An Arab League think tank, the Zayed Center for Coordination and Follow Up, has hosted a lecture by the author of a book that says the U.S. military was responsible for the attacks on Sept. 11.

Theirry Meyssan, author of "The Appalling Fraud," spoke at the event on April 8.

A summary of the lecture and Arab media reports about the event were translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute, or MEMRI.

ZCCF material says the think tank was established by the Arab League in 1999 and that the list of speakers the group has hosted this year includes former Vice President Al Gore, former Secretary of State James Baker and Neil Bush, brother of President George W. Bush.

According to the MEMRI translation, Meyssan asserted the following in presenting his argument:

• "Both Congress and the U.S. media covered up the truth by not investigating events;

• "It was not reported that the White House's Old Executive Building was bombed, as was a third building in Manhattan;

• "The 1,200 detainees held in the U.S. knew nothing of the attacks, and their names are kept secret so that they cannot be charged;

• "The American military – to further its interest and hegemony over the world – was responsible for the attacks;

• "It is a possibility that the planes of Sept. 11 were remote-controlled. For two hours before the attack, waves from a homing device were recorded transmitting from, and interfering with transmission from, the twin towers, and such a device could be used to direct airplanes. If the planes were controlled by remote, no hijackers were needed, thus the passenger lists were fake"; and

• "Bin Laden's involvement: 'This myth also does not stand analysis,' since he was a previous CIA agent who was visited by the head of the CIA in a Dubai hospital in July."

On April 10, says MEMRI, the Saudi government daily The Saudi Gazette ran a story on the lecture titled "U.S. military officials behind 9/11 attacks – French author." The article detailed Meyssan's proposal that a United Nations panel be established to find those really behind Sept. 11 and that until this happens, all American military operations, including any against Iran or Iraq, should be considered illegal. The Saudi Gazette quoted Meyssan as stating, "… [T]hose who masterminded the operations and led them were American terrorists."

"The fact that [presidential] communication codes were decoded by the attackers proves that at least one of the masterminds of the attack was an American military official," the paper quotes Meyssan as saying.

Said the story, "Commenting on the assumption that American military officials had planned the attacks, [Meyssan] said that such an assumption could be true, as a similar thing happened in 1961 when the American command planned internal attacks against American citizens."