9/11

by Carley Carpenter, Senior

February 17, 2017

While there are many videos and photographs of two planes striking the Twin Towers, this is not enough to convince conspiracists of the legitimacy of the terrorist attack that took place on September 11, 2001. According to a Zogby poll in 2006, approximately 42% of Americans believe that the government concealed and refused to investigate evidence that contradicts the official explanation of the attacks. Although investigative teams found no evidence that United States government had planned the attack, the lack of proof is not enough to put an end to the conspiracy theory.

On September 11, 2001, 19 Islamic extremists from the terror group Al-Qaeda hijacked four aircrafts with the intent of a carrying suicide attacks at various locations in the East. Two of these aircrafts crashed into the World Trade Center, while one other aircraft crashed into the Pentagon just outside of Washington D.C., and the final aircraft crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. Out of these four, the World Trade Centers attack was the most deadly. The first plane crashed into the north tower with 20,000 gallons of jet fuel on board. The attack left a gaping hole in the north tower, instantly killing hundreds of civilians, and trapping hundreds more in the floors above the hole. 18 minutes after the first attack, another aircraft aimed for the buildings, and crashed into the south tower. The attacks, causing approximately 3,000 deaths and 10,000 wounds, will forever be remembered as one of the most horrific and tragic days in the history of the United States.

While these attacks were devastating for countless families, there are still many people today that believe the attacks on 9/11 were staged by the United States Government. This theory is often built upon the suggestion that the 9/11 was not a terrorist attack at all, but rather the U.S. government set up the attack to legitimize the militarization of America in the pursuit of world conquest. This theory aims to prove that , with all the special defenses that the government employs, there is no way the attacks could have happened without the U.S. allowing it. In experience, “planes that lose contact with control towers are usually intercepted by fighter jets inside of ten minutes” (Kaminski), yet the aircrafts that hit the World Trade Center were allowed to travel for 45 minutes without any attempt at interception. The theory attempts to prove that the towers could not have collapsed due to burning jet fuel of the planes because most of the fuel was either consumed on impact, or spilled outside of the building. The common belief is that the government planted explosives within the structural support of the buildings, and had these explosives timed to detonate when the jet fighters attacked. Conspiracists wonder why the debris from the collapsed Twin Towers was not forensically examined, and was sold to scrap merchants or shipped abroad where it was not accessible for scientific examination.

Along with the attack on the World Trade Center, conspiracists believe that the attack on the Pentagon simply did not happen. Sources said that the damage to the building was not consistent with the size of the hole nor the absence of debris. At the sight where the plane was said to have hit, windows were unbroken, and there were no marks on the surrounding lawn. No airplane debris nor remains of passengers on the flight were found.

Other conspiracists may not go as far to say that the attack was staged by the United States government, but would argue that the government knew the attack was coming and failed to warn the public. Supporters of this belief bring forth evidence that 15 out of the 19 hijackers of the 9/11 attack failed to fill in visa documents properly in Saudi Arabia. Theoretically, all 15 attackers should have been denied entry into our country, and if the State Department had simply followed the law, the attack would not have been able to take place. Not only this, but German intelligence is said to have “warned the CIA that Middle Eastern terrorists are training for hijacking and targeting American interests, and warns of suicide pilots training for attacks” (Paul Thompson). Even though the Unites States receives warnings such as these rather frequently, conspiracists question why the U.S. did not respond to these threats or make preparations for said attacks. Perhaps the most compelling piece of evidence Thompson has provided, is that many Pentagon leaders abruptly cancel travel plans for the morning of 9/11 the night before due to security concerns, yet these concerns were not shared with citizens. Shortly after the attack, data recovery experts extracted data from multiple damaged computers that belonged to these officials and found a surge in financial transactions directly before the attacks. The transfers were illegal shares of over $100 million to unknown receivers. Questions are still being asked about this. Who was the money going to? What were said security concerns? Although these questions are commonly asked, it is likely that the answers will never be provided.

Did the United States stage the terrorist attacks that took place on 9/11? It seems unlikely that our government would go as far as to kill 3,000 of its own people simply to give reason to go to war, and it seems unlikely that the government would fail to warn civilians of an attack coming. Although the thought of the government turning on supporters appears unreasonable, there seems ample evidence to support the possibility of a conspiracy.