9/11 conspiracy theories: Difference between revisions

Since the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]], a variety of [[conspiracy theories]] have emerged which contradict the mainstream account of events that day. The theories typically include suggestions that individuals in the [[Federal government of the United States|government of the United States]] knew of the impending attacks and refused to act on that knowledge, or even that they took active part in the attacks. Conspiracy theorists have claimed that the [[collapse of the World Trade Center]] was the result of a controlled demolition. Some also contend that a commercial airliner did not crash into [[the Pentagon]], and that [[United Airlines Flight 93]] was shot down. The scientific community does not support the controlled demolition hypothesis and U.S. officials, mainstream journalists, and researchers have concluded that only [[al-Qaeda]] was involved in the attacks.

==The Mainstream account==

In the years immediately following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the [[US government]] explained that the attacks were carried out by members of the terrorist organisation [[al-Qaeda]], headed by [[Osama Bin Laden]]. On the morning of September 11, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes by using [[box cutter]]s, [[Mace (spray)|mace]] and fake explosives. They piloted the planes themselves and crashed these into the [[World Trade Center]] and [[The Pentagon]]. According to the scientific account, the World Trade Center towers later collapsed due to the impact damage, removal of the fire protection and the intense fires. Due to the collapse of [[World Trade Center One]] and [[World Trade Center Two|Two]], all the surrounding World Trade Center buildings were heavily damaged as well, leading in turn to their complete or partial collapse. [[United Airlines Flight 93]] crashed in [[Pennsylvania]] later that day after passengers hearing of the previous attacks in [[Air-ground radiotelephone service|air phone]] and cell phone conversations and brought the plane down. The U.S. government claimed it had no advance knowledge of the attacks.

Organizations representing the victims' families such as the [[Jersey Girls]] demanded further investigation and, after initial reluctance, the administration acceded to their request. The bipartisan [[9/11 Commission]] was formed tasked with “not placing individual blame” but providing an explanation as to what happened and making recommendations to prevent a recurrence. In 2004 the commission released its [[9/11 commission report|report]]. It revealed that there were prior warnings of varying detail that the United States would be attacked by al-Qaeda. These were ignored due to a lack of communication between various law enforcement personnel. The report cited bureaucratic inertia and laws passed in the 1970’s designed to prevent abuses that resulted major scandals during that era for the lack of interagency communication. The report also faulted both the [[Clinton administration|Clinton]] and the [[George W. Bush administration|Bush administration]] with “[[failure of imagination]]”. The explanation laid out in the report has been endorsed by most members of both major political parties and news media, and is what conspiracy theorists refer to as "the official account" of the September, 2001 attacks.

==Origins and reception==

[[Image:CNN911scrn.jpg|thumb|left|200px|CNN broadcast of September 11 destruction when the second plane struck the south tower of the WTC.]]

Since the September 11 attacks, a number of websites, books, and films, largely promoted on and distributed through the Internet, have challenged the "official account" of the attacks. Although the "official account" contends al-Qaeda "[[conspiracy|conspired]]" to execute the attacks on the World Trade Center in the legal sense, a 9/11 [[conspiracy theory]] normally refers to a belief in a broad conspiracy, in which the attacks were executed by powerful groups often including government agencies or an alleged [[Secret society|secret]] global network. Because belief in such networks predates the September 11, 2001 attacks, it may be argued that 9/11 conspiracy theories originated before the attacks themselves. The body of groups and individuals challenging the official account often refer to themselves as the [[9/11 Truth Movement]].

Inititially, 9/11 conspiracy theories received little attention in the media. In an address to the [[United Nations]] on [[November 10]], [[2001]], [[President of the United States|United States President]] [[George W. Bush]] denounced the emergence of "outrageous conspiracy theories ... that attempt to shift the blame away from the terrorists."<ref>{{cite web| author= Bush, George Walker|title = Remarks by the President To United Nations General Assembly| publisher = [[White House]]| date = November 10, 2001| url =http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/11/20011110-3.html}}</ref> Later, as media exposure of conspiracy theories of the events of 9/11 increased, US government agencies and the [[George W. Bush administration|Bush Administration]] issued refutations to the theories, including a formal response by the [[National Institute of Standards and Technology|National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)]] to questions about the destruction of the World Trade Center,<ref>{{cite web|title = National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation of the World Trade Center Disaster: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions| publisher = [[NIST]]| url =http://wtc.nist.gov/pubs/factsheets/faqs_8_2006.htm}}</ref> a revised 2006 [[State Department]] webpage to debunk the theories,<ref>{{cite web|title = The Top September 11 Conspiracy Theories| publisher = Bureau of International Information Programs, [[U.S. Department of State]]| date= [[28 August]], 2006| url=http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=pubs-english&y=2006&m=August&x=20060828133846esnamfuaK0.2676355}}</ref> and a strategy paper referred to by President Bush in an August 2006 speech, which declares that terrorism springs from "subcultures of conspiracy and misinformation," and that "terrorists recruit more effectively from populations whose information about the world is contaminated by falsehoods and corrupted by conspiracy theories. The distortions keep alive grievances and filter out facts that would challenge popular prejudices and self-serving propaganda."<ref>{{cite web|title =

Strategy for Winning the War on Terror| publisher = [[White House]]|date=September 2006| url = http://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/nsct/2006/sectionV.html}}</ref>

In August 2004, a [[Zogby]] International poll indicated that 49.3% [[New York City]] residents and 41% of New York citizens "overall" say US Leaders "knew in advance that attacks were planned on or around September 11, 2001, and that they consciously failed to act".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zogby.com/search/ReadNews.dbm?ID=855 |title=Half of New Yorkers Believe US Leaders Had Foreknowledge of Impending 9-11 Attacks and “Consciously Failed” To Act; 66% Call For New Probe of Unanswered Questions by Congress or New York’s Attorney General, New Zogby International Poll Reveals |year=2004|publisher=[[Zogby]]}}</ref> In July 2006, a [[Scripps Howard]] and [[Ohio University]] poll concluded that "Thirty-six percent of respondents overall said it is "very likely" or "somewhat likely" that federal officials either participated in the attacks on the [[World Trade Center]] and the [[Pentagon]] or took no action to stop them", "sixteen percent said it's "very likely" or "somewhat likely" that the collapse of the twin towers in New York was aided by explosives secretly planted in the two buildings" and "twelve percent suspect the Pentagon was struck by a military cruise missile in 2001 rather than by an airliner captured by terrorists".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scrippsnews.com/911poll |title=Third of Americans suspect 9-11 government conspiracy |year=2006 |publisher=Scripps News}}</ref> A May 2006 Zogby International poll indicated that 42% of Americans more likely agree with people who believe that "the US government and its 9/11 Commission concealed or refused to investigate critical evidence that contradicts their official explanation of the September 11th attacks, saying there has been a cover-up."<ref>{{cite web |title=A word about our poll of American thinking toward the 9/11 terrorist attacks| url=http://www.zogby.com/features/features.dbm?ID=231 |date=May 24, 2006 | Publisher=[[Zogby]]}}</ref> A September 2006 Ipsos-Reid poll found that 22 percent of Canadians believe "the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, had nothing to do with Osama Bin Laden and were actually a plot by influential Americans."<ref>{{cite web |title = One in 5 Canadians sees 9/11 as U.S. plot: poll|url = http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N11186384.htm |publisher =Reuters| date = September 11, 2006}}</ref>

Just prior to the fifth anniversary of the attacks, a flurry of mainstream news articles on 9/11 conspiracy theories were released.<ref>{{cite news |first = Jim |last = Wolf|title = U.S rebuts 9/11 homegrown conspiracy theories|url = http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/02/AR2006090200527.html|publisher = [[Reuters]]|date = September 2, 2006}}</ref><ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/02/nyregion/02conspiracy.html?_r=4&adxnnl=1&oref=login&adxnnlx=1157207396-nJjIOomwyfdVjzGQYkuTsw&oref=slogin&oref=slogin]</ref> In its coverage [[Time Magazine]] stated, "This is not a fringe phenomenon. It is a mainstream political reality."<ref>{{cite news |first = Lev|last = Grossman|title = Why The 9/11 Conspiracies Won't Go Away|url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1531304-1,00.html|publisher = [[Time Magazine]]|date = September 3, 2006}}</ref> Mainstream coverage has generally presented these theories as a cultural phenomenon and is often very critical of their content.

==Main approaches==

9/11 conspiracy theories generally start with dissatisfaction with the official explanation of 9/11.<ref>Sales, Nancy Jo. "Click Here For Conspiracy", ''Vanity Fair'' July 9, 2006 [http://www.vanityfair.com/commentary/content/printables/060731roco01?print=true]</ref> But criticism of the official account does not in and of itself constitute a conspiracy theory. 9/11 conspiracy theories constitute a strong version of the [[9/11 Truth Movement]].

The weak version, which does not directly imply a conspiracy, merely suspects that government agencies, including the military and intelligence communities, dealt incompetently with the 9/11 attacks. It may go as far as suggesting that the 9/11 Commission covered up these alleged incompetencies and even that part of the incompetence involved inappropriate reactions to advanced warnings.<ref>

Eggen, Dan. "9/11 Panel Suspected Deception by Pentagon", ''Washington Post'', Wednesday, August 2, 2006, page A03.[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/01/AR2006080101300.html?sub=new]</ref> While 9/11 conspiracy theories often include such claims, they go further to suggest intentional activities that either facilitated or directly caused the attacks. There are two main categories of 9/11 conspiracy theories.

# Key individuals within the government and defense establishment "let it happen on purpose" (LIHOP). That is, they knew the attacks were coming (though there is a range of opinion about how specific their knowledge was) and undertook to weaken America's defenses sufficiently to ensure a successful major terrorist attack on home soil.

# Key individuals within the government and defense establishment "made it happen on purpose" (MIHOP). That is, they planned the attacks (and here there is a range of opinion about what the plan was) and ultimately carried it into action.

Some theories go on to identify the people who had the power to either make it or let it happen purposefully. This list of suspects also varies considerably across theories.<ref>Sales, Nancy Jo. "Click Here For Conspiracy", ''Vanity Fair'' July 9, 2006 [http://www.vanityfair.com/commentary/content/printables/060731roco01?print=true]</ref>

The case for the theories is generally built on publicly available sources following a "connect the dots" approach. These sources include news reports of government actions, terrorist activities, and physical events, and a substantial amount of video footage. Part of the argument is a critique of the mainstream media for reporting individual facts without making an adequate effort to understand the connections between them. Conspiracy theories emerge from making such connections in the interpretative room left open by "unanswered questions". In some cases, conspiracy theorists will insist on the accuracy of early news reports that have since been retracted, refuted, or forgotten.

Arguments are offered to suggest both the physical possibility and circumstancial plausibility of a given conspiracy theory and, correspondingly, to demonstrate the physical impossibility and circumstancial implausibility of the official account. Since most conspiracy theorists argue for further indepedent investigations of the attacks, the basic assertion is normally only that the alternative conspiracy theory is ''more likely'' than "the official conspiracy theory". The remainder of this article provides a survey of the arguments, which are generally combined by individual theorists in overlapping and sometimes incompatible ways.

==Basic argument==

Unlike the official account, which suggests that the perpetrators (the terrorists) got much more than they bargained for, conspiracy theorists assume that the 9/11 attacks achieved more-or-less exactly their intended result. They therefore draw conclusions about the motives for 9/11 by looking at its consequences. Among these they emphasize the powerful military presence of the US in the Middle East (implying, they say, increased control over oil and natural gas reserves), the significant increase in funding for the American military and the intelligence community, the restrictions on civil liberties (often presented as an attack on the US constitution), and a general will to rule the world through brute military force. 9/11, the argument goes, was a convenient opportunity for certain factions of the American establishment, and the Bush administration in particular, to achieve key foreign and domestic policy goals that had been determined in advance of the attacks.<ref>This basic argument can be found a variety of forms in the work of David Ray Griffin, Webster Griffin Tarpley, Michael C. Ruppert and Ahmed M. Afeez.</ref>

Many point to the writings of [[neoconservative]] strategists to suggest that 9/11 was, at best, on their 'wish list' and, at worst, on their list of 'things to do'. The standard reference in presenting this idea has become a document titled ''Rebuilding America's Defenses'', which was written by the [[Project for the New American Century]]. This document outlines a global strategy that conspiracy theorists say is very similar in its details to the military strategy of the [[War on Terror]]. The document includes the line "the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event - like a new Pearl Harbor."<ref>This document is available in its entirety online.[http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf]</ref> On this basis, David Ray Griffin and others have presented an argument that draws a parallel to a particular interpretation of the Japanese [[Attack on Pearl Harbor]] in 1941, according to which Roosevelt both provoked the attack and allowed it to happen in order to have a pretext for American entry into the second world war. Conspiracy theorists believe that 9/11 constitutes a "new Pearl Harbor" in at least this sense (LIHOP), many also adding the element of "[[false flag]] terrorism", i.e., that the attacks were organized by at least some of its supposed beneficiaries (MIHOP).

==Pattern of behavior==

To establish that the United States government (which some allege to have carried out the September 11, 2001 attacks) would be willing to use a staged incident to generate support for an armed conflict (which some conspiracy theorists claim was the purpose behind the attacks) conspiracy theorists have often pointed to [[Operation Northwoods]]. This plan<ref>The document recommending Operation Northwoods can be downloaded from the National Security Archive of the George Washington University at [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20010430/ http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20010430/].</ref>, which was proposed by [[U.S. Department of Defense]] leaders in 1962 during the [[Kennedy administration]], was meant to generate U.S. public support for military action against the [[Cuban]] government of [[Fidel Castro]]. The plan suggested various false flag actions, including simulated or real state sponsored acts on U.S. and Cuban soil. The plan, however, was rejected by the Kennedy administration.<ref>{{cite web| title=U.S. Military Wanted to Provoke War With Cuba | publisher=ABC News url= http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=92662}}</ref>

==Government foreknowledge==

[[Image:WTC1_on_fire.jpg|thumb|250px|The World Trade Center on fire. The plume of smoke escaping the Twin Towers is seen for miles.]]

One theory is that individuals within the United States government and private sector knew of the impending attacks and purposefully did not act on that knowledge. Former British Environment Minister [[Michael Meacher]] suggested this possibility.<ref>{{cite web| last = Meacher| first = Michael| authorlink = Michael Meacher| year = 2003| url = http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/comment/0,12956,1036687,00.html| title = This war on terrorism is bogus| work = The Guardian Unlimited - Comment| publisher = Guardian Newspapers Limited | accessdate = 2006-06-11}}</ref> The theory does not necessarily suggest that individuals within the US Government actually conducted the operation, but rather that they had enough information to have prevented the attack.

===Intelligence issues===

''Shortly after the attacks, [[David Schippers]], the chief prosecutor for the impeachment of [[Bill Clinton]], stated that the government had been warned in 1995 about a future attack on a government building and that later he was contacted by three FBI agents who mentioned uncovering a possible terrorist attack planned for lower Manhattan.''<ref>{{cite web | title=Interview with David Schippers| work=Alex Jones Infowars.com | url=http://infowars.com/transcript_schippers.html| accessdate=2006-05-02}}</ref>

*According to the story, as the agents informed their superiors they were briefed not to pursue the issue and threatened with prosecution. David Schippers declared, "Five weeks before the September 11 tragedy, I did my best to get a hold of [[Attorney General]] [[John Ashcroft]] with my concerns." According to Mr. Schippers, Ashcroft responded that they do not start investigations at the top.

*Mr. Schippers has said the information dated back to a 1995 warning that indicated a possible terrorist attack planned for lower Manhattan using a nuclear device.<ref>{{cite web| last = Crogan| first = Jim| year = 2002| url = http://www.laweekly.com/ink/02/37/news-crogan.php| title = Another FBI Agent Blows the Whistle| work = LA Weekly News| publisher = LA

Weekly, LP| accessdate = 2006-06-11}}</ref>

*Author William Norman Grigg furthered the Schippers story in his article "Did We Know What Was Coming?" According to the article, three unnamed veteran federal law enforcement agents confirmed "the information provided to Schippers was widely known within the Bureau before September 11."<ref>{{cite web| last = Grigg| first = William Norman| year = 2002| url = http://www.thenewamerican.com/tna/2002/03-11-2002/vo18no05_didweknow.htm| title = Did We Know What Was Coming?| work = The New American magazine| publisher = American Opinion Publishing Incorporated| accessdate = 2006-06-11}}</ref>

''Rep. [[Curt Weldon]] (R-PA) has asserted that over a year before the 9/11 attacks, a classified US intelligence unit known as "[[Able Danger]]" identified [[Mohamed Atta al-Sayed|Mohammed Atta]] and three other future 9/11 hijackers as likely members of an Al Qaeda cell operating in the US.'' (Able Danger was a [[SOCOM]] exercise.)

*The team recommended that the information be shared with the FBI, but the military's Special Operations Command rejected the recommendation. (New York Times, ''Four in 9/11 Plot Are Called Tied to Qaeda in '00'', 8/9/2005)

* Acting Pentagon Inspector General Thomas Gimble in a 71-page report given to Defense Department officials in [[September]] [[2006]] dismissed claims that an Army intelligence unit code-named Able Danger uncovered data that could have thwarted the September 11 attacks, saying the allegations could not be substantiated. "Able Danger team members did not identify Mohamed Atta or any other 9/11 hijacker," "In fact, Able Danger produced no actionable intelligence information"<ref>[http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=newsOne&storyID=2006-09-22T001929Z_01_N21401854_RTRUKOC_0_US-SECURITY-ABLEDANGER.xml&pageNumber=0&imageid=&cap=&sz=13&WTModLoc=NewsArt-C1-ArticlePage3]

</ref>

*Reacting to the Pentagon report Rep. Weldon said "The report trashes the reputations of military officers who had the courage to step forward and ... describe important work they were doing to track al-Qaida prior to 9/11". [[9/11 commission report|9/11 commission]] co-chairmen [[Thomas Kean]] said he hoped the report would put an end to discussion about Able Danger. "After this I don't know where it can go"<ref>[http://www.newsday.com/news/printedition/stories/ny-us911224901405sep22,0,5045153.story]</ref>

*Pentagon officials said they have found three more individuals who recall an intelligence chart identifying Mohamed Atta as a terrorist one year prior to the attacks.<ref>{{cite web| last = The Associated Press| year = 2005| url = http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9163145/| title = More remember Atta ID’d as terrorist pre-9/11| work = MSNBC News - US Security| publisher = MSNBC.com| accessdate = 2006-06-11}}</ref>

*[[FBI]] agent and [[Al-Qaeda]] expert [[John P. O'Neill]] warned of an Al-Qaeda threat to the United States in the year preceding the attacks. He retired from his position in mid 2001 after an undisclosed source leaked information to the ''New York Times'' about an investigation into an incident that had occurred 13 months earlier. He was then recruited to be chief of security at the [[World Trade Center]]. His body was found in a staircase inside the south tower rubble.<ref>{{cite web| last = Kirk| first = Michael| coauthors = Jim Gilmore | year = 2002| url = http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/knew/etc/script.html| title = The Man Who Knew| work = Transcript of Frontline program #2103| publisher = WGBH Educational Foundation| accessdate = 2006-06-11}}</ref>

===Possible early warning===

*On September 12, 2001, ''[[The San Francisco Chronicle]]'' reported that San Francisco Mayor [[Willie Brown (politician)|Willie Brown]] may have received an early warning of the attack, because Brown had said a phone call from his airport security eight hours before the attacks advised him that Americans should be cautious about their air travel. He did not cancel his flight plans until he became aware of the attacks.<ref>{{cite web| coauthors = Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross| year = 2001| url = http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/09/12/MN229389.DTL| title = Willie Brown got low-key early warning about air travel| work = Matier and Ross| publisher = San Francisco Chronicle | accessdate = 2006-06-11}}</ref>

*Of the call, Brown said it "didn't come in any alarming fashion, which is why I'm hesitant to make an alarming statement. It was not an abnormal call. I'm always concerned if my flight is going to be on time, and they always alert me when I ought to be careful."<ref>http://www.liberalconspiracy.com/911FAQ.htm</ref>

===Allegations of insider trading by people with foreknowledge===

News accounts in the aftermath reported a suspicious pattern of trading in the options of United and American Airlines<ref>[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/10/19/BU142745.DTL]</ref> as well as Morgan Stanley and<ref>http://cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/09/24/gen.europe.shortselling/</ref> other unusual market activity.<ref>http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/09/23/woil23.xml</ref>

*In a statement to the 9/11 Commission in 2003, Mindy Kleinberg, of the [[9/11 Family Steering Committee]], said:

::''"Never before on the Chicago Exchange were such large amounts of United and American Airlines options traded. These investors netted a profit of at least $5 million after the September 11th attacks. Interestingly, the names of the investors remain undisclosed and the $5 million remains unclaimed in the Chicago Exchange account."''<ref>http://www.9-11commission.gov/hearings/hearing1/witness_kleinberg.htm</ref>

However, according to the 9/11 Commission, the SEC and FBI examined each trade, the trades were innocuous, and no evidence of a connection was found:

<blockquote>

A single U.S.-based institutional investor with no conceivable ties to al Qaeda purchased 95 percent of the UAL puts on September 6 as part of a trading strategy that also included buying 115,000 shares of American on September 10. Similarly, much of the seemingly suspicious trading in American on September 10 was traced to a specific U.S.-based options trading newsletter, faxed to its subscribers on Sunday, September 9, that recommended these trades.<ref>page 51 of the [http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report_Notes.pdf Commission Report], PDF</ref></blockquote>

*Numerous conspiracy theorists express doubts that the Commission was actually able to explain worldwide trading patterns around the 9/11 attacks.<ref>http://911research.wtc7.net/sept11/stockputs.html</ref><ref>http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/12_06_01_death_profits_pt1.html</ref>

==World Trade Center - Controlled Demolition ==

{{main article|Controlled demolition hypothesis for the collapse of the World Trade Center}}

{{seealso|Collapse of the World Trade Center}}

The collapse of the World Trade Center was a surprise to the engineering community. While no skyscraper had ever before completely collapsed due to fire or other local damage, three skyscrapers collapsed on September 11, 2001. The challenge for engineers was then to explain how the ''local'' damage caused by the airplanes (or, in the case of WTC 7, falling debris) was able to occasion a ''global'' progressive collapse. After an intensive three-year investigation, the [[National Institute of Standards and Technology]] published an account that has been largely accepted in the engineering community. The official collapse mechanism refers only to the aircraft impacts and the subsequent fires, which are taken to have caused sufficient structural damage to occasion the collapses. Conspiracy theorists emphasize that the only precedents for global collapse before 9/11 are controlled demolitions, and demand a more thorough investigation of this possibility.<ref name="Bazant2006">Bazant, Zdenek P. and Mathieu Verdure. "Mechanics of Progressive Collapse: Learning from World Trade Center and Building Demolitions" in ''Journal of Engineering Mechanics ASCE'', in press. PDF[http://www.civil.northwestern.edu/people/bazant/PDFs/Papers/ProgressiveCollapseWTC-6-23-2006.pdf]</ref><ref name="nistfaq">{{cite web |publisher= National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation of the World Trade Center Disaster|title = Answers to Frequently Asked Questions | date=August 30, 2006|url =http://wtc.nist.gov/pubs/factsheets/faqs_8_2006.htm}}</ref>

The controlled demolition hypothesis plays a central, albeit not essential, role in the 9/11 conspiracy theories.<ref>See Michael Ruppert's, "The Kennedys, Physical Evidence, and 9/11", ''From the Wilderness'', 2003.[http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/112603_kennedy.html]</ref> Jeff King and [[Jim Hoffman]] were early defenders of the controlled demolition hypothesis and published their observations online.<ref>Plague Puppy, 9/11 Research</ref> David Ray Griffin included the theory in his book ''[[The New Pearl Harbor]]''. It received its most notable proponent to date in early 2006, when [[Steven E. Jones]], a physicist at [[Brigham Young University]], argued that a "gravity driven collapse" without demolition charges would defy the laws of physics.<ref>{{cite web | title = Why Indeed Did the World Trade Center Buildings Completely Collapse | work = Journal of 9/11 Studies, Vol. 3 | date = 2006, September | author = Dr. Steven E. Jones|url = http://worldtradecentertruth.com/volume/200609/WhyIndeedDidtheWorldTradeCenterBuildingsCompletelyCollapse.pdf}}</ref> There is a range of opinion about the most likely sort and amount of explosives, the way they were distributed, and how they were successfully brought into the building. Proponents of the hypothesis sometimes cite reports of what they believe are unusual power outages, maintenance work and emergency drills in the weeks leading up to September 11, 2001. Some conspiracy theorists propose a regular [[controlled demolition]], in which the role of the demolition charges would have been to remove the main structural supports in order to let gravity and the weight of the building do the rest. Steven Jones believes that [[thermite]] (thermate), perhaps in combination with other devices, was likely involved.

NIST has explicitly rejected this hypothesis.<ref name="nistfaq"/> There is widespread agreement, however, about the ''significance'' of the [[Controlled demolition hypothesis for the collapse of the World Trade Center|controlled demolition hypothesis]], even among those who don't endorse it specifically or conspiracy theories in general. The necessary devices could only have been planted well in advance of the September 11 attacks and would have required extraordinary access to three highly secured buildings.

===Building Seven===

Another aspect of the September 11, 2001 attacks conspiracy theorists frequently raise, is the collapse of [[Seven World Trade Center]], which they believe was caused by a [[controlled demolition]]. They cite several reasons for this. First, they believe the collapse displayed clear features of a [[controlled demolition]]. Second, they claim that since no plane hit the building, it should not have collapsed. The building, however, was heavily damaged by the collapse of the twin towers, just as world trade center 3, 4, 5 and 6, which all fully or partly collapsed. Third, in a PBS documentary on the collapse, Larry Silverstein, the owner of the building, explained the fire department had decided to "pull it".<ref>{{web cite|url=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7750532340306101329&q=trade+center+7&pl=true |title=Larry Silverstein on PBS Documentary (video) |date=2002, September}}</ref> Although his spokesperson explained that Silverstein meant that firefighters had decided to withdraw from the building and the surrounding area for their own safety<ref>http://usinfo.state.gov/media/Archive/2005/Sep/16-241966.html</ref>, many conspiracy theorist insist that "pull it" is technical slang in the demolition industry for demolish a building. However, individuals in the demolition industry do not in fact use this term.<ref>Debunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can't Stand up to the Facts</ref> Further fueling the conspiracy theory are the still ongoing investigation in the collapse (the NIST report is to be released early 2007) and the the fact that the building housed the offices of government agencies like the [[CIA]], the [[FBI]], and the [[SEC]], along with the City of New York's emergency command bunker.

==Pentagon - Not An Airplane==

[[Image:Pentagon security video1.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Security camera footage showing American Airlines Flight 77 (far right) just before impact.]]

[[Image:Lawn1.jpg|250px|thumb|The Pentagon, after collapse of the damaged section.]]

Claims that the Pentagon was hit by something significantly smaller than a [[Boeing 757]] (typically a [[missile]] or smaller aircraft) have been raised by some conspiracy theorists based on photographs in which there appears to be a lack of expected debris or pieces of a commercial aircraft within the immediate impact area, and what some believe is a lack of damage to the building and the lawn. One of the first proponents of this conspiracy theory was [[Thierry Meyssan]] in his book ''[[9/11: The Big Lie]]'', the idea was also advanced by the website ''Hunt the Boeing!''<ref>[http://www.asile.org/citoyens/numero13/pentagone/erreurs_en.htm Hunt the Boeing! And test your perceptions!]</ref> and the popular internet video ''[[Loose Change (video)|Loose Change]]''. A likely cause of these ideas was the initial scarcity of documentation of the attack. At first the only evidence available consisted of long distance photographs and video footage<ref name="pentagon footage">{{cite web|url=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1375208054676470714&q=loose+change+final+cut&hl=en |publisher=Louder Then Words |title=Our Presentation from the American Scholars Symposium}} - forward to 43 minute and 06 seconds for Bob Pugh's footage of The Pentagon minutes after the attack</ref> taken after the attack, eyewitness testimony from individuals at the scene, and five video frames captured by a security camera which were released on [[March 8]], [[2002]]. A large number of evidence was later released after the [[Zacarias Moussaoui]] trial and several [[Freedom of Information Act]] requests.

Suspicions were additionally fueled by a lack of video footage of the impact of the jetliner, since many assume that the Pentagon must be subject to intense camera surveillance for security reasons. In addition to the Pentagon's own security cameras, these people also noted that security camera footage from a nearby [[Citgo]] gas station and from the Virginia Department of Transportation was confiscated by the US government. On [[May 16]], [[2006]] the security camera footage was released as part of a Judicial Watch's FOIA request.<ref name="foia">{{cite web|url=http://www.judicialwatch.org/archive/2006/DOD-FOIA-pentagon-attack.pdf |publisher=Judicial Watch |title=FOIA request}}</ref><ref name="pentagon footage2">{{cite web|url=http://www.judicialwatch.org/flight77.shtml |publisher=Judical Watch |title=Defense Department Releases Two Videos of Flight 77 Crashing Into Pentagon}}</ref> However, due to a low number of frames per second, the videos do not clearly show the impact of the plane, only the approach of the plane (at an angle) and the explosion cloud, thus keeping "no Boeing" theory popular. In addition to the security cam footage, the Citgo footage was released on [[15 September]], [[2006]], but did not show the attacks.<ref>[http://www.judicialwatch.org/5965.shtml/ CITGO Gas Station Cameras Near Pentagon Evidently Did Not Capture Attack]</ref> The FBI is to release the Doubletree Hotel by [[November 9]], [[2006]]. Others are trying to obtain the over eighty other tapes confiscated in the Pentagon area after the attacks.<ref>[http://www.flight77.info/ flight 77.info - documenting the legal process to obtain government-held video recordings related to flight 77 on 9/11]</ref>

The Pentagon "no Boeing" theory constitutes a controversial issue, even among conspiracy theorists.<ref>http://www.911research.wtc7.net/essays/pentagon/index.html [Jim Hoffman - The Pentagon Attack: What the Physical Evidence Shows]</ref><ref>[http://www.oilempire.us/pentagon.html Pentagon missile hoax: the "no Boeing" theories discredit 9/11 skepticism and distract from proven evidence of complicity]</ref><ref>[http://www.abovetopsecret.com/pages/911_pentagon_757_plane_evidence.html Evidence That A Boeing 757 Really Did Impact the Pentagon on 9/11]</ref> Several researchers have shown that the wings would cause less damage than the plane's main body, that photographs of large amounts of wreckage and debris matching a 757 have become available, that the appearance of the size of the hole is typically misrepresented; and that the actual fuselage diameter of 12 feet is a much more relevant dimension for the deepest parts of the hole than the overall 44 foot height of the 757's tail.<ref>[http://www.911myths.com/html/pentagon.html 911 Myths - Pentagon]</ref><ref>[http://www.snopes.com/rumors/pentagon.htm Snopes - Hunt the Boeing!]</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVDdjLQkUV8 Mike J. Wilson's 911 Case Study: Pentagon Flight 77], YouTube video</ref> [[Purdue University]] also released a study with results that recreated the attack. According to Purdue, the plane was like a "sausage skin" because of the speed of impact.<ref>[http://www.purdue.edu/UNS/html4ever/020910.Sozen.Pentagon.html "New simulation shows 9/11 plane crash with scientific detail"], website of [[Purdue University]]</ref> Moreover, hundreds of eyewitnesses who saw the aircraft close up as it approached the Pentagon describe it as an American Airlines Boeing 757.<ref>http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0109/11/bn.32.html</ref><ref>[http://eric.bart.free.fr/iwpb/witness.html Pentagon - Witness accounts]</ref><ref>[http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/F77pentaToC.html - Analysis of Eyewitness Statements on 9/11 American Airlines Flight 77 Crash into the Pentagon]</ref>

==War games and training exercises==

{{See also|United States military exercises scheduled for September 11, 2001}}

Some [[conspiracy theorists]] assert that government and military exercises point to a cover-up. There were also a number of [[War games in progress on September 11, 2001|drills being performed on the morning of 9-11]]. US Rep. [[Cynthia McKinney]], economist [[Michel Chossudovsky]], and publisher/editor [[Michael Ruppert]] of [[From the Wilderness]] are a few of the individuals who have questioned these exercises.

The following [[Wargaming|war games]] and training events were being conducted by [[USAF]], [[NORAD]], [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]], [[National Reconnaissance Office|NRO]], [[Federal Aviation Administration|FAA]] and [[Federal Emergency Management Agency|FEMA]]:<ref>http://911research.wtc7.net/planes/defense/wargames.html</ref><ref>http://inn.globalfreepress.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=387</ref>

*Northern Vigilance: a yearly Air Force drill simulating a Russian attack, in which defense aircraft normally patrolling the Northeast are re-deployed to Canada and Alaska.

*[[Global Guardian|Vigilant Guardian]]: a NORAD exercise posing an imaginary crisis to North American Air Defense outposts nationwide with a simulated air war and an air defense exercise simulating an attack on the United States.

*On the morning of 9/11, 50 minutes before Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon, the [[National Reconnaissance Office]], who are responsible for operating US reconnaissance satellites, had scheduled an exercise simulating the crashing of an aircraft into their building, four miles from [[Washington Dulles International Airport|Dulles]] airport.<ref name="nro1">{{cite web|url=http://www.boston.com/news/packages/sept11/anniversary/wire_stories/0903_plane_exercise.htm |publisher=Associated Press |title=Agency planned exercise on Sept. 11 built around a plane crashing into a building}}</ref>

*Tripod II, a [[Federal Emergency Management Agency of the United States|FEMA]] drill simulating a [[biological warfare|biowarfare]] attack in New York City, was to take place on September 12th. FEMA set up a command post for this exercise at Pier 29 on September 10th.

It is theorized that with these multiple training scenarios being carried out that NORAD, FAA and other military personnel would have been confused in the event of a real attack. McKinney has twice questioned Defense Secretary [[Donald Rumsfeld]] about these 9/11 war games during his testimony before Congress.<ref>http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/030105_mckinney_question.shtml</ref>

==The President's behavior==

President Bush was promoting the passage of his education plan at [[Emma E. Booker Elementary School]] on the morning of September 11. Two aspects of his behavior have been offered as indications that he had privileged access to the planning and execution of the events of 9/11. First, neither Bush nor his security personnel responded to the terrorist attacks in a manner that indicated that the President might be in danger, though he would presumably be among the targets of a coordinated terrorist attack. His continuing to read ''[[The Pet Goat]]'' to a classroom of schoolchildren, which was criticized in Michael Moore's [[Fahrenheit 9/11]], would be understandable if he knew what the plan was in advance.<ref>http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/main/essayaninterestingday.html</ref> A response is that Bush did not want to cause more panic by fleeing the room, as the footage would likely have been replayed over and over on news coverage.<ref>http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/08/the_myth_of_pan.html</ref>.

Some, such as Political Research Associates [http://www.publiceye.org/conspire/Post911/dubious_claims.html] have claimed that this is a [[logical fallacy]] known as [[affirming the consequent]]. This logical error is called the fallacy of affirming the consequent because it is mistakenly concluded from the second premise that the affirmation of the consequent entails the truthfulness of the antecedent. An example illustrating the fallacy is below:

If someone is human (P), then she is mortal (Q).

Anna is mortal (Q).

Therefore Anna is human (P).

But in fact Anna can be a cat; very much a mortal, but not a human one.

Second, Bush made statements on two separate occasions, in late 2001<ref>http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/12/20011204-17.html</ref> and early 2002<ref>http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/01/20020105-3.html</ref>, that suggested he had seen the first plane hit the World Trade Center. But unless he had some special access to the events of that day, he could not have seen the first plane hit the tower live on commercial television, since no television stations were covering that area when the first plane hit. The White House explained his remarks as "a mistaken recollection,"<ref>Paltrow, S. (2004) "Day of Crisis: Detailed Picture of U.S. Actions on Sept. 11 Remains Elusive." ''Wall Street Journal'' March 22</ref> or that Bush saw taped footage being replayed on news stations of the first plane hitting the Tower, after it happened.

==Allegations of cover-up==

Conspiracy theorists detect a pattern of behavior on the part of officials investigating the September 11 attack meant to suppress the emergence of evidence that might contradict the "official account".<ref>[http://www.wanttoknow.info/9-11cover-up "9/11 Cover-up Two-Page Summary" WantToKnow.info]</ref><ref>[http://911review.com/coverup/index.html "The Coverup", 911review.com]</ref><ref>[http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20040525104145424 "9/11 Commission: The official coverup guide", 911truth.org]</ref>

News stories they associate with that pattern include:

*"Bush asks Daschle to limit Sept. 11 probes"<ref>[http://archives.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/01/29/inv.terror.probe/ CNN.com]</ref>

*"Bush Opposes 9/11 Query Panel"<ref>[http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/05/15/attack/main509096.shtml CBS News]</ref>

*"The Battle Back Home"<ref>[http://www.wanttoknow.info/020204newsweek reprint of ''Newsweek'' article]</ref>

*"Whistleblower Complains of FBI Obstruction"<ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,54070,00.html FOX News]</ref>

*"9-11 Commission Funding Woes"<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,437267,00.html Time.com]</ref>

*"Bush: Documents sought by 9/11 commission 'very sensitive'"<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/10/27/bush.911/ CNN.com]</ref>

*"9/11 commission finishes Bush, Cheney session"<ref>[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4862296/ MSNBC]</ref>

*"An Incomplete Investigation - Why did the 9/11 Commission ignore "Able Danger"?""<ref>[http://www.wanttoknow.info/051126abledangerlouisfreeh reprint of ''The Washington Post'' article]</ref>

===Cockpit flight and voice recorders===

The [[cockpit voice recorder]] (CVR) or [[flight recorder]] (FDR) were not recovered from the remains of the WTC attack.

*The Chicago Tribune reported that experts believed the recorders would not be found simply because of the massive scope of the damage and debris. NTSB and FBI have both publicly stated the recorders were never recovered. The 9/11 Commission and federal authorities say that none of the cockpit voice recorders (CVR) or the flight data recorders (FDR) from the two planes that crashed into the Twin Towers were ever found.

*Two men who worked extensively in the wreckage of the World Trade Center say they helped federal agents find three of the four "black boxes" from the jetliners; this is cited to support the claim there was a government cover-up at Ground Zero.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://counterpunch.org/lindorff12202005.html |title=9/11: Missing Black Boxes in World Trade Center Attacks Found by Firefighters, Analyzed by NTSB, Concealed by FBI |accessdate=2006-10-07 |last= |first= |authorlink=Dave Lindorff |coauthors= |date=2005-12-19 |year= |month= |format= |work=A CounterPunch Special Report - Did the Bush Administration Lie to Congress and the 9/11 Commission? |publisher=CounterPunch |pages= |language= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |quote= }}</ref><ref name=JonesFAQ>{{cite web|url=http://worldtradecentertruth.com/JonesAnswersQuestionsWorldTradeCenter.pdf |title= FAQ:Questions and Answers|last=Jones |first=Steven E. |year=2006 |format=pdf |publisher=[http://journalof911studies.com Journal Of 9/11 Studies]}} page 181.</ref>

:''"At one point I was assigned to take Federal Agents around the site to search for the black boxes from the planes. We were getting ready to go out. My ATV was parked at the top of the stairs at the Brooks Brothers entrance area. We loaded up about a million dollars worth of equipment and strapped it into the ATV& There were a total of four black boxes. We found three"'' (Ground Zero, p. 108).<ref>{{cite book |last=Swanson |first=Gail |coauthors=edited by Dennis Fisin |title= Ground Zero, A collection of personal accounts |year=2003 |publisher=TRAC Team}} </ref>

:''"It's extremely rare that we don't get the recorders back. I can't recall another domestic case in which we did not recover the recorders," said Ted Lopatkiewicz, spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board.''<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.usatoday.com/news/sept11/2002/02/23/black-boxes.htm |title= Voice recorders could provide crucial 9/11 clues|publisher=USAToday}}</ref>

==Other points of interest==

*Former US Representative [[Cynthia McKinney]] led a [[United States Capitol|Capitol Hill]] hearing on July 23, 2005, into "what warnings the Bush administration received before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001." Panelist and former CIA official Melvin Goodman was quoted as saying "Congresswoman McKinney is viewed as a contrarian and I hope someday her views will be considered conventional wisdom." Many 9/11 conspiracy theorists testified at the hearing, including [[Michael Ruppert]], [[Peter Dale Scott]], [[David Ray Griffin]], [[Wayne Madsen]] and several others.<ref>http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/072905_mckinney_911_briefing.shtml</ref>

*Between 1993 and 2000, [[Marvin Bush]], President Bush's brother was a principal in a company that provided security for both the World Trade Center and United Airlines. According to an article by [[David Ray Griffin]] "from 1999 to January of 2002 their cousin Wirt Walker III was the CEO."<ref>http://911review.com/articles/griffin/nyc1.html#_ednref58</ref> According to its president CEO, Barry McDaniel, the company had an ongoing contract to handle security at the World Trade Center "up to the day the buildings fell down". This last statement has been used by some conspiracy theorists to say that the contract "expired" on [[September 11]], [[2001]]. [[Barbara Bush (First Lady)|Barbara Bush]] allegedly confirmed this theory in her book ''Reflections'' (ISBN 0-7432-2359-4) also stating 9/11 was the day the contract expired. However, no specific quote is provided to support this allegation, and a search for the words "contract" or "expired" yields no results. Mr. Bush was also a former director and now is an advisor to the board of directors to a firm HCC Insurance Holdings, Inc that had what it called a small participation in the World Trade Center property insurance coverage and some of the surrounding buildings.<ref>[http://www.hcch.com/content/press_releases/Archive/2001/sep_13_01/sep_13_01_frameset.htm]</ref> Marvin Bush was on a subway under Wall Street when the attacks happened.<ref>http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/bush_newyork_9-11.html</ref>

*The day before the 9/11 attacks, President Bush's father former President [[George H.W. Bush]] and several members of his cabinet had been present at a [[Carlyle Group]] business conference with [[Shafig Bin Laden]] a brother of Osama bin Laden at the [[Ritz-Carlton]] hotel located several miles from the Pentagon. The conference was continuing with the remaining cabinet members and Bin Laden's brother at the time of the Pentagon attack<ref>[http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/entity.jsp?id=1521846767-479]</ref>.<ref>[http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,11913,738196,00.html]</ref> Congresswoman [[Cynthia McKinney]] (D-Ga.) along with conspiracy websites have suggested that Carlyle's and Bush's ties to the Middle East made them somehow complicitous in the Sept. 11 terror attacks..<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A25406-2003Mar14&notFound=true "Connections and Then Some", ''The Washington Post'']</ref> ''The New York Times'' reported that members of the bin Laden family were driven or flown under FBI supervision to a secret assembly point in Texas and then to Washington from where they left the country on a private charter plane when airports reopened three days after the attacks..<ref>["Fearing Harm, bin Laden Kin Fled From U.S.", by Patrick E. Tyler. ''The New York Times'', September 30, 2001]</ref> The official 9/11 commission later concluded that "the FBI conducted a satisfactory screening of Saudi nationals who left the United States on charter flights." and that the exodus was approved by special advisor [[Richard Clarke]] after a request by Saudi Arabia who feared for their nationals safety.

*Iranian President [[Mahmoud Ahmadinejad]] in a letter to President Bush said, “September eleven was not a simple operation. Could it be planned and executed without coordination with intelligence and security services – or their extensive infiltration? Of course this is just an educated guess. Why have various aspects of the attacks been kept secret? Why are we not told who botched their responsibilities? And, why aren’t those responsible and the guilty parties identified and put on trial?” He also wrote, “Some believe that the hype paved the way-- and was the justification-- for an attack on Afghanistan”.<ref>http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_documents/ahmadinejad0509.pdf</ref><ref>http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-727571,36-769886@45-1,0.html</ref>

*Venezuelan President [[Hugo Chavez]] in remarks delivered on [[September 12th]] [[2006]] said that it was plausible the U.S. government was behind the 9/11 attacks and that "The hypothesis is not absurd ... that those towers could have been dynamited". The motive might have been "To justify the aggressions that immediately were unleashed on Afghanistan, on Iraq"<ref>[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13401534/]</ref>

*Former [[Minnesota]] [[Governor]], actor and wrestling star [[Jesse Ventura]] in an interview with [[Alex Jones]] has publicly questioned the official version of events behind 9/11 and cited [[Operation Northwoods]] and the [[Gulf of Tonkin]] incident as examples of how the government has planned and carried out staged war provocations in the past.<ref>[http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/september2006/260906venturaquestions.htm]</ref><ref>[http://youtube.com/watch?v=_tNcsjoy0m4]</ref>

*Although it had distanced itself from their brother and former company employee, The Saudi Binladin Group's corporate website,<ref>http://www.saudi-binladin-group.com</ref> expired on [[September 11, 2001]], the same day as the attacks in the United States. Several websites cited in this article use this fact to suggest foreknowledge of the attacks.<ref>Altman, Howard "Osama Familys Suspicious Site",''WIRED Magazine News'' November 9, 2001[http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,48254,00.html].</ref>

*The ''[[Washington Post]]'' reported in its August 3, 2006 edition that "For more than two years after the attacks, officials with NORAD and the FAA provided inaccurate information about the response to the hijackings in testimony and media appearances" and that "Some staff members and commissioners of the Sept. 11 panel concluded that the Pentagon's initial account of how it reacted to the 2001 terrorist attacks may have been part of a deliberate effort to mislead the commission and the public" and that "Suspicion of wrongdoing ran so deep that the 10-member commission, in a secret meeting at the end of its tenure in summer 2004, debated referring the matter to the Justice Department for criminal investigation. In the end, the panel agreed to a compromise, turning over the allegations to the inspectors general for the Defense and Transportation departments, who can make criminal referrals if they believe they are warranted". Sources told the Post this was done to hide a bungled Pentagon response.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/01/AR2006080101300.html?sub=new]</ref>

==Claims that some of the hijackers are still alive==

Initial news reports shortly after 9/11 indicated that some of the hijackers were alive, fueling speculation that others were responsible.

The BBC News reported on September 23, 2001, that some of the people named by the FBI as hijackers, killed on the crashes, were actually alive and well. <ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1559151.stm</ref>

One of the hijackers was [[Waleed al-Shehri]], and according to the BBC report he was found in Casablanca, Morocco.

*However, the al-Shehri's father says he hadn't heard from his sons in ten months prior to September 2001.<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20020929001039/www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=9424&ArY=2001&ArM=9&ArD=17]</ref> An ABC News story in March 2002 repeated this, and during a report entitled "A Saudi Apology" for [[Dateline NBC]] on Aug 25, 2002, NBC's reporter [[John Hockenberry]] traveled to 'Asir, where he interviewed the third brother Salah who agreed that his two brothers were dead and said they had been "brainwashed".

*Furthermore, another article explains that the pilot who lives in Casablanca was named Walid al-Shri (not Waleed M. al-Shehri) and that much of the BBC information regarding "alive" hijackers was incorrect according to the same sources used by BBC.<ref>http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,265160-2,00.html</ref>

According to the BBC report, [[Abdulaziz Al Omari]], [[Saeed Alghamdi]], and [[Khalid al-Midhar]], three other hijackers, were also living in the Middle East.

*A man with the same name as Abdulaziz Al Omari turned up alive in [[Saudi Arabia]], saying that he had studied at the [[University of Denver]] and his [[passport]] was stolen there in 1995. The name, origin, birth date, and occupation were released by the FBI, but the picture was not of him. "I couldn't believe it when the FBI put me on their list", he said. "They gave my name and my date of birth, but I am not a suicide bomber. I am here. I am alive. I have no idea how to fly a plane. I had nothing to do with this."<ref>[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F2071FF63D5F0C758DDDA00894D9404482]</ref><ref>[http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=94438</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1559151.stm]</ref> This individual was not the same person as the hijacker whose identity was later confirmed by Saudi government interviews with his family, according to the [[9/11 Commission]] Report.

*On [[23 September]], [[2001]], the [[BBC]] and [[The Telegraph]]<ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/09/23/widen23.xml</ref> reported that a person named Saeed al-Ghamdi was alive and well. His name, birth date, origin, and occupation were the same as those released by the FBI, but his picture was different. He says that he studied flight training in Florida flight schools from 1998 to 2001. The journalist involved with the story later admitted "No, we did not have any videotape or photographs of the individuals in question at that time."<ref>http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,265160-2,00.html</ref>

*After the attacks, reports began emerging saying that al-Mihdhar was still alive. On [[September 19]], the [[Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation|FDIC]] distributed a "special alert" which listed al-Mihdhar as alive. The [[Justice Department]] says that this was a typo.<ref>http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/2001/ap092001b.html</ref><ref>http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/2001/coxnews102101.html</ref>

The ''[[BBC]]'' and ''[[The Guardian]]'' have since reported that there was evidence al-Mihdhar was still alive and that some of the other hijackers identities were in doubt. This was commented on by FBI director [[Robert Mueller]].<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1559151.stm</ref> ''[[Der Spiegel]]'' later investigated the claims of "living" hijackers by the BBC and discovered them to be cases of mistaken identities.[http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,265160-2,00.html] In 2002, [[Saudi Arabia]] admitted that the names of the [[Aircraft hijacking|hijackers]] were in fact correct.[http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200202/06/eng20020206_90055.shtml] None of the hijackers have turned up alive since the September 11, 2001 attacks.(source?)

==Motives==

Theories as to why members of the US government would have allowed the attacks to occur, perpetrated the attacks, and/or obstructed the investigation generally involve one or more of the following:

*[[Michel Chossudovsky]] in an article entitled "The Criminalization of the State" suggests a simple motive in a plan for a [[New World Order (conspiracy)|New World Order]]. This particular theory takes root in a [[David Rockefeller]] Statement to the [[United Nations]] Business Council in September 1994: ''We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis and the nations will accept the New World Order.''<ref>http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO402A.html</ref>

*An article on ''whatreallyhappened.com'' entitled "The 9/11 Reichstag Fire" suggests that the [[Project for the New American Century]] (PNAC) may have been responsible.<ref>http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/911_reichstag.html</ref> It cites as evidence a statement from page 51 of a document titled 'Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources For a New Century' published by PNAC: '' Further, the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event - like a new Pearl Harbor.''<ref>http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf</ref>

*The Web site [http://www.oilempire.us OilEmpire.us] proposed that 9/11 was arranged by the U.S. government in order to benefit the arms manufacturing and oil industries.<ref>http://www.oilempire.us/911.html</ref>

*The Web site 9-11 Review listed several other benefits of the attacks as possible motives, including Mayor [[Rudolph Giuliani]] and President Bush's surge in popularity, [[Halliburton]]'s defense contracts for the wars in [[Afghanistan]] and [[Iraq]], and a $2.2 billion insurance payout to the owner of the World Trade Center, [[Larry Silverstein]].<ref>http://911review.com/motive/index.html</ref>

==Claims related to Jews and Israel==

While some 9/11 websites focus on the role of Israel and Jews during the 9/11 attacks, others have worked to expose websites and individuals engaging in [[Anti-Semitism]] and [[Holocaust denial]] while claiming to research the 9/11/01 attacks.<ref>[http://www.oilempire.us/holocaust-denial.html "No Planes and No Gas Chambers"]</ref><ref>[http://911review.com/denial/holocaust.html Holocaust Denial Versus 9/11 Truth]</ref>

These conspiracy theorists state that the focus on Jews and 9/11/01 has primarily served as a magnet for mainstream press to discredit those questioning the official version of events with the label of anti-semitism.

===4,000 Jewish employees did not attend work at the WTC on 9/11===

This unsubstantiated and widely debunked claim made by ''[[Al-Manar]]'', the television station of [[Hezbollah]], a sworn enemy of Israel, has been repeated by a wide variety of other sources, such as [[Amiri Baraka]]. The original ''Al-Manar'' claim, posted [[September 17]], 2001 on the English language version of the website of ''Al-Manar'' website, was:

<blockquote>"With the announcement of the attacks at the World Trade Center in New York, the international media, particularly the Israeli one, hurried to take advantage of the incident and started mourning 4,000 Israelis who work at the two towers. Then suddenly, no one ever mentioned anything about those Israelis and later it became clear that they remarkably did not show up in their jobs the day the incident took place. No one talked about any Israeli being killed or wounded in the attacks."<ref name="adl.org israel">http://www.adl.org/911/israel.asp</ref></blockquote>

''Al-Manar'' further claimed that "Arab diplomatic sources revealed to the [[Jordan|Jordanian]] ''[[al-Watan (Jordan)|al-Watan]]'' newspaper that those Israelis remained absent that day based on hints from the Israeli General Security apparatus, the ''[[Shabak]]''".<ref name="adl.org israel"/> It is unclear whether ''al-Watan'' (a minor Jordanian newspaper with no website) made these claims or who (if anyone) the alleged "Arab diplomatic sources" were. No independent confirmation has been produced for this claim.

In some versions of the story circulated on the Internet, the title was changed to "4,000 Jewish Employees in WTC Absent the Day of the Attack" from its original "4000 Israeli Employees in WTC Absent the Day of the Attack", spawning a further rumor that not only Israeli but all [[Jew]]ish employees stayed away. On September 12 an American Web site called "Information Times" published an article with the headline "4,000 Jews Did Not Go To Work At WTC On Sept. 11," which it credited to "AL-MANAR Television Special Investigative Report." According to [[Slate.com]], "The '4,000 Jews' page is easily forwarded as e-mail, and this may explain the message's rapid dissemination."<ref>http://www.slate.com/id/116813</ref> The rumor was also published; according to the [[United States Department of State]] "Syria's government-owned ''Al Thawra'' newspaper may have been the first newspaper to make the "4,000 Jews" claim... its September 15th edition falsely claimed 'four thousand Jews were absent from their work on the day of the explosions.'"<ref>http://usinfo.state.gov/media/Archive/2005/Jan/14-260933.html</ref>

===Origin of the "4,000" figure===

The figure "4,000" was probably taken by ''Al-Manar'' from a ''[[Jerusalem Post]]'' article of September 12 (p. 3) which said "The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem has so far received the names of 4,000 Israelis believed to have been ''in the areas'' of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon at the time of the attack." This number was obviously not (as ''Al-Manar'' claimed) restricted to employees; in fact, [[Tsviya Shimon]], minister of administrative affairs for the Israeli consulate and mission in New York, said on September 14 "that there might have been up to 100 Israeli citizens working in the World Trade Center".<ref>[http://usinfo.state.gov/is/Archive_Index/World_Trade_Center_Tragedy_Hits_All_Nationalities.html]</ref>

===Actual Israeli and Jewish deaths===

There were a total of 5 Israeli deaths in the attack (Alona Avraham, Leon Lebor, Shay Levinhar, Daniel Lewin, Haggai Sheffi), of which 3 were in the World Trade Center and 2 were on the planes. (4 are listed as [[United States|American]] on most lists, presumably having [[Multiple citizenship|dual citizenship]].)

Early estimates of Israeli deaths, as of the total death toll and the death toll for other countries' citizens (e.g. [[India]]) proved substantially overestimated. [[George W. Bush]] cited the figure of 130 in his speech on September 20th.<ref>http://www.burbank.com/PresidentBush09202001.shtml</ref>

The number of Jewish victims was considerably higher, typically estimated at around 400;<ref>http://www.thejewishweek.com/bottom/specialcontent.php3?artid=362</ref><ref name="phas-13">http://www.jcpa.org/phas/phas-13.htm</ref> according to the [[United States Department of State]] <blockquote>A total of 2,071 occupants of the World Trade Center died on September 11, among the 2,749 victims of the WTC attacks. According to an article in the October 11, 2001, Wall Street Journal, roughly 1,700 people had listed the religion of a person missing in the WTC attacks; approximately 10% were Jewish. A later article, in the September 5, 2002, Jewish Week, states, "based on the list of names, biographical information compiled by The New York Times, and information from records at the Medical Examiner's Office, there were at least 400 victims either confirmed or strongly believed to be Jewish." This would be approximately 15% of the total victims of the WTC attacks. A partial list of 390 Cantor Fitzgerald employees who died (out of 658 in the company) lists 49 Jewish memorial services, which is between 12% and 13%. This 10-15% estimate of Jewish fatalities tracks closely with the percentage of Jews living in the New York area. According to the 2002 American Jewish Year Book, 9% of the population of New York State, where 64% of the WTC victims lived, is Jewish. A 2002 study estimated that New York City's population was 12% Jewish. Forty-three percent of the WTC victims lived in New York City. Thus, the number of Jewish victims correlates very closely with the number of Jewish residents in New York. If 4,000 Jews had not reported for work on September 11, the number of Jewish victims would have been much lower than 10-15%.<ref>http://usinfo.state.gov/media/Archive/2005/Jan/14-260933.html</ref></blockquote>

Furthermore, many [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jew]]s left for work later than usual that day due to [[Selichot]] (additional prayers recited around the time of Rosh Hashanah).<ref name="phas-13"/>

===Sharon was allegedly warned by [[Shabak]] to stay away from New York===

''Al-Manar'' the official television station of Hezbollah, also made related claims that then-prime minister Ariel Sharon was warned to stay away from New York:

:Suspicions had increased further after Israeli newspaper ''[[Yediot Aharonot]]'' revealed that the ''Shabak'' prevented Israeli premier [[Ariel Sharon]] from traveling to New York and particularly to the city's eastern coast to participate in a festival organized by the [[Zionism|Zionist]] organizations in support of Israel. Aharon Bernie, the commentator at the newspaper, brought up the issue and came up with a negative conclusion, saying "no answer". He then asked about the clue behind the Shabak's position in preventing Sharon's participation, and again without giving an answer.

Detractors say that this theory does not hold up to examination. A pro-Israel rally led by the [[United Jewish Communities]], expected to include 50,000 people, had been planned for [[September 23]], [[2001]]. Ariel Sharon had been scheduled to speak there,<ref>[http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/16680/edition_id/328/format/html/displaystory.html jewishsf.com]</ref> but it was canceled on [[September 12]].<ref>http://www.ujc.org/content_display.html?ArticleID=15820</ref> According to ''[[The Forward]]'', Sharon was still scheduled to speak there at the time of cancellation.<ref>http://www.forward.com/issues/2001/01.09.14/news3.html</ref>

There was no article in Yediot Aharonot that contains the information cited by Al-Manar, nor was there a columnist named Aharon Bernie. There is an Israeli reporter named Aharon Barnea of Israel's ''Channel 2 News'' whose wife Amalia works for Yediot Aharonot;<ref>http://www.mavericksofthemind.com/bar-int.htm</ref> it has been speculated that "Aharon Bernie" arose as a misspelling of this name.<ref>http://www.nocturne.org/~terry/wtc_4000_Israeli.html#NYC</ref>

===[[Mossad]] connection to filming of 9/11 attacks with "puzzling behavior"===

This claim formed part of the ''Al-Manar'' report mentioned above. The claim is that:

:For its part, the Israeli ''[[Haaretz|Ha'aretz']]'' newspaper reported that the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] arrested five Israelis four hours after the attack on the Twin Towers while filming the smoking skyline from the roof of their company's building. The FBI had arrested the five for "puzzling behavior". They are said to have been caught videotaping the disaster in what was interpreted by some as cries of joy and mockery.<ref>http://www.fpp.co.uk/online/01/12/WTC_Mysteries3.html</ref>

This claim has small tidbits of fact but is essentially false. The Israeli reporter Yossi Melman had reported in ''Haaretz'' on [[September 17]] [[2001]],<ref>[http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=75266&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y Haaretz.com] &ndash; 5 Israelis detained for `puzzling behavior' after WTC tragedy</ref> using the words "puzzling behavior." Several mainstream Western media groups researched this. On [[June 21]], [[2002]], [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] published a report that five Israelis seen filming the events of September 11 in New York and looking "happy" were subsequently arrested, claiming (on the authority of ''[[The Forward]]'') that the "FBI concluded that two of the men were Israeli intelligence operatives" but had no advance knowledge of 9/11.<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20020802194310/http://abcnews.go.com/sections/2020/DailyNews/2020_whitevan_020621.html web.archive.org] &ndash; Dead for now</ref>

''The Forward'' had speculated that the five might be a possible Mossad surveillance operation conducted not against the US but against "radical Islamic networks suspected of links to Middle East terrorism."<ref>http://www.forward.com/issues/2002/02.03.15/news2.html</ref> Mossad was known to have been infiltrating Al Qaeda at the time. Sivan Kurzberg, Paul Kurzberg, Yaron Shmuel, Oded Ellner and Omer Marmari, the five Israelis who were kept in custody in the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in [[Sunset Park, Brooklyn|Sunset Park]] for approximately two months were eventually

deported back to Israel on November 20-21, 2001.<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/21/national/21OHIO.html</ref> Ellner and others in the prison have complained of abuse by prison guards.<ref>http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/nation/10953245.htm</ref> After returning to Israel, the five denied laughing at the event and claimed that they had filmed its aftermath "just as many other people did", and that their arrest was a result of their neighbour's false accusations due to a personal conflict.<ref>http://www.nrg.co.il/online/archive/ART/214/064.html</ref>

As reported in the [[Scotland]]-based ''Sunday Herald'' on Nov 2, 2003, a resident at Liberty State Park noticed the five on top of their white van, looking "happy", upon which the former called the police. Later that day, the van was discovered and its occupants arrested. In the van were found, among other things, recent photographs of the arrestees posing in jovial fashion with the WTC burning in the background. A search of these persons' workplace, Urban Moving in Weehawken, turned up a fellow employee who complained that those arrested had laughed and joked about the WTC attack. <ref>http://www.sundayherald.com/37707</ref> According to the story, "This makes it clear that there was no suggestion whatsoever from within American intelligence that the Israelis were colluding with the 9/11 hijackers."

===Israel advance warning===

According to a [[September 16]], 2001 story in ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', Israel had sent two Mossad agents to Washington in August to warn both the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] and [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] in August of an imminent large-scale attack involving a large cell of up to 200 terrorists. An unnamed senior Israeli security official was quoted as saying "They had no specific information about what was being planned but linked the plot to Osama bin Laden and told the Americans that there were strong grounds for suspecting Iraqi involvement."<ref>http://portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/09/16/wcia16.xml</ref>

== Less common theories ==

* [[NewsMax.com]] reported that people within and outside the U.S. government believed that then Iraqi leader [[Saddam Hussein]] conspired in the 9/11 attacks and the [[Oklahoma City bombing|Oklahoma City Bombing]].<ref>http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/9/9/111622.shtml</ref> The theory extended from the one advanced by investigative journalist [[Jayna Davis]] in her book ''The Third Terrorist'' linking Hussein to the Oklahoma City Bombing. It was discussed in an op-ed piece in the [[Wall Street Journal]].<ref>http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110002217</ref>

*[[Judi McLeod]] of [[Canada Free Press]] suggested the possible involvement of the [[mafia]].<ref>http://www.canadafreepress.com/2005/cover071105.htm</ref>

==Media reaction==

[[Image:LeMond-9-11FrontPage.png|thumb|300px|[[Le Monde diplomatique|Le Monde Diplo]] Norway July 2006]]

While discussion and coverage of these theories is mainly confined to internet chat sites and conversation, a number of mainstream news outlets around the world have covered the issue.

In the July 2006 edition of the Norwegian version of [[Le Monde diplomatique]], the headline story asked, "11 September : An Inside Job?" and surveyed the various theories discussing the official US version of 9/11, withholding any truth judgment on them.<ref>http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2006-07-21-bredesen-en.html</ref>

An article in the September 11th 2006 edition of the United States newsweekly [[Time Magazine]] titled “Why The 9/11 Conspiracies Won't Go Away” states that the major 9/11 conspiracy theories “depend on circumstantial evidence, facts without analysis or documentation, quotes taken out of context and the scattered testimony of traumatized eyewitnesses” and the continued popularity of these theories are due to “the idea that there is a malevolent controlling force orchestrating global events is, in a perverse way, comforting”. It concludes that “conspiracy theories are part of the process by which Americans deal with traumatic public events like Sept. 11. Conspiracy theories form around them like scar tissue. In a curious way, they're an American form of national mourning.”<ref>Grossman, Lev. (2006) [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1531304-1,00.html Time.com] &ndash; Why The 9/11 Conspiracies Won't Go Away</ref>

==Criticism==

Critics of these alternative theories say they are a form of [[conspiracism]] common throughout history after a traumatic event in which [[Conspiracy theory|conspiracy theories]] emerge as a mythic form of explanation (Barkun, 2003). A related criticism addresses the form of research on which the theories are based. Thomas W. Eagar, an engineering professor at MIT, has suggested they "use the 'reverse scientific method'. They determine what happened, throw out all the data that doesn't fit their conclusion, and then hail their findings as the only possible conclusion."<ref>{{cite web|last = Walch|first = Tad|year = 2006|url=http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,645200098,00.html|title = Controversy dogs Y.'s Jones|work = Utah news|publisher = Deseret News Publishing Company|accessdate = 2006-09-09}}</ref> Eagar's criticisms also exemplify a common stance that the theories are best ignored. "I've told people that if (the argument) gets too mainstream, I'll engage in the debate." This, he continues, happened when Steve Jones took up the issue. The basic assumption is that conspiracy theories emerge a set of previously held or quickly assembled beliefs about how society works, which are then legitimized by further "research". Taking such beliefs seriously, even if only to criticize them, it is argued, merely grants them further legitimacy.

The German magazine ''[[Der Spiegel]]'' summarily dismissed all skeptical accounts of the 9/11 attacks as a "panoply of the absurd", stating "as diverse as these theories and their adherents may be, they share a basic thought pattern: great tragedies must have great reasons."<ref>{{cite web| last = Cziesche| first = Dominik| coauthors = Jürgen Dahlkamp, Ulrich Fichtner, Ulrich Jaeger, Gunther Latsch, Gisela Leske, Max F. Ruppert| year = 2003| url = http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/spiegel/0,1518,265160,00.html| title = Panoply of the Absurd| work = Der Spiegel| publisher = Der Spiegel| accessdate = 2006-06-06}}</ref>

''[[Scientific American]]'',<ref>[http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000DA0E2-1E15-128A-9E1583414B7F0000]</ref> ''[[Popular Mechanics]]'',<ref>[http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/defense/1227842.html?page=1&c=y]</ref> and ''[[The Skeptic's Dictionary]]''<ref>[http://skepdic.com/refuge/bunk27.html]</ref> published articles that challenge and discredit various 9/11 conspiracy theories. Conspiracy theorists have jumped on the fact that the Popular Mechanics article was contributed to by "senior researcher" Ben Chertoff, which conspiracy theorists claim is cousin of Michael Chertoff -- the current head of Homeland Security. No evidence for the connection has been revealed and Ben Chertoff has publicly denied the allegation.<ref>http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/060903/11conspiracy.htm</ref><ref>{{cite web| title = 9/11 and Chertoff | work = Associated Free Press | date = 2005, March 4 | author = Christopher Bollyn | url = http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/archive.cgi?noframes;read=66176}}</ref>. Popular Mechanics has published a book length version of their article[http://www.popularmechanics.com/blog/911mythsblog]. [[Michael Shermer]] writing in ''Scientific American'' described 9/11 conspiracy theory scholarly rigor as "the mistaken belief that a handful of unexplained anomalies can undermine a well-established theory lies at the heart of all conspiratorial thinking (as well as [[Holocaust denial]] and the various [[Pseudophysics|crank theories of physics]])." [http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000DA0E2-1E15-128A-9E1583414B7F0000]

==See also==

* [[Researchers questioning the official account of 9/11]]

== References ==

<div class="references-small" style="-moz-column-count:2; column-count:2;">

<references/>

</div>

===Books===

*[[The 9/11 Commission Report]]

*The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions And Distortions - [[David Ray Griffin]]

*[[9/11: The Big Lie]] - [[Thierry Meyssan]]

*9/11 Revealed : The Unanswered Questions - Rowland Morgan and Ian Henshall

*Crossing the Rubicon - [[Michael Ruppert]]

*Divided We Stand: A Biography of New York's World Trade Center

*The Five Unanswered Questions About 9/11 - James Ridgeway

*Inside 9-11 : What Really Happened - [[Der Spiegel|Der Spiegel Magazine]]

*Pentagate - [[Thierry Meyssan]]

*Waking up from our Nightmare: The 9/11 Crimes in New York City - [[Don Paul]] and [[Jim Hoffman]], ISBN 0943096103

*{{cite book| last = Barkun

| first = Michael

| year = 2003

| title = A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America

| publisher = University of California Press

| id = ISBN 0-520-23805-2

}}

*{{cite book

| last = Laurent

| first = Eric

| year = 2004

| title = La face cachée du 11 septembre

| publisher = Plon

| id = ISBN 2-259-20030-3

}}

* 9/11 Synthetic Terror: Made in USA, by Webster Griffin [[Tarpley]]

*The New Pearl Harbor - [[David Ray Griffin]]

*{{cite book

|last = Der Spiegel

|year = 2002

|title = Inside 9-11: What Really Happened

|publisher = St. Martin's Press

|id = ISBN 0-312-30621-0

}}

* Debunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can't Stand Up to the Facts - The Editors of [[Popular Mechanics]]. ISBN 1-58816-635-X

===Videos===

* [[9/11: Press for Truth]]

* ''In Plain Sight''

* [[Loose Change (video)|Loose Change]]

* ''Painful Questions''

* ''The Great Conspiracy: The 9/11 News Special You Never Saw''

==External links==

;Final report of the "National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States" (9-11 Commission), chaired by Thomas H. Kean

* [http://www.9-11commission.gov/ Kean Report]

;Cynthia McKinney's July 2005 Congressional Briefing on 9/11

* [http://www.house.gov/mckinney/news/pr050722.htm McKinney Briefing]

;June 1, 2001, directive from the Joint Chiefs of Staff changing rules on intercepting hijacked planes

* [http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/cjcsd/cjcsi/3610_01a.pdf Joint Chiefs Directive]

===Conspiracy theories===

;Descriptions of and evidence for various conspiracy theories

====Mainstream news organizations====

*{{cite web

| title =Conspiracy Theories

| work =CBC Television

| url =http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/conspiracytheories/

| accessdate=2006-07-30

}}

*{{cite web

| title =9/11 conspiracy theorists energized Five years later, purveyors claim academic momentum

| work =CNN.com

| url =http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/08/06/sept11.theories.ap/index.html

| accessdate=2006-07-30

}}

*{{cite web

| author =Gerrick Lewis

| title ='United 93' raises many questions

| work =The Lantern

| url =http://www.thelantern.com/media/storage/paper333/news/2006/05/04/Arts/united.93.Raises.Many.Questions-1901148.shtml

}}

*{{cite web

| author =Lev Grossman

| title =Why The 9/11 Conspiracies Won't Go Away

| work =Time magazine

| url =http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1531304-1,00.html

| accessdate=2006-09-12

}}

====Webpages====

*{{cite web

| title =9-11 Research An Attempt to Uncover the Truth About September 11th, 2001 (WTC 7 )

| work =

| url =http://www.911research.wtc7.net/index.html

| accessdate=2006-07-30

}}

*{{cite web

| title =Alex Jones Infowars

| work =

| url =http://www.infowars.com

| accessdate=2006-07-30

}}

* {{cite web

| title =Former Top German Minister Rejects Official Story Of 911 Attacks

| work =www.ratical.org

| url =http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/VonBuelow.html

| accessdate=2006-07-30

}}

*{{cite web

| title =Bush: The Ignored Warning That Will Come To Haunt Him

| work =

| url =http://www.gordonthomas.ie/104.html

| accessdate=2006-07-30

}} by Gordon Thomas

*{{cite web

| title =Hard Physical Proofs of U.S. Government Complicity

| work =Letsroll911.org

| url =http://www.letsroll911.org

| accessdate=2006-07-30

}}

*{{cite web

| title =Information on 9/11 Wargames

| work =oilempire.us

| url =http://www.oilempire.us/wargames.html

| accessdate=2006-07-30

}}

*{{cite web

| title =Scholars for 9/11 Truth

| work =

| url =http://www.scholarsfor911truth.org/

| accessdate=2006-07-30

}}

* {{cite web

| title =9/11 Conspiracy: Finding Truth

| work =RINF

| url =http://rinf.com/conspiracies/9-11.html

| accessdate=2006-07-30

}}

* {{cite web

| title =Free-Falling Bodies Simple Physics Reveals The Big Lie Collapse Theory Fails Reality Check

| work =911blimp.com

| url =http://911blimp.com/prf_FreeFallPhysics.shtml

| accessdate=2006-07-30

}}

* {{cite web

| title =The 911 Movement

| work =

| url =http://www.911movement.org

| accessdate=2006-07-30

}}

* {{cite web

| title =NIST and the World Trade Center

| work =

| url =http://wtc.nist.gov/

| accessdate=2006-07-30

}}

* {{cite web

| title =911 investigations

| work =

| url =http://www.911investigations.net

| accessdate=2006-07-30

}} Document base dedicated to the September 11th 2001 attacks

* {{cite web

| title =Charlie Sheen talks about September 11th

| work =CNN, YouTube

| url =http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rINKezJ_EYw&eurl=

| accessdate=2006-07-30

}} [[Charlie Sheen]] talks about September 11th

* {{cite web

| title =Question911.com

| work =

| url =http://www.question911.com

| accessdate=2006-07-30

}} Free DVD movie downloads discussing September 11th attack evidence

*{{cite web

| title =9/11 Mysteries The show went to Hollywood!

| work =

| url =http://www.911mysteries.com

| accessdate=2006-07-30

}} Movie on 9/11 questions

*{{cite web

| title =The WTC Conspiracy

| work =Telepolis

| url =http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/special/wtc.html

| accessdate=2006-07-30

}} {{de icon}}

* {{cite web

| title =Loose Change

| work =

| url =http://www.seeloosechange.com

| accessdate=2006-07-30

}} Film questioning the official account

* {{cite web

| title =The 9/11 Conspiracy: A Skeptic's View by Ernest Partridge

| work =[[The Crisis Papers]], commondreams.org

| url =http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0427-29.htm

| accessdate=2006-07-30

}} Article sympathetic to LIHOP theories but skeptical of MIHOP theories

*{{ cite web

| title=Picking Up Where Partridge Leaves Off: Conspiracy theorists Address a 9/11 Skeptic by Victoria Ashley and Jim Hoffman

| work =

| url =http://www.911research.wtc7.net/essays/commondreams/partridge.html

| accessdate=2006-08-07}} Pro MIHOP rebuttle to above article

* {{cite web

| title=Physics911.net

| work =

| url =http://www.physics911.net

| accessdate=2006-09-11}}

* {{cite web

| title =Operation Pearl [[Alexander Dewdney|by Professor A.K. Dewdney]]

| work =

| url =http://www.serendipity.li/wot/operation_pearl.htm

| accessdate=2006-09-26

}}

* {{cite web

| title = Officials and insiders critisizing the Mainstream explanation

| work =

| url = http://www.patriotsquestion911.com/

| accessdate=2006-10-11

}}

====Flight 93====

* {{cite web

| title =How Did United Flight 93 Crash?

| work =flight93crash.com

| url =http://www.flight93crash.com

| accessdate=2006-07-30

}}

*{{cite web

| title =Hunt the Boeing in Shanksville

| work =Letsroll911.org

| url =http://letsroll911.org/phpwebsite/index.php?module=announce&ANN_user_op=view&ANN_id=34

| accessdate=2006-07-30

}}

*{{cite web

| title =Flight 93 Ordered Shot Down

| work =dcdave.com

| url =http://www.dcdave.com/article5/060704.htm

| accessdate=2006-07-30

}}

*{{cite web

| title =Problems With the ASCE Report On The Pentagon Cast Further Doubt on 757 Account

| work =bedoper.com

| url =http://www.bedoper.com/pentagon/asce/

| accessdate=2006-07-30

}}

====Videos====

*[http://www.truthhub.com/video-library/september-11th-videos/ 911 Videos on Truthhub.com]

* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2205940254635302539 911 - Steven Jones on 911 Evidence] (L.A. Conference, Alex Jones, June 24th 2006)

* [http://www.pentagonstrike.co.uk/ Pentagon Strike]

* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6757267008400743688 Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime]

* [http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-3768803122384448937 Secret of 9/11]

* [http://www.memrifilms.org/ Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) - The Arab and Iranian Reaction to 9/11 - Five Years Later]

====Blogs====

*{{cite web

| title =911blogger

| work =911Blogger.com

| url =http://www.911blogger.com

| accessdate=2006-07-30

}} Latest news and research

*{{cite web

| title =American-Freedom.org

| work =

| url =http://www.geocities.com/americans_freedoms/

| accessdate=2006-07-30

}} News, research, information, blog, links, and a vast video library

===Debunking conspiracy claims===

* [http://www.debunking911.com Debunking 9/11 Conspiracy Theories] Evidence against Controlled Demolition and its most widely held myths.

* [http://www.jod911.com Journal of Debunking 9/11 Conspiracy Theories] The Journal of Debunking 9/11 Conspiracy Theories is a free online publication dedicated to educating the public on the events surrounding 9/11.

*[http://www.leftsanepeople.com LeftSanePeople.com]

*[http://www.mikejwilson.com/911 Mike J Wilson's Flight 77 Case Study] Computer animation with photos and videos. You can also download the 3D models used.

* [http://usinfo.state.gov/media/Archive/2005/Jul/27-595713.html U.S. Department of State] "How To Identify Misinformation"

* [http://usinfo.state.gov/media/Archive/2005/Sep/16-241966.html U.S. Department of State] refutes 9/11 conspiracy book.

* [http://usinfo.state.gov/media/Archive/2006/Jan/20-672210.html U.S. Department of State] links to refutations of various 9/11 conspiracy theories.

* [http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/defense/1227842.html?page=1&c=y Popular Mechanics] examines evidence and consults experts to refute the most persistent conspiracy theories of September 11.

* [http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000DA0E2-1E15-128A-9E1583414B7F0000 Scientific American] 9/11 Article Skeptical of Conspiracy Theories by [[Michael Shermer]]

* [http://www.snopes.com/rumors/pentagon.htm Snopes.com answer to the rumors about the Pentagon attack] Skeptical review of David Ray Griffin book, ''The New Pearl Harbor'' (and Griffin's response)

* Indications of the Imminent Collapse of the WTC Disproves Controlled Demolition Theory [http://www.geocities.com/factsnotfantasy/ExplosivesDebunked.html 9/11 Controlled Demolition Theory Debunked]

* [http://mckinneysucks.blogspot.com/ Refutes various elements.] Strong focus on refuting Mike Ruppert's timeline

*David Ray Griffin and Chip Berlet debate [http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/05/26/150221 9/11 issues on Democracy Now!]

* [http://www.911myths.com/ 911 Myths] articles by UK software developer and freelance writer Mike Williams on a wide range of topics

* {{cite journal|title=The Ground Zero Grassy Knoll|first=Mark|last=Jacobson|journal=[[New York Magazine]]|date=[[March 27]],[[2006]]|url=http://www.nymetro.com/news/features/16464/}}

* [http://www.abovetopsecret.com/pages/911_pentagon_757_plane_evidence.html Flight 77 Did Hit The Pentagon] - Attempted debunking from AboveTopSecret.com

*[http://www.adl.org/anti_semitism/9-11conspiracytheories.pdf Anti-Defamation League, "Unraveling anti-semitic 9/11 conspiracy theories"]

* [http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/march2006/310306launchinvestigation.htm Venezuelan Government To Launch International 9/11 Investigation]

*Op ed piece from April 28th edition of Newsday by James P. Pinkerton debunking alternative theorists while supporting Incompetence Theory [http://www.newsday.com/news/printedition/opinion/ny-oppin274718384apr27,0,5875405.column?coll=ny-opinion-print]

*[http://www.thenation.com/blogs/capitalgames?bid=3&pid=66 The 9/11 X-Files] article from ''The Nation''

*[http://www.alternet.org/story/12536/ When 9/11 Conspiracy Theories Go Bad by David Corn]

*[http://www.nationalreview.com/robbins/robbins040902.asp 9/11 Denial by James S. Robbins]

*[http://www.filibustercartoons.com/archive.php?id=20060619 "The Truth About 911"] - editorial cartoon mocking conspiracy theories

*[http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=911_morons "There is no 9/11 conspiracy you morons"] - An argument against 9-11 conspiracy theories by the popular Internet humorist [[Maddox (writer)]].

*[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4162315283354424113&hl=en 911 Conspiracy Wars] - comedic documentary by Abby Scott

* [http://www.pointlesswasteoftime.com/911truth.html "Was 9/11 an Inside Job?"] Satirical Criticism of the 9/11 Conspiracy Theories

* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1531304,00.html Why the 9/11 Conspiracy Theories Won't Go Away], Turns out, we need grand theories to make sense of grand events, or the world just seems too random – [[TIME]], Sunday, Sep. 3, 2006

* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1531315,00.html Setting the Record Straight], A lack of identifiable plane wreckage, among other anomalies, has helped fuel skepticism about the official explanation of Sept. 11 damage to the Pentagon, left. Here's more on that debate and a few other Internet-fueled conspiracy theories that still thrive – [[TIME]], Sunday, Sep. 3, 2006

* {{cite web | url=http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/06-09-11.html| title=The 9/11 Truth Movement in Perspective}} eSkeptic Magazine article debunking the conspiracy theories point by point. Sept 11th 2006

[[Category:September 11, 2001 attacks]]

[[Category:Alternative theories of September 11, 2001 attacks]]

[[Category:Conspiracy theories]]

[[de:Verschwörungstheorien zum 11. September 2001]]

[[es:Conspiraciones del 11-S]]

[[eo:Konspiro-teorioj pri la 11-a de septembro 2001]]

[[fr:Théories du complot sur les attentats du 11 septembre 2001]]

[[he:תאוריית הקשר על פיגועי ה־11 בספטמבר]]

[[it:11 settembre 2001: dispute e controversie sui resoconti ufficiali]]

[[nl:Complottheorieën over de terroristische aanslagen op 11 september 2001]]

[[no: Konspirasjonsteorier om 11. september]]

[[fi:Syyskuun 11. päivän iskujen salaliittoteoriat]]

[[tr:11 Eylül Saldırıları ile ilgili komplo teorileri]]