9/11 was an Inside Job

by Dahria Beaver

9/11 conspiracy theories are the belief that 9/11 was an inside job by government officials as an agenda to have an excuse to attack Afghanistan and Iraq. The conspiracy theory consists of mainly two theories, but there are a lot of motives that many 9/11 theorists believe in. The main two are the belief that government officials had prior knowledge of the attacks and did not act and the towers collapsing were a result of a controlled demolition to simulate intense plane crashes. It is also theorized that a missile hit the pentagon but with more evidence theorists are beginning to blame the pentagon and claiming the tower collapsing was a result of detonations. Theorists claim the pentagon attacked itself and had control.

Several polls have been done and most recently a poll done by Live Science found 53% of Americans believe 9/11 was faked because many believe information is being concealed by the government. The growing number of believers may be contributed to how much information there is on 9/11 conspiracy theories and vocal theorists. Many family members of people who have passed away continue to do interviews believing their loved one died all for an elaborate government scheme. Matt Campbell’s brother was killed on 9/11 and after Geoff’s remains were found Matt began to question and vocally doubts that the events of 9/11 are the true story. (Reid, Daily Mail) 9/11 conspiracy theories are and remain an extraordinary belief because if the evidence to support the conspiracies is true it can shift how we know the world works. Mainly because then it would be proven an American tragedy was just a tool to invade the Middle East.

There are many places to find information all over the internet of eye witness accounts and from people believing their family member was killed. Many documentaries also were made on the topic. Most notable is the documentary Loose Change and the books written by David Ray Griffen. Loose Change is a documentary investigating how 9/11 was faked and that the American people are being lied to, “We must understand that what we were told about that day is a lie and those lies drastically changed the course of peace to a course of perpetual war.” (loosechange911.com) David Ray Griffen is a retired theology professor who has written many books about how 9/11 was an inside job. In a debate he stated “In my later writings, I emphasized this point — that I am not attempting to provide a complete theory, partly because to do so would require groundless speculation, partly because there is no need. I did, however, state what I found the evidence to show on various matters, such as the fact that the World Trade Center buildings could have come down only through the use of explosives. I also clearly stated, after the first book, that I believed that 9/11 was an inside job, that the Air Force had been ordered to stand down, and that Dick Cheney was at the center of this operation. But this is very different from trying to offer a complete theory.” (Griffin, Ultimate Truth Showdown).

The first notable claim is the tower attacks were the result of a controlled detonation and bombs went off before the planes even hit the towers. In the videos theorists believe there is an explosion before the planes hit and lobbies were visibly damaged. The National Institute of Standards and Technology investigated the incident and decided that once the planes had hit the towers the plane debris “sliced through the utility shafts at the North Tower’s core creating a conduit of burning jet fuel.” (popular mechanics) Explaining the collapse and the lobbies because the heat from the jet fuel explosion was concentrated and went off destroying anything in its path. From this theory comes another, and this theory claims that jet fuel could not have caused the structure to fail and collapse because jet fuel fires would never be hot enough to melt the steel supports. Jet fuel can burn anywhere between 800 degrees and 1500 degrees Farenheit, which is not hot enough to burn steel. Fortunately steel frames do not have to melt to collapse, they simply need to be weakened and the weight of the building and gravity will do the rest. (popular mechanics) However theorists have combated this with saying if it was just weakened the floors would have sagged or tilted.

Going along with the theory of controlled demolition detonation, claims have surfaced because visible clouds of dust come out the sides of the buildings that are interpreted as looking similar to implosions. The way the dust clouds appear and how the go in succession led to theorists claiming there had to be explosives within the towers. This is debunked with the engineering term of ‘pancaking’. As each floor collapsed above the floor below would not be able to absorb the blow, thus transmitting the force onto an level below. While the floors were collapsing air would be released and the debris would fly out along with it.Most importantly,’pancaking’ does not need an explosion to initiate. (popular mechanics)

Lastly, the belief that the World Trade Center was a controlled demolition. Theorists believe the World Trade Center came down in a controlled demolition after Larry Silverstein decided the best thing to do would be to detonate seven hours after the towers were hit. Theorists believe a plane never hit mainly because debris was never recovered and the where the plane would supposedly hit would be too small to fit a Boeing 757. Going against this claim NIST investigators found damage on the building and believe intense fire along with this damage caused the eventual collapse. “WTC 7 might have withstood the physical damage it received, or the fire that burned for hours, but those combined factors—along with the building’s unusual construction—were enough to set off the chain-reaction collapse.” (popular mechanics)

The main community of believers are The Scholars for 9/11 Truth started by James Fetzer. Simply put they are “Scholars for 9/11 Truth (S9/11T) is a non-partisan association of faculty, students, and scholars, in fields as diverse as history, science, military affairs, psychology, and philosophy, dedicated to exposing falsehoods and to revealing truths behind 9/11. Scholars for 9/11 Truth members are convinced their research proves the current administration has been dishonest about what happened in New York and Washington, D.C.” (twilightpines-scholars for 9/11 truth) Their continual belief may be primarily a result from the founder claiming that he strives to apply principles of scientific reasoning to evidence and let the truth speak for itself. Many communities such as this one seem to be able to acquire evidence that is pseudoscientific, creating a narrative that seems legitimate. On the scholars of 9/11 truth “Why Doubt 9/11” many of the claims have fact that could align with reality and operates on skepticism. For example they give a lot of information on melting points and the temperature jet fuel burns at to continually support their theory of the planes not being able to produce all of the damage alone.

9/11 as an inside job is a theory that takes on many beliefs and personifies and justifies them through using the footage and accounts available. They appear believable and many believers display a belief bias, only accepting facts that fit into their personal beliefs of what truly happened. One could never truly convince a 9/11 theorist they are wrong because as evidence unsupportive of their ideas surface the more the theories shift towards disproving that evidence and rooting the theory even more into a scenario of an elaborate government coverup.

Sources
Ghose, Tia. “A Shocking Number Of Americans Are 9/11 Truthers.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 27 Dec. 2016, www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/half-of-americans- believe-911-conspiracy-theories_us_5804ec04e4b0e8c198a92df3.

Taibbi, Matt, and David Ray Griffin. “The Ultimate 9/11 ‘Truth’ Showdown: David Ray Griffin vs. Matt Taibbi.” Alternet, www.alternet.org/story/100688/ the_ultimate_9_11_%27truth%27_showdown%3A_david_ray_griffin_vs._matt_taibbi.

Sue Reid for the Daily Mail. “The Conspiracies That Won’t Go Away: Brother of 9/11 Victim Claim the US Orchestrated the Atrocity as New Study Shows It Was Impossible That the Third Tower Collapsed from Fire.” Daily Mail Online, Associated Newspapers, 9 Sept. 2017, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4867124/9-11-conspiracy-theories-persist-16-years- atrocity.html.

Ghose , Tia. “Half of Americans Believe in 9/11 Conspiracy Theories .” Livescience.com, www.livescience.com/56479-americans-believe-conspiracy-theories.html.

“9/11 Conspiracy Theories.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Jan. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/9/11_conspiracy_theories.

https://www.loosechange911.com

Jan Frel / AlterNet. “David Ray Griffin: How a Retired Theologian Became a High Priest of the 9/11 Truth Movement.” Alternet, www.alternet.org/story/156351/ david_ray_griffin%3A_how_a_retired_theologian_became_a_high_priest_of_the_9_11_truth_m ovement.

“9/11 Conspiracy Theories: How They’ve Evolved.” BBC News, BBC, 29 Aug. 2011, www.bbc.com/news/magazine-14665953.

Person. “Debunking the 9/11 Myths: Special Report – The World Trade Center.” Popular Mechanics, Popular Mechanics, 15 Feb. 2018, www.popularmechanics.com/military/a6384/ debunking-911-myths-world-trade-center/.

Fetzer, Jim. “Why Doubt 9/11?” Scholars for 9/11 Truth – Home, twilightpines.com//index.php? option=com_content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=46.

26 thoughts on “9/11 was an Inside Job

  1. I think the part that is very interesting is when you discuss how one theory believes that towers fell due to detonation and imploded. One of the things that they use to support that is that some clouds of smoke looked like the type of smoke that would have been showed if the tower had imploded. I think the fact that they are using anecdotal evidence like that, and are choosing to believe something is crazy and support nothing. Also, how people believe the theory just because someone found evidence saying that the towers would have been able to collapse due to implosion and detonating bombs doesn’t mean that’s what happened.

    • Hey Lauren,
      Good point. Something that amazes me is that people say the smoke looked like the type that could be from implosion, or a bomb, but in reality what other events do they have to compare 9/11 too? Isnt it in a category of its own? I just think that its ridiculous what people fish for to be true.
      Charlie

    • U ALL have it only 1/2 rite.(I wrote a book on THE REAL UGLY technical inside job.THE RUN DOWN): all networks RAN FAKE animation of THE PLANE that hit the 2nd tower.(it was a fake plane on live TV. what the heck ?).if I look close at the WNBC live feed & now video-U will see on the TOP rite side-A get this UFO slamming into the 2nd tower.YES our government is EVIL as shit.KILLING its own people-faking reasons to go to eat & showing off UFO technology to itself.WHAT the heck ?

      2….& I GOT TONS more proof of what hit the first tower and the Pentagon.its evil beyond comprehension.EMAIL ME AT: meetup8@aol.com

  2. This belief is something I am very interested in and found your post very informative and well done. I think you did a great job researching and giving the different views of conspiracy theorists. I liked reading about the two different views as well. It is very sad to me that something this tragic can even be considered to be an inside job. I think it is especially hard for those who lost loved ones because if they believe this theory, they’ll think their loved one died due to the government that swears to protect them.

  3. I have recently heard about the theory that bombs were placed inside the towers and set off to cause the collapse. Although this can be explained with the pancaking, I find it interesting that so many people still believe that they were bombs. I have seen a video of a fireman inside one of the towers say that day that he thought he heard a bomb go off, and for those who have seen this video, it would be hard not to trust what a person inside the building at the time said. Overall, I think that it is terribly sad that people go to such great lengths to prove that this was an inside job when there are thousands of families still trying to cope with the loss of a loved one. It seems very insensitive in my opinion, but those determined to get to the “truth” won’t stop until they get it.

    • 911 was a false flag terrorist attack done by the American government period if you think any different your either a really stupid individual who does no research on your own or your an evil person who is corrupt as the system itself and it is really that simple. A retired 5star general who at one time had complete control of the us military come out and said the same thing but what would he know right.

      • Finally someone with a brain and deductive reasoning skills. After reading your post I feel like there is hope.

      • I believe with all my mind and all my heart and all my being that 911 WAS AN INSIDE JOB done by rogue elements of the CIA and US military. Besides the obvious demolition another dead give away is the five terrorist held at Gitmo. They were granted habeas corpus and Supreme Court Justicr Kennedy stated in the documents some were US citizens. It’s against US law to grant foreign enemy combatants habeas corpus. I still believe there are many high moraled people in the USA military but own up to this and tell the truth.

        • You BELIEVE with all your mind and your heart…. well that might apply to beliefs of old gray bearded men living in the clouds with angels, or even santa claus or the tooth fairy. However in a matter as serious as this we should be looking at factual evidence, where faith is a vice. And the legal entanglements of a few prisoners at gitmo arent really relevant. If youre proposing the military did it youd have to include serious theories about how they brought the towers down, who the perpetrators were, etc. Remember thd NIST and Congress issued very thorough reports on the events of that day, for your version to hold any water youve got to compile a hypothesis that will equally stand up to scrutiny and peer review by experts.

    • Most of the families know it was an inside job because they are the ones who cared to really research what happened. Really spend some time studying what happened. You are right about people in the building witnessing and experiencing what happened. William Rodriquez, the WTC employee who saved so many lives that day gives an especially compelling account of hearing, feeling, and experiencing an explosion he also saw a victim it before the 1st plane hit. Not to mention, in the stock market – a ton of informed trades happened all over the globe. So people knew before, babe. Just one transaction was a billion dollars. Please read about the trades and Rodriguez’ account.

    • U ALL have it only 1/2 rite.(I wrote a book on THE REAL UGLY technical inside job.THE RUN DOWN): all networks RAN FAKE animation of THE PLANE that hit the 2nd tower.(it was a fake plane on live TV. what the heck?).if U look close at the WNBC live feed & now video-U will see on the TOP rite side- get this UFO slamming into the 2nd tower.YES our government is EVIL as shit.KILLING its own people-faking reasons to go to war & showing off UFO technology to itself. WHAT the heck ?

      2….& I GOT TONS more proof of what hit the first tower and the Pentagon.its evil beyond comprehension.EMAIL ME AT: meetup8@aol.com

  4. This is possibly the most popular conspiracy theory that exists and has actually become a popular joke, especially on social media. I was astounded in reading your post that according to a recent poll, 53% of Americans believe 9/11 was an inside job! I’ve seen videos and documentaries about this conspiracy and to the average person, they seem very convincing. They appear to have a substantial amount of evidence to back up their claims and as the conspiracy increases in popularity, it gains supporters as well. It’s hard to determine who truly does believe 9/11 was an inside job because a lot of people joke about it, but nonetheless, it’s certain interesting how this theory has spread so far.

    • Hey Julia,
      I was shocked when I saw that 53% of people believed that. That is actually insane, I would have guessed it would only be 10-15% tops. I think something that helps me is that only 53% of people believe it who were willing to answer the poll, so how accurate is the representation actually? I feel like if I asked 1000 people, there is no way 530 people would believe it.

      • Not everyone is as dense as you. Leaders in our govt. can be just as corrupt as anywhere else. I guarantee I have done more research on 9/11 than you and what I have learned after many many hours-long documentaries and articles is in stark contrast to your ” oh my perfect American govt. could never do such a thing” attitude. Read about the stock trades to start girlie. Then listen to William Rodriquez who saved many lives that day. The trades alone should make you think twice. You really don’t think money and power can corrupt American politicians? Everyone should care what really happened to those people who died that day.

        • With all that research youve done you should be able to put a complete report together for the world to see with a plausible hypothesis about what really happened, right? You think that experts haven’t looked into the disjointed arguments offered by truthers? Why do we need to look at anecdotal accounts of people like william rodriguez when the video documentation is not consistent with explosions or controlled demolition? And nothing in rodriguez’ story contradicts the official story anyway.

          https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Rodriguez

    • Hi Julia,
      This is a really good point. It’s interesting to consider how the joke about 9/11 being an inside job might affect how many people believe it. Even if people are sharing this conspiracy as a joke, or making memes, etc. they still might be convincing people that this actually happened, even if they themselves don’t actually believe it!

    • U ALL have it only 1/2 rite.(I wrote a book on THE REAL UGLY technical inside job.THE RUN DOWN): all networks RAN FAKE animation of THE PLANE that hit the 2nd tower.(it was a fake plane on live TV. what the heck?).if U look close at the WNBC live feed & now video-U will see on the TOP rite side- get this UFO slamming into the 2nd tower.YES our government is EVIL as shit.KILLING its own people-faking reasons to go to war & showing off UFO technology to itself. WHAT the heck ?

      2….& I GOT TONS more proof of what hit the first tower and the Pentagon.its evil beyond comprehension.EMAIL ME AT: meetup8@aol.com

  5. Hey,
    This has always been an intriguing topic to me. I think partially because conspiracy theorist can be really good at what they do. To me, it just seems far fetched than any government official would create such a disaster to use as an agenda to attack Afghanistan. In any case, it is impossible to know, and I think that is what is so scary about the government.
    Charlie

  6. I did not realize the number of people who actually believe this. I thought the number of people was much lower than the 53% mentioned in this post. It’s still hard for me to believe that the government would have killed so many Americans and caused so much destruction just to have a reason to attack the Middle East. I know there a lot of people who believe in conspiracies with the government, but this is one that seems too extreme for me.

  7. I have watched many hours of documentaries and read extensively on what occurred on 9/11.
    The author of this obviously did not. People profited in the billions of dollars from 9/11 – and I mean individuals. That was the motivation – not going to war. Having a blank check for defense spending was likely another reason but again monetary in nature. Of course hatred for the Middle East didn’t motivate 9/11 but money and power did. Research suspicious stock market trades from 9/11. They happened in the days before 9/11 in markets worldwide.
    Wake up people! Really think about what changed after 9/11. Congress approved a war, yes, but within that defense spending increased exponentially. Foreign Policy Journal wrote an excellent article about the suspicious stock trades. This ill-informed article is so frustrating because the author simply did little to educate herself. So much is wrong with her assertions I don’t even have time to criticize them all. Unreal. Maybe actually listen to witness accounts like William Rodriquez, the WTC employee who had the key of hope on 9/11, and watch some documentaries besides Loose Change. Rodriguez states he both heard and felt a huge explosion in the lower levels of the WTC and then encountered a man who was a victim of the explosion before he felt the 1st plane hit the tower! He says unequivocally it was 2 separate events. His account is compelling but there are others. Pretty shocking how few people care to really investigate who murdered 3000 of our fellow Americans. The author of this article absolutely did not.

  8. Maybe I got this wrong but I thought the question asked by the live science poll was “do you think the govt is concealing something about the events on 9/11” which it appears you project to mean it was an inside job. The two positions are obviously worlds apart and I think its ridiculous to assert half of americans believe its an inside job. Of course the government is concealing something but its likely limited to their incompetance in not stopping it. I see the usual grade school level arguments above in the comments, they pretend its profound to ask the same questions over and over when the answers were public 17 years ago. Their whole position founded on ignorance, like “what happened to building 7 which collapsed unexpectedly for no reason at all?”
    Start with absolutely no knowledge and work from there. I dont really care what the general public believes, but lets look at architects and engineers. You know that cute little group, of which less than 100 are actually civil engineers or architects, and only half a dozen with any experience on skyscrapers… you know they represent about .00001 percent of those in their profession worldwide?
    So what about the other 99.99999 percent? Maybe they dont care about mass murders enough to look into it? Maybe they are scared Bush and Cheney will whisk them away in the night?
    How about not one single twoofer has bothered to publish a complete alternative hypothesis of their version of events that day for the world to poke holes in. That fails the most elementary definition of the scientific method, does it not?
    And how many participants would have to be paid to participate in mass murder and the coverup? Tens of thousands by many calculations… in 18 years many would have died, not one death bed confession? The whole thing requires stupidity or delusions on so many levels, mixed in with self important arrogance. And its a spit in the face of veterans who went to the middle east to fight them.
    Its easier to understand when one rejects the Bush narrative they hate our freedoms. Read the al qaeda fatwa of 1998. They attacked us because our sanctions on Iraq killed a million arab muslims, mostly children. And they didnt like our troops in saudi arabia.
    So once youve got it in your head that their grievances were legit and we had it coming maybe you can pull it out of the fudgesocket. However this destroys your religion, your raison d’etre. Im not holding my breath.

    • U have severe mental issues….in the form of….INTENT AT DENIAL….read on:U ALL have it only 1/2 rite.(I wrote a book on THE REAL UGLY technical inside job.THE RUN DOWN): all networks RAN FAKE animation of THE PLANE that hit the 2nd tower.(it was a fake plane on live TV. what the heck?).if U look close at the WNBC live feed & now video-U will see on the TOP rite side- get this UFO slamming into the 2nd tower.YES our government is EVIL as shit.KILLING its own people-faking reasons to go to war & showing off UFO technology to itself. WHAT the heck ?

      2….& I GOT TONS more proof of what hit the first tower and the Pentagon.its evil beyond comprehension.EMAIL ME AT: meetup8@aol.com

  9. You got SERIOUS denial mental issues…..U ALL have it only 1/2 rite.(I wrote a book on THE REAL UGLY technical inside job.THE RUN DOWN): all networks RAN FAKE animation of THE PLANE that hit the 2nd tower.(it was a fake plane on live TV. what the heck?).if U look close at the WNBC live feed & now video-U will see on the TOP rite side- get this UFO slamming into the 2nd tower.YES our government is EVIL as shit.KILLING its own people-faking reasons to go to war & showing off UFO technology to itself. WHAT the heck ?

    2….& I GOT TONS more proof of what hit the first tower and the Pentagon.its evil beyond comprehension.EMAIL ME AT: meetup8@aol.com

  10. That was about the most INTERESTING theory on 9/11. But, not today. Actually, not ever! Really makes no sense. The article was fantastic however.

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