DiscoverTruth Blog: What *really* happened on 9/11?

The world changed on September 11th, 2001 (9/11). America was attacked. Nearly three thousand innocent people lost their lives. It was the single most important day in my generation’s history. The attacks of September 11th changed the course of history and marked the beginning of the "War on Terror." But with any crime, we have to ask qui bono? (Who benefits?) Who had the means? The motive? The opportunity?

The Bush administration and governments around the world have used the 9/11 attacks to promote the need for increased security and justify the erosion of civil rights. It was used as a pretext for war and to legitimize the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq.

We have all been told the story about what happened on that day. Nineteen Arabs (almost all Saudis not Iraqi or Afghans) conspired and hijacked planes with box cutters and crashed them into the World Trade Center Towers, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania. The damage from the airplanes and the resulting jet fuel fires caused the Twin Towers to collapse. The hijackers were part of an Islamic fundamentalist terrorist group called Al-Qaeda, under the control of Osama Bin Laden, hiding in a cave in Afghanistan. This is the official conspiracy theory.

I used to believe the official conspiracy theory about 19 hijackers. Then, I looked into the alternative theories promoted by the self named "9/11 Truth Movement." I've been to both extremes in the controversy, and I'm still trying to find some balance. The official story about 9/11 has documented inaccuracies and holes, but the alternative theories don't have a completely coherent answer that explains what really happened either. The truth needs to be told. Inquiring minds want to know the truth. Unfortunately, I doubt we'll ever know the full story.

Here are some facts. Other than on 9/11/2001, no steel frame high-rise building has ever collapsed due to fire. On the other hand, we've never had jets that big slam into high-rise buildings either. The Twin Towers were designed to withstand the impact of a Boeing 707, the largest jet in service at the time the towers were built. The jets that actually hit the towers were significantly larger. Alternative theories suggest that the impact damage from airplanes and jet fuel fires could not have caused the observed collapses of the WTC Towers. On the other hand, extensive investigations have come up with plausible theories that do explain how both towers collapsed symmetrically and at near free fall speed without the aid of demolition devices.

World Trade Center 7 is even more controversial. WTC 7 was a 47-story steel frame office building approximately 300 feet away from the North Tower. This third building suddenly collapsed at near free fall speed into its own footprint at 5:20pm on 9/11, roughly seven hours after the collapse of the Twin Towers. This building was not hit by an airplane, and the collapse exactly resembled a classic controlled demolition. How did that happen? We're still waiting for the definitive report from NIST on that building collapse.

Where is all the wreckage from the jet that crashed in Pennsylvania? What about the jet that allegedly hit the Pentagon? Isn't the airspace over the White House and Pentagon some of most monitored and defended airspace on the planet, yet the military only learned of the plane approaching the Pentagon minutes before the impact? The Secretary of Transportation on 9/11, Norman Mineta, testified before the 9/11 Commission that Dick Cheney knew about the plane approaching the Pentagon with sufficient time for the military to intercept and shoot it down. These and many other unanswered questions just beg for answers.

The 9/11 attacks have been used by the U.S. Government to justify the War on Terror. This terror campaign legitimized the unconscionable occupation in the Middle East and the implementation of significant abuses to the fundamental civil liberties of US Citizens. A truly independent and open investigation is necessary to demand the release of withheld evidence and to find the truth about 9/11.

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