Thursday, December 20, 2007

9/11 Inside Job Conspiracy UPDATED


“…history is a consensus hallucination. It is a myth upon which we all agree to agree. The truth is a moving target: new evidence must always be weighed, and ‘the truth’ updated (emphasis mine). Historical records must always be questioned and the agenda or perceptual context of those doing the recording must always be considered.”
-James Cameron, The Family Tomb of Jesus

Whereas 2005 was the year of the DaVinci code, the belief that the US govt orchestrated the 9/11 attacks is shaping up to be the most popular conspiracy theory for 08. Don’t believe me? If you google “9/11 conspiracy” you’ll find over 1 million links. I’m not exaggerating; 1 million links.

Let me make it clear that i'm not by any stretch an expert but here's what, with just a little research, i was able to ascertain. Their rationale for the conspiracy? A small portion of it's proponents are obviously inspired by a hatred of President Bush, but here’s what seems to be the main components. There’s more, but here’s 5 ingredients to the conspiracy.

1. “Building 7 collapsed without being hit by a plane thus it was a professional demolition. You can see this on youtube.”

2. “Fire cannot burn hot enough to melt steel. Detonations were set off in WTC 1 & 2 in order to complete the job.”

3. “One of the jets did not have windows or decals and thus it was a military jet or cargo plane.”

4. “There’s no debris in the courtyard of the pentagon. How could an amateur fly a plane to accurately to strike at ground level over restricted airspace.”

5. “It is impossible to make cell phone calls at high speeds above 8,000 feet (e.g. flight 93).

1A. Actually, numerous other buildings at the WTC plaza were destroyed or badly damaged, including 6, 5, 4, and 3.. The St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and Deutsche Bank were either destroyed beyond repair or listed as uninhabitable due to toxic conditions. The Verizon building was also damaged due to (like # 7) falling debris from WTC 1 & 2 but has been renovated. About 25% of the south side of 7 was hollowed out (conspiracy videos fail to show the south side) and was unable to support its weight resulting in a progressive collapse. (cf. www.nist.gov and search WTC 7).

2A. Jet fuel burns at appox 2,190 degrees; but 2,750 is needed to melt steel. But, the integrity of the steel was weakened via the impact of a 767 traveling at approx 400 mph and eliminating large sections of load bearing walls. Seismic and kinetic energy from the impact also compounded the weakening. It is not necessary for steel to completely melt to lose its integrity. Steel can begin to lose structural integrity at 400 degrees. Furthermore, each jet was carrying approx 10k gallons of jet fuel which compounded by combustible materials inside the WTC may have resulted in temperatures exceeding 2,832 degrees.

3A. There are some photos and videos of flight 175 which do not have the adequate resolution to show windows, but there are some which do. In addition to this #175 flew in from the south with its wings banked to the left and thus away from those on the ground looking skyward. So, yes, in re to #175 windows were mostly unobservable but this does not necessitate that it was a military jet.

4A. While most of the plane disintegrated upon impact, there was some debris on the courtyard. Hundreds of D.C. commuters even reported specifically that it was a descending American Airlines plane. Each of the hijacker pilots had attended flight schools and earned pilot’s licenses.

5A. Altitude and signal strength affect a cell phone capabilities from a plane. Most of the calls that were made were brief and/or dropped. It is possible for cell phones to find a signal as high as 35,ooo feet. Obviously the lower the plane the stronger the signal strength. Although several calls were made from back seat phones a few were made from personal cell phones.

Regardless of all of the above there’s one Glaring Fact. The al quaeda terrorists accepted credit for the attacks (cf. 93 WTC bombing, US Embassy bombings: Tanzania and Kenya, USS Cole, etc just to name a few). Several were prosecuted and pleaded guilty.

So, what really happened?

On 9/11/01 19 islamic terrorists hijacked four commercial jets and intentionally flew them (AA #11 and UA #175) into the WTC in New York City, NY. Each hijack team consisted of a member who’d taken pilot training. This resulted in the collapse of both buildings including wide-spread damage to nearby buildings including the collapse of WTC 7. The hijackers crashed AA #77 into the Pentagon. In an attempt to regain control by the passengers and crew of AA #93 crashed in rural PA, which was probably enroute to the Captiol or White House. The victims were predominantly civilians and are still mourned by their families. As of today the total casualties from September 11th are 2999 with 24 still missing.

“When mankind comes to the end of its rationalism, they will eventually come to the end of their rationality. They will believe myths and fables rather than believe the truth.” Frances Schaeffer

UPDATE- What i've learned.

1. i still believe it was an attack by islamic terrorists.
2. i dont think its an issue to divide over. what ive learned is that there are some people
who love Jesus just as much as i do and who are just as patriotic as i am who have some
very different conclusions. And while i may not concur with their conclusons they do have legitimate grounds to be skeptical. Although I disagree with their conclusions i cannot really say that they're less Christian or less patriotic than me.