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9/11: Debunking The Myths (Popular Mechanics)
Popular Mechanics Magazine ^ | March 2005 | Popular Mechanics

Posted on 02/13/2005 3:59:00 PM PST by OK

"...Three and a half years later, not everyone is convinced we know the truth. Go to Google.com, type in the search phrase "World Trade Center conspiracy" and you'll get links to an estimated 628,000 Web sites. More than 3000 books on 9/11 have been published; many of them reject the official consensus that hijackers associated with Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda flew passenger planes into U.S. landmarks.

Healthy skepticism, it seems, has curdled into paranoia. Wild conspiracy tales are peddled daily on the Internet, talk radio and in other media. Blurry photos, quotes taken out of context and sketchy eyewitness accounts have inspired a slew of elaborate theories: The Pentagon was struck by a missile; the World Trade Center was razed by demolition-style bombs; Flight 93 was shot down by a mysterious white jet. As outlandish as these claims may sound, they are increasingly accepted abroad and among extremists here in the United States.

To investigate 16 of the most prevalent claims made by conspiracy theorists, POPULAR MECHANICS assembled a team of nine researchers and reporters who, together with PM editors, consulted more than 70 professionals in fields that form the core content of this magazine, including aviation, engineering and the military.

In the end, we were able to debunk each of these assertions with hard evidence and a healthy dose of common sense. We learned that a few theories are based on something as innocent as a reporting error on that chaotic day. Others are the byproducts of cynical imaginations that aim to inject suspicion and animosity into public debate. Only by confronting such poisonous claims with irrefutable facts can we understand what really happened on a day that is forever seared into world history.--THE EDITORS

(Excerpt) Read more at popularmechanics.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 911; conspiracy; myth; tinfoil
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To: WindOracle
>In the end, we were able to debunk each of these assertions with hard evidence and a healthy dose of common sense

>>Popular Mechanics will now be considered to be part of the "conspiracy" by the nut-jobs

There is one problem
with this right on the surface.
It's irrational

to pretend to use
common sense to "understand"
the most uncommon

event in the last
fifty years. Uncommon things
need uncommon thoughts!

41 posted on 02/14/2005 3:09:56 PM PST by theFIRMbss
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To: theFIRMbss

lol.. your theory would be great, if using common sense was actually a common thing in society.


42 posted on 02/14/2005 3:11:46 PM PST by WindOracle
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To: WindOracle

Good point. On the gold forum at kitco.com tonight somebody was saying that Popular Mechanics can't be trusted because it is owned by Hearst Publishing, part of the establishment.


43 posted on 02/14/2005 6:25:17 PM PST by OK
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Thanks for the ping. A couple of French examples:
Pentagate Pentagate
by Thierry Meyssan
9/11: The Big Lie 9/11: The Big Lie
by Thierry Meyssan


44 posted on 02/14/2005 9:57:42 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Ted "Kids, I Sunk the Honey" Kennedy is just a drunk who's never held a job (or had to).)
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To: OK
>POPULAR MECHANICS assembled a team of nine researchers and reporters who, together with PM editors, consulted more than 70 professionals
>>Popular Mechanics can't be trusted because it is owned by Hearst Publishing, part of the establishment

Did the magazine
do a common sense review
of all the reports

of missles hitting
Flight 800? Did they speak
to dozens of folks

who have researched that?
Where's their high profile debunk
of the fuel spark myth?!

Regardless of how
any magazine reports
one or two stories,

I think folks are right
-- on principle -- to NOT trust
Establishment rags.

45 posted on 02/15/2005 7:30:26 AM PST by theFIRMbss
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To: theFIRMbss

Skepticism is healthy. The thing about this article that is noteworthy is that it puts to rest some of the most outlandish internet theories with hard facts.

Hijacked planes did hit the buildings, including the Pentagon. Flight 93 was not shot down. WTC 7 was not brought down by bombs. The WTC's were not blown up by the government. NORAD did all they could.

We could certainly ask why the government covered up the facts in the 1993 WTC bombing, the OKC bombing, TWA800, etc. and how this led to not enough action to prevent 9/11.


46 posted on 02/15/2005 8:08:59 AM PST by OK
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To: WhiteGuy
Popular Mechanics is a CIA "front" operation.

You fell for the cover story?
The truth as I heard it on shortwave radio is that

The CIA is a "front" operation for Popular Mechanics.

47 posted on 02/15/2005 8:29:10 AM PST by ASA Vet (Incumbent VP Rice in 08)
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To: ASA Vet

The CIA is a "front" operation for Popular Mechanics.


Ahhh HAAAA!

The pieces are now all falling into place!


48 posted on 02/15/2005 9:51:43 AM PST by WhiteGuy ("a taxpayer dollar must be spent wisely, or not at all" - GW BUSH)
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To: WhiteGuy
Considering that earthquakes are the fault of the US are you sure it isn't

"The places that are now falling to pieces?"

49 posted on 02/15/2005 10:01:19 AM PST by ASA Vet (Incumbent VP Rice in 08)
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