Fujita Denies Washington Post 9/11 Comment

THE STRAITS TIMES

Mar 9, 2010

Fujita Denies calling 9/11 a hoax
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_499856.html

TOKYO - A LAWMAKER and foreign policy expert of Japan's centre-left ruling party Tuesday denied telling The Washington Post that he suspects the September 11, 2001 attack on New York was a hoax.

In an editorial Monday, the US newspaper said Yukihisa Fujita, a lawmaker of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), had questioned that the attacks were the work of terrorists.

The newspaper, which recently interviewed the upper house lawmaker in Tokyo, said he 'seems to think that America's rendering of the events of Sept 11, 2001 is a gigantic hoax.' In the past, Fujita has called for an independent investigation into the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people and he has published a book entitled 'Parliamentary pursuit of suspicion over 9/11 terrorism.'


Fujita, the director general of the DPJ's international department, admitted referring to the attacks 'during informal talks' with the Post following an interview that had focused on Japan's immigration policies.

'But I clearly said I have never concluded that September 11 was a dark plot and never stated that (the collapse) of the Twin Towers was a controlled demolition,' Fujita said in a statement. 'We cannot help but conclude that it's a seditious report distorting facts.' Fujita separately told AFP: 'I'm puzzled and annoyed. I'm considering how I should take action to protest against the editorial.'

The newspaper also said: 'His views, rooted as they are in profound distrust of the United States, seem to reflect a strain of anti-American thought that runs through the DPJ and the government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.' Hatoyama's government took power in September, vowing more 'equal' ties with Washington after more than five decades of almost unbroken conservative rule. -- AFP