French professor sacked over 9/11 conspiracy theory

Russia Today – February 27, 2009 

An academic in France has been sacked by the Ministry of Defence after questioning the official version of events surrounding the 9/11 attacks. He now reportedly plans to sue the government. 

Aymeric Chauprade lost his job allegedly over the introduction to his latest book about political crises around the world, and more specifically, that the 9/11 attacks in New York City and Washington D.C. were an orchestrated "American-Israeli conspiracy". The Defence Minister had strong objections to the material, so Aymeric had to go. 

Jean Dominique Merchet, a French journalist, was the first to report on the sacking. 

“The Ministry of Defence has reacted too brutally. They have transformed Chauprade into a victim, and not an intellectual opponent – even if what he defends is not good,” Merchet said. 

Chauprade explained his firing by the Ministry of Defence as the result of him speaking about a subject that was considered off limits. 

“I touched upon a taboo – the theory of a conspiracy plot. Apparently there is only one possibility in an accidental world. And all the wars have sprung from this – Afghanistan and so on.” 

The book's introduction highlights a theory that the twin towers were blown up as part of an American-Israeli pact. 

“He did scientific work – see it's written here, ‘the theories included here are contesting the official theory of Muslim responsibility’. That's an opinion!” says Chauprade’s lawyer Antoine Beauquier. 

Defence Minister Herve Morin was reportedly outraged by the suggestions and demanded the academic's sacking from his job at the French Military College in Paris, where Chauprade was teaching geopolitics. 

The Ministry has refused to comment on the affair.