newsnight! Tonights program was excellent and, I feel, could have been twice as long...
In my opinion, Islam needs a platform to speak out againsed terrorism. But where that platform is, I don't know. A three minute slot at 6O'clock on ITV ain't good enough.
The idea of Islam taking a left-hand turn towards medievalism, againsed modernity, I believe now, is a rather simplistic analysis. It appeared to me watching the debate, that a modernist Islamic utopia could be extremely beautiful.
I think that a more insidious evil than "Islamic-Terrorism", I'm afraid to say, being a non-religious Westerner, is Americas inability to understand cultural diversity.
The type of "freedom" they attempt to impose upon others, is not seen as a "freedom", by very different cultural and religious mindsets. One being, particularly, Islam. Another, I would go as far as to say, is London as well.
- I noticed, that James Woolsey, the ex-CIA man, seemed to want to say the word "Islam", instead of "Islamic-Terrorists" or "Fanatics". Is that the way they are talking in the American Intelligence?!?

One of the best Newsnights I've seen in years.

Everyone had something interesting to say, even if it was nonsense in the case of James Woolsey (PNAC signatory and fully-paid-up neocon) and Martin Amis. All the rest had their heads screwed on, as did Paxo when he referred to the 'so-called war on terror'.

The star of the show for me was Benazir Bhutto, with her careful distinction between 'cultural' terrorists like bin Laden, and 'regional' (I think that was the word) terrorists like Hamas and Hezbollah. She said we could and should talk to the latter, and shouldn't lump them all together. She made point after telling point.

Also I found Dan Rather movingly accurate when he said that the US press needed to grow a spine.

There was plenty missing, of course, and some of it is referred to by other posters here. What wasn't explored was the enormous rifts that have opened up in America between Bush neocons and their Republican base, and the rest of an increasingly disenchanted and angry American public. And also the rift that has opened up between America and the rest of the world.

I must say upon re-watching the program, that Martin Amis was a bit of letdown.. Pretentious and snobby, and attempting to be poetic, but in fact being rather a Fascist. He should understand that if he speaks to the masses on Television his views cannot be objective, however much he might like them to be, they become opinions and therefore promote actions..
- Any chance of getting the programs as a mpeg download?

I was really dissapointed with to nights Newsnight.I thought Jeremy Paxman was to laid back.He did not really attack the issues of 9/11.Just went over old ground.Just changed the packaging.
I agree that fanatics of any religion, be it jew,muslim,catholic or prodesant are the root but not always the reason for war.Example Why did the Japonise attack Pearl Harbour.....They only had 18 months of oil left.That was the reason for the start of the war.Why! did USA & Uk attack Afganistan again...OIL! Why Irak?.....petrol.Did any europian country go to the aid of Rewanda when genocide was being commited, and one million lifes were lost within 3 months...NO....Why not, No petrol
It is governments that create wars not the people.Thay just follow like lambs to the slaughter.
Jeremy I was suprised you did not go for the jugular.

message too pinocchio paxman

you're at it again,aren't you.
i like the way you slid in the topic of multiculturealism and how it should be given up as a luxury. Asians didn't invent this 'ism...the mi6/tavistock/bbc big brother globalists invented it.
asians didn't ask for this 'ism , youu made it up to undermine the native population.
so now the truth is in plane view for anyone who cares to see it . this war is not juat gainst islam it is against the the thirld world....a proxy war ...the military wing for the globalisation efforts of the money elite .... economic imperialism on a global scale....
.... a constant supply of opium for wall street /mi6/ city of london hittites.....big oil gets its bottleneck by squeezing supply and huge profits on the back of peak oil hoax ....
tell your freemasonic saturnalia brotherhood that the game is almost up.....electric cars , decentralised energy ...renewable energy currency ...local political power...
...is going to break the back of the occult elite....you are only as powerful as your debt currency system and the phony maritime law matrix ...... it was so flimsy a facade...
...we're gonna opensource your asses out of existence....
Pen on paper ...that's all it takes .....
the bottom of the pyramid has woken up ......a pack of cards is all you had for a pyramid......

it doesn't matter whehter the real culprits of 9/11 get caught or the controlled demolition theory is proven....9/11 opened the flood gates of truth about the whole system....

you won't be able to fight this battle ...a conflict without conflict

Yay!

Jere! Jere! Jere!

I'm glad that after some distressingly friendly interviews with Bush officials and then Friday's token Bush-bashing piece that didn't really say anything, Newsnight seems to have regained its balance. Give that editor a coconut.

I've answered my own question - the cellist last night was one Steven Isserlis. He is playing at the Wigmore Hall in London on 12 October. Just bought tickets myself. Considering the last "gig" I went to was Primal Scream at the Astoria a month or so ago I think middle age has finally caught up with me. Isn't it wonderful!

Can someone please tell me what piece Stephen Isserlis played to end last night's Newsnight? After all the discussion, that beautiful piece, combined with the eerie photos, said more than a 1000 words.

A very enjoyable clarifying debate. I wish there was more like it.

Everyone on the panel agreed that war was out of date in the present form. I particularly respected Benazir Bhutto distinction between cultural war and the struggle for land.
Prince Hassan was very articulate in discussing the issue and used refreshingly peace-promoting language, very different from what we are all used to hearing from the Bush media camp.
'100 years ago,the ratio of military deaths to civilians was nine to one, during World War II, it was about even. Now it has been completely turned around with nine civilian deaths to one military death. It is imperative that we turn to different methods'

"The Meyerowitz bit showed in all its nakedness how people can exploit the misery of others. An icon of schmaltz and opportunism can be roped in on occasions, I suppose."

This is true, however it is more important to document. If it were a situation where the images went on the photo art market it would be abhorrent in the same way Diane Arbus and Lewis Hine's work has been exploited by the dealers.

To Peter Barron, Editor-Newsnight (whom I hope has not changed) Jeremy Paxman and the Newsnight Team.
I have todate only been able to view the 1st half of the programme, happily I will view the rest later, and, if allowed make my final prouncements, after reading other people's. One thing, I feel ought to be brought forward was Bush's faux pas of using the word "crusade". We no longer live in that period, nor do we live in the period pre-9/11. 9/11 showed America no longer free from direct attack (Pearl Harbour was not that), because it was during a war, which had been going on for some years. In my personal view, Bush has not helped the situation, and the American troops are "gunho"(read John Simpson in Iraq)which they have shown since, at least from WWI,and this can aggravate the situation enormously. I do not say our own troops are always perfect, but there is a certain amount of diplomacy in British troops, which is admired, and also in some troops in Europe. If you will bear with me, more later. so long as I have not abused any nation, sworn at anyone, or used bad language as an expedient, in anticipation Jennifer Watts.

Thank god for newsnight...

Could you pls tell me what was the piece the cellist played.

Can I vote for Benazir Bhutto lecturing the high-priests of Western culture on freedom and tolerance as my highlight of the year?

But why did no-one ask Martin Amis if multiculturalism is a 'polite fiction' and a luxury, when he proposes to close Britain's synagogues, Catholic schools, Polish social clubs et cetera.

British multiculturalism is a fact not a policy. Otherwise literary halfwits wouldn't appear on discussion programmes.

The 9/11 debate was a tour de force - quite the best television analysis I have seen in years. OK so every little nuance was not covered and hackneyed old hobby-horses and tangents were largely avoided. But what a terrific line-up of contributors and what striking insights; especially as others have commented Benazir Bhutto's distinction between cultural and regional conflicts (surely the heart of the matter), Shirley Williams' assertion that we need to be speaking to Hamas and Hezbollah, and General Smith's argument that warfare has changed and is no longer sequential but holistic (my word); it has always frustrated me that we constantly seem to hand PR triumphs to the 'fanatics'.
The whole programme was a rich feast, which deserves re-viewing over and over again. I shall have to learn podcast!
I hope to see this programme entered for every TV/journalistic award going. Making Newsnight a "lying bastard"-free zone is a format that works for me. Surely we have all had enough of specious arguments and other such nonsense - I only spotted one in this programme.

any danger of paxman vs bush, and then vs h.clinton? (on War on Terror, 911 et al!)

On the whole a good programme...BUT... too many guests! I find this quite a lot with Newsnight, they try to involve so many people that they end up in a position that no single guest is really given enough time to really explain their position or explore the positions adopted/points raised by the other participants.

Again a misleading use of statistics in Mark Urban's report contrasting the numbers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11 with those killed on 9/11 itself. This totally ignores the history of Iraq and Afghanistan (and indeed much of the world, such as Indonesia and the Philippines, where conflict with Islamic extremists has predominated before and after 9/11) prior to 9/11 in a bid to perpetuate the myth that both countries were a kind of Switzerland, havens of peace and prosperity, despoiled by brutal Western intervention.

In fact Saddam Hussein initiated an eight-year war with Iran that cost a million and a half lives. He invaded and occupied another country as well as launching attacks on three others (Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Israel). He brutally suppressed uprisings by the Kurds and the Shia'as as well as persecuting the Marsh Arabs. 300,000 corpses buried in mass graves were discovered when Coalition forces entered Iraq in 2003. "Newsnight" seems to have forgotten the items it used to run lamenting the effect, particularly on infant mortality, of UN sanctions, which since 2003 no longer apply.

Afghanistan has been wracked by armed conflict and civil war since the monarchy was overthrown in 1973. In 1979 Soviet forces occupied Afghanistan in support of a communist-led government that had been installed by coup. It has been estimated that over a million Afghans lost their lives in the decade-long occupation by the Soviets as well as several millions more being displaced. What then followed was a period of chaos and civil as the Taliban (which emerged in 1996), with the assistance of foreign Arabs under the control of Osama bin Laden which constituted Al-Qaeda, struggled for control of the country against the forces of the Northern Alliance led by the pro-Western Abu Masood, assassinated shortly before the 9/11 attacks. 10,000 people were killed during factional in-fighting in Kabul in 1994 alone. One would have gathered this had one been watching ABC docu-drama "The Path to 9/11" which preceded "Newsnight" but "Newsnight" itself failed to give this context. Any death is deplorable, but even on the estimates given by Urban the death rate in Iraq & Afghanistan has diminished since the West intervened.

Hi,Peter Barron, Jeremy Paxman & Newsnight team. I did finish my comment, having followed the programme through, but somehow it got lost, a small matter. It was just to say,once more Newsnight pulled it off. I also mentioned I personally detected a thread running through the various conversants, which as about diplomacy 1 diagoluge and not wars, if possible.However, I remembered doing a paper, not important on Politics & Religion from Charlemagne almost to modern time, and the conclusions I drew were that both were insoluble, so where do we go from there. You have no need to publish my secon half, it was just to tell you, I had listened, and say my congrats. One thing I think you should know, irrelevant to the programme, is that I think Emily is great, and does not deserve the bad comments she got. Otherwise till the next letter. regards , Jennifer W.