Many Americans accept the events that took place on September 11, 2001 as a foreign terrorist attack, nothing more, nothing less. Some, however, believe there's more to the story.

SF State international relations student Aaron Dames is one of these people. The 22-year-old junior screened the film “9/11 Mysteries, Part 1: Demolitions” in the Cesar Chavez Student Center Wednesday evening as part of his effort to encourage people to question the facts.

Dames has been committed to the cause of obtaining further investigations into the World Trade Center attacks for the past three years, ever since he saw a film called “Loose Change.” It piqued his interest in the idea that maybe what we’ve been told hasn’t been the whole truth.

Then, three months ago, he became aware of “9/11 Mysteries” on the internet and that solidified his dedication to disseminating the ideas of a handful of people who question what happened that historic day.

“This film to me offered irrefutable evidence that the official explanation of 9/11 is flawed,” said Dames. “I thought it was important that others see it, especially in the academic environment.”

That’s why Dames has been showing the film in the student center for anyone who wants to come. Last semester he showed it twice, and this semester it will be shown monthly until May.

Though Wednesday’s screening had a particularly low turnout (only one other viewer showed up), Dames said past screenings have had relatively high numbers of people, with as many as 10 showing up to see the film.

The film, produced by a woman in San Diego who chose to remain anonymous, and who Dames only knows as Sofia, explains how controlled demolition of buildings works and questions how the towers could have fallen in the way that they did by the force of the airplanes alone.

“A lot of people who question the government’s explanation get labeled as conspiracy theorists,” he said. “But the fact is that the government isn’t offering to look at the issues and is not answering the questions being brought forth. Their silence is indicative of guilt.”

Wednesday’s only other attendee, Stephen Leiper, 71, was glad to have a chance to view “9/11 Mysteries.” Leiper, who was a student at SF State in 1960, had heard the audio of the film on KPFA and when he heard it would be screened on campus, he jumped at the chance to see it.

“I’ve been interested in this since the very first day,” he said. “When it happened, I immediately thought, hmm, something’s wrong here.”

As for Dames, he’s taking his dedication to the next level. Tomorrow, he’s heading to Washington, D.C. to ask for a reinvestigation of 9/11 by standing in front of the Capitol building and distributing flyers and copies of the film. He plans to do the same in front of the White House on President’s Day.

“Some people are dismissive of these allegations because there’s not really any visible action taking place right now,” he said. “I’m not even saying that I’m convinced the government was actually complicit, but no one will ever know until they agree to address our questions.”

For more information visit:
www.911scholars.org/ or www.911truth.org