William Rodriguez revisited.

[ref]

William Rodriguez was recently in Wisconsin, and some local newspapers covered that event.

http://www.pjstar.com/stories/042307/TRI_BD10AM9S.060.php
http://www.dailycardinal.com/news/world-trade-center-custodian-tells-heroic-9-11-rescue-tale.html
http://badgerherald.com/news/2007/04/23/trade_center_custodi.php
http://www.leadertelegram.com/story.asp?id=82015

I thought I go through what he said in those articles to once more bring his contradicting stories to light.

Here are a couple of quotes from those articles:

Rodriguez, who was two levels below ground, said he felt a large explosion that “pushed him upward into the air” seven seconds before the plane hit the building.

According to Rodriguez’s account, for example, he and another worker felt an impact from the bottom of the building seconds before the first plane hit.

At 8:46 a.m. he heard an explosion. “Boom!” Rodriguez imitated. He heard a man screaming “Explosion! Explosion!” from underneath. “I wanted to say a generator blew up. I thought it was a bomb.” This piece of evidence may show explosives were used in accompaniment to the hijacked planes, he said. When the plane hit, “the walls cracked and the building shook.”

"We thought the generator blew up. Walls cracked, the ceiling fell on us, and the sprinkler system went off. Horror," the former North Tower janitor said Sunday. A man with skin melting from his face, arms and hands came running into the office shortly after, yelling "explosion, explosion!" A plane rammed into the building moments later, recalled Rodriguez, a native of Puerto Rico and United States citizen."

Notes:

1) The original quote from him was "We heard a loud rumble, then all of a sudden we heard another rumble like someone moving a whole lot of furniture," Rodriguez said. "And then the elevator opened and a man came into our office and all of his skin was off."​

http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/09/11/new.york.terror/
​

Why does he now use the expression explosion instead of rumble? Why does he now say explosion pushed him up into the air, walls cracked, the ceiling fell, the building shook, when he originally said "rumble like someone moving a whole lot of furniture"?


2) In the first quote he says "explosion seven seconds before the plane hit". In the second quote he says "impact from the bottom seconds before the plane hit". But in the fourth quote he says "We thought the generator blew up, then shortly after that came a man from the elevator yelling "explosion, explosion", then moments later a plane rammed into the building.​

Yelling "explosion, explosion" alone takes a couple of seconds. In addition to that, it was shortly before that when they thought the generator blew. And after the man entered, only moments later he says the plane hit. Does that whole sequence take only 2-7 seconds like he claims?

​

3) Why did he originally claim the two rumbles happened first and the man entered last?

​

This is a familiar subject to regulars, but we also have new faces here who may not know this. And this man as we speak tours around the world lecturing and telling heart-breaking stories.

 

[Liszt]

Are you suggesting that he is lying, forgetting, being misrepresented or being misquoted?

As far as I know, he was a hero who risked his life to save others. Why can´t someone just record an interview with him, confirming or denying each charge? Christ, I´m tempted to do it myself.

Thanks for the info, ref.

 

[ref]

Are you suggesting that he is lying, forgetting, being misrepresented or being misquoted?

As far as I know, he was a hero who risked his life to save others. Why can´t someone just record an interview with him, confirming or denying each charge? Christ, I´m tempted to do it myself.

Thanks for the info, ref.

I am not saying, that he didn't save a lot of people. But what I'm saying is, that he now claims there were explosions and he believes explosives were used. And he lectures on those topics around the world. I am questioning his motives when he is changing his statements so much. A rumble is not an explosion. A rumble is not something that blows someone up into the air and cracks walls and ceilings. Something is wrong with his current story, compared to his original rumble story.

I believe he has been invited to discuss here, and he has joined. He just hasn't posted yet.

 

[Disbelief]

Are you suggesting that he is lying, forgetting, being misrepresented or being misquoted?

As far as I know, he was a hero who risked his life to save others. Why can´t someone just record an interview with him, confirming or denying each charge? Christ, I´m tempted to do it myself.

Thanks for the info, ref.

Yes, he was a hero for saving many people. I would like to ask him how he knows that the explosion in the basement happened before the plane hit. What is his frame of reference to compare when the explosion he felt in the basement happened in comparison to when the plane hit?

 

[WildCat]

Yep, he's registered here: http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/z/index.php?z-profile=William_Rodriguez

Claims we're too mean though so he hasn't posted yet.

 

[Alt+F4]

I have a William Rodriguez question that perhaps someone can clear up. I've read that he was offered a large sum of money. Was this money from Republicans who wanted to give him a start on a political career or was this money a bribe from the perpetrators to keep quite?

 

[beachnut]

Where were the bombs he heard or experienced? Why is he alive is there was a bomb, the concussion alone would kill a lot of people who were around. Did he find people blown up in the basement? I wonder what happen to the freight elevator if the plane severed the cable or sent stuff flying down the shaft? Debris falling 1000 feet down an express elevator shaft would sound like an explosion. The darn large fire ball explosion of Jet Fuel would sound like an explosion.

How can you know when the plane hit if you are in the basement? How do you know what you hear is not the shock wave in the steel of the impact, then you hear the impact thru the air, and or stuff falling? I thought the last people out were in the stairwell?

If I heard a blast I would search the building where I thought the blast came from and try to save people. Did he find a bomb blast area? And why was no blast area found after the WTC was dug up? Why was there no blast basement area after everything was taken apart? Where is the guy on fire with his skin coming off? Did he take him up and save him? Where are the others who were in the basement? Someone must have been near the "bomb"? Why did he not find a bombed out room?

Why is he not posting and answering all the questions? Why is he on the road telling a story about how it was an inside job? How much can you make speaking about things that are not true? How much will you get for acting in LCFC? Does Charlie Sheen really have some facts? And if so, where is he hiding them?

It has been 5 years and only one person from the basement thinks there were bombs planted? What kind of blast did it sound like when you sat with the FBI and described this crime? Did they play sounds of RDX, HMX, and the famous "thermite/thermate" sounds to you? Which one was it? Did you smell the products of the explosion? Did the FBI test you for explosive stuff? You did tell the FBI you think someone blew up the basement, right? So how many sounds did they run by you? How about smells?

How much do you get paid by truther groups to talk?

 

[William_Rodriguez]

Yes, I am here and I will not answer any questions until I see a change of atittude to open a discussion. The personal attacks that I saw in other threads prevented me to outreach and answer your questions. I joined out of respect to my friendship with Randi and he is aware that I am here. Maybe in a fututre when I see more respectful approach. Later.
William Rodriguez

 

[WildCat]

Yes, I am here and I will not answer any questions until I see a change of atittude to open a discussion. The personal attacks that I saw in other threads prevented me to outreach and answer your questions. I joined out of respect to my friendship with Randi and he is aware that I am here. Maybe in a fututre when I see more respectful approach. Later.
William Rodriguez

Sorry William, this is not the response of someone confident in his position. One would think that if you really believed that there were explosives pre-planted in the WTC on 9/11 and you had first-hand knowledge of this you would take on all comers, full speed ahead and damn the torpedos.

You were a hero on 9/11, you'd be a hero many times over if you could prove your claims to those who are skeptical rather than preaching to the converted as a well-paid speaker on the 9/11 "truth" circuit.

 

[William_Rodriguez]

prove to me that I am "well paid". I live in a basement and hardly make my ends meet.

 

[Calcas]

How much do you get paid by truther groups to talk?

It's hard to say anything bad about someone who was there, especially someone regarded as a hero.

That being said, it makes me wonder when Willie starts threads like this at lcf.

http://z10.invisionfree.com/Loose_Change_Forum/index.php?showtopic=8085

 

[The Doc]

Yes, I am here and I will not answer any questions until I see a change of atittude to open a discussion. The personal attacks that I saw in other threads prevented me to outreach and answer your questions. I joined out of respect to my friendship with Randi and he is aware that I am here. Maybe in a fututre when I see more respectful approach. Later.
William Rodriguez

Welcome to the forum Mr. Rodriguez,

I look forward to the day you can post here

The Doc.

 

[William_Rodriguez]

read the whole thread in LC. I am just posting Barrets email and the coverage it received.

 

[Alt+F4]

Hello William....I for one never trash talk anyone here (with the exception of Ace Baker) and I must say that when your name comes up all I see are question marks.

Might I ask, what do you believe happened on 9/11? Was it 19 Islamic terrorists or perpetrators commanded by the Bush Administration or a third choice?

Thanks in advance.

 

[WildCat]

prove to me that I am "well paid". I live in a basement and hardly make my ends meet.

I'd be more interested in how you could determine the explosions you heard happened before the planes struck the WTC, since you were in the basement. And how the elevators continued to operate when the shafts were packed with explosives. And what those explosives were supposed to accomplish since they cause zero structural damage to the WTC.

But if you'd rather talk finances, who footed the bill for your month-long speaking tour of the UK and what did you charge per appearance?

eta: btw William, no one doubts that there were explosions in the basements, lobby, and also on many floors. The problem for you is that all of these were at the elevators - supporting the findings of NIST that the explosions were from jet fuel spilling down the shafts and igniting. You think that they were due to bombs, yes?

 

[Crazy Chainsaw]

Yes, I am here and I will not answer any questions until I see a change of atittude to open a discussion. The personal attacks that I saw in other threads prevented me to outreach and answer your questions. I joined out of respect to my friendship with Randi and he is aware that I am here. Maybe in a fututre when I see more respectful approach. Later.
William Rodriguez

Hello Mr. Rodriguez,
I hope that one day you can interact and post here, Until then you have my respect as the Hero you are for what you did on 9/11/2001.

 

[Mangoose]

The main question that I have concerns Rodriguez' interpretation of the second event, seconds later, which he believes was "when the plane hit". I have trouble understanding how a person in the basement is able to identify the second event as when the plane hit, as opposed to the first. I would assume that being in the basement, he had no visual access to what was happening outside, could not hear the screaming engines as a person outside would hear, so I am curious to learn what was it about the second event that made him conclude "That was when the plane hit" as opposed to the first. I can easily see how a plane crash into a 110-story building would be perceived by a person in the basement as two separate events: first, the shudder of the aircraft penetrating the outer columns of the building (which made the building sway back and forth) and the combustion of the jet fuel seconds later, which shot down elevator shafts as other witnesses claim (the Naudet video also shows the plane hitting the building more squarely at the core than the South Tower crash, and the smaller fireball outside may reflect the greater amount of fuel delivered inside the building to the core where the elevator shafts were).

I also just noticed that the cracking of the walls is attributed to the first event in one account, and the second event in the other.

Originally Posted by William Rodriguez

At 8:46 a.m. he heard an explosion. “Boom!” Rodriguez imitated. He heard a man screaming “Explosion! Explosion!” from underneath. “I wanted to say a generator blew up. I thought it was a bomb.” This piece of evidence may show explosives were used in accompaniment to the hijacked planes, he said. When the plane hit, “the walls cracked and the building shook.”

Originally Posted by William Rodriguez

"We thought the generator blew up. Walls cracked, the ceiling fell on us, and the sprinkler system went off. Horror," the former North Tower janitor said Sunday. A man with skin melting from his face, arms and hands came running into the office shortly after, yelling "explosion, explosion!" A plane rammed into the building moments later, recalled Rodriguez, a native of Puerto Rico and United States citizen."

 

[LashL]

Yes, I am here and I will not answer any questions until I see a change of atittude to open a discussion. The personal attacks that I saw in other threads prevented me to outreach and answer your questions. I joined out of respect to my friendship with Randi and he is aware that I am here. Maybe in a fututre when I see more respectful approach. Later.
William Rodriguez

So, you posted just to say that you will not post until you see a "change of attitude" as it pertains to you? It sounds like you are looking for sycophants, William. You won't find any here among the skeptics and critical thinkers.

In my opinion, you showed some bravery on September 11, 2001. As far as I know, most people here do not dispute that. That does not, however, make your subsequent stories and inconsistencies immune from scrutiny. Nor does it render your erroneous interpretations of events accurate. Nor does it cause critical thinkers to suspend their rational and critical thinking skills.

When you are ready to respond to legitimate questions about the various versions of events that you have given, and the apparent inconsistencies contained therein, I am sure that many here will be pleased to engage in discussion with you.

Until then, your refusal to engage is not exactly a big loss. An old song springs to mind, the hook line of which is, "Got along without you before I met you, I'll get along without you now".

 

[Hyperviolet]

What is with these insinuations about a money grabbing Mr Rodriguez?

Show some respect.

 

[JamesB]

I have often wondered that. If he was in the basement, how the hell would he be able to tell exactly when the plane hit? I would imagine the plane hitting would sound exactly like an explosion.