September 11, 2001: These 9/11 conspiracy theories persist

Around 3,000 people died in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. On that day, a group of 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger planes and purposely steered them into buildings. Two hit the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, one the Pentagon, and the fourth crashed around 100 kilometers east of Pittsburgh when passengers tried to get into the cockpit of the kidnappers. Shortly after the impacts in New York, the two towers collapsed one after the other, and most of the victims were killed there. The terrorist attack initiated by Osama bin Laden was the most devastating in recent history – and to this day the one around which most conspiracy theories revolve.

Even 20 years after the attacks, many people still see what they believe to be the true background of the events in the dark. There is a whole movement in the US that has questioned the official version of what happened, the self-proclaimed “Truther”. Through the Internet, they have spread their ideas all over the world. Sometimes the official version is simply doubted without actually presenting a counter-thesis, sometimes an all-encompassing conspiracy is spun.

“September 11th was a controlled demolition”

Just a few days after the attacks, people began to take the high rate of collapse of the towers as cause for doubt. Buildings would only collapse so quickly with controlled demolitions, so the tenor of conspiracy theorists to this day. This thesis received new impetus in 2016 with an article in. In it, four authors – none of whom were strangers to the “Truther” scene – were allowed to state that “the evidence overwhelmingly points to the conclusion that all three buildings were destroyed by a controlled demolition”. “All three buildings” also means World Trade Center 7, a much smaller high-rise that collapsed in the early evening of September 11, 2001. Since it wasn’t hit by an airplane, it’s the favorite target of conspiracy theorists.

In the journal article – to which the editors added a disclaimer to be on the safe side, stating that the text contained “some speculation” but was “sufficiently scientific” – the cause of the collapse named in the official investigation report was attacked in particular. This is for all three buildings: long-lasting fires. On the other hand, the skeptics argue that fire alone would never have collapsed steel beam buildings. Many such buildings would have burned long and hard without collapsing afterwards. As an example, they cite World Trade Center 5, which burned for eight hours that day without collapsing. Apart from an earthquake in Mexico in 1985, never before had such a building collapsed by anything other than a controlled demolition. The investigation report names the fires as the primary cause, but also refers to the aircraft impacts on the twin towers and, at WTC 7, to severe destruction from falling debris.

“Inside Job”-Theorie

While the authors of the article from last year only question the official version without providing any explanations of their own, many skeptics believe that they themselves saw what actually supposedly happened back then. Many conspiracy theorists are certain that 9/11 was an “inside job”. As a result, the US government itself commissioned the attacks in order to justify the subsequent wars of invasion in the Middle East and to monitor the population.

“Let it Happen”-Theorie

A weakened form of this is the “Let it Happen” thesis. Accordingly, the US government knew of the attack plans, but let them happen in order to be able to advance its war agenda afterwards. The so-called 9/11 skeptics cite strategic interests such as securing oil resources and US spheres of influence as reasons for the war. To make this possible, the US air defense is said to have been ordered not to intervene in the events. The fact that the Air Force interceptor jets either came too late or did not take off at all is now justified by inadequate processes.

The stock market theory

Another hypothesis popular among conspiracy theorists is that the attacks were about the quick buck. It is certain that in the days before and on September 11, 2001, there was insider trading in the shares of American Airlines and United Airlines. Only by whom and how is still unclear today. Rumors persist that terrorist leader Osama bin Laden himself bet on falling prices and made a considerable profit. You could never prove it to him. However, the two airlines had already prepared the ground for falling prices before the attacks: American Airlines, for example, issued a profit warning immediately before the attacks – which generally prompts investors to sell their shares.

“No Plane”-Theorie

While the previous theories are very far-fetched, but are at least within the bounds of what is theoretically possible, the “No Plane” theory shows how absurd things can get in the conspiracy swamp. According to this, planes never hit the World Trade Center or the Pentagon. The TV images broadcast live worldwide from New York were all manipulated by the US military-industrial complex and agents were used for the numerous eyewitness reports. The “No Plane” theory is so absurd that many spokesmen of the “Truther” have publicly distanced themselves from it and described it as harmful disinformation that would distract from their own – in their eyes much more plausible – arguments.

+++ The airlines United Airlines and American Airlines, whose planes flew into the World Trade Center, had to pay the owner of the building almost $ 100 million in compensation +++

The problem with the conspiracy theories

As with the vast majority of conspiracy theories, those on September 11th also have a crucial problem: In some cases, a large number of people should have been privy to it. The Oxford scientist David Robert Grimes has developed a mathematical model to show how improbable such theories are. Roughly speaking, the question is whether a conspiracy can be kept secret for a long time. The number of initiated people is decisive for the formula. Because the more people know about it, the greater the likelihood that the secret will be exposed. The allegedly only staged moon landing with around 400,000 people in the know (NASA employees) should have been exposed after three years and eight months at the latest, according to the calculation. But whether the adherents of such theories are really receptive to scientific arguments, the researcher Grimes doubts himself in his treatise.