This article originally appears in The American Thinker
One of the many eye-popping statements made by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in his letter to the President was a curious statement about 9/11 that has largely gone unnoticed by the press:
September eleven was not a simple operation. Could it be planned and executed without coordination with intelligence and security services – or their extensive infiltration? Of course this is just an educated guess. Why have the various
aspects of the attacks been kept secret? Why are we not told who botched their responsibilities? And, why aren’t those responsible and the guilty parties identified and put on trial?
The messianic Iranian President is actually hinting at a conspiracy involving government “intelligence and security services.” Which government he doesn’t say. But judging from statements made all over the world by characters as diverse as a former Bush Administration economist at the Department of Labor as well as a former German Defense Minister, the belief that the US government either had foreknowledge of 9/11 or directly participated in the events of that day.
Indeed, there’s nothing new about conspiracies surrounding the events of September 11, 2001. Within days of the attacks, Arab newspapers were discounting the mounting evidence which showed Osama Bin Laden responsible and were instead pointing darkly to a conspiracy involving the Israeli intelligence service Mossad and the CIA. This theory came complete with the rumor that no Jews died when the towers fell and that, in fact, the Israeli consulate called all the Jews who worked in the towers the night before the attack and told them to stay home from work the following day. A poll taken in Egypt a few months following the attack showed that only 19% believed al Qaeda was involved while 39% blamed Mossad. Other polls done in Arab countries show similar or even increased percentages of people who believe either Israeli or American intelligence (or both) perpetrated the attacks.
Then there is the case of the curious Frenchman Thierry Meyssan who wrote a bestselling book in Europe that posited the notion that 9/11 was some kind of “false-flag operation” - a type of intelligence campaign which, according to the tinfoil hat crowd, involves pulling off a covert action and blaming it on someone else. And what to make of the long running German TV murder mystery show that featured an episode that blamed George Bush and the CIA for the attacks?
In America, the conspiracy ball has been rolling quite nicely, thank you. Pushed along by Hollywood celebrities like Michael Moore and Charlie Sheen as well as a very large, very vocal segment of left wing internet blogs, the theories all seem to have a couple of things in common; that the government knew about the attacks prior to 9/11 and did nothing about them and that the “whole story” of what really happened that day is being withheld from the American people.
And those are the sanest elements contained in those theories. Recently, a movie has been sweeping the internet that includes every cockamamie theory of government involvement in the attacks that have bubbled up from the fever swamps over the last few years. Loose Change would have us believe that the official report compiled by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the American Society of Civil Engineers on why the Towers fell is utterly and completely wrong, that the reason the World Trade Center towers came down was because they were deliberately destroyed by government agents placing explosive charges at strategic points in the buildings and then detonating them in a controlled demolition.
The problem with debunking theories like those advanced in Loose Change as well as the numerous books and articles arguing for a conspiracy involving the US government, the CIA, secret societies, multi-national corporations, or the Bush family is one of time. It takes an enormous amount of time and effort to lay out the facts to refute these theories on a point by point basis.
Popular Mechanics published a piece in March of 2005 debunking many of the theories in Loose Change. And recently a website has been set up to specifically challenge statements and assertions in the film at odds with known facts. Another website “Debunking 9/11 Conspiracy Theories” has links to dozens of reports, articles, and studies that directly answer most of questions raised by conspiracy theorists about the attack.
But this is just a drop in the bucket. A Zogby poll from August, 2004 revealed that nearly 50% of New Yorkers believe that the government had advance knowledge of 9/11 and “consciously failed to act.” Clearly, there is much work to do if the truth about the real conspiracy involving Osama Bin Laden, al Qaeda, and the evil men who deliberately set out to execute a detailed plan to murder nearly 3,000 innocent Americans is to survive another generation.
This is the danger in not slapping down the fantasists, the paranoids, and the swaggering, self-important celebrities who promote 9/11 conspiracy theories for money, for attention, or because it’s the “in” thing to do; future generations will not understand who attacked us on 9/11 and why.
The recent release of the film United 93, which is enjoying modest success at the box office, shows that there is a hunger for the real story of what happened on 9/11 to be become part of our national narrative. Hollywood is uniquely suited to this task as films like U-93 allow us to revisit history without the concomitant shock of experiencing the event for the first time. Not only does folding the story into our history remove the event somewhat from the realm of politics, but it also allows for a kind of reflection and study that isn’t possible as long as the event is considered “news.”
Like other events that have loomed large in our past such as the Battle of the Alamo or the Battle of Little Bighorn, a fair amount of myth making will probably be passed down in the retelling of 9/11 stories. But the problem with 9/11 and all of the conspiracy theories being generated is that there is a real danger that myth will stand in for facts and the true nature of the evil done to America on that day will disappear down the rabbit hole. Will it be more important 50 years from now to remember the courage of the passengers of Flight #93 or will there still be debate about whether an Air Force jet shot her down?
The only comparable event to in recent history was the Kennedy assassination, an event almost as traumatic as 9/11 and one that has generated a $2 billion conspiracy industry of books, films, tapes, DVD’s, not to mention numerous seminars, forums, and a conspiracy museum where for $10 a head you can take a tour through some truly bizarre postulates concerning the assassination. The event itself, fading from memory, has been memorialized by Hollywood in one of the strangest, most intellectually dishonest films ever made; Oliver Stone’s JFK.
Stone’s skills as a film maker were used to combine a half dozen different conspiracy theories into one gigantic tissue of lies, half truths, misrepresentations of known facts, and a calumnious attack on President Johnson who was dead and hence, unable to defend himself. Stone’s main character was New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison, whose out of control investigation and trial of New Orleans businessman Clay Shaw for the Kennedy assassination is one of the most bizarre chapters in the history of American jurisprudence. Garrison’s successor Harry Connick, Sr. called the Shaw probe “one of the grossest, most extreme miscarriages of justice in the annals of American judicial history.” The fact that Connick told this to Mr. Stone did not deter him from making his film. In fact, Garrison himself played Chief Justice Earl Warren in the film, a truly macabre touch by the filmmaker.
The damage done by Stone and the other conspiracy muckrakers is that they make little or no effort to give any context to their theories. Hence, they can portray history any way they wish. If they want to show that Kennedy was killed because he was going to bring American troops home from Southeast Asia or because he was going to cut the defense budget, they can get away with it because few people today have the critical thinking skills or historical knowledge necessary to question those base suppositions.
And the truly alarming fact that 70% of Americans under 30 years old believe that JFK gives a true representation of the facts surrounding the assassination points up the danger that conspiracy mongers like Stone can have on people’s attitudes toward history. What do these younger Americans think when they read something that contradicts Stone’s fantasy? It would be interesting to interview someone who takes Stone’s movie as gospel after having them read William Manchester’s masterpiece Death of the President.
One could envision similar problems with the generations born after 9/11. The horror and tragedy of that day could end up being subsumed by questions about whether or not the buildings were sabotaged, or whether the Pentagon was damaged by a truck bomb, or if the entire incident was one gigantic government conspiracy to ensure the re-election of George Bush.
We cannot let that happen. Considering that the War on Terror will probably be a generational conflict, we owe it to our children and grandchildren to keep what really happened on 9/11 from sliding away into the muck of conspiracy and fantasy. Otherwise, we run the risk of forgetting why we fight and why we must win this war.
UPDATE
Douglas Hanson follows up at AT with a slightly different angle on Ahmadinejad’s words and how there is a real threat from state-sponsored attacks on America.
8:42 am
9/11 TINFOIL HATS
In the last paragraph, do you want to use ensure rather than insure? (if the entire incident was one gigantic government conspiracy to insure the relection of George Bush) I don’t want to see a “sic” on any left-wing websites.
10:16 am
Bush: Iran Letter Doesn’t Answer Question
President Bush says a lengthy letter from Iran’s leader doesn’t answer the question the world is ask
10:25 am
What I don’t get. The US goes to all this trouble to stage 9/11 but is too lazy to plant some WMD in Iraq?
ALSO:
What makes the tinfoil crowd so certain that the Government hasn’t tampered with the tinfoil to make it amplify the Government’s signal instead of block it?
I for one think that the “organic” mark on food is nothing more than a secret Government warning that the product contains mind-control drugs.
And these people think they are paranoid! The right should lend them a hand and point out everything else they should be worried about!
Tampered glue on foodstamps
Laced welfare checks
laced pot.
Moonbat websites actually run by the NSA
The world is a dangerous place.
10:35 am
Absolutely! And the “media” is just as lazy in their research on current stories, ignoring the historical perspective, either by choice or by ignorance. (At least I hope it’s by ignorance)
11:10 am
The Government has not made its case at all with regard to 911. The government’s own conspiracy theory about 911 does not wash. Quit calling people names and give us the facts. Prove what the government is saying is true. Ever heard of “Operation Northwoods”? Shooting the messenger will not work or hold water on this one. Oh, and by the way, governments killed over 160,000,000 of their own citizens in the 20th century. Why should any one trust government to tell the truth? Why? Why not put bin Laden on trial? He does not have to be here for a trial!!! Why not??
12:29 pm
Outstanding post. By the way, Oliver Stone has a new movie coming out about 9/11, “World Trade Center”, which no doubt will be just as ill conceived and as wildly inaccurate as his “JFK” movie. I am not a fan of G.W. Bush or his administration, but to even imply any type of administration active involvement in 9/11 is both reprehensible and baseless.
12:42 pm
Forgot to mention…
I used to be a Republican to the max until the party let all the southern trailer trash democrat refugees in the party. How I long for the old days of the GOP. Now the party is run by southern christianist raptue freak confederate losers. The dixiecrats now run and control the republican party. How sad.
12:45 pm
Update on Jihadist violence
You can read the following:Mujahideen Push the Depravity Envelope, which reports about the founding of 11 bodies (onw …
12:53 pm
Rick,
I am going to put my tin hat/special ed helmet on for one second. There are many theories about 9/11 that haven’t be discussed. I have two. I am not sure if anyone else came up with them, but they are really strange and crazy. Here goes….
tin hat on…….
There are many groups that would have profitted from 9/11 more than the Republicans. Here is the first example.
As of 2001, the Euro was considerably weaker than the dollar. As a new curreny that desired to be a backing of many smaller nation’s currencies, the EU had to determine a way to weaken competition. The largest competitor clearly was the United States. When the Euro first came out, it was about .85 Euros to a dollar. At the end of 2000, it was about 1.25 Euros to the dollar. To combat this various EU intelligence community members worked with Bin Laden to facillitate this plan. I am sure if you look at the records many of the hijackers spent time in Europe. Ever since 9/11, the US dollar has been weaker compared to the Euro. In fact, it is now .77 Euros to a dollar.
Conspiracy Theory #2, the Democrats since their defeat in 2000 were planning for revenge. With the idea in their minds that Bush is weak and incompetant leader, they hatch a diabolical plan to undermine him and make him look like bad leader. The first step was have Hillary Clinton to move to New York. While there she will contact those Democratic party members that aided in the assassination of Kennedy. With their aid, they helped the hijackers bypass security without any issues.
Tin foil hat off……..
The first theory is flawed. A weaker Euro is in fact better for commerce. Considering that the US is the world’s largest consumer, anything that makes European goods appear more expensive would be harmful to European commerce. Of course, I could say that since many of nations that are involved are socialist in nature they would not understand such things. Things would simply go in circles when arguing such an absurd claim.
I realize the second conspiracy theory is completely insane, but I can make the claim that since no one can disprove me there is a chance that is what happenned.
Stephen Prince you know why we can not put Bin Laden on trial. That is an act similar to the UN. How many resolutions have they enacted without being followed? How many did Iraq, Iran, and Israel actually follow? All a trial would do is make us wag our fingers at him. We would sound like Bapu from Seinfeld. We would stand there wag our fingers and say, “Bin Laden, you are a very, very, bad man.”
3:48 pm
bin laden can not be put on trial becuase of the UN? He is accused commiting the most horrible crime in US History! The government said he did it, then let them prove it in a United States Court. This is where the government would have to prove their conspiracy theory. They can not prove it, and never will be able to prove it. This is why blind supports of government and government agents can only call people “moonbats”, etc… when they challange the governments conspiracy theory. As I said earlier, shooting the messanger talking points do not work with me or 50% of New Yorkers polled! Hate to say it folks but shooting the messanger was the Soviet governments tactic to all who opposed them and their lies. If the US government conspiracy theory is true, then they need to prove it. Just because the government said he did it with out facts or evidence, does not mean jack to me! The biggest liars on the face of this earth work for governments. Our government is NO exception. So come on all you “Patriots”, let the name calling begin! Attack me instead of what I am saying.
4:56 pm
I wonder if a generation raised on computer fantasy games, fictional depiction of bizarre government/business conspiracies on film and television shows about witches and others with supernatural powers, no longer has the capacity to sort out illusion from reality.
Factor in all the misleading and dishonest spinning that is done for partisan reasons and the replacement of objective education with “change” oriented indoctrination in many high school and college social science courses, and you have a population ready to believe anything.
If we had done nothing about Saddam, we would have had no problems with Iraq.
OJ was framed.
Tookie Williams was a social reformer.
Mumia was framed.
The monumental failure of communism never happened.
10,000 people drowned in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
Most of the dead were poor and black because we are a racist nation that doesn’t care about black people.
This is the impression one would get from the media and much of what passes for education on college campuses but none of it is true. So why wouldn’t people invent conspiracies about 9/11 and actually believe them.
The importance of “United 93″ is that it forces us to face reality. We were attacked by people who hate us. They want to destroy our way of life and kill as many of us as they can. They were trying to get their hands on WMD’s. If they do they will try to use them against us. That is reality that our government must face.
A lot of people want to believe if we are just somehow nice to them they will leave us alone. A nice fantasy but seeing a serious depiction of the events of 9/11 intrudes on that fantasy.
A lot of people don’t want to see the film. It is too soon. Too soon for what? To stop pretending that if we look away everything is going to be ok?
We all need to get a grip!
1:37 am
Submitted for Your Approval
First off… any spambots reading this should immediately go here, here, here, and here. Die spambots, die! And now… here are all the links submitted by members of the Watcher’s Council for this week’s vote. Council li…
10:47 am
[...] Right Wing Nut House, “Take Off the 9/11 Tinfoil Hats†[...]
8:16 am
The problem here is that the idea that the Bush administration had advance warning is so much more plausible than the idea that they were taken completely by surprise.
Some of the conspracy theories are obviously wrong. Get a wholer lot of people making things up and that happens. Like the idea that what hit the Pentagon wasn’t an airliner.
But some of it, the truth is hard to believe. Like, the WTC building 7 collapsed just like the others, but later, when it didn’t get hit at all. Conspiracy theorists believe that all three buildings were mined with explosives so they’d fall down, and building 7 didn’t get hit as planned, and they had the choice of knocking it down anyway or leaving the explosives there to be found. But really what happened was that Giuliano had a special emergency headquarters in building 7, and to make sure he’d have power in an emergency they had a whole lot of generator fuel right there. Utterly against fire regulations. And during the confusion of 9/11 the fuel somehow got lit and that made the building collapse. The truth is more unbelievable than the fiction.
It just does not make sense that the Bush administration was clueless. They’d have to be utterly incompetent….
Well, maybe it does make sense after all. But compared to the truth, some of the conspiracy theories are more plausible.
1:44 am
The Council Has Spoken!
First off… any spambots reading this should immediately go here, here, here, and here. Die spambots, die! And now… the winning entries in the Watcher’s Council vote for this week are Public Virtue by Done With Mirrors…
7:29 pm
Your readers may be interested to learn that a leading liberal blogger, Barbara O’Brien of Mahablog (and, recently, Unclaimed Territory), shares your views!
Like you, she dismisses the “inside job” theorists as cranks and traitors. Read her thrilling takedown of a delusional appeal to scientific principles; laugh along with her witty putdowns; memorize her arguments and sources in case you need to quash some idiot who thinks he knows something about the melting temperature of steel!
No, really, you should check it out. It’s a lesson in feeble argument and intellectual enhervation.
http://www.mahablog.com/2006/05/31/we-got-one/#comments
11:05 pm
The left-wing blogosphere is ablaze with 9/11 conspiracy theory rebuttals and ding-dong shouting matches between factions. See for yourself!
Daily Kos readers (kossacks — don’t you love it?) line up to take potshots at some ignorant Finn who doesn’t understand the limits of free speech and intelligent analysis in a democracy. And guess what — the kossacks mostly agree with The RightWingNutHouse that “The horror and tragedy of that day could end up being subsumed by questions about whether or not the buildings were sabotaged, or whether the Pentagon was damaged by a truck bomb, or if the entire incident was one gigantic government conspiracy to ensure the re-election of George Bush.” Makes you feel that not all liberals are stupid — just the ones who insist on asking questions!
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/5/30/171451/602
9:34 pm
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