9/11 conspiracy theories

The nature of the collapse of the two World Trade Center towers and the nearby 7 World Trade Center (in this photo, the brown building to the left of the towers) is a major focus of 9/11 conspiracy theories.

There are various conspiracy theories that attribute the preparation and execution of the September 11 attacks against the United States to parties other than, or in addition to, al-Qaeda.[1] These include the theory that high-level government officials had advance knowledge of the attacks. Government investigations and independent reviews have rejected these theories.[2][3] Proponents of these theories assert that there are inconsistencies in the commonly accepted version, or that there exists evidence that was ignored, concealed, or overlooked.[4]

The most prominent conspiracy theory is that the collapse of the Twin Towers and 7 World Trade Center were the result of controlled demolitions rather than structural failure due to impact and fire.[5][6] Another prominent belief is that the Pentagon was hit by a missile launched by elements from inside the U.S. government,[7][8][9] or that hijacked planes were remotely controlled, or that a commercial airliner was allowed to do so via an effective stand-down of the American military. Possible motives claimed by conspiracy theorists for such actions include justifying the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq (even though the U.S. government concluded Iraq was not involved in the attacks)[10] to advance their geostrategic interests, such as plans to construct a natural gas pipeline through Afghanistan.[11] Other conspiracy theories revolve around authorities having advance knowledge of the attacks and deliberately ignoring or assisting the attackers.[4][12][13]

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the technology magazine Popular Mechanics have investigated and rejected the claims made by 9/11 conspiracy theorists.[14][15][16] The 9/11 Commission and most of the civil engineering community accept that the impacts of jet aircraft at high speeds in combination with subsequent fires, not controlled demolition, led to the collapse of the Twin Towers,[17][18] but some conspiracy theory groups, including Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth, disagree with the arguments made by NIST and Popular Mechanics.[19][20]

  1. ^ Norman, Joshua (September 11, 2011). "9/11 conspiracy theories won't stop". CBS News. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference popularmechanics.com was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Purdue was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b Sales, Nancy Jo (July 9, 2006). "Click Here For Conspiracy". Vanity Fair. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  5. ^ Summers, Anthony; Swan, Robbyn (2011). The Eleventh Day: The Full Story of 9/11 and Osama bin Laden. New York: Ballantine. p. 104. ISBN 978-1-4000-6659-9.
  6. ^ "Debunking the 9/11 Myths: Special Report – The World Trade Center". Popular Mechanics. Hearst Communication. February 3, 2005. That explanation hasn't swayed conspiracy theorists, who contend that all three buildings were wired with explosives in advance and razed in a series of controlled demolitions.
  7. ^ Summers, Anthony; Swan, Robbyn (2011). The Eleventh Day: The Full Story of 9/11 and Osama bin Laden. New York: Ballantine. p. 109. ISBN 978-1-4000-6659-9.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference usgovDidPlaneHitPentagon was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Kemble, Gary (September 9, 2011). "Challenging September 11 conspiracy theories". ABC News.
  10. ^ U.S. Drops Last Link of Iraq to 9/11 New York Times May 2, 2002
  11. ^ Knight, Peter (2008). "Outrageous Conspiracy Theories: Popular and Official Responses to 9/11 in Germany and the United States". New German Critique. 35: 165–93. doi:10.1215/0094033X-2007-024.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference The Eleventh Day pp92 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ "The evolution of a conspiracy theory". BBC News. July 4, 2008. Retrieved July 27, 2008.
  14. ^ "NIST NCSTAR 1: Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation of the World Trade Center Disaster". NIST. September 2005. p. 146. Archived from the original on May 29, 2009. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  15. ^ "Final Report on the Collapse of World Trade Center Building 7" (PDF). NIST. August 2008. pp. 22–4. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 28, 2008. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference PopMech-ConspiracyIndustry-2006 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ Bažant, Z.K.P.; Verdure, M. (2007). "Mechanics of Progressive Collapse: Learning from World Trade Center and Building Demolitions" (PDF). Journal of Engineering Mechanics. 133 (3). American Society of Civil Engineers: 308–319. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9399(2007)133:3(308). As generally accepted by the community of specialists in structural mechanics and structural engineering (though not by a few outsiders claiming a conspiracy with planted explosives), the failure scenario was as follows: [continues with a four-part scenario of progressive structural failure].
  18. ^ Bažant, Z.K.P.; Le, J.L.; Greening, F.R.; Benson, D.B. (2008). "What Did and Did Not Cause Collapse of World Trade Center Twin Towers in New York?" (PDF). Journal of Engineering Mechanics. 134 (10). American Society of Civil Engineers: 892. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9399(2008)134:10(892). Universally though has the foregoing explanation of collapse been accepted by the communities of structural engineers and structural mechanics researchers, some outside critics have nevertheless exploited various unexplained observations to disseminate allegations of controlled demolition.
  19. ^ Blatchford, Andy (April 30, 2010). "U.S. skeptics to speak of 9–11 cover-up at three Canadian universities". Toronto: Canadian Press. Archived from the original on May 4, 2010. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
  20. ^ "Architects and Engineers Seek 9/11 Truth". KGO Newstalk. June 3, 2009. Archived from the original on August 2, 2009. Retrieved June 3, 2009.

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