Posted on 09/11/2001 4:27:20 PM PDT by Looking for Diogenes
Yep. You said more in one sentence than Salon said in their whole article of manutia.
Someone with a fairly sophisticated military. I DO NOT believe that Bin Laden could have pulled this off by himself.
This article kills that conspiracy theory, hopefully.
In today's world any act that requires a large number of people can not be kept secret. This had to be fairly small number of people willing to die for a cause.
They had to consider the cause more valuable than their own lives. We must prove to the world that when you give your life to attack us for a cause, that results in the cause being totally destroyed.
Only then will we be safe from the terrorists.
No to mention the tons of water released to put out the fires.
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3b9e390647f1.htm
17 Posted on 09/11/2001 09:32:42 PDT by Plummz:
A word on the structure of the WTC towers: The WTC towers had a distinctive structural system which utilized the exterior wall framing for lateral bracing -- a so-called lattice framework. This allowed minimization of internal lateral bracing and opened up the floor plans. You can see the effect of that when the buildings collapsed, with the lattice framework crumbling and the interior imploding. The lattice works so long as it remains intact as a system: if a part of it goes, then the whole systemgoes. The planes punched holes in the lattice, one tower punched on two sides, maybe the other too. Portions of the lattice of the second tower briefly remained standing after the collapse,then fell. The system was considered daring at the time of construction, for it distributed loads more efficiently than legacy column-and-beam-supported systems. Probably the legacy systems would not have totally collapsed due to damage at upper floors, although floors above the damage would have come down if columns wereweakened.**********
All you need are about 16 fairly intelligent people, some knives, and Microsoft Flight Simulator.
I cannot fathom why people think this required state support at all. The planning was somewhat intricate but the mechanics and level of knowledge and research needed were not particularly sophisticated.
Of course, people don't WANT to believe that small autonomous groups are capable of this much destruction but when you look at the items and training necessary, you'll see that, at root, this was a fairly simple operation.
I'm no engineer, but the source for the article is Gregory Fenves, a professor of Civil Engineering at the University of California at Berkeley.
The collapse mechanism you suggest does not account for the hour or so that passed between collision and collapse.
I am inclined to believe that they aimed the jet at a place where they thought it would do the most damage. Any passenger jet with fuel would do the job, I think, considering the mass times velocity. They wouldn't want to bounce off the top and it would be hard to get down low, I think.
A fireman talked about bombs planted in the building possibly or in the jet. One bystander said a bomb had gone off after the collision. I think they missed no opportunities to make this a major terrorist victory.
I have spent the better part of today listening to interviews of people who specialized in security, all of whom say the same thing. Unless you think there is a massive press conspiracy, what reason would they all have to lie?
People go back to live on earthquakes in California. My father in law worked on the 90+floor of the WTC 10 years ago. If you like living in New YOrk it has its attractions.
The WTC towers performed admirably today and they managed to stand even after the massive impacts that destroyed much of the integrity of the perimeter columns. I suspect that as the airliners passed through the buildings they also heavily damaged the interior core (and likely severed exist stairs to those trapped above the impact points).
The final reason the towers all fell today was fire. Fire is incredibly destructive, even to a hi-rise sturcture that seems to be fire proof. the reality is at high enough temperature, steel and concrete burns and vaporizes. It was only a matter of time before the nominal 2-3 hour of fireproofing protection applied to all structural members disintegrated under the intense heat of thousands of gallons of aviation kerosene burning unchecked.
This is what happened to the WTC towers 1, 2 and 3.
All buildings in the Unites States are subject to similar rigorous safety and fire codes but obviously none can save a building subject to intentional suicide bombings by large airliners. Unless you want to work in underground bunkers, NO BUILDINGS ARE 100% SAFE FROM TERRORIST ATTACKS!
I also watched from my roof as the WTC towers collapsed after I saw occupants jump 80 floors to their deaths.
I tend to agree somewhat. First attempt in '93 failed. Somebody went back and did their homework, and this time were successful.
I am still a bit unclear as to exactly where the first plane struck tower #1. Dead center, (side to side, that is, not top to bottom), or approximately centered between the core and one side, as the second plane seemed to. Second plane appears to have gone in one side and sheared its way through to the point of almost (or perhaps succeeding in) coming out the other. Conflagration ensues, weakening the structure over time to the point of collapse of that floor. All floors above come down, floors below cannot accomodate this sudden weight crashing down from above, and they all pancake down to the ground.
One tower collapsing, perhaps luck plays a role in bringing the whole thing down. Two towers collapsing, damn good luck, or, as I am more inclined to believe, somebody had to have a darn good idea how to make it happen.
And when I refer to luck above, I am strictly referring to the luck running with the maniacal cowards, to accomplish their objective, not to be construed that I was hoping this would happen.
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.