In recent decades alternative explanations that are very different from official ones have emerged in the context of several events of great historical importance. Those who have come up with alternative explanations have also included some distinguished scholars and other professionals with specialized knowledge relating to events (such as former government and intelligence officials, or experts of disaster-response and crime prevention). They have been able to produce very significant evidence which at the very least deserves serious attention and further discussion and investigation.
Of course not all alternative explanations fall in this category. Hardly anyone will deny that the human weakness for something sensational often prods people to offer all sorts of different takes on events that interest them. This has always been there and likely to remain so.
Our concern here is with not such frivolous and momentary or short-term efforts which are rightly consigned to the category of rumor-mongering or sensationalism for the sake of it.
Here we are speaking instead of those more serious and persisting efforts which deal with truly important events, are guided by important public-spirited objectives and have secured impressive levels of public interest that have persisted over significantly long time.
To give just three examples, there has been a long and persistent exploration over several decades arguing that the three murders most foul of the 1960s in the USA involving the assassination of President John Kennedy, Presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Sr. and the famous civil rights and peace leader Martin Luther King were actually inside jobs of powerful sections of the US establishment. There have been hundreds of articles and investigative reports, dozens of books and films which have pointed in this direction to varying extents, presenting piles of convincing evidence.
Similarly there have been dozens of quite persuasive reports by reputed scholars and professionals which have argued that the official explanation of 9/11 attacks has simply too many loopholes to be correct. What happened exactly cannot of course be explained completely and clearly by those offering alternative viewpoints in the context of so big and complex an event. However what the alternative explanations have achieved to a large extent is to expose the unreliability of official explanations, and thereby make a strong case for opening up the debate of what really happened.
To give a third and most recent example, there have been several important reports which call into question the official explanation of the October 7 attack on Israel. These reports have also been able to present evidence that is important enough to ask for a re-examination of the entire issue.
More such examples can be given, but the main point is that in the case of several events of great historical importance a lot of credible, evidence based alternative descriptions have emerged. Unfortunately most academics have chosen to ignore these, dismissing these as conspiracy theories that do not deserve serious attention. This is unfortunate because entirely ignoring these alternative explanations leads to the emergence of a contemporary history which leaves important gaps in understanding and it is highly likely that truth in the context of several very important events has not come out.
This should worry us because we are supposed to learn for the future from history, particularly from recent history, and this learning is being denied, which may prove very costly.
My own perspective on this issue is that it is important to investigate truth in these contexts not just from the point of view of ensuring transparency, but in addition and perhaps even more significantly because this will be helpful for the USA (and other countries) to move towards a path of peace. If the truth regarding these controversial issues can be established, then this will be a significant step towards the realization by people that they really need to move towards a different system of transparency, real democracy and peace. Truth in these contexts will be helpful for people to realize that external aggression also leads to internal aggression, and that it is best to move towards a path based on peace at home and peace abroad.
Of course the USA is not alone in need of such realization, but as what happens in the USA impacts the entire world, this realization is perhaps the most important in the USA. In the context of the October 7 attack by Hamas, honest exploration of what exactly happened is most important for Israel, although of course it is also important for the USA, for the Palestinians and for others.
My views on various aspects of this issue are contained in some of my articles and one that may be particularly mentioned here is titled ‘Truth must prevail in controversial events of historical importance to enable system reform’ published in Countercurrents.org dated 17 January 2024. This title reflects my perspective and approach that the unbiased exploration of truth in these important contexts can prove helpful in the wider objective of system reform.
Bharat Dogra is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Protecting Earth for Children, A Day in 2071, Man over Machine and Planet in Peril.
