1997 - CFR & Trilateral Comm member Zbigniew Brzezinski publishes a book urging the US to control the world's natural resources to maintain global domination despite public's uneasiness about US projecting external power and cautions it will become more difficult to get consensus on foreign policy with an increasingly diverse US society unless public perceives a massive direct external threat. (Brzezinski: 'Grand Chessboard') Sept 14 - Council on Foreign Relation member Gary Hart says 9/11 attacks is chance for Bush to carry out a "new world order." (CFR)
Sept 10 - Donald Rumsfeld announces Pentagon has lost track of $2.3 trillion (CBS, DoD), attacks came near end of fiscal year & important budget information was located in the damaged area (Arlington County), large number of fatalities at Pentagon were civilian accountants, bookkeepers and budget analysts. (Pitt Post-Gazette)
Oct '01 - Only 1 1/2 months after 9/11, the 342 page USA PATRIOT ACT is signed into law. (White House)
Oct '01 - Hundreds of gold bars that was stored under WTC 4 are discovered in a delivery tunnel under WTC 5 that was being transported on the morning of 9/11 by a 10-wheel truck that was crushed along with several other cars by debris, yet no bodies were recovered. (NY Daily News, Times Online)
Nov '02 - Dept of Homeland Security is created to lead the fight against domestic terrorism. (CBS)
Poll Cites GOP Gains Since 9/11 (Washington Post), Gov't terrorist warnings boost Bush's approval ratings. (Cornell U) '9/11 effect' won Bush votes on Democratic turf near Ground Zero. (New York Post)
Military budget increase:
Sept '00 - PNAC calls to increase US defense budget, but says won't happen absent a catastrophic event like a "new Pearl Harbor." (ABC, PNAC)
Sept 5, '01 - Rumsfeld asks Senate to approve new '02 defense budget which has largest spending increase since the mid 80's. (DoD)
FY 2002 budget request is a $37.8 billion, or 11.5% increase from '01 request. (DoD)
FY 2003 budget request is a $40.1 billion, or 10.9% increase from '02 request. (DoD)
Afghanistan, opium, pipeline
July '01 - US plans to invade Afghanistan by Oct '01 (BBC, Guardian), Sept 4 - White House approves plan to invade Afghanistan (CBS, USA Today), Sept 10 - Plan awaits Bush's approval (MSNBC), Oct '01 - US invades Afghanistan. (DoD) War in Afghanistan would have been politically impossible pre-9/11. (USA Today)
July '00 - Taliban bans cultivation of opium poppies in Afghanistan (BBC), Mar '05, Afghanistan opium production surges. (USA Today)
1997 - Taleban are in Texas for talks with Unocal about an Afghan pipeline. (BBC)
Feb '98, Unocal rep testifies before congress that an Afghan pipeline can't happen without a single stable Afghan gov't and asks the US to use it's influence to end conflicts there. (US House of Reps)
Aug '98 - Unocal suspends Afghan pipeline activities because of deteriorating political conditions there. (Unocal)
Dec '98 - Unocal drops out of Afghan pipeline consortium. (Unocal)
1999 - US paid entire annual salary of Taliban gov't in hopes to secure a stable Afghan gov't to allow US companies to build a pipeline there to connect to the Caspian Sea. (SF Chronicle)
May '01, US gives $43 million to Afghanistan and becomes their largest donor two years in a row. (CNN)
Some say current military campaign in Afghanistan has hidden objective - revive gas pipeline and open the way for U.S. companies to build further facilities to carry central Asian oil. (BCC)
Dec '02 - Afghan gas pipeline deal signed. (BBC, SF Chronicle)
May '05 - Afghan pipeline draws closer to reality, Afghan President said project was a 'top priority.' (Christian Science Monitor)
Iraq, oil
1998 - PNAC calls for a war in Iraq to oust Saddam Hussein who they say threatens Israel and the world's oil supply. (ABC, PNAC)
Jan '01 - Bush had pre-9/11 Iraq war plan according to Treasury Dept memo. (CNN)
Bush made plans for ousting Saddam and for Iraq's oil before 9/11. (BBC)
9/11 - Barely 5 hrs after the Pentagon crash, Rumsfeld begins strike plans against Iraq. (CBS)
Feb '02 - Bush admin was warned statements that Iraq trained Al Qaeda in weapon making was fabricated, yet they would later use same statements as foundation for military action in Iraq. (NY Times, AFP)
White House officials say privately 9/11 was main reason for war in Iraq (ABC)
, Bush says US is in Iraq because of 9/11. (CNN, White House)
Jan '03 - Memo reveals Bush was determined to invade Iraq despite UN backing and discusses ways to provoke Saddam into a confrontation. (NY Times, BBC)
Of the 18 PNAC members who urged Clinton to remove Saddam in '98, 10 will be in the new Bush administration such as Dick Cheney, Zalmay Khalilzad, Lewis Libby, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz. (ABC, PNAC)
PNAC member Vice President Dick Cheney was former Defense Secretary under the Bush Sr. Administration (DoD) and former CEO of Halliburton. (CNN) Cheney is still being paid by Halliburton (Guardian) and his stock options with them rose 3,281% in '04. (Raw Story) Halliburton was a large donor to Bush/Cheney campaign, is the top Iraq war contract recipient (Newsday), was awarded no-bid contracts by the Pentagon (CBS) and announced a 2005 second quarter 284% profit increase. (Halliburton)
May '01 - PNAC member Dov Zakheim sworn in as the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) and CFO for Defense Dept and was former VP of a defense contractor which makes remote control and flight termination products. (DoD, SPC)
Sept 6 - large put options placed on United, American Airlines, Boeing and some purchases made through bank which used to be headed by Exec. CIA Director Buzzy Krongard. (SF Chronicle)
Sept 10 - 'Rumsfeld's Rules' are revised for the first and only time to include the rule, 'America ain't what's wrong with the world.' (Daily Kos, DoD)
Sept 10 - Former Pres. and ex-CIA dir. Bush Sr. met with Osama's brother at Carlyle Group meeting in DC. (Washington Post), is at the White House morning of attacks. (CBS)
9/11 - The official bin Ladin family's website domain expires. (Yahoo, Philly City Paper)
9/11 - Sen. Graham, Rep. Goss, and other US Intel committee members have meeting in the morning with Paki ISI director who had authorized $100,000 wire transfer to Atta. (Wall St Journal, Washington Post)
9/11 - An elite Israeli military commando who understands Arabic is seated near all hijackers on Flight 11. (WorldNetDaily)
9/11 - Bush proceeds with scheduled reading event after Rice tells him a commercial plane hit the WTC. (9/11 Panel)
9/11 - Chief of Staff Card whispers to Bush about 2nd WTC crash and says 'America is under attack' and immediately leaves without seeing if Bush would respond. (Boston Herald)
9/11 - After being told of attacks, Bush picks up book and reads with kids for 11 mins and after finishing, takes a few questions from kids before leaving. (FOX, St Petersburg Times)
9/11 - Bush gives speech at school exactly the same time he was scheduled to make speech there day before. (Federal News Service)
9/11 - Solicitor Gen. Ted Olson--who has admitted the US gov't lies and helped stopped FL recount that sealed '00 Bush win--claims wife Barbara called him collect from Flight 77 twice and is sole source that hijackers used box cutters. (9/11 Panel, MSNBC, USA Today)
9/11 - Israeli spies caught celebrating while filming themselves with WTC burning in background and later arrested and found with boxcutters, multiple foreign passports, maps linking them to the attack, explosives detected, and large amount of cash in their white van (ABC, The Forward, Bergen Record)
9/11 - Bush is never evacuated by Secret Service from School. (Globe & Mail)
Air Force Gen. Myers claims was never informed 2nd WTC crash and only became aware of it about same time Pentagon hit. (DoD)
9/11 - Former Israeli PM Netanyahu is asked what 9/11 attacks meant Israeli/US relations and he replies "It's very good." (NY Times)
Sept 13 - Bush Admin allows Bin Laden family and top Saudi officials to evacuated from US before general public flight restrictions were lifted. (NY Times, Tampa Tribune)
Oct '01 - Donald Rumsfeld says in a magazine interview that Pentagon was hit by a 'missile.' (DoD)
Bush twice says he saw WTC plane crash live on TV at Booker Elementary (Boston Herald, White House|2
), 1st crash happened at 8:46 am (9/11 Panel), Bush arrived at school at 8:52 am. (ABC)
Bush refers to 9/11 as 'an interesting day' (White House), says 2001 was a 'fabulous year' for Laura and he. (White House)
WTC leaseholder receives $861 million settlement for WTC 7, debt on 7 only $383 million (Insurance Journal), May '04 - Silverstein awarded single payout of $3.5 billion for WTC (CNN), Dec '04 - Silverstein wins extra $1.1 billion from court ruling saying attacks constituted 'two separate events'. (USA Today)
March '04 - Madrid bombings happen exactly 911 days after 9/11. (News 24, Snopes.com)
Osama had ties to the CIA (MSNBC), July '01 - OBL wanted by US since '98, undergoes medical treatment at the American Hospital in Dubai and is met by the local CIA chief (Guardian), Sept 10 - OBL undergoes kidney dialysis at Pakistani military hospital in which a "secret team" replaces regular urology staff. (CBS), FBI's 'Most Wanted List' does not mention OBL is wanted for 9/11 because they have 'no hard evidence' connecting him to the attacks. (Muckraker, Milli Gazette, FBI)
Five of the alleged 9/11 hijackers receive training at secure US military bases. (MSNBC)
CIA had tracked two of the alleged Flight 77 hijackers. (BBC)
The five alleged Flight 77 hijackers lived in a motel right outside the gates of the NSA. (BBC)
July '01 - Alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed receives a US visa despite authorities chasing him since 1994 and a 1996 terrorist indictment (ABC, LA Times), Oct '04 - KSM 'missing' in US custody. (SJ Mercury)
CIA says 1st WTC plane crash was an attack and Dir. Tenet blames OBL for attacks even before 2nd plane crashes (ABC) and the US is claiming Osama bin Laden is behind the attacks before the day is over. (ABC, The Post)
Taliban rulers condemn attacks and says Bin Laden didn't have the means to carry out such well-orchestrated attacks (TCM News), Sept 16 - OBL denies 9/11 involvement in press release (Guardian), Sept 28 - OBL denies 9/11 involvement in 'Ummat' Paki newspaper, suggests Jews or US secret services behind attacks (Khilafah), Nov 7 - OBL denies 9/11 involvement in 'The Dawn' Paki newspaper (Islam Online),
Sept 13 - Airplane passenger lists from all four hijacked planes list no Arab names. (Guardian - 11, 175, 77, 93)
7 of alleged 19 hijackers are reported alive, FBI Director admits some identities are in doubt. (BBC, LA Times)
Hijacker remains from Flight 77, 93 hijackers were identified at same military base and by a 'process of elimination.' (CBS)
Secret FBI report doubts Al Qaeda can stage another 9/11-type attack and says it knows of no sleeper cells in US. (ABC)
Mohammed Atta's father says Atta called him on Sept 12. (Guardian, PittsburgLive)
Framing
Sept 9 - Alleged Flight 175 hijacker pilot Marwan Al-Shehhi reportedly leaves behind Boeing 757 manuals, east coast flight maps, an airplane fuel tester, and a protractor in his hotel room. (Augusta Chronicle), Flight 175 was a Boeing 767. (9/11 Commission)
Sept 10 - Flight 93 hijacker Ziad Jarrah reportedly sends farewell letter and flight training documents to girlfriend of 5 years in Germany, but allegedly wrote address wrong and letter comes back and is passed to FBI; relatives say letter was fabricated to frame him. (BBC)
Sept 10 - Atta and two Arab men allegedly spew anti-American sentiments and leave a Quran and business card behind. (USA Today)
9/11 - Alleged Flight 11 hijackers Atta and Al-Omari caught on Portland, ME airport security video (ABC-AU, USA Today), Father says it's not Atta on security video. (PittsburgLive)
9/11 - Atta was only passenger among 81 people aboard Flight 11 whose luggage didn't make the flight and where found with incriminated evidence. (USA Today, WorldNetDaily)
9/11 - Press reports a group with 'Palestine' in the name claimed responsibility for attacks (CNN video), caught Israeli spy who was filming WTC burning says 'We are not your problem, Palestinians are the problem' (ABC), video shows Palestinians rejoicing over news of attacks, but later is shown to be staged (LA Times, Der Spiegel) '02 - Palestinian says Mossad sought to induce him to set up fake al Qaeda cell in Gaza and declare responsibility for various bombings. (Arabia Online)
Sept 13 - Student ID card of Flight 77 hijacker Majed Moqed reportedly found at Pentagon, still able to read name on it. (9/11 Panel)
Sept 17 - Passport is found belonging to alleged hijacker who's plane crashed into WTC. (CNN)
Sept 28 - FBI claims to find Arabic written letter in Atta's suitcase and additional copies at Flight 93 crash site and in car registered to Flight 77 hijacker at Dulles parking lot. (FBI, PBS)
Dec '01 - Pentagon releases poor quality video showing 'OBL' bragging about attacks and wearing a gold ring and watch which are forbidden in Islam, Bush Admin uses this video to vindicate US invading Afghan. (USA Today)
, Dec '01 - Osama bin Laden reportedly died. (FOX, NY Times), Oct '04 - Video of supposedly OBL admitting to attacks is released 4 days before election and gives Bush a boost in polls (ABC, NY Daily News)
Many investigators believe that some of the evidence allegedly left behind by the hijackers was 'meant to be found' and whatever trail was left was 'left deliberately for the FBI to chase.' (New Yorker)
Fundamentalist Muslims 'gone wild'
May '01 - Several alleged hijackers seen at Las Vegas Strip clubs (SF Chronicle), several also patronized Nardone's Go-Go Bar (Wall Street Journal) Flight 77 hijackers Khalid Almihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi hang out at Cheetah's nude bar (LA Times), Sept 10 - Atta and two Arab men allegedly spend hundreds on drinks and lap dances at FL strip club the Pink Pony. (USA Today)
July-Aug - Alleged hijacker Majed Moqed seen in two stores in Maryland looking over adult videos and books (Newsday, MSNBC), Sept 10 - Alleged hijacker Hamza Alghamdi watches a porno in his hotel. (Wall Street Journal)
Sept 5 - Two or three of the alleged hijackers go gambling on a SunCruz Casino boat. (St Petersburg Times, USA Today)
Sept 7 - Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi both seen 'wasted' at Florida bar called Shuckums. (St Petersburg Times)
Sept 9 - Alleged Flight 11 hijacker sleeps with a high-priced prostitute (Boston Herald), Sept 10 - Four alleged hijackers spend the night looking for prostitutes in Boston. (Boston Globe)
that were 200 9/11 SMOKING GUNS STRAIGHT FROM YOUR OH SO LOVED AND TRUSTED MAINSTREAM-MEDIA !!
How can American of all the people be stupidly massive to believe that Terrorist brown men crash planes into center? HAPPENED IT NEVER DID!! Conspiracy was brought upon and only internet movie maker could decode it. Airplanes actually didn't have people or pilot. Jumbo planes flew massively into towers by metal robots used with massive technical specs of alien technology to fly planes. SAME AS HUMANS OF REGULAR KIND!!! 93 Flight also had alien robots flying heavily. But damn people broke in cock pits and sabatoged the robots, then military of Bush picked up transmission of stuggle and shot Plane 93 into vaporizing. That not even close to all. After Robot alien flew heavy plane into towers, George Bush ran in buildings and planted bombs of massive of many floors. Able he was to do this because he take many classes to be stealth ninja with Conde Rice. He take so much vacation because HE WAS ACTUALLY SECRETLY TRAINED TO BE NINJA!! So all idiots who think government is telling truth, I feel sorry for stupid idiots of such who fall far stupid crazy talk. I tell truth. You must believe because i going to make internet documentary to prove it. WAIT JUST!!!!
Oh really? I personally know many of the firefighters and policemen at the scene. None of them have been receiving death threats, nor did they see anything that resemble an explosion from a bomb. I suppose you'll call all of them liars too, huh? Yet you can't dispute them, because they were there in the middle of it.
On the Discovery Channel's World Trade Center: Anatomy of a Crash, more than one engineer is on camera stating that two 767's crashing into the towers at full speed never crossed their minds. But then again, I'm sure they were coerced into lying on camera for fear of their lives despite no signs of duress.
So what? It's a matter of public record that Larry Silverstein bought the seven buildings that made up the World Trade Center. If you don't even know that, you have absolutely no credibility.
Fired? Just like many other researchers that made outlandish claims, but refused to provide evidence to support their claims?
Minoru Yamasaki, the man who designed the towers is on public record stating that the building were not capable of surviving the two plane crashes on September 11.
Guy, I live in New York. Most of my friends and family are in the NYPD and the FDNY. New York was never the focus of increased protection of the military before September 11.
The evidence was not shipped to China. In fact, more than 80% of the debris was trucked to Staten Island to be examined.
What makes you a moron is not the information that you're providing, but the fact that you are outright disputing people who were actually in downtown New York right near Cortlandt Street when these events occured. You were nowhere near the site, and are only relying on the opinions of other, who were also nowhere near New York on September 11. Talk about denial.
Run along and go follow you leader, mindless sheep.
[QUOTE=7120436]Originally posted by LMM
[B]Oh really? I personally know many of the firefighters and policemen at the scene. None of them have been receiving death threats, nor did they see anything that resemble an explosion from a bomb. I suppose you'll call all of them liars too, huh? Yet you can't dispute them, because they were there in the middle of it.
On the Discovery Channel's World Trade Center: Anatomy of a Crash, more than one engineer is on camera stating that two 767's crashing into the towers at full speed never crossed their minds. But then again, I'm sure they were coerced into lying on camera for fear of their lives despite no signs of duress.
oh the discovery channel said so it must be true !! what a joke
fact of the matter is that the architect of the twin towers stated publicly that the towers were designed to take large passenger planes without collapsing.. plz get your facts straights before you piss all over people that try to help you..
So what? It's a matter of public record that Larry Silverstein bought the seven buildings that made up the World Trade Center. If you don't even know that, you have absolutely no credibility.
actually he leased them.. 200 millions insurance policy wich brought him $3.5 billion after the towers came down..
sure just another coincidence nothing to worry bout...
Fired? Just like many other researchers that made outlandish claims, but refused to provide evidence to support their claims?
Minoru Yamasaki, the man who designed the towers is on public record stating that the building were not capable of surviving the two plane crashes on September 11.
BOLLOX show me your public record !! infact like i stated before he said before his death in February, 1986, "We designed the towers to take multiple 707 jet strikes."
Well, two opposing eyewitness accounts throw the "facts" into doubt. You're choosing to believe what you want to, ignoring any opposing viewpoints simply because they disagree with what you want to believe. I witnessed the events live in person. I know what I saw. But British conspiracy theorist know so much more.
fact of the matter is that the architect of the twin towers stated publicly that the towers were designed to take large passenger planes without collapsing.. plz get your facts straights before you piss all over people that try to help you..
LMAO. A video interview with the men who designed the building stating they designed the building to pancake in a collapse is a joke? Now you're really stretching.
actually he leased them.. 200 millions insurance policy wich brought him $3.5 billion after the towers came down..
sure just another coincidence nothing to worry bout...
He was required to purchase insurance to protect the banks in the event of destruction of the buildings due to natural disasters, structural failures, and because of the 1993 bombing, terrorist attacks. These were conditions placed on him by the banks that loaned him the money. Larry Silverstein did not specifically request insurance against terrorism just to have it.
BOLLOX show me your public record !! infact like i stated before he said before his death in February, 1986, "We designed the towers to take multiple 707 jet strikes."
Way to pick out one sentence out of a whole paragraph. The towers were designed to stand up to the strike of a 707 where the pilot was incapacitated or trying to avoid hitting the buildings. There has never been any mention of securing the buildings against a 767 transcontinental flight flying at full speed into the structure. If you're as educated as you want people to believe, you would admit that these statements are theoretical in nature and never considered fact until proven in the real world. Before September 11, no jetliner had ever crashed into askyscraper at full speed. But I'm sure you've ignored the numerous interviews where engineers admitted that they had no idea how the towers would react to this type of event.
Alex Jones is a lunatic, he rambles about THE NEW WORLD ORDER! and the Government having parts in every damn thing that happens.
His supposed prediction of the Towers being hit and blamed on Bin Laden was a complete guess, and likely based from the fact that Bin Laden bombed the buildings 8 years before
ever read the Northwood Documents ? declassified you see but surely you havent heard of em since it wasnt presented on teh golden tabled together with what you should think about it by the mainstream media..
well here you go, read up on what your own government put to paper then come back and talk.. http://www.prisonplanet.com/northwoods.pdf
i dont care about other 9/11 researchers, i have looked at most of their material and many are spot on, others have obvious mistakes and easely disprovable ''facts''.. but then thats the idea - its meant to make the 9/11 truth movement look ridiculous, awash with half truths and dodgy conclusions..
some bad apples(deliberate or not) serve to discredit the whole movement. BUT when it comes to 9/11 then you cant **** with Alex Jones, he just sticks with what he can prove you see..simple as.. go on try to debunk anything stated on this link regarding 9/11
see if you go to the site and check the info then you'll notice that every articel leads to a mainstream news articel/site !
now surely if the official story is true(LOL) then it should be childs play to disprove JUST ONE of the many points beeing made..
if you're a honest guy and serious about this, then you'll spend some time and effort reading through all this articels full of smokin guns.. i'm open to any contrary evidence you can put forward to disprove or even just question any of the facts stated on this site.. http://www.prisonplanet.com/911.html
your turn homeboy
__________________ be the change you want to see in the world.
-Mahatma Gandhi-
Astute observers of history are aware that for every notable event there will usually be at least one, often several wild conspiracy theories which spring up around it. 'The CIA killed Hendrix', 'The Pope had John Lennon murdered', 'Hitler was half Werewolf', 'Space aliens replaced Nixon with a clone' etc, etc. The bigger the event, the more ridiculous and more numerous are the fanciful rantings which circulate in relation to it.
So its hardly surprising that the events of September 11th, 2001 have spawned their fair share of these ludicrous fairy tales. And as always, there is - sadly - a small but gullible percentage of the population eager to lap up these tall tales, regardless of facts or rational analysis.
One of the wilder stories circulating about September 11th - and one that has attracted something of a cult following amongst conspiracy buffs - is that it was carried out by nineteen fanatical Arab hijackers, masterminded by an evil genius named Osama bin Laden, with no apparent motivation other than that they 'hate our freedoms.'
Never a group of people to be bothered by facts, the perpetrators of this cartoon fantasy have constructed an elaborately woven web of delusions and unsubstantiated hearsay in order to promote this garbage across the internet and the media to the extent that a number of otherwise rational people have actually fallen under its spell.
Normally I don't even bother debunking this kind of junk, but the effect that this paranoid myth is beginning to have requires a little rational analysis, in order to consign it to the same rubbish bin as all such silly conspiracy theories.
These crackpots even contend that the extremist Bush regime was caught unawares by the attacks, had no hand in organising them, and actually would have stopped them if it had been able. Blindly ignoring the stand down of the US air-force, the insider trading on airline stocks - linked to the CIA - the complicit behavior of Bush on the morning of the attacks, the controlled demolition of the WTC, the firing of a missile into the Pentagon and a host of other documented proofs that the Bush regime was behind the attacks, the conspiracy theorists stick doggedly to a silly story about nineteen Arab hijackers somehow managing to commandeer four planes simultaneously and fly them around US airspace for nearly two hours, crashing them into important buildings, without the US intelligence services having any idea that it was coming, and without the Air Force knowing what to do.
The huge difficulties with such a stupid story force them to invent even more preposturous stories to distract from its core silliness, and thus the tale has escalated into a mythic fantasy of truly gargantuan proportions.
It's difficult to apply rational analysis to such unmitigated stupidity, but that is the task which I take on in this article. However, it should be noted that one of the curious characteristics of conspiracy theorists is that they effortlessly change their so called evidence in response to each aspect which is debunked. As soon as one delusion is unmasked, they simply invent another to replace it, and deny that the first ever existed. Eventually, when they have turned full circle through this endlessly changing fantasy fog, they then re-invent the original delusion and deny that you ever debunked it, thus beginning the circle once more. This technique is known as 'the fruit loop' and saves the conspiracy theorist from ever having to see any of their ideas through to their (il)ogical conclusions.
__________________ be the change you want to see in the world.
-Mahatma Gandhi-
Last edited by David Tsarion on Aug 11th, 2006 at 07:11 PM
According to the practitioners of the fruit loop, nineteen Arabs took over four planes by subduing the passengers and crew through the use of guns, knives, box cutters and gas, and then used electronic guidance systems which they had smuggled on board to fly the planes to their targets.
The suspension of disbelief required for this outrageous concoction is only for the hard core conspiracy theorist. For a start, they conveniently skip over the awkward fact that there weren't any Arabs on the planes. If there were, one must speculate that they somehow got on board without being filmed by any of the security cameras and without being registered on the passenger lists. But the curly question of how they are supposed to have got on board is all too mundane for the exciting world of the conspiracy theorist. With vague mumblings that they must have been using false ID - but never specifying which IDs they are alleged to have used, or how these were traced to their real identities - they quickly bypass this problem, to relate exciting and sinister tales about how some of the fictitious fiends were actually searched before boarding because they looked suspicious. However, as inevitably happens with any web of lies, this simply paints them into an even more difficult corner. How are they supposed to have got on board with all that stuff if they were searched ? And if they used gas in a confined space, they would have been affected themselves unless they also had masks in their luggage.
"Excuse me sir, why do you have a boxcutter, a gun, a container of gas, a gas mask and an electronic guidance unit in your luggage?"
"A present for your grandmother? Very well sir, on you get."
"Very strange", thinks the security officer, "that's the fourth Arabic man without an Arabic name who just got on board with a knife, gun or boxcutter and gas mask...and why does that security camera keep flicking off every time one these characters shows up? Must be one of those days I guess..."
Asking any of these basic questions to a conspiracy theorist is likely to cause a sudden leap to the claim that we know that they were on board because they left a credit card trail for the tickets they had purchased and cars they had rented. So if they used credit cards that identified them, how does that reconcile with the claim that they used false IDs to get on to the plane? But by this time , the fruit loop is in full swing, as the conspiracy theorist tries to stay one jump ahead of this annoying and awkward rational analysis. They will allege that the hijackers' passports were found at the crash scenes. "So there!" they exalt triumphantly, their fanatical faces lighting up with that deranged look of one who has just a revelation of questionable sanity.
Hmm? So they got on board with false IDs but took their real passports with them? However, by this time the fruit loop has been completely circumnavigated,and the conspiracy theorist exclaims impatiently, "who said anything about false IDs? We know what seats they were sitting in! Their presence is well documented!" And so the whole loop starts again. "Well, why aren't they on the passenger lists?" "You numbskull! They assumed the identities of other passengers!" And so on...
Finally, out of sheer fascination with this circular method of creative delusion, the rational sceptic will allow them to get away with this loop, in order to move on to the next question, and see what further delights await us in the unraveling of this marvelously stupid story.
"Uh, how come their passports survived fiery crashes that completely incinerated the planes and all the passengers? "The answer of course is that its just one of those strange coincidences, those little quirks of fate that do happen from time to time. You know, like the same person winning the lottery four weeks in a row. The odds are astronomical, but these things do happen.
This is another favourite deductive method of the conspiracy theorist. The 'improbability drive', in which they decide upon a conclusion without any evidence whatsoever to support it, and then continually speculate a series of wildly improbable events and unbelievable co-incidences to support it, shrugging off the implausibility of each event with the vague assertion that sometimes the impossible happens - just about all the time in their world. There is a principle called 'Occam's razor' which suggests that in the absence of evidence to the contrary, the simplest explanation is most likely to be correct. Conspiracy theorists hate Occam's razor.
Having for the sake of amusement, allowed them to get away with with the silly story of the nineteen invisible Arabs, we move on to the question of how they are supposed to have taken over the planes.
Hijacking a plane is not an easy thing to do. Hijacking it without the pilot being able to alert ground control is near impossible. The pilot has only to punch in a four digit code to alert ground control to a hijacking. Unconcerned with the awkward question of plausibility, the conspiracy buffs maintain that on that September 11th, the invisible hijackers took over the plane by the rather crude method of threatening people with boxcutters and knives, and spraying gas - after they had attached their masks, obviously - but somehow took control of the plane without the crew first getting a chance to punch in the hijacking code. Not just on one plane, but on all four. At this point in the tale, the conspiracy theorist is again forced to call upon the services of the improbability drive.
So now that our incredibly lucky hijackers have taken control of the planes, all four pilots fly them with breath taking skill and certainty to their fiery end, all four pilots unflinching in their steely resolve for a swift meeting with Allah. Apart from their psychotic hatred of 'our freedoms', it was their fanatical devotion to Islam which enabled them to summon up the iron will to do this. Which is strange, because according to another piece of hearsay peddled by the conspiracy buffs, these guys actually went out drinking and womanizing the night before their great martyrdom, even leaving their Korans in the bar - really impeccable Islamic behavior - and then got up at 5 o'clock the next morning to pull off the greatest covert operation in history. This also requires us to believe that they were even clear headed enough to learn how to fly the huge planes by reading flight manuals in Arabic in the car on the way to the airport. We know this because they supposedly left the flight manuals there for us to find.
__________________ be the change you want to see in the world.
-Mahatma Gandhi-
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Aug 11th, 2006 03:02 AM
