Janice R. Andrews
People will always remember September 11, 2001, as one of the worst days in history. Nearly 3,000 people died in the terrorist strikes on the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York City. The events shocked people all over the world. But almost twenty years later, more and more conspiracy ideas continue to question the official story of what happened on that terrible day. This article looks into some of the most popular 9/11 rumors, talking about the facts, the theories, and the arguments about whether these theories are true.
What the government says about 9/11
The official story of 9/11, as told by the 9/11 Commission Report, is that 19 attackers with ties to the radical group al-Qaeda took over four commercial planes and crashed two of them into the World Trade Center Twin Towers and one into the Pentagon. People on United Airlines Flight 93 fought back against the attackers, and the plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.
Even though this report was very clear, doubts and questions started to come up soon after the attacks, which led to many different plot theories.
What caused the Twin Towers to fall: structural failure or planned demolition?
The Twin Towers’ quick fall is one of the most talked-about parts of the 9/11 strikes. The official report says that the fires that started when the planes hit caused the steel frames of the buildings to weaken and fall.
Some conspiracy theories say that the buildings fell in a way that looked like they were being taken down with care. They say that jet fuel couldn’t have made enough heat to melt the steel beams, which means that explosives could have been put in the towers before the attacks.
Experts don’t believe this idea because they say that jet fuel doesn’t melt steel, but it does make it much weaker, especially when mixed with the huge damage that planes do to buildings.
The Fall Collapse of World Trade Centre 7
On 9/11, the 47-story World Trade Centre 7 (WTC 7) building next to the Twin Towers also fell. The official story is that this building was brought down by fires that got out of hand because of pieces of the nearby towers. The building was not hit by an airplane.
Theory of Conspiracy: The fall of WTC 7 has been a central point for many people who believe in conspiracies. They say that the building fell too quickly and unevenly for it to have been caused by fire alone, which makes them think that explosives were also used to bring it down.
Arguments against: The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) did a thorough study and found that the collapse was caused by a fire that damaged a key structural column, setting off a chain of events that led to the fall.
Did a plane or a missile hit the Pentagon?
The attack on the Pentagon is the subject of another disputed idea. Reports from the Pentagon say that American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757, crashed into the building and killed all 64 people on board and 125 military troops.
Conspiracy Theories: Some doubters say that the damage at the Pentagon did not look like it would come from a normal airplane crash. They say the building was hit by a rocket, not an airplane, and the government hid the truth.
Arguments against it: This idea has been shot down by many experts and people who saw the plane hit the Pentagon. The official story is also backed up by physical proof like plane parts and recordings from the black box.
Who did well? Types of Government Foreknowledge Theories
A popular theory says that some parts of the U.S. government knew about the killings ahead of time and may have even helped carry them out for political or financial gain.
Conspiracy Theories: Some theories say that the attacks were planned as a “false flag” operation to justify the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They say that powerful people and businesses made money from the war on terror, which makes people wonder why the strikes happened.
Arguments against: The claim that the U.S. government knew about the killings is not backed up by any solid proof. There was no proof of such an inside job in the 9/11 Commission Report or in the reviews that followed.
NORAD’s Part in Delays in Air Defence
North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) failed to stop the stolen planes on September 11, 2001. Some theories say that this failure was part of a bigger plan to let the killings happen.
Some people think there is a plot to hide the fact that NORAD, the organization in charge of protecting U.S. skies, did not move faster to stop the hijacked planes. Some people even say that NORAD was told to stand down.
Arguments against: Officials have said that the U.S. air defense system wasn’t made to handle these kinds of threats. Transponders on the planes were turned off, and problems with contact made NORAD’s reaction even slower. People say that the chaos and confusion of the day were major factors in the slow response.
Trading on inside information before 9/11
Another idea about the plot is that the stock market did strange things before the 9/11 attacks, especially when it came to airline stocks.
Some people who knew about the attacks ahead of time are said to have done insider trading by buying put options on American and United Airlines stocks and betting that the companies’ shares would drop after the attacks.
Arguments against: The 9/11 Commission Report mentioned this questionable dealing, but it did not find any proof that the dealers knew about the attacks. The study showed that the trading trends had nothing to do with 9/11 and were just random.
The 9/11 theories and the media’s coverage of them
Many people who believe in conspiracies say that the mainstream media has purposely kept information and discussion about the many problems with the official 9/11 story from the public.
Conspiracy Theory: Some people think that the government has put pressure on the media to keep people from learning the “truth” about 9/11, which has led to a story that calls other theories “fringe.”
Counterarguments
Even though news outlets tend to tell stories based on solid proof, they haven’t completely shut down other points of view. There are a lot of films, books, and independent studies that can be used as platforms for debate and discussion, but many of them have been debunked or don’t have enough proof to back them up.
FAQs about the 9/11 plots
Why do so many people think there are secrets behind 9/11?
A lot of people are interested in conspiracy theories because they offer easy explanations for complicated events. After 9/11, a lot of people were left feeling confused and wanting answers.
Does there exist any proof to back up these plot theories?
There are a lot of ideas, but most of them have been disproved by experts and government investigations. But the fact that some strange things keep happening keeps these ideas alive.
Was 9/11 a plot by people inside the government?
The claim that the U.S. government planned the strikes is not backed up by any solid proof. The government review did not find any proof of a “inside job.”
If World Trade Centre 7 wasn’t hit by a plane, why did it fall?
What the government says happened is that pieces of the Twin Towers’ collapse started fires that destroyed WTC 7.
What did any of the 9/11 attackers have to do with the U.S. government?
There is no solid proof that the 9/11 attackers were connected to the U.S. government.
Why didn’t NORAD stop the planes that were being taken over?
The U.S. air defense system wasn’t ready for that kind of attack, and contact and reaction took a long time.
Even though the official story of 9/11 has been fully researched and proven, people are still interested in conspiracy ideas. Even though there isn’t much proof to back up these claims, the event’s emotional effect and unanswered questions will make discussions last for years. You should keep an open mind about these ideas, but you should also stick to facts and reliable sources.
Disclaimer: The opinions shared in this piece are the author’s own, and they should not be taken as facts. The goal is to look at this important event in history from different points of view.
