Flight 93

On 2/25/06, I noticed this Ted Rall cartoon, reproduced here without permission and in total violation of copyright, I just bet. Unless some fair use condition can be met because I have so few readers and make no money from this blog? But leaving that aside, the cartoon says "The 9/11 Commission says there's no proof of a passenger revolt -- and that they never entered the cockpit."

OK, it's just a cartoon, but I like Rall's artwork, I appreciate that he's edgy ... and I'd like him to be right on his facts.

The report of the 9/11 Commission directly contradicts Rall on both counts. This section begins on page 13:




We can't know what happened on Flight 93, but I think the passengers fought back and got into the cockpit. And the 9/11 Commission agrees.

It may not matter to some of you that Rall was wrong on this point. But it matters to me. It bothered me on 8/8/05 when he published a cartoon citing internal Pentagon documents counting 9,000 US soldiers dead in Iraq (many of whom were excluded from the official count of 1,800+ because they don't die in country), but I was unable to find any news stories about the allegation...

As I said, I often like his work, though I don't always agree with the message. I just wish he'd pay more attention to the facts.

Speaking of facts, here's a quote from Rall's 2/21/06 column, in which he reproaches the loathesome Ann Coulter:

Coulter is entitled to her opinions, not to lie about the facts.

I'm not saying Rall is lying about the 9/11 Commission, but he's got his facts wrong, and I'm curious as to why.

Left grip is 25 pounds (23, 24, 25), right grip is 81 pounds (75, 73, 81).