http://www.smh.com.au/world/utzons-son-signs-up-for-september-11-conspiracy-theory-20091124-jhf7.html

Utzon's son signs up for September 11 conspiracy theory

AS CONSPIRACY theories go, it is up there with the CIA assassination of president John Kennedy and the faked moon landings. The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001, have spawned a cottage industry devoted to questioning whether they were the work of al-Qaeda and hinting that it was ''an inside job''.

Now a lead figure in the self-described ''9/11 truth movement'', an American architect, Richard Gage, has revealed one of its most high-profile adherents to date: Jan Utzon, son of the world-famous designer of the Sydney Opera House, Joern Utzon.

In a video posted on YouTube during his current visit to Sydney, Mr Utzon is interviewed by Mr Gage and endorses his call for a new inquiry into the September 11, 2001, attacks.

''I think it is important that we get all the things on the table, all the different facts, and see what is actually right,'' Mr Utzon tells Mr Gage. ''Because if somebody, they are indeed trying to cover something up, it is good to get it out in the open. Because what else would they be covering up?''

Speaking in a corridor in the Sydney Opera House, Mr Gage reveals that Mr Utzon signed a petition organised by his organisation, Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth, demanding an inquiry a year ago.

Contacted yesterday about the comments, Mr Utzon said he was ''a bit surprised'' that the video had been posted. Yet he repeated his call for an investigation and said distrust of the media was a significant driver of that.

''I have an inborn sense [that] what is coming out in the media is slightly, or to a large extent, a distorted version of what actually happened,'' Mr Utzon said. ''This comes right back from where my father had to leave the Opera House job here in Sydney and consequent media reports on his life and his doings.''

The nine-minute conversation focuses largely on the fate of the so-called ''Building 7'', a 47-storey building north of the World Trade Centre towers, which collapsed seven hours after the planes hit the neighbouring towers without being hit.

Mr Gage has promoted the suggestion that, owing to the way the building collapsed - straight down, much like a controlled demolition using explosives - and the presence of residue from a high explosive in the debris, that it was deliberately brought down.

In an interview on New Zealand radio on Saturday, Mr Gage said thermite was ''made only in the most sophisticated defence contracting laboratories. This is not made in a cave in Afghanistan. So we're looking at some sort of different phenomena here, scheme if you will, than an al-Qaeda operation. This is why people call [the September 11 attacks] an inside job.''

Mr Gage said yesterday that Mr Utzon had no problem with him publishing the video and was happy he had joined the call for an inquiry.

A three-year investigation was conducted into Building 7's collapse by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (see separate story).

Mr Utzon said he had become interested in exploring theories about the attacks after staying at a Manly hotel whose owner introduced him to some websites. The hotel owner encouraged him to sign Mr Gage's online petition, which he did. However, he had not read any of the official reports and therefore did not regard himself as well informed.

An Opera House spokeswoman said Mr Utzon was ''entitled to his personal views outside of his professional work as architectural adviser to Sydney Opera House''.