Running head: 9/11 CONSPIRACY THEORIES

9/11 Conspiracy Theories Ryan Lambrecht Madonna University

9/11 CONSPIRACY THEORIES Abstract

There are many conspiracies about the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. There were three big conspiracy theories. One had to do with the events that happened in New York City and the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center. Another was about the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. The last one was about United Airlines Flight 93 that crashed into the ground in Pennsylvania. All of these conspiracy theories were debunked and proven not true with research and facts.

9/11 CONSPIRACY THEORIES 9/11 Conspiracy Theories September 11, 2001 was one of the most traumatic tragedies that has ever happened to the United States. It devastated and affected so many lives across the country. Despite the

damage to one of our biggest cities and so many American lives that were lost, many believe that these terrorist attacks were an inside job. There are three main conspiracies about the events that took place on this day. Although many people believe in these conspiracy theories, the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 were not an inside job because it is the governments job to protect the people, not harm them. There are three main conspiracy theories about what happened on September 11, 2001. The first one has to do with the world trade centers and how some things are hard to explain what happened. The second conspiracy theory has to do with the pentagon and whether or not a Boeing 757 actually hit the building and or if it was actually a missile or smaller plane. Finally, the third big conspiracy has to do with United Airlines Flight 93. It was said that a team of passengers aboard the plane attacked their hijackers and forced the plane to the ground, but there are a few different theories of what actually happened to Flight 93. However, all of these are just claims by theorists. There are facts that back up the truth and prove that these conspirators claims are wrong. The government would not set up this tragedy. The last thing they need to do to justify any foreign policy is kill 3000 of their own citizens (Six really stupid). Many theorists believe that the world trade centers could not have collapsed as fast as they did solely from the plane crashes. The two twin towers both fell at nearly free-fall acceleration which means there would have been no resistance to their collapse. This leads to the explanation that the buildings structures would have had to been demolished by explosions or else there would have been some resistance to the collapse (Thomas 2011). When compared

9/11 CONSPIRACY THEORIES to demolitions, they look similar. Many of the presenters at the Hyatt Conference compared videos of the collapse of the towers with videos of known controlled demolitions, noting the

similarity in both the appearance and speed of collapse (Mole 2006). The big puffs of dust that emerged as the buildings collapsed are also a sign of explosions. The clouds of dust are not possible from just merely a collapse of the buildings (9/11 Conspiracy Theories). Van Romero, an explosives expert, was quoted saying there were some explosive devices inside the buildings that caused the towers to collapse. He also went on to say the collapse of the structures resembled those of controlled implosions used to demolish old structures" (9/11 Conspiracy Theories). According to the YouTube video, some people thought they saw a missile go into the buildings. They didnt see any windows on the plane. One witness said, it wasnt a normal plane that I would see at an airport (Bliss 2013). Another piece of evidence that points to set up explosions was the collapse of World Trade Center Tower 7. This building was not hit by a plane and was reported to just have a few small office fires. However, Tower 7 also collapsed at nearly a free-fall rate as if it was a controlled demolition (Thomas 2011). All of these explosives would have had to be set up by our government making these attacks an inside job. Despite all of the claims by these conspirators, there are factual explanations explaining how these buildings did not collapse from explosives. The architectural structure of the World Trade Center buildings is the reason they collapsed in nearly a free-fall. The diagram at the beginning of the next page shows how the two twin towers were structurally designed and explains how they collapsed in nearly a free-fall. The pressure from the above floors caused the already damaged supports to give out. Therefore, each of the floors collapsed on top of each other creating more force each time and allowing the buildings to collapse at such a fast rate. To explain the big clouds of dust is quite simple. When each floor collapsed on top of the other one

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(Figure 1. Anatomy of the WTC Collapse. Illustrates the structure of the collapse.) on the way down to the ground, it compresses all of the air and shoots it out all sides along with all of the dust. This is known as pancaking. When that much weight is collapsing on top of each other and exerting that much force, it shoots out all of the air and dust with so much energy creating the huge dust cloud. Those clouds created the impression of an explosion and demolition (9/11 Conspiracy Theories). Referring to Tower 7, many conspirators stick to the original report that there was barely any damage to the building before it collapsed. However, there was much more damage from falling debris than what was originally reported. The combination of intense fires inside the building along with serious structural damage from the falling debris is what contributed to and caused the collapse of Tower 7. Tower 7 collapsed a bit differently than the twin towers. But NIST's analysis suggests the fall of WTC 7 was an example of progressive collapse, a process in which the failure of parts of a structure ultimately creates strains that cause the entire building to come down (9/11 Conspiracy Theories). This building collapsed in on itself instead of going straight down on top of itself like the twin towers did.

9/11 CONSPIRACY THEORIES Less than an hour after the first plane hit the World Trade Center, another situation happened that conspirators believed was a work of the government. A plane hit the Pentagon. However, many conspiracies think that a missile or a different type of plane hit the Pentagon despite witnesses saying that it was a Boeing 757. Many theorists believe this because of the size of the holes in the building made by the plane. A Boeing 757 is a large sized plane and the holes made in the building were far smaller than the dimensions of the plane. Reopen911.org asks the question, How does a plane 125 ft. wide and 155 ft. long fit into a hole which is only 16 ft. across? (9/11 Conspiracy Theories). Windows just above the point of impact remained

intact which also suggests that it was not the Boeing 757 that hit the Pentagon. Something as big as a Boeing 757 would not have left those windows intact. This suggests that it was something much smaller, such as a missile. What seems really strange is that there was claimed to be no debris that would have been from a Boeing 757. Conspiracy theorists insist there was no plane wreckage at the Pentagon. In reality, a Boeing 757 was never found, claims pentagonstrike.co.uk, which asks the question, What hit the Pentagon on 9/11? (9/11 Conspiracy Theories). That is a huge reason for supporters of this conspiracy theory. How does a plane that big crash into a building and no debris can be found from it? Once again, there are answers to all of the claims by the conspiracy theorists for what happened to the Pentagon that prove it was not a government set up. To answer the question about the small holes compared to the big plane, A crashing jet doesn't punch a cartoon-like outline of itself into a reinforced concrete building, says ASCE team member Mete Sozen, a professor of structural engineering at Purdue University (9/11 Conspiracy Theories). Before the plane crashed into the building, one of the wings hit the ground and the other one was broken off by impact with the columns of the Pentagon. So by the time the plane crashed into the building,

9/11 CONSPIRACY THEORIES there was not much left of it and the state of the plane was less of a mass than it would have been. The 16 ft. hole was created by the 757s landing gear, not the fuselage (9/11 Conspiracy Theories). The reason why some of the windows were still intact was because that is what they were designed to do. The Pentagon has blast-resistant windows that are supposed to withstand significant inward pressure and that is exactly what they did. Conspiracy theorists were completely wrong about the finding no debris from the Boeing 757. Blast expert Allyn E. Kilsheimer said that it was absolutely a plane that crashed into the Pentagon. She saw marks

from the wings on the building along with picking up parts of the plane with the airline markings on them. She was quoted saying, I held parts of uniforms from crew members in my hands, including body parts. Okay? (9/11 Conspiracy Theories). That is enough to disprove the conspiracies that a missile or a smaller object crashed into the Pentagon. Perhaps the most intriguing situation that conspirators claim is a government set up is about United Airlines Flight 93. Even though there are cockpit recordings of a team of passengers taking over the plane from the hijackers forcing the plane to crash into an empty field, certain theorists believe Flight 93 was shot down. They claim that the plane was shot down via missile either by an F-16 or a mysterious white plane that witnesses saw fly over the crash site almost immediately after the crash. Supporting this claim is that one of the flights engines was found at a considerable distance from the crash area. The damage to that engine was comparable to something a heat-seeking missile would do to a plane (9/11 Conspiracy Theories). Also, crash debris was found by residents in Indian Lake which is nearly 6 miles from the crash site. It would have been impossible for the debris to travel perpendicular against the wind in order to reach the lake. Conspirators believe this proves that Flight 93 was indeed

9/11 CONSPIRACY THEORIES shot down. It suggests that the plane was broken up before it crashed in order for debris to end up in the lake (9/11 Conspiracy Theories).

The government did not shoot down Flight 93. It was in fact the passengers who teamed up to take down the plane from the hijackers. It is true that people saw a white jet in the area immediately after the crash. It was a business jet that was flying into a nearby airport. It in no way shot down Flight 93. They were already at a low altitude because they were descending and preparing to land when the FAA asked them to investigate the area. They pinpointed the location of the crash and continued on (9/11 Conspiracy Theories). The engine that was found away from the crash site landed in the direction that the plane was traveling. At high speeds, it would be easy for an engine like that to travel as far as it did in a crash landing. The conspiracy theorists got their facts wrong about the Indian Lake argument. Debris from the plane did in fact land in the lake, but that can happen because of the concussion from the plane. Where the theorists are wrong is that Indian Lake is only 1.5 miles from the crash site and not 6. Also, the wind was blowing towards the lake and not from it (9/11 Conspiracy Theories). Therefore, it would have been easy for the debris to be blown toward the lake and into it. September 11, 2001 was one of the most devastating mornings our country has ever had. The terrorist attacks destroyed many lives and hurt our nation. The claims that the conspiracy theorists make can seem convincing. However, after researching the facts about what actually happened on this day, these were in fact an act of terrorism. In no way were these events an inside job set up by the American government. Experts have studied what happened on this day and everything has been explained. All of the question marks about the conspiracy theories have been eliminated based on facts.

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9/11 CONSPIRACY THEORIES 10 References Bliss, M. (2013, March). 2013 new loose change 3rd edition! must see! 911 truth inside job. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO1gBrKGRsM Mole, P. "9/11 Conspiracy Theories." 20th Century Drama. ProQuest, 2006. Web. 23 Mar. 2014. Thomas, D. (2011, August). The 9/11 truth movement: The top conspiracy theory, a decade later. 9/11 Conspiracy Theories - Debunking the Myths - World Trade Center - Pentagon - Flight 93 Popular Mechanics. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military/news/122784287954 Six really stupid 9/11 conspiracies debunked in about six seconds | News.com.au. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.news.com.au/world/six-really-stupid-911-conspiraciesdebunked-in-about-six-seconds/story-fndir2ev-1226717737311