ATTACKS ON 9/11
There are a considerable number of people in the United States and around the world who question the official U.S. government account of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. 9/11 “Truthers” believe that a deeper conspiracy lies behind the attacks, that the government may have had prior knowledge of the attacks or even more sinisterly, was somehow involved in them. Some 9/11 conspiracy theorists would go as far as to suggest that government allowed the attacks to happen to justify the “War on Terror” and the subsequent invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Some “Truthers” have likened the way that the towers fell to resembling a controlled demolition. They cite eye-witnesses who reported hearing explosions and seeing debris flying out from the lower levels of the towers prior to their collapse. They question how the fires which followed the planes impacting the towers could have caused such structural damage as to cause the buildings to fall the way they did. They highlight the relatively short duration of the fires – the fire in World Trade Center 1 burned for 102 minutes, while the fire in World Trade Center 2 lasted for 56 minutes before the building collapsed.
However, a thorough inquiry by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) concluded that the planes “severed and damaged support columns and dislodged fire proofing.” Approximately 10,000 gallons of jet fuel exploded upon impact reaching temperatures of up to 1000°C which caused the perimeter columns to bend and the floors to collapse creating “a dynamic load far in excess of what the columns were designed for.” The debris eye-witnesses reported seeing flying out the windows of the lower floors resulted from the collapse of the floors above them. Some also question the collapse of Building 7 on the same day. However, The NIST concluded that Tower 7 collapsed due to uncontrolled fires caused by the collapse of the nearby North Tower which burned for seven hours.
Further arguments against a controlled demolition include the fact that the collapse of the towers began from the top down, rather than from the bottom up which would be the case in a controlled demolition. The subsequent examination of the debris at Ground Zero found no evidence supporting a controlled explosion. Despite thorough hand searches, no explosive charges were ever recovered nor was there any evidence of any pre-cutting of columns or walls which would be normally carried out prior to a controlled explosion.
Some 9/11 conspiracy theorists dispute that the Pentagon was even hit by an airplane, suggesting that the structural damage to the Pentagon would have been far greater had it been hit by a large commercial airliner and that the debris would have been more evident in the early video footage and photos taken in the immediate aftermath. They argue instead that they believe the Pentagon was hit by a missile or an unmanned drone. However, airplane wreckage which included the airplanes black boxes were found at the scene and more importantly, the remains of the crew and passengers of the plane were recovered and positively identified by DNA.
Some disbelieve the official version of events surrounding Flight 93. Similar to their argument regarding the Pentagon attack, they argue that the debris at the crash site would have been more extensive had it occurred per the official explanation. They argue that the plane was more likely to have been shot down by the military. However, photographic evidence shows aircraft wreckage at the scene and the conspiracy theory claims that the wreckage was spread over a wider area turned out to be false. The aircraft’s cockpit voice recorder also supports the official version of the passengers clashing onboard with the hijackers, who then deliberately crashed the aircraft.