The Conspiracy Theory of 9/11 - Article Example

The 9 1 – Conspiracy Theory Order No. 293724 No. of pages: 7 6530 It is a natural human tendency that even in the face of great evidence, there always seems to be a lacking of truth or constant doubts in the minds of people. It is here that conspiracy theories have been framed to plug these gaps conveniently and put an end to the vacuum created by these doubts. However, it is true that conspiracies of different kinds do exist. Some examples are ‘The Roosevelt Incident,’ ‘The JFK incident’, and the ‘Tunguska Incident.’ Ever since the September 11th attacks, there has been a sea – change in the way Americans view American politics. According to Andrew Kohut, a public opinion analyst, “the American public feels it needs the federal government much more than they have in a long time.” In a poll taken by ABC News in 2002, the clear picture of trust of the public in all the federal government undertakings was exposed. Separate questions were put forward to the public and the responses received were quite unexpected. While about 68% felt that they trusted the government to do what is right “when it comes to handling national security and the war on terrorism,” Only 38 percent felt the same trust “when it comes to handling social issues like the economy, health care, Social Security, and education.“ (John Samples, 2002) What is perplexing about the issue of trust is that the Americans place a good deal of trust on the government, only where national security issues are concerned. Most of them felt that the Government failed in their attempt to provide national security especially during the crucial time of the September 11th attacks. The rational response to the failure of any government undertakings especially during crisis automatically results in a decline of public trust. One of the reasons for this is that many times, the government promises too much, but is unable to deliver or satisfy these promises. This results in loss of public trust. September 11, 2001 changed America and the world forever, in big ways and small, creating conflicts in faraway lands, with people whom America barely understands, while at the same time creating paranoia in the population at home. That first moment when the plane struck the South tower of the World Trade Center, is an image etched upon the psyche of the whole world, reinforced by the video loop played on the TV channels and the internet, unrelentingly. The attack on the World Trade Center deeply impacted the nation as a whole, but the first few days of shocked silence and mourning the dead, soon gave way to resentment towards the Administration and a distrust of the government, rarely seen in recent times. The vast literature - fiction, non-fiction, speculative, and otherwise which it has spawned has created a small-scale industry. While the whole world accepts that the carnage was the work of terrorists belonging to the Al Qaeda, there is still a vast majority unwilling to accept that people from a vastly uneducated society, trained for a few months, imbued with the spirit of Jihad could wreak havoc on this vast scale. This suspicion has been supported, in no small measure, by the actions of the American government immediately after and in the period following the destruction of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. In a survey conducted by the Scripps Howard News Service, 54 per cent of the respondents said that they were much more angry with the government, while 36 per cent of those polled were skeptical about the attacks, and considered that it may have been "very likely" or "somewhat likely" that the attacks may have been engineered, or at least not stopped by federal officials because the Administration was looking for a chance to “to go to war in the Middle East." (http://www.scrippsnews.com/911poll) The lack of trust in their government, exhibited by the American people has much to do with the war in Iraq, the basis of which was Saddam Husseins cache of weapons of mass destruction, which are yet to be unearthed, after more than six years of pulverizing that country, and which has also been called an ally of the Al Qaeda. The pugnacity of George Bush, and his haste in signing papers for a war which most Americans now find totally unwarranted, led to an erosion of public trust in the system. The suspicion with which the public views the past Administration is evident from the fact that Matthews Web site, dedicated to making clear to the American people that "elements within the U.S. government must have orchestrated or participated in the execution of the attacks for these to have happened the way in which they did," received more than thousands of visits every day. (http://www.scrippsnews.com/911poll) In trying to understand the Conspiracy Theory surrounding the September 11th attacks, one should take into consideration the 19 hijackers and terrorists who somehow managed to hijack four planes from the US airports and used two of them (flights 11 and 175) to crash into two of the towers belonging to the World Trade Center, razing the massive structures to the ground. The third plane (flight 77) that was directed towards the Pentagon, hit its target causing severe damage. The only plane (flight 93) not to hit its target which was the White House, unfortunately crashed into the state of Pennsylvania causing a huge loss to life (3000 people) and property. The attack on the Pentagon, the destruction of the World Trade Center and the crash of Flight 93 on September 11th have led to an outburst of emotions which has left in its wake a number of conspiracy theories about what happened, how it happened, why it happened, and most important of all, why nothing was done to prevent it. The theories are so many, some of which seem credible, but most of them credulous, that there have been innumerable discussions, some which favor the theory while others that go about debunking them, systematically and scientifically. I shall use the investigations posted by Popular Mechanics, in its March 2005 issue, which deals with some of the most prevailing of these theories and also the research done by them which proves, quite conclusively that what happened on 9/11 was not an attack, orchestrated by the government, but the handiwork of people who wished to harm America and at the same time draw attention to their own selves. The collapse of the twin towers of the World Trade Center, one of the identifiers of the Manhattan skyline, did not go down well with the general public and experts in the field of building technology. Explosives planted in the building, before the planes crashed into it, have been cited as the reason for the collapse of these humongous structures. The San Diego Independent Media Center Web site (sandiego.indymedia.org), in a posting said that “It is OBVIOUS and irrefutable that OTHER EXPLOSIVES (... such as concussion bombs) HAD ALREADY BEEN DETONATED in the lower levels of tower one at the same time as the plane crash." Conspiracy theorists have said that days before the planes crashed into the towers, the building had been packed with explosives, wired and ready to be brought down, using a series of controlled demolitions. Investigations carried out by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), however say that damage was caused by the burning fuel as it went down the elevator shafts, reached the lobbies, taking the fire to the lower levels. James Quintiere, a NIST adviser says that the doors of the elevator caused the fire to rush out into the lobby, when they cracked open upon impact. The structural strength of the building had already been compromised by the slamming in of the planes as well as the intense fire, caused by the combination of steel and the plane’s fuel. The huge clouds of dust and debris fanning out of the building as it crashed, has been used to advance the theory that it was explosives which are responsible for the collapse of the World Trade Center. Many experts were quoted as saying that the amounts of dust which accompanied the collapse of the building could only be the result of implosion, a method used for demolishing buildings. Another valid point raised on this issue is the time when the attacks took place. People again doubted if the attacks were the real thing or a sort of hoax by the Government because the crash took place just half an hour before the daily office timings. Engineers working on Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) report on 9/11 have however rubbished such claims, saying that what happened in the case of the World Trade Center can be described in engineering jargon as “pancaking.’ Pancaking happens when the weight of the floors above the ones which have collapsed, come down on the one which is intact, with a great force, which in turn falls on the one below it, creating a chain reaction. This is also aided by the vast amounts of air, which rushes out, taking in its wake the pulverized concrete and other debris. The reason for the fall of the building has been assigned to “progressive collapse," wherein failure of separate parts of a structure strains the other parts, bringing about collapse of the structure. Therefore, the conspiracy theorists of the 9/11 attacks theorize that the government was partly to blame for the destruction. Their theories range from the knowledge that the Government was aware of the impending attacks to them creating the attacks. But whatever the theory, the trust of the American people has been at stake and t would take some time before it is regained once again. References John Samples (2002) Americans Don’t Trust Big Government on Home Front, ABC Poll. Cato Institute, Massachusetts, Washington D.C (2002) www.old.911digitalarchive.org/crr/documents/1836.pdf Debunking the 9/11 Myths: Special Reports – Popular Mechanics. http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/1227842.html?page=2 Thomas Hargrove, Third of Americans suspect 9-11 government conspiracy http://www.scrippsnews.com/911poll 9/11 Conspiracy Theory www.conspiracy-theories-hoax.com/911-conspiracy-intro-page-1.html Read More