Posted on 07/31/2007 10:54:29 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Edited on 08/08/2007 9:19:26 AM PDT by Lead Moderator. [history]
It was inevitable: As the events of Sept. 11, 2001, fade into history, a disturbing number of conspiracy theories are gaining a toehold in our collective consciousness.
As people who lived through that day and who now must make sense of what it means to live in a post-9/11 universe, we owe a commitment to the truth, both to those who perished and to ourselves.
The terrorists who perpetrated the horrors of that day claim their actions were justified to serve a higher truth of jihad. The people behind conspiracy theories spin a version of "truth" to blame targets of their choice.
While 9/11 theories began in the Arab media and incubated on the Internet, they now have begun to creep into traditional media via "documentaries," claiming that either elements of the American government, or "Wall Street," or shadowy international coalitions were behind the multiplane hijackings that led to more than 3,000 deaths in New York City, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania.
In today's media environment, fueled by user-generated content that is easily accessed on the Internet, conspiracy theories won't simply fade away if we ignore them or dismiss them as "fringe" history. In fact, if you do a Google search on "Flight 77," you will find that the conspiracy Web sites in the first 100 search returns heavily outweigh official news and government accounts. Lies perpetuate lies and gain a life of their own — a principle observed by Joseph Goebbels' propaganda machine for the Third Reich.
Cleverly, the new conspiracy theorists prey on areas of highly specialized knowledge that most of us don't viscerally understand.
Mod warning to 9-11 conspiracy truthers: post your crap here and I will ban you. Got it?
WTC 7
Like I posted before about this subject:
Next time 9/11 conspiracy types bring up “The government or President Bush setup bombs in the WTC and/or “Buiding 7,” ask them are they always skeptical of the government and if they’re non-partison.
Then, mention the incidents and dates below:
1993 Feb. 26, New York City: bomb exploded in basement garage of World Trade Center, killing 6 and injuring at least 1,040 others. In 1995, militant Islamist Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and 9 others were convicted of conspiracy charges, and in 1998, Ramzi Yousef, believed to have been the mastermind, was convicted of the bombing. Al-Qaeda involvement is suspected.
1995 April 19, Oklahoma City: car bomb exploded outside federal office building, collapsing wall and floors. 168 people were killed, including 19 children and 1 person who died in rescue effort. Over 220 buildings sustained damage. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols later convicted in the antigovernment plot to avenge the Branch Davidian standoff in Waco, Tex., exactly 2 years earlier. (See Miscellaneous Disasters.)
Nov. 13, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: car bomb exploded at U.S. military headquarters, killing 5 U.S. military servicemen.
1996 June 25, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia: truck bomb exploded outside Khobar Towers military complex, killing 19 American servicemen and injuring hundreds of others. 13 Saudis and a Lebanese, all alleged members of Islamic militant group Hezbollah, were indicted on charges relating to the attack in June 2001.
1998 Aug. 7, Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: truck bombs exploded almost simultaneously near 2 U.S. embassies, killing 224 (213 in Kenya and 11 in Tanzania) and injuring about 4,500. 4 men connected with al-Qaeda 2 of whom had received training at al-Qaeda camps inside Afghanistan, were convicted of the killings in May 2001 and later sentenced to life in prison. A federal grand jury had indicted 22 men in connection with the attacks, including Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, who remained at large.
2000 Oct. 12, Aden, Yemen: U.S. Navy destroyer USS Cole heavily damaged when a small boat loaded with explosives blew up alongside it. 17 sailors killed. Linked to Osama bin Laden, or members of al-Qaeda terrorist network.
How come we never hear conspiracy theories about these events or see a “Loose Change” movie about the above, during Clinton’s time in office, when it was much easier to setup in US government buidings and ships where explosives WERE INVOLVED?
Just a thought.
There you go, trying to bring logic and truth into a discussion and ruining a perfectly good leftist fantasy.
;)
And one could go back to the USS Liberty and LBJ...
There are some attempts at comprehensive conspiracy theories out there that try to answer everything from the murder of JFK to the present day or going back to Woodrow Wilson and the non-governmental private bank known as the Federal Reserve Bank.
If you want to watch a Truther’s head explode, ask them to explain “Ductile Material Failure Levels”....
Of course, in “Truther” World, Thermal Dynamics and simple physics is “Quackery”.
I actually had one tell me that last night....
yeah...I heard this other one about a guy named jesus getting married and having a family....I heard they even made a movie about it...so it must be true...
Sure, Mr. Alben, one can ask that of reasonable people, but not when dealing with "truthers".
“Branch Davidian standoff in Waco, Tex”
No conspiracy there, just outright tyranny.
Sorry, but this editorial is pure pablum. Other than the fact that it was posted on FR, I don't know why I bothered to read it twice, looking for actual facts.
I don't know if the Seattle Times is associated with the New York Times, but it oughta be.
What about it?
What the hell is curious about the collapse of a building that had a huge gash taken out of it by the falling of 2 of the highest buildings in the world and then burning for hours?
BTW, does anybody have links to the FR threads from 9-11?
I don’t have time for this nonsense.
Buh-bye.
That Price-o-Liberty link has the best Theory yet! I hadn't heard that one.
The late that day free-fall collapse of WTC 7 (not hit by airplanes) is indeed curious.
What asinine rubbish. Two 110 stories fell down and around WTC 7, which then burned for hours.
The idea that it was some sort of controlled demolition is the bailiwick of complete and utter morons. Such a demolition would have involved thousands of shaped charges, months of prepatory work (removing non-structural walls, cutting beams, running miles of wire, etc.) All while thousands of people (including my sister-in-law) worked there and didn’t notice a thing going on around them.
Hundreds of firemen pouring into the building also would have to have failed to notice that the building was wired to explode, or chosen not to mention that fact that day or in the years since.
Seriously, the fake moon landings people are one tenth as nutty as you loons.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.