UW review expected today of instructor's 9/11 comments

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/14987344.htm

Associated Press
7/7/2006

MADISON, Wis. (AP) _ A University of Wisconsin instructor under fire for his view that the U.S. government orchestrated the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks said Thursday he was confident he would keep his job.

Kevin Barrett also told The Associated Press he was elated the controversy has given his cause long-sought publicity.

"If these idiots had just kept their mouths shut, nobody would have ever heard of me," Barrett said of his critics. "I've been trying to get publicity for years."

Barrett, active in a group called Scholars for 9/11 Truth, is among a small group that believes the attacks were carried out by U.S. government officials, not al-Qaida terrorists. He came under fire after he spoke on a Wisconsin talk show last week and acknowledged he presented the theory to his students in the past.

After the appearance, UW-Madison Provost Patrick Farrell launched a review into Barrett's past performance and whether the content of the course on Islam he is scheduled to teach this fall is appropriate. The findings are expected to be released Friday.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Green demanded on Thursday that Barrett be fired for his views before he speaks Sunday at a forum on social justice at UW-Milwaukee.

"His views on the worst terrorist attack on American soil are casting a negative shadow nationally on the university system and our entire state," Green wrote in a letter to UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley. He said Barrett should be fired before his talk on Sunday "gives any more unwanted publicity to the university."