Throughout history we have had almost an endless amount of conspiracy theories. Whether it was the moon landings being fake, who really assassinated John F. Kennedy, Area 51 and the aliens, Paul McCartney is actually dead, the Holocaust didn’t happen, or Tupac Shakur still being alive. Now I know that some of these sound outrageous and ridiculous, but could they be possible? With that said, let me explain what a conspiracy theory is. A conspiracy theory is an explanation of a certain event that contradicts with the ordinary or most well-known explanation. When it comes to conspiracy theories there are usually two groups of people involved. The first group is the people that believe that the conspiracy could possibly be the truth. The other group is where they think the conspiracy is just made up nonsense. For example, I would say most people around the world believe that Lee Harvey Oswald is known as the man who assassinated President John F. Kennedy. However, there are other people that believe that Lee Harvey Oswald was not the killer.
There are theories that many people believe in that suggest the CIA was the main culprit in the assassination of President Kennedy. Another theory people believe in suggests that the mob had everything to do with the death of President Kennedy. These are all conspiracy theories. Now that does not mean these theories are true, but doesn’t it make you think just a little that they could possibly have some truth to them? The assassination of President John F. Kennedy was obviously a very tragic event that took place in American history that has some conspiracy theories attached to it, but that is not the main topic of discussion. The main topic of discussion is another very tragic event that took place in American history that also has conspiracy theories attached to it. September 11, 2001.
The most devastating attack to ever take place in the United States of America. This tragic event took the lives of nearly three thousand people. Members of Al-Qaeda hijacked and crashed two planes into the Twin Towers, they crashed one plane into the Pentagon, and the hijackers crashed the fourth and final plane into a field in Pennsylvania. It all started early morning when the first plane crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center. It left many people in a panic. “The impact left a gaping, burning hole near the 80th floor of the 110-story skyscraper, instantly killing hundreds of people and trapping hundreds more in higher floors”(history.com). People started to evacuate the area immediately. “Then, 18 minutes after the first plane hit, a second Boeing 767—United Airlines Flight 175—appeared out of the sky, turned sharply toward the World Trade Center and sliced into the south tower near the 60th floor”(history.com).
This collision caused a massive explosion. Burning debris was falling onto the streets below because of this massive collision. This was truly a gruesome and troubling scene. Just when you think it couldn’t get any worse. About an hour after the second plane struck the south tower, a third plane struck the west side of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The Pentagon was damaged significantly. The Pentagon was not only damaged from the impact of the plane but also because fires erupted from the massive amounts of burning jet fuel. Very shortly after the Pentagon was attacked, things took a turn for the worse. The south tower of the World Trade Center collapsed. Soon after that the north tower collapsed. It was said that “the structural steel of the skyscraper, built to withstand winds in excess of 200 miles per hour and a large conventional fire, could not withstand the tremendous heat generated by the burning jet fuel”(history.com).
The fourth plane did not crash into any buildings thankfully. This plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania thanks to the help of passengers and flight attendants. All of the people aboard this plane were killed, but the passengers and flight attendants fought off the hijackers so that they did not attack their intended target. “All 44 people aboard were killed. Its intended target is not known, but theories include the White House, the U.S. Capitol, the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland or one of several nuclear power plants along the eastern seaboard”(history.com). After all these devastating attacks were finally finished these heartbreaking numbers were calculated. A total of 2,996 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks, including the 19 terrorist hijackers aboard the four airplanes. At the World Trade Center, 2,763 died after the two planes crashed into the twin towers. At the Pentagon, 189 people were killed. 44 people died when the plane crashed in Pennsylvania. After all this pain and heartbreak our country suffered, our government wanted to make sure something like this never happens again.
“Following 9/11, the U.S. government took many steps to try to make the country safer. It tightened security at airports and in public buildings” (Smith). Now common knowledge throughout the world is that 9/11 was caused by terrorists. However, there is a very popular conspiracy theory where people believe that 9/11 was an inside job. People believe that our own government and our president at the time George W. Bush either had previous knowledge about the terrorist attacks or might have been the mastermind behind it. If this is true then what in the world was the reason for causing the deaths of almost three thousand innocent people? The main reason people believe 9/11 was an inside job was because they feel as if President Bush needed a reason to invade Iraq and Afghanistan.
The people that believe this particular conspiracy theory asked and answered some very interesting questions. One question asked was, why did the world’s most powerful air force fail to intercept any of the four hijacked planes? They answered the question by saying “The then US Vice President Dick Cheney ordered the military to stand down and not to intercept the planes” (BBC News). However, the official report says there was confusion and lack of communication between the civilian air traffic control and the military. They also stated that their equipment was outdated. Another question was asked. Why did the Twin Towers collapse so quickly within their own footprint, after fires on a few floors that lasted only for an hour or two? The conspiracy theorist answered, “The Twin Towers were destroyed by controlled demolitions” (BBC News). They believe that such short lived fires should not have made the buildings collapse.
They also added that there were reports that you could hear explosions before the buildings collapsed. However the official report stated that there was around ten thousand gallons of jet fuel inside the building which made the temperatures of the flames reached up to one thousand degrees Celsius, which is over eighteen hundred degrees Fahrenheit. With such high temperatures it caused the structures supporting the building to bend, which caused the sounds of explosions. Eventually the structures supporting the buildings bent too far and the building collapsed. The last question I am going to talk about that was asked and answered I found very interesting. The question was, how could an amateur pilot fly and crash a commercial plane into the headquarters of the world’s most powerful military, after the first reports of a possible hijack and leave no trace? The conspiracy theorist answered “A commercial Boeing 757 did not hit the building but instead a missile, a small aircraft or an unmanned drone was used. But since evidence has increasingly shown that the American Airlines Flight 77 did hit the building, the emphasis has shifted to questioning the difficult approach maneuver.
It is argued it was not under the control of al-Qaeda but the Pentagon itself” (BBC News). People truly believed that it was a missile or some sort of drone that hit the Pentagon. The interesting part was when evidence proved that it was indeed a plane that crashed into the Pentagon, the conspiracy theorist then argued that it wasn’t a missile or Al- Qaeda, it was the Pentagon itself. The official reports pointed out that there were some videos and photographs that showed plane wreckage and evidence of the flight path. There were also a number of witnesses that stated the saw the plane strike the Pentagon. With all of those interesting responses stated about the conspiracy of 9/11 being an inside job, is it possible that this was actually an inside job? Did our own President and Government knowingly and willingly murder 3,000 innocent people just so they had a reason to attack Iraq and Afghanistan? Could they have possibly staged the largest terror attack in the history of the United States?
Before I answer this question, I would like to say that I do believe some conspiracy theories could possibly have some truth to them. But as for the conspiracy theory on 9/11, I personally believe that it is ridiculous and ignorant to think that our own government had a hand in these attacks. If they wanted to attack Iraq and Afghanistan that badly then I believe they would have. I just believe that there is no logical reason for anyone to believe in this conspiracy. There is just not enough factual evidence to prove this conspiracy has any proof behind it. This attack changed the lives of thousands of people and I strongly believe that 9/11 was a horrific and devastating terrorist attack against the United States by terrorist group Al-Qaeda and not by our own government.
