9/11 conspiracy theories

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Sept. 11, 2001 attacks
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A variety of conspiracy theories question the mainstream account of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. At the least, these theories posit that the official report on the events is not sufficiently forthcoming, thorough or truthful. Many critics allege that individuals in the government of the United States knew of the impending attacks and intentionally failed to act on that knowledge. Some critics state that the attacks could have been a false flag operation carried out by high-level officials in the U.S. government who may have engaged compartmentalization to keep knowledge of their actions limited. The common suspected motives were the use of the attacks as a pretext to justify overseas wars, to facilitate increased military spending, and to restrict domestic civil liberties.

Many of the theories have been voiced by members of the 9/11 Truth Movement,[1] a name adopted by some organizations and individuals who question the mainstream account of the attacks. Some 9/11 Truth Movement members question the accuracy of the mainstream account of the attacks, and they are committed to further investigation. Others claim that the collapse of the World Trade Center was the result of a controlled demolition and/or that United Airlines Flight 93 was shot down.[2] Some also contend that a commercial airliner did not crash into the Pentagon; this position is debated within the Truth Movement, many of whom believe that AA Flight 77 did crash there, but that it was allowed to do so via an effective stand down of the military.[3]

Published reports by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology rejected the controlled demolition hypothesis.[4][5] The community of civil engineers generally accepts the mainstream account that the impacts of jets at high speeds in combination with subsequent fires, rather than controlled demolition, led to the collapse of the Twin Towers.[6]

Contents

Origins and reception

Since the September 11, 2001 attacks, a number of theories challenging the mainstream account of the attacks have been put forward in websites, books, and films. Although mainstream media report that al-Qaeda agents conspired to carry out the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, members within the 9/11 Truth Movement say the mainstream accounts are inaccurate or incomplete. Many groups and individuals challenging the mainstream account of events (often referred to by conspiracy theorists as the "official conspiracy theory") identify as part of the 9/11 Truth Movement.[7]

In an address to the United Nations on November 10, 2001, United States President George W. Bush denounced the emergence of "outrageous conspiracy theories ... that attempt to shift the blame away from the terrorists, themselves, away from the guilty."[8] Later, as media exposure of conspiracy theories of the events of 9/11 increased, US government agencies and the Bush Administration issued responses to the theories, including a formal analysis by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) about the collapse of the World Trade Center,[9] a revised 2006 State Department webpage to debunk the theories,[10] and a strategy paper referred to by President Bush in an August 2006 speech, which declared 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."[11] Al-Qaeda has repeatedly claimed responsibility for the attacks, with chief deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri accusing Shia Iran and Hezbullah intentionally starting rumors that Israel carried out the attacks to denigrate Sunni successes in hurting America.[12]

A number of 9/11 opinion polls have been conducted to try and establish roughly how many people have doubts about the mainstream account, and how prevalent some of the theories are. Just prior to the fifth anniversary of the attacks, mainstream news outlets released a flurry of articles on the growth of 9/11 conspiracy theories.[13] Time Magazine stated, "This is not a fringe phenomenon. It is a mainstream political reality."[14] Mainstream coverage generally presents these theories as a cultural phenomenon and is often critical of their content.

Mainstream account

Main article: September 11, 2001 attacks

Immediately following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the U.S. government stated that nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes by using knives, box cutters, pepper spray, and fake explosives. At 8:46 a.m. and 9:03am, Flights 11 and 175 crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, causing them to collapse soon after. 7 World Trade Center collapsed later in the day from fires started by debris from the collapse of the North Tower. Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. and Flight 93 crashed in an open field in Pennsylvania at 10:03 a.m. after the passengers stormed the cockpit. US government intelligence sources identified the hijackers and linked them to the terrorist organization al-Qaeda, headed by Osama Bin Laden, which later claimed sole responsibility for the attacks.

The terms 'mainstream account,' 'official account' and 'official conspiracy theory' all refer to:

The 9/11 Commission Report disclosed prior warnings of varying detail of planned attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda. The report said that the government ignored these warnings due to a lack of communication between various law enforcement and intelligence personnel. For the lack of inter-agency communication, the report cited bureaucratic inertia and laws passed in the 1970s to prevent abuses that caused scandals during that era. The report faulted the Clinton and the Bush administration with “failure of imagination”. Most members of the Democratic party and the Republican party applauded the commission's work.[26]

Some members of the 9/11 Commission and others have criticized how the government formed and operated the commission, and allege omissions and distortions in both the 9/11 Commission Report and the NIST Report.[27][28][29]

Types

Most 9/11 conspiracy theories generally originate from dissatisfaction with the mainstream account of 9/11.[30] The mildest form of the theory is that incompetence or negligence from U.S. personnel was covered up by the official reports. Additionally, some claim that the involvement of a foreign government or organization, other than al-Qaeda, has been covered up.[31] The most prevalent theories can be broadly divided into two main forms:

  • LIHOP ("let it happen on purpose") - suggests that key individuals within the government had at least some foreknowledge of the attacks and deliberately ignored them or actively weakened America's defenses to ensure the hijacked flights were not intercepted.[30]
  • MIHOP ("made it happen on purpose") - that key individuals within the government planned the attacks, collaborated with, or framed al-Qaeda in carrying them out. There is a range of opinions about how this might have been achieved.[30]

Main issues

Foreknowledge

Main article: 9/11 advance-knowledge debate

The issue of whether anyone outside al-Qaeda was aware that the attacks were going to take place has been a subject of some theories. Among the theories are: whether the Bush Administration or military knew about the plan of using planes as missiles; what the intelligence agencies knew about al-Qaeda activities inside the United States; whether the put options placed on United Airlines and American Airlines, and other trades considered questionable by theorists, indicate foreknowledge; whether there were warnings from foreign countries that were specific enough to have warranted action; whether there was any intelligence information gathered about imminent al-Qaeda attacks and whether it was specific enough to have warranted action; whether the alleged hijackers were under surveillance prior to the attacks and, if so, to what extent; and whether agents of the Mossad or the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence were aware that the attacks were going to take place.

It has been claimed that action or inaction by U.S. officials with foreknowledge was intended to ensure that the attacks took place successfully. For example, Michael Meacher, former British environment minister and member of Tony Blair's Cabinet till June 2003, was widely criticized[32][33] for claiming that America knowingly failed to prevent the attacks.[34][35] Meacher had in March voted for the Iraq war, and had voted against an investigation into it afterward.[36] On the war with Iraq, Mr. Meacher is among those who feels he and others in government were misled.[37]

Defenses

See also: U.S. military response during the September 11, 2001 attacks

Many 9/11 theories claiming government involvement allege that the US air defense system, NORAD, was deliberately stood down or rendered ineffective. This claim originates from the 9/11 Commission Report account of the actions taken by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), NORAD and other military personnel. Some note that "FAA standard procedures for NORAD interception of off course or ceased responding aircraft"[38] were activated on 129 occasions in the year 2000 and on 67 occasions in the period from September 2000 to June 2001,[39] but failed to do so on 9/11. Some theorists suggest that the war games being conducted on September 11 were deliberately planned to coincide with the attacks to create confusion.[40] United States Representative 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 9/11 Commission Report timeline of events in the FAA and NORAD contradicts the timeline released by NORAD shortly after the event. 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... 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... 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".[41]

Since the 9/11 Commission places the primary blame on communication failures within the FAA, Prof. David Ray Griffin, who has written several books alleging that the 9/11 conspiracy was considerably larger than the government claims, has questioned why the US military would lie to cover up the mistakes made by that agency.[42]

There were a number of war games and military exercises taking place during the attacks, including Northern Vigilance, a NORAD operation which involved deploying fighter aircraft to locations in Alaska and northern Canada to respond to a war game being conducted by Russia; Global Guardian, an annual command-level exercise organized by United States Strategic Command in cooperation with Space Command and NORAD; and Vigilant Guardian, a semiannual NORAD Command Post Exercise (CPX) (meaning it is conducted in offices and with computers, but without actual planes in the air) involving all NORAD command levels in which one scenario being run on September 11 was a simulated hijacking. Additionally, a National Reconnaissance Office drill was being conducted on September 11 in which the event of a small aircraft crashing into one of the towers of the agency's headquarters, was to be simulated, and the Office of Emergency Management were preparing for Operation Tripod, a bioterrorism exercise due to take place on September 12.

Members of the 9/11 Truth Movement question whether the story that such an array of war games and exercises were due to take place on that day by coincidence, is plausible.[43] Jim Hoffman and Michael Ruppert, among others, have suggested that the war games may have been specifically organised to coincide with the attacks, in order to help disable the air defence system.[44] Webster Tarpley, in his book 9/11 Synthetic Terror: Made in USA (ISBN 978-0930852313) claims that the war games were the "perfect cover for conducting the actual live fly components of 9/11 through a largely non-witting military bureaucracy. Under the cover of this confusion, the most palpably subversive actions could be made to appear in the harmless and even beneficial guise of a drill."[45]

In testimony before the 9/11 Commission, Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta said that he was not present when the order was given to shoot down the airplanes. He stated that he became aware of the order when he entered the Presidential Emergency Operation Command in the bunker underneath the White House where Dick Cheney was in command. He describes the following exchange, between Cheney and a "young man", as taking place sometime between him entering the bunker and the time the Pentagon was hit at 9:37.

There was a young man who had come in and said to the vice president, "The plane is 50 miles out. The plane is 30 miles out." And when it got down to, "The plane is 10 miles out," the young man also said to the vice president, "Do the orders still stand?" And the vice president turned and whipped his neck around and said, "Of course the orders still stand. Have you heard anything to the contrary?[46]

Mineta did not know at the time what the orders referred to, and he learned only later that 'shoot down orders' had been given that day. However, it has been suggested that the orders spoken of could have been an order not to shoot down the approaching plane. This theory is based on an interpretation of the young man's question as an expression of his surprise about the order. Therefore, because shooting down the approaching plane would be the accepted action, the unusual nature of an order not to shoot down the plane would explain the young man's putative disbelief. [47][48]. Although Mineta later clarified that he believed the order being discussed was indeed a shoot down order, the 9/11 Commission found that "A shootdown authorization was not communicated to the NORAD air defense sector until 28 minutes after United 93 had crashed in Pennsylvania". [49]

World Trade Center collapse

Main article: Controlled demolition hypothesis for the collapse of the World Trade Center

The controlled demolition hypothesis states that the collapse of the World Trade Center was due to the use of explosives. It plays a central role in the 9/11 conspiracy theories that assert that the US government is responsible for the attacks.[50] Dr. Steven E. Jones, formerly of BYU, suggests that the official explanation that fire and debris induced the collapse of WTC 7 is false.[51]

The Federal Emergency Management Agency Report of 2002 and the later National Institute of Standards and Technology report of 2005 regarding the reconstruction of the collapse events of the Twin Towers and Seven World Trade Center both contradict the controlled demolition hypothesis. Specifically, these reports do not mention any evidence that suggests that pre-positioned explosive charges caused the collapse of buildings 2 WTC, 1 WTC and then 7 WTC. However, the NIST report has suffered a degree of criticism for its lack of physical evidence and has been called upon to produce computer visualisations to rectify this problem.[52][53]

The Pentagon

The first of the five video frames leaked in 2002 showing the Pentagon just before impact.
The first of the five video frames leaked in 2002 showing the Pentagon just before impact.[54][55]
The Pentagon, after collapse of the damaged section.
The Pentagon, after collapse of the damaged section.
Aircraft debris scattered near the Pentagon.
Aircraft debris scattered near the Pentagon.

Some contend that a commercial airliner did not crash into the Pentagon; this position is debated within the Truth Movement, many of whom believe that AA Flight 77 did crash there, but that it was allowed to do so via an effective stand down of the military.[56] Claims that the Pentagon was hit by something other than the Boeing 757 of Flight 77 have been raised, based on photographs taken after the attack, in which there appears to be a lack of expected debris or damage in and around the impact area, along with the FBI seizure and refusal to release nearby security camera footage which, it is assumed, would have captured the attack on video.[57][58] The first proponent of the "No Boeing" theory was Thierry Meyssan through his book 9/11: The Big Lie and website Hunt the Boeing![59] His claims have been further popularized by the Internet videos Loose Change and "911 In Plane Site"[citation needed].

On March 8, 2002 five video frames captured by a security camera at the Pentagon were leaked. Only the first frame preceded the impact: this frame shows what may be an object heading for the Pentagon. On May 16, 2006, the security camera footage was released as part of a Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act request.[60][61] However, due to a low number of frames per second, the videos are also inconclusive, thus keeping the "No Boeing" theory alive. Security camera footage from a nearby Citgo gas station, from a local Doubletree Hotel, and from the Virginia Department of Transportation, was swiftly confiscated by the FBI. The footage from both the gas station and the hotel were later released following successful FOIA Requests, but neither captured the impact.[62][63][64]

Additional photographs were released in 2006 after the Zacarias Moussaoui trial and several FOIA requests.[65] Some show large aircraft parts and human remains, but no content that could prove the location is the Pentagon at the correct time.

In an interview on October 12, 2001, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld referred to "the missile to damage [the Pentagon]".[66] Some have interpreted this as a faux pas admission that it was not Flight 77 that hit the building. Others have suggested that the word may have been carefully chosen disinformation, designed to "trap 9/11 skeptics,"[citation needed] citing this as the real reason why photographs and video footage have not been forthcoming. Jim Hoffman states:

"Experts at psychological operations, the perpetrators could have anticipated that skeptics would divide into two groups: those persuaded by eyewitness evidence that a 757 had crashed, and those persuaded by physical evidence that one had not. The ongoing controversy could then be exploited by the perpetrators to several ends: 1) to keep the skeptics divided, 2) to divert skeptics' resources from other more productive lines of inquiry and 3) to provide a bizarre-sounding theory with which to tar the entire 9/11 Truth Movement."[67]

Jim Hoffman and other members have produced essays examining the "No Boeing" claims and have concluded that Flight 77 did hit the Pentagon.[68][69] Several researchers have argued that the wings would cause less damage than the plane's main body[citation needed], 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.[70][71] They also emphasize reports from numerous eyewitnesses, including commuters on nearby roads,[72] nearby apartment buildings,[73] and other surrounding locations. Many witnesses saw the aircraft close up as it approached the Pentagon and described it as an American Airlines Boeing 757.[74][75][76]

Flight 93

Main article: Flight 93 conspiracy theories

Many conspiracy theories and discrepancies have risen from the crash of United Airlines Flight 93. These range from the plane being shot down[77] to the plane landing at Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport.

Autopilot

Jim Hoffman and the Scholars for 9/11 Truth and Justice are among those who have said the Flight Management Computer Systems on board Flights 11, 175 and 77 could have been loaded with a preset route that guided the planes to their targets.[78] Boeing's technical specifications confirm that this is possible.[79] Hoffman suggests that Flight 77 performed the unusual spiral dive it made on its approach to the Pentagon with the help of the onboard computer.[80]

Some theories suggest that, rather than having preset routes entered into the planes' on-board computers, the planes were flown by remote control. The controllers of the planes may have been on the ground or, as in the "doomsday plane" theory, in another aircraft. This theory argues that a blurry white object seen in the sky in videos of the World Trade Center, was a plane containing the remote controller of Flights 11 and 175, and that an aircraft that flew away from The Pentagon after that impact contained the remote controller of Flight 77.[81] The aircraft at the Pentagon was later identified as a E-4B National Airborne Operations Center (NAOC) plane, a militarised version of a Boeing 747-200, taking part in the Global Guardian exercise.

Hijackers

The BBC and the Daily Telegraph reported on September 23 that some of the people named as the hijackers by the FBI were actually "alive and well".[82][83] One of them was Waleed al-Shehri, who they said they had found in Casablanca, Morocco. Abdulaziz Al Omari, Saeed Alghamdi, and Khalid al-Midhar, three other hijackers, were all said to be living in the Middle East. On September 19, the FDIC distributed a "special alert" which listed al-Mihdhar as alive (the Justice Department later said this was a typographical error). These reports have led to claims that the names of the hijackers may be incorrect, or that the hijacking scenarios outlined in the 9/11 Commission Report may not be the truth.

All of the reports have since been acknowledged as cases of mistaken identity by the publications involved and by other news organizations such as the New York Times.[84][85][86] The BBC said that confusion may have arisen because the FBI names were common Arabic and Islamic names.[87] In 2002, Saudi Arabia asserted that the names of the hijackers were correct.[88]

Some attention has been given to news reports that might indicate that the named hijackers were not typical Islamic extremists. For example, Mohammad Atta reportedly ate pork, drank alcohol, gambled in casinos, and went to strip clubs.[89]. It is however controversial whether terrorists are motivated primarily by religious belief.

Phone calls

Air phone calls and cell phone calls were placed from the hijacked planes. Conspiracy theorists say cell phone calls should either be impossible or rarely possible from commercial planes, and therefore the hijackings were staged and the phone calls were faked.

After 911, cellular experts said that they were surprised calls were able to be placed from the hijacked planes, and that they lasted as long as they did. They said that the only reason that the calls went through in the first place is that the aircraft were flying so close to the ground. Alexa Graf, an AT&T spokesperson said it was almost a fluke that the calls reached their destinations.[90] Other industry experts said that it is possible to use cell phones with varying degrees of success during a flight. [91] Marvin Sirbu, professor of engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University said on September 14, 2001 that "The fact of the matter is that cell phones can work in almost all phases of a commercial flight."

Based on a study he conducted in Canada in 2003 to determine whether and how well cell phones could be operated from aircraft, Canadian Mathematician A.K. Dewdney concluded that the chance of successful connections for the number of cell phone calls made from the planes used in the 9/11 attacks "can only be described as infinitesimal".[92] Based on this, economist Michel Chossudovsky says that at least part of the 9/11 Commission Report chapter on the cell phone conversations, is fabricated.[93] According to the 9/11 Commission Report, 13 passengers from Flight 93 made a total of over 30 calls to both family and emergency personnel (twenty two confirmed air phone calls, two confirmed cell phone and eight not specified in the report). The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force testified that all but two calls from Flight 93 were made on air phones. [94] There were reportedly three phone calls from Flight 11, five from Flight 175, and three calls from Flight 77 which American Airlines later confirmed did not have airphones fitted[citation needed]; two calls from these flights were recorded, placed by flight attendants Madeleine Sweeney and Betty Ong on Flight 11. A conspiracy theory web site claims anomalies relating to the nature of the phone call transcripts.[95]

Cover-up allegations

Conspiracy theorists say they 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 mainstream account.[96][97][98] They associated news stories from several different sources with that pattern.[99][100][101][102][103][104]

Cockpit recorders

According to the 9/11 Commission Report, the cockpit voice recorders (CVR) or flight data recorders (FDR), or "black boxes", from Flights 11 and 175 were not recovered from the remains of the WTC attack; however, 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:[105][106]

"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."[107]

The cockpit voice recorder from Flight 77 was heavily damaged from the impact and resulting fire.
The cockpit voice recorder from Flight 77 was heavily damaged from the impact and resulting fire.

Ted Lopatkiewicz, spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board, remarked that "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."[108]

With the exception of the CVR from Flight 93, the black boxes from Flights 77 and 93 were either never recovered or were said to be too damaged to yield data. On April 18, 2002, the FBI allowed the families of victims from Flight 93 to listen to the voice recordings.[109] In April 2006, a transcript of the CVR was released as part of the Zacarias Moussaoui trial. Some conspiracy theorists do not believe that the black boxes were damaged and that instead there has been a cover up of evidence.

A June 2007 video, attributed to researcher Calum Douglas of Pilots for 9/11 Truth, presents an analysis of alleged Flight 77 black box data,[110] said to have been obtained from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) under a Freedom of Information Act petition. It states that the approach path and altitude on the Flight Path Animation differs from the mainstream account of the path of Flight 77.

Bin Laden tapes

Main article: Videos of Osama bin Laden

A series of interviews, audio and videotapes have been released since the 9/11 attacks that have been reported to be from Osama Bin Laden. At first the speaker denied responsibility for the attacks but over the years has taken increasing responsibility for them culminating in a November 2007 videotape in which the speaker claimed sole responsibility for the attacks and denied the Taliban and the Afghan government or people had any prior knowledge of the attacks.[111][112][113] The Central Intelligence Agency has confirmed the speaker was or was likely to be Osama Bin Laden. Some people in the Muslim World doubted the authenticity of the tape.[114] Steve and Paul Watson of Infowars.net claim that the organization handling the tapes is a front for the Pentagon and that the tapes are "highly suspect".[115][116] Professor Bruce Lawrence head of Duke University’s Religious Studies Department and author of Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden believes the tapes are fake and that Bin Laden has been dead since 2001.[117]

World Trade Center Design Investigation

In March 2008 The American Society of Civil Engineers was accused by Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl, a structural engineer and forensics expert who is on the faculty of University of California, Berkeley of wrongly concluding that skyscrapers cannot withstand getting hit by airplanes. The society was paid by the Federal Emergency Management Agency about $257,000 to investigate the World Trade Center collapse. Astaneh-Asl who received money from the National Science Foundation to investigate the collapse, insisted most New York skyscrapers built with traditional designs would survive such an impact and prevent the kind of fires that brought down the twin towers. Astaneh-Asl said it was “moral corruption” that the wife of the trade center's structural engineer and a representative of the buildings' original design team were members of the society’s investigative team. Gene Corley, a forensics expert and team leader on the society's report, said employing people with ties to the original builders was necessary because they had access to information that was difficult to get any other way. Corley noted that the society’s studies were peer reviewed.[118]

Other theories

Foreign governments

See also: Responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks#Other alleged responsibility
See also: 9/11 advanced-knowledge debate#Foreign government foreknowledge

There are allegations that individuals within the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence may have played an important role in financing the attacks. There are also claims that other foreign intelligence agencies, such as the Israeli Mossad, had foreknowledge of the attacks, and that Saudi Arabia may have played a role in financing the attacks. Francesco Cossiga, former President of Italy from 1985 until his resignation over Operation Gladio, asserts that it is common knowledge among intelligence services the 9-11 attacks were a joint operation between elements in the U.S. Government and Mossad.[119][120]

The theory that such foreign individuals outside of al Qaeda were involved is often part of larger "inside job" theories, although it has been claimed that, while al Qaeda deserve most of the responsibility, the alleged role played by Pakistan, Israel or Saudi Arabia was deliberately overlooked by the official investigation for political reasons.[citation needed]

"No plane" theories

The "no plane theory," promoted by internet-only videos like 911 Taboo, asserts that this shot of the second impact, taken from a news helicopter, depicts a video composite of a Boeing 767 accidentally appearing from behind a layer mask.
The "no plane theory," promoted by internet-only videos like 911 Taboo[121], asserts that this shot of the second impact, taken from a news helicopter, depicts a video composite of a Boeing 767 accidentally appearing from behind a layer mask.

Some individuals, primarily on the internet, have made the claim that no hijacked airliners hit the World Trade Center towers ('No Boeing Theories' or 'No Plane Theories'). Supporters of this claim have been described as "no-planers," or "Pod people," by members of the 9/11 truth movement who generally maintain that the claim is a case of poisoning the well — an effort which is intended to broadly discredit the more credible theories.[122] According to "no-planers," live television, video and photographs that purport to show Boeing airliners on September 11th all had fake airplane images composited into them. Many prominent members of the 9/11 Truth Movement have rejected the claims[123].

Those describing the no plane claims as poisoning the well often refer to proponents like Morgan Reynolds, former Labor Department chief economist under George W. Bush, who calls himself the "black sheep" of the 9/11 Truth Movement.[124] Reynolds claims he believes that the Boeing planes of Flights 11 and 175 could not have impacted the Towers and has proposed that digital compositing was used to depict the plane crashes in both news reports and subsequent amateur video. Numerous papers by 9/11 Truth Movement researchers have rejected the claims.[125]

President Bush's behavior

President Bush was promoting the passage of his education plan at Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida on the morning of September 11. He was already aware of the first plane impact before he entered the school, believing it to have been a "horrible accident".[126] He was sitting in a classroom reading The Pet Goat with the children when, at 9:05am, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card whispered in his ear that "A second plane hit the second tower. America is under attack."[127] That the president chose to stay in the classroom for an additional 7 minutes, without asking for additional information from his staff, and that those staff did not volunteer any additional information or take him to a place of safety, has led to allegations that he knew that the attack was taking place and knew he was not a target.[128][129] A response is that Bush's intention was to "project strength and calm," i.e., that he 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.[130]

Jewish involvement

Conspiracy theories proposed by some groups claim that 9/11 was part of an international Zionist conspiracy. According to the Anti-Defamation League, "anti-Semitic conspiracy theories have not been accepted in mainstream circles in the U.S.," but "this is not the case in the Arab and Muslim world."[131] The Anti-Defamation League has published a paper, Unraveling Anti-Semitic 9/11 Conspiracy Theories, identifying the claims made and responding to them.

One of the most popular claims in these theories is that 4,000 Jewish employees skipped work at the WTC on September 11. This was first reported on September 17 by the Lebanese Hezbollah-owned satellite television channel Al-Manar and is believed to be based on the September 12 edition of the Jerusalem Post’s claim that 4,000 Jews were missing in the WTC attack. Both turned out to be incorrect; the number of Jews who died in the attacks is variously estimated at between 270 to 400.[132][133][134][135] The lower figure tracks closely with the percentage of Jews living in the New York area and partial surveys of the victims' listed religion. The US State Department has published a partial list of 76 in response to claims that less Jews/Israelis died in the WTC attacks than should have been present at the time. [136] Five Israeli citizens died in the attack, including one who was killed fighting his airplane's hiijackers. [137]

Several websites of the 9/11 truth movement have worked to debunk the anti-Semitic claims and expose websites and individuals engaging in anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial.[138] On the internet, Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has indignantly attacked the rumour and the Shias of Hezbollah for spreading it, claiming, “the objective behind this lie is to deny that the Sunnis have heroes who harm America as no one has harmed it throughout its history.”[139]

Motives

"Pax Americana"

In suggesting motives for the US government to have carried out the attacks, Professor David Ray Griffin claims that a global "Pax Americana" was a dream held by many members of the Bush Administration. This dream was first articulated in the Defense Planning Guidance of 1992, drafted by Paul Wolfowitz on behalf of then Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney, a document that has been called "a blueprint for permanent American global hegemony"[140] and has been echoed in the writings of the neoconservatives. In his lecture, "9/11: The Myth and the Reality," Griffin states that:

"Achieving this goal (American global hegemony) would require four things. 1. One of these was getting control of the world's oil, especially in Central Asia and the Middle East, and the Bush-Cheney administration came to power with plans already made to attack Afghanistan and Iraq. 2. A second requirement was a technological transformation of the military, in which fighting from space would become central. 3. A third requirement was an enormous increase in military spending, to pay for these new wars and for weaponizing space. 4. A fourth need was to modify the doctrine of preemptive attack, so that America would be able to attack other countries even if they posed no imminent threat. These four elements would, moreover, require a fifth: an event that would make the American people ready to accept these imperialistic policies."[141]

Some of the most widely cited writings of the neoconservatives come from the think-tank the "Project for a New American Century". This group contained numerous members of the Bush Administration including Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and Jeb Bush. A document published in 2000 entitled "Rebuilding America's Defenses" called for increased spending in order to transform the military. It goes on to say:

"This process of transformation... is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event — like a new Pearl Harbor."[142][143]

The War on Terror is seen by many as the pretext for achieving the goals of the neoconservatives. Jim Hoffman is among those who claim that a key motive for 9/11 may have been to create a "perpetual threat", terrorism, to function in a similar way to communism during the Cold War.[144] He cites an article in the Washington Post in which Dick Cheney says of the War on Terror: "It may never end. At least, not in our lifetime."[145]

Since 9/11, the US government have introduced numerous acts of congress which, some people say, is an invasion of their civil liberties and are "in direct contradiction with the US constitution". These claims normally refer to the PATRIOT Act, the Homeland Security Bill, the militarization of the police force, the nullification of the Posse Comitatus Act, and the changes in laws relating to rights of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay.[146]

New World Order

The perpetrators of the attacks are sometimes thought to be a "shadow government" controlling the White House and both major political parties. They are also said to control certain foreign governments, global corporations and the mainstream news media, and are referred to as the "New World Order". Some of the individuals believed to be working for this group are members of such groups as the Council on Foreign Relations, Trilateral Commission and the Bilderberg Group.[147] The term itself gained popularity following its use in the early 1990s, first by President George H W Bush when he referred to his "dream of a New World Order" in his speech to congress on September 11, 1990, and second by David Rockefeller in a 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."[148]

The concept of this shadow government pre-dates 1990 and they are accused of being the same group of people who, among other things, created the Federal Reserve Act (1913), supported the Bolshevik Revolution (1917), and supported the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany, all for their own agenda. Indeed, the domestic agenda of the Bush Administration since 9/11 has been compared to that of the Nazi Party following the Reichstag Fire of 1933.[149] The World Bank and national central banks are said to be the tools of the New World Order; war generates massive profits for central banks, as government spending (hence borrowing at interest from the central banks) increases dramatically in times of war.[150]

Invasions

There are claims that the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan was being planned before 9/11. On June 26, 2001, the Indian public affairs magazine News Insight revealed plans for a joint US-Russian invasion of Afghanistan to remove the Taliban government. It reported that India and Iran would 'facilitate' the invasion.[151] The BBC reported on September 18, 2001 that Niaz Naik, a former Pakistani Foreign Secretary, was told by senior American officials in mid-July that military action against Afghanistan would go ahead by the middle of October.[152] MSNBC reported on May 16, 2002 that unspecified "U.S. and foreign sources" said President George W. Bush received plans to begin a worldwide war on al-Qaeda on September 9, 2001.[153]

Conspiracy theorists have questioned whether the Oil Factor and 9/11 provided the United States and the United Kingdom with a reason to launch a war they had wanted for some time, and suggest that this gives them a strong motive for either carrying out the attacks, or allowing them to take place. For instance, Andreas von Bülow, a former research minister in the German government, has argued that 9/11 was staged to justify the subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.[154] The role of 9/11 in prompting the Afghanistan invasion has been widely acknowledged; Tony Blair said to the Commons Liaison Committee in July 2002 that "To be truthful about it, there was no way we could have got the public consent to have suddenly launched a campaign on Afghanistan but for what happened on September 11".[155]

It has also been suggested that the 2003 invasion of Iraq was on President Bush's 'to-do' list from the time he was elected into office and even before. Although the pretext for the war was that Saddam was in possession of 'weapons of mass destruction,' some say that 9/11 was part of a plan to create a 'climate of fear' to win support for an invasion, followed by a long period of occupation. Paul O'Neill, George Bush's first Treasury Secretary, reported that in a meeting in January 2001, the president discussed an invasion and occupation of Iraq. "It was all about finding a way to do it. That was the tone of it. The president saying ‘Go find me a way to do this,’" O'Neill told CBS.[156]

Suggested historical precedents

Conspiracy theorists sometimes bring up historical examples of where a government is known or alleged to have carried out or planned activities similar to those hypothesized as explanations for the September 11 attacks — often false flag operations. The media, such as Time Magazine, and academics often also draw parallels between events which inspired past conspiracy theories and those which inspire 9/11 conspiracy theories — such as the assassination of John F. Kennedy.[14] Conspiracy theorists, such as those associated with the 9/11 Truth Movement, argue that the similarities between the motives between the attacks and the examples they cite, indicate that they are both plausible and operate with a long-term, hidden, agenda.[157] Some examples which have been used include the attack on USS Maine, the Reichstag fire, the Gleiwitz incident (Operation Himmler), the attack on Pearl Harbor (specifically, the Pearl Harbor advance-knowledge debate), Operation Gladio, Operation Northwoods, the Gulf of Tonkin incident, and the "Kuwaiti incubator baby hoax".[157]

Media reaction

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.

The Norwegian version of the July 2006 Le Monde diplomatique sparked interest when they ran, on their own initiative, a three page main story on the 9/11 attacks and summarized the various types of 9/11 conspiracy theories (which were not specifically endorsed by the newspaper, only recensed).[158] The Voltaire Network, which has changed position since the September 11 attacks and whose director, Thierry Meyssan, became a leading proponent of 9/11 conspiracy theory, explained that although the Norwegian version of Le Monde diplomatique had allowed it to translate and publish this article on its website, the mother-house, in France, categorically refused it this right, thus displaying an open debate between various national editions.[159] In December 2006, the French version published an article by Alexander Cockburn, co-editor of CounterPunch, which strongly criticized the endorsement of conspiracy theories by the US left-wing, alleging that it was a sign of "theoretical emptiness."[160][161]

Also, on the Canadian website for CBC News: the fifth estate, a program titled, "Conspiracy Theories: uncovering the facts behind the myths of Sept. 11, 2001" was broadcast on Oct. 29, 2003, stating that what they found may be more surprising than any theories. [2]More recently on March 19, 2008, the fifth estate aired, "The lies that led to war".[3]

An article in the September 11 2006 edition of Time Magazine comments 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 enjoy continued popularity because “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” and constitute “an American form of national mourning.”[162]

The Daily Telegraph published an article titled "The CIA couldn't have organised this..." which said "The same people who are making a mess of Iraq were never so clever or devious that they could stage a complex assault on two narrow towers of steel and glass" and "if there is a nefarious plot in all this bad planning, it is one improvised by a confederacy of dunces". This article mainly attacked Scholars for 9/11 Truth, a group of scientists which was, at the time, led by Professor Steven E. Jones. They said "most of them aren't scientists but instructors... at second-rate colleges".[163]

A major Australian newspaper "The Daily Telegraph", published an article in May 2007 that was highly critical of Loose Change 2, a movie which presents a 9/11 conspiracy theory.[164]

Doug MacEachern in a May 2008 column for the Arizona Republic wrote that while many "9/11 truthers" are not crackpots they espouse "crackpot conspiracy theories". He wrote that supporters of the theories fail to take into account both human nature and that nobody has come forward claiming they were participants in the alleged conspiracies.[165]

On June 7, 2008 The Financial Times Magazine published a lengthy article on the 9/11 Truth Movement and 9/11 conspiracy theories.[166][167][168]

Criticism

Critics of these conspiracy theories say they are a form of conspiracism common throughout history after a traumatic event in which conspiracy theories emerge as a mythic form of explanation.[169] A related criticism addresses the form of research on which the theories are based. Thomas W. Eagar, an engineering professor at MIT, 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."[170] 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 embody 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.

Michael Shermer, writing in Scientific American, said: "The mistaken belief that a handful of unexplained anomalies can undermine a well-established theory lies at the heart of all conspiratorial thinking. All the evidence for a 9/11 conspiracy falls under the rubric of this fallacy. Such notions are easily refuted by noting that scientific theories are not built on single facts alone but on a convergence of evidence assembled from multiple lines of inquiry."[171]

Scientific American,[172] Popular Mechanics,[173] and The Skeptic's Dictionary[174] have published articles that rebut various 9/11 conspiracy theories. Proponents of these conspiracy theories have attacked the contribution to the Popular Mechanics article by senior researcher Ben Chertoff, who they say is a cousin of Michael Chertoff — current head of Homeland Security.[175] However, U.S News says no actual connection has been revealed and Ben Chertoff has denied the allegation.[176] Popular Mechanics has published a book entitled Debunking 9/11 Myths that expands upon the research first presented in the article.[177] Der Spiegel dismissed 9/11 conspiracy theories 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."[178] David Ray Griffin has published a book entitled Debunking 9/11 Debunking: An Answer to Popular Mechanics and Other Defenders of the Official Conspiracy Theory,[179] and Jim Hoffman has written an article called 'popular mechanics assault on 9/11 truth." where he attacks the methods Popular Mechanics uses in forming their arguments.[180]

While not supporting theories that the Twin Towers were brought down by pre-planted explosives, James Quintiere, Ph.D., the former Chief of the Fire Science Division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and who was a Popular Mechanics panel member for their debunking of 9/11 Truth article disagreed with their conclusions. Calling for NIST's investigation to be peer reviewed and for researchers and engineers to scientifically re-examine the WTC collapses he stated "The official conclusion NIST arrived at is questionable….I hope to convince you to perhaps become Conspiracy Theorists, but in a proper way".[181][182]

Historian Kenneth J. Dillon argues that 9/11 conspiracy theories represent an overly easy target for skeptics and that their criticisms obfuscate the underlying issue of what actually happened if there wasn't a conspiracy. He suggests that the answer is criminal negligence on the part of the president and vice president, who were repeatedly warned, followed by a cover-up conspiracy after 9/11.[183]

In 2006, South Park aired an episode entitled "The Mystery of the Urinal Deuce" which satirized contemporary events surrounding the resolution of the 9/11 attacks, including conspiracy theories and the Bush Administration — according to IGN's reviewer, the episode was "a way to explain to people just how crazy the government conspiracy idea really is." The episode especially parodied the "ridiculous nature of both our government and the easily influenced members of our society."[184]

Court cases

A number of court cases have been filed which use certain conspiracy theories as a central basis of their allegations. Two of them are qui tam cases, filed by Judy Wood and Morgan Reynolds, against private contractors, airlines, and individuals, alleging fraud pursuant to the False Claims Act, alleging that the defendants misled NIST and the United States about the nature of the destruction of the WTC, citing energy weapons, video fakery, and alleging that no airplanes hit the Twin Towers. [185] Ellen Mariani, the widow of a 9/11 victim, filed suit in 2001 against United Airlines and President George W. Bush, seeking "the truth of what happened on Sept. 11", and claiming damages under the RICO act, and for negligence.[186][187] Ms. Mariani also filed a lawsuit against President George W. Bush, Vice-President Dick Cheney, and others in September 2003, which was dismissed in April 2004.[188] William Rodriguez, a former janitor at the World Trade Center, filed a similar lawsuit in October 2004, which was dismissed in July 2006. [189] Former Dole chief of staff, Stanley Hilton, filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of 400 families of 9/11 victims, alleging that "George W. Bush allow[ed] the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 to take place, [...] in order to rally the country into a frenzy...",[190], which was dismissed in 2004 based upon the legal theory of sovereign immunity and a failure by the plaintiffs to "establish the required causal connection between [their] alleged injuries and these defendants' conduct".

Jim Hoffman has speculated that the poor quality of the legal cases could be the result of a conspiracy to discredit them.[191]

References

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  155. ^ Michael Meacher: This war on terrorism is bogus | Guardian daily comment | Guardian Unlimited
  156. ^ Bush Sought ‘Way’ To Invade Iraq?. CBS News (January 2004). Retrieved on 2006-11-19. “"It was all about finding a way to do it. That was the tone of it. The president saying ‘Go find me a way to do this,’" says O’Neill.” O'Neill Tells '60 Minutes' Iraq Was 'Topic A' 8 Months Before 9-11
  157. ^ a b Hoffman, Jim (2005-10-25). Historical Precedents for 9/11/01. 9-11 Review. Retrieved on 2007-12-24.
  158. ^ 11.September - an innsidde jobb?, Norwegian edition of Le Monde diplomatique, July 2006. See also English translation: Kim Bredesen, Was 9/11 an inside job? and other links
  159. ^ * (French) Pour le Monde diplomatique norvégien, le 11 septembre est un complot intérieur US, Voltaire Network * (Spanish) El 11 de septiembre fue un complot interno estadounidense, estima la prensa noruega
  160. ^ *(English) Distractions from awful reality - US: the conspiracy that wasn’t, by Alexander Cockburn in Le Monde diplomatique, December 2006 *(French)Scepticisme ou occultisme? Le complot du 11-Septembre n’aura pas lieu, by Alexander Cockburn in Le Monde diplomatique, December 2006 *Template:Ir icon Iranian translation *(Portuguese) PODERES IMAGINÁRIOS - A "conspiração" das Torres Gêmeas
  161. ^ Debunking the Myths of 9/11, by Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair, CounterPunch, November 28, 2006
  162. ^ Grossman, Lev. (2006) Time.com – Why The 9/11 Conspiracies Won't Go Away
  163. ^ The CIA couldn't have organised this... 08/09/2006
  164. ^ The Daily Telegraph "Virgin's 9/11 Farce"[1]
  165. ^ Truthers are overlooking key point about 9/11 Human nature Doug MacEachern for the Arizona Republic May 11, 2008
  166. ^ The Truth Is Out There - Part I Financial Times Magazine June 7, 2008
  167. ^ The Truth Is Out There - Part II Financial Times Magazine June 7, 2008
  168. ^ The Truth Is Out There - Part III Financial Times Magazine June 7, 2008
  169. ^ Barkun, 2003
  170. ^ Walch, Tad (2006). Controversy dogs Y.'s Jones. Utah news. Deseret News Publishing Company. Retrieved on 2006-09-09.
  171. ^ Shermer, Michael (2005). Fahrenheit 2777. Skeptic. Scientific American, Inc.. Retrieved on 2006-10-13.
  172. ^ Shermer, Michael (June, 2005). Fahrenheit 2777, 9/11 has generated the mother of all conspiracy theories. Scientific American.
  173. ^ Debunking The 9/11 Myths - Mar. 2005 Cover Story. Popular Mechanics (March, 2005).
  174. ^ Carroll, Robert Todd (March 30, 2006). Mass Media Bunk - 9/11 conspiracies: the war on critical thinking. The Skeptic's Dictionary.
  175. ^ Bollyn, Christopher (March 4, 2005). 9/11 and Chertoff. Associated Free Press.
  176. ^ Sullivan, Will (September 3, 2006). Viewing 9/11 From a Grassy Knoll. Us News.
  177. ^ Debunking The 9/11 Myths blog. Popular Mechanics.
  178. ^ Cziesche, Dominik, Jürgen Dahlkamp, Ulrich Fichtner, Ulrich Jaeger, Gunther Latsch, Gisela Leske, and Max F. Ruppert (September 8, 2003). Panoply of the Absurd. Der Spiegel.
  179. ^ Griffin, David Ray. Debunking 9/11 Debunking: An Answer to Popular Mechanics and Other Defenders of the Official Conspiracy Theory. Olive Branch Press. ISBN 978-1566566865. 
  180. ^ 911 research.
  181. ^ Former Chief of NIST's Fire Science Division Calls for Independent Review of World Trade Center Investigation OpEd News August 21, 2007
  182. ^ Questions on the WTC Investigations Fire Engineering Magazine (Requires subscription).
  183. ^ Anomalous Mistake-driven Opportunity Creation.
  184. ^ Dan Iverson. South Park: "Mystery of the Urinal Deuce" Review. IGN. Retrieved on 2006-10-12.
  185. ^ "Madness or truth?", Victoria Advocate, 2006-03-08. 
  186. ^ Slobodzian, Joseph. "Sept. 11 Widow Sues President Bush, Alleges Airport Security Negligence.", The Philadelphia Inquirer, 2003-09-23. 
  187. ^ Ramer, Holly. "Sept. 11 widow sues United Airlines", Associated Press, 2001-12-21. Retrieved on 2007-12-23. 
  188. ^ http://resipsa2006.googlepages.com/MarianiDocket.pdf
  189. ^ rodriguezlawsuit - William Rodriguez v. U.S.A
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  191. ^ Legal Subterfuge

Books

  • Begin, Jeremy (2007). Fighting for G.O.D. (Gold, Oil, and Drugs). Trine Day Press. ISBN 978-0-9777953-3-8. 
  • Barkun, Michael (2003). A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-23805-2. 
  • Broeckers, Mathias (2006). Conspiracies, Conspiracy Theories, and the Secrets of 9/11. Progressive Press. ISBN 0930852230. 
  • Divided We Stand: A Biography of New York's World Trade Center. 
  • Fetzer, James H.. 9/11 Conspiracy. Open Court Publishing Company, U.S., 342. ISBN 0812696123. 
  • Griffin, David Ray (2007). Debunking 9/11 Debunking: An Answer to Popular Mechanics and Other Defenders of the Official Conspiracy Theory.. Olive Branch Press. ISBN 1566566865. 
  • Griffin, David Ray (2006). 9/11 and American Empire: Intellectuals Speak Out, Vol. 1. Olive Branch Press. ISBN 1566566592. 
  • Griffin, David (2004). The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions and Distortions. Olive Branch Press. ISBN 1566565847. 
  • Henshall, Ian (2007). 9.11: The New Evidence. Robinson Publishing, 256. ISBN 1845295145. 
  • Hufschmid, Eric (2002). Painful Questions: An Analysis of the September 11th Attack. Ink & Scribe, 158. ISBN 1931947058. 
  • Johnston, Patrick, S. (2006). Mission Accomplished (Novel). Dog Ear. ISBN 1-59858-244-5. 
  • Marrs, Jim (2006). The Terror Conspiracy: Deception, 9/11 and the Loss of Liberty. Disinformation Company. ISBN 1932857435. 
  • Meyssan, Thierry (2002). 9/11: The big lie. Carnot Editions. ISBN 2912362733. 
  • Morgan, Rowland; Ian Henshall. 9/11 Revealed: The Unanswered Questions. 
  • National Commission on Terrorist Attacks (2004). The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. W. W. Norton & Co.. ISBN 0393060411. 
  • Ruppert, Michael. Crossing the Rubicon. 
  • Ridgeway, James. The Five Unanswered Questions About 9/11. 
  • Tarpley, Webster Griffin. 9/11 Synthetic Terror: Made in USA. 
  • Williams, Eric D. (2006). 9/11 101: 101 Key Points that Everyone Should Know and Consider that Prove 9/11 Was an Inside Job. Booksurge Publishing. ISBN 1419624288. 
  • Wright, Lawrence (2006). The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. Knopf. ISBN 037541486X. 
  • Zwicker, Barrie (2006). Towers of Deception: The Media Cover-Up of 9/11. New Society Publishers, 416. ISBN 0865715734. 
  • Taibbi, Matt (200). 'The Great Derangement' A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion at the Twilight of the American Empire. Spiegel & Grau, 288. ISBN 9780385520348. 

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