Fact Wins - 9/11

The World Trade Center did not collapse from the planes that were flown into them, they were set up with explosives for demolition. The Pentagon was never even hit by an airplane, it was a cruise missile. United Airlines flight 97 was actually shot down by military jet fighters. The men responsible for the worst terror attacks in United States history and the murder of nearly 3,000 Americans were not terrorists, they were agents of the American government.

According to Time magazine, a Scripps-Howard poll has found that 36% of American adults think it’s possible that the federal government had something to do with the 9/11 terror attacks. That means that over one-third of adults in this country think that a controlled demolition and cruise missile are completely logical explanations for one of the worst days in the nation’s history.

The Internet has been a huge source of these conspiracy theories. The Internet has helped Dylan Avery and Korey Rowe spread their theories in the documentary Loose Change. The movie explores such burning questions as “How did burning jet fuel bring down the WTC when jet fuel doesn’t burn hot enough to melt structural steel?” The fact is that the theorists ask a lot of valid questions and do their homework, just not very well.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology, an independent government-funded research agency, has conducted extensive research into the 9/11 terror attacks and has scientific evidence to dispute almost every claim. According to the NIST, the steel in the WTC didn’t need to melt to cause the building to collapse. The steel was softened by a 1800 degrees Fahrenheit inferno (structural steel melts at 2700 degrees Fahrenheit) to the point where it could no longer hold the floors above the blaze. This is just one example of how an organization of scientists and engineers have disproved the accusations of two twenty-something kids who initially were developing Loose Change as a work of fiction. Sounds like The Blair Witch Project with terrorists.

In his book 9/11: The Big Lie, French author Thierry Meyssan claims that a cruise missile was responsible for the attack on the Pentagon. According to the US State Department, the book has been published in 19 languages and is being translated into four more. The problem with this theory is that the remains of passengers from American Airlines flight 77 were found at the site. Add that to the fact that hundreds of people saw a plane hit the building. Mr. Meyssan also did all of his speculation from Europe and never saw the site or talked to a witness.

So on one hand we have a couple of kids who really wanted to make a fictional film and a French journalist who ignores facts and speculates from thousands of miles away. On the other we have the people we’ve chosen to lead our nation and a group of scientists and engineers. Who seems more qualified?

If you’re one of the 36% percent of Americans who believe the government is involved in this overly elaborate ruse, stop letting other people give you your opinion. Don’t just listen to the conspiracy theorists and for that matter don’t just listen to the government. Listen to the science. Listen to the undeniable logic. If you read everything that’s out there and not just the paranoid ranting the facts become clear as day.

On September 11, 2001 the United States was attacked by foreign aggressors. On September 12, 2001 the United States was attacked by foreign and domestic conspiracy fanatics.