The most persistent 9/11 conspiracy theories

In the need to explain the horror of planes crashing into the Twin Towers the morning of September of 11, 2001, people often find explanations and meaning where there isn’t.

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Americans today are still not satisfied with the explanations given. According to a survey by YouGov, 48 percent say they are not satisfied with the government’s account of the attacks.

In his book “The United State of Paranoia,” Reason Magazine’s book editor Jesse Walker describes how following the terrorist attack, everything all of a sudden seemed to be related.

A school project involving batteries and green duct tape, hidden in a mail box in Texas, was confiscated after police, federal agents and a bomb unit investigated.

Police pulled two trucks driving down an interstate in Maryland, suspicious they may have been carrying explosives. It turns out they were transporting stage equipment to a memorial service for a deceased firemen killed in the attacks.

“There’s a tendency for people to say, ‘First the World Trade Center, then the Pentagon, now something near me,’” he Walker quotes sociologist Joel Best saying.

Some theories have persisted longer than others.

1.    Wall St. had foreknowledge of the attack

According to some, the occurrence of unusual market trading indicates insider trading of the airline companies that were used in the attacks.

From the Journal of Business:

A measure of abnormal long put volume was also examined and seen to be at abnormally high levels in the days leading up to the attacks. Consequently, the paper concludes that there is evidence of unusual option market activity in the days leading up to September 11 that is consistent with investors trading on advance knowledge of the attacks.

2.    Explosives were planted in the towers before the plane hit

Physicist Steven E. Jones, among others says that there is evidence that molten steel came out of the towers, the kind that cannot be produced in fire, which means that explosives must have been used. This theory is often referred to as “controlled demolition” and has a following on the website 911review.com

3.    The government planted a missile to hit the Pentagon

“How does a plane 125 ft. wide and 155 ft. long fit into a hole which is only 60 ft. across?” asks political activist Thierry Meyssan. Meyssan and filmmaker Dylan Avery reject the belief that flight 77 hit the Pentagon, and believe that a missile was launched to hit the Pentagon from someone inside the U.S. government.

This theory, however, has been heavily criticized from even those within the “9/11 truth” movement.

4.    The government shot down the rogue plane in Pennsylvania

There is also the belief that rogue flight 93, that crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, was actually shot down by a U.S. fighter jet.

From a BBC report:

Some argue that substantial wreckage from the aircraft was found at Indian Lake, a reported 6 miles from the crash site in Shanksville. If this would true, it would lend weight to the theory that the aircraft disintegrated in mid-air after being hit by a missile.

5.    9/11 was an inside job

Probably the single most persistent conspiracy is the notion that U.S. government was some how involved with the terrorist attacks.

The less sinister of the view takes the perspective that they knew about it and did nothing to stop it. Others still maintain that the federal government played an active role in the attacks.

What do you think?

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