# 9/11 Conspiracy Theories! **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 26, 2006, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-conspiracy-theories/349948 "2006-03-26T10:02:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DontTreadOnMe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@DontTreadOnMe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DontTreadOnMe)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-conspiracy-theories/349948/1 "2006-03-26T10:02:54Z")
I was quite shocked to find out today that there is apparently a large following to the idea that the the events of 9/11 were planned and intentional…by our own administration. Now this comes off to me as even more wacky than most conspiracy jabber, but the guy I talked to seem to have some very specific “facts” about how the physics of the buildings collapse was not consistent with what would happen given the circumstances of planes crashing into them. The popular theory seems to be specifically placed and well timed explosives. I pretty much stopped listening after he said there was never even a plane crash at the pentagon and such…I find it pretty offensive. My question is if there is ANY basis at all for the claims, is there anything the least bit sketchy about the way in which the buildings were destroyed? I am expecting a pretty resounding no, but any clues into the thought processes of these people would be great. If you are a theorist yourself your input would be especially helpful. I do believe it is quite possible the administration ignored possible warnings, but if there is any indication that they were actually involved in it for political or economic gain, please throw it out there…humor me. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-conspiracy-theories/349948/2 "2006-03-26T11:20:37Z")
Watching this thing develop over the past five years has been amazing. I’ve seen people argue that the planes that hit the WTC/Pentagon’s were not the planes that were missing. _Those_ planes are… elsewhere. 🆒 Here’s a site that is pro-conspiracy, but without too much of the overt kookiness: [http://www.911research.com/](http://www.911research.com/) I will note that it uses links in the same way that conspiracy theorists used to use CAPITAL LETTERS to emphasise their POINTS. > [@](#): > > We all know the official story of September 11th: four jetliners were hijacked by groups of four and five Arabic men armed with box cutters, who proceeded to fly three of the four jets into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. Subsequently the World Trade Center Towers, weakened by the impacts and fires, collapsed into piles of rubble. Later in the afternoon 47-story Building 7, also weakened by fire, collapsed. (Or did you miss that detail?) The FBI had compiled a list of hijackers within three days, and it was so obvious that Osama bin Laden had masterminded the operation from caves in Afghanistan, that there was no need to seriously investigate the crime or produce evidence. The “retaliatory” attack on the Taliban would soon commence. > > Is this story true? Its central assumptions have never been seriously tested. There are numerous red flags in the official story, which requires a long series of highly improbable coincidences. Questioning that story is an act of responsible citizenship. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-conspiracy-theories/349948/3 "2006-03-26T14:10:59Z")
> [@DontTreadOnMe](#): > > Now this comes off to me as even more wacky than most conspiracy jabber, but the guy I talked to seem to have some very specific “facts” about how the physics of the buildings collapse was not consistent with what would happen given the circumstances of planes crashing into them. . You will note that the 911 conspriacy guys have been completely unable to get one single structural engineer to support them on their ‘should’na falling like that’ routine. The whole 911 conspiracy routine is based on most people not understanding how buildings fail. I recall the OK city bombing conspiracy crowd lost a lot of steam with McVeigh admitted that he did the deed on nationwide television. Sadly, taking credit for the deed by OBl has only made some of the conspiracy believers stonger. Here’s a good site to debunk a lot of the nonsense: [www.911myths.com](http://www.911myths.com) ---
**Author:** ![Ins\_Outs\_What-have-yous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8797f3/32.png) [@Ins\_Outs\_What-have-yous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ins_Outs_What-have-yous)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-conspiracy-theories/349948/4 "2006-03-26T15:43:23Z")
> [@Mr. Miskatonic](#): > > You will note that the 911 conspriacy guys have been completely **unable to get one single structural engineer** to support them on their ‘should’na falling like that’ routine. The whole 911 conspiracy routine is based on most people not understanding how buildings fail. [Are you sure about that?](http://www.scholarsfor911truth.org/PressRelease30Jan2006.html) See the Scholars for 9/11 Truth [list of members](http://www.st911.org/), which includes engineers, architects, physicists, professors, attorneys, PhDs, etc. All of them support (or have attached their names to an organization that supports) the case that the airplane fuel fires do not explain the WTC towers’ collapse. I am not going to argue in favor of or against a 9/11 conspiracy as I am not (yet) a professional engineer and have not thoroughly researched the issues surrounding the attacks. I just wanted to provide the information that some legitimate experts are on the side of the conspiracists. I was once employed by one the architects on the above linked list. He disputes the debunking attempts by [Popular Mechanics](http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/defense/1227842.html) and [www.911myths.com](http://www.911myths.com) and others. He claims the Bush administration was motivated to attack Afghanistan because the Taliban did not wish to cooperate with the US in building a [trans-Afghanistan oil pipeline](http://www.ringnebula.com/Oil/Timeline.htm). IIRC, such a pipeline apparently would be crucial in providing industrialized nations access to petroleum reserves beneath the Caspian Sea. Email me and perhaps I can provide a link to the research of my former boss (the mods may not approve of me posting a link to a commercial site). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-conspiracy-theories/349948/5 "2006-03-26T16:05:48Z")
Snopes has a whole “Rumors of War” page on ULs related to the GWOT, including 9/11: [http://www.snopes.com/rumors/rumors.asp](http://www.snopes.com/rumors/rumors.asp) ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-conspiracy-theories/349948/6 "2006-03-26T16:56:20Z")
> [@ArchitectChore](#): > > He claims the Bush administration was motivated to attack Afghanistan because the Taliban did not wish to cooperate with the US in building a [trans-Afghanistan oil pipeline](http://www.ringnebula.com/Oil/Timeline.htm). IIRC, such a pipeline apparently would be crucial in providing industrialized nations access to petroleum reserves beneath the Caspian Sea. Email me and perhaps I can provide a link to the research of my former boss (the mods may not approve of me posting a link to a commercial site). So, he’s basing his professional judgement because of a belief about a possible trans-Afghanistan oil pipeline not being built? Well… since _we’ve_ showed _them_ that American oil interests are not to be thwarted (a message apparently delivered by blowing up two of our own office buildings (and damaging a third), if that makes any sense), has that pipeline been built already? [Apparently not](http://www.ringnebula.com/Oil/Timeline.htm), according to the link, last updated February 13th, 2006. I can find no evidence that the pipeline has been built at all… all stories about it peeter out around 2004. Here’s a clear debunking of the pipeline [myth](http://www.slate.com/?id=2059487). Here’s one I haven’t read before: [The Enron-Cheney-Taliban Connection?](http://www.alternet.org/story/12525/) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-conspiracy-theories/349948/7 "2006-03-26T17:00:15Z")
> [@ArchitectChore](#): > > [Are you sure about that?](http://www.scholarsfor911truth.org/PressRelease30Jan2006.html) Absolutely. Find me the structural engineer amongst the ‘scholars’ and I will apoligze fully. > [@](#): > > See the Scholars for 9/11 Truth [list of members](http://www.st911.org/), which includes engineers, architects, physicists, professors, attorneys, PhDs, etc. Whatkind of engineers? Not structural, probably not even civil. Any demolition experts? Sorry, but physics profs don’t impress me for dealing with this kind of stuff. Attorneys? Don’t make me laugh. I notice they are rather coy about what their PHd’s are in. They seem to almost hiding it. One of them, David Ray Griffin, seems to be a Philosphy Phd. Excuse me, but I’ll get my building info from the guys that do it. Architects? Closer, but not ones I would discuss building faiulure with. Also, being the son of an architect, I know that there are many fields of architecture. > [@](#): > > All of them support (or have attached their names to an organization that supports) the case that the airplane fuel fires do not explain the WTC towers’ collapse. Meaning nothing if they are not properly trained experts in a relevant field. I really am not impressed that a Philosophy professor says the buildings didn’t fall the way just about every structural engineer did. And know this: Engineers study failure. They learn from it. > [@](#): > > I am not going to argue in favor of or against a 9/11 conspiracy as I am not (yet) a professional engineer and have not thoroughly researched the issues surrounding the attacks. I just wanted to provide the information that some legitimate experts are on the side of the conspiracists. They are not really experts in the relevant fields. ---
**Author:** ![Ins\_Outs\_What-have-yous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8797f3/32.png) [@Ins\_Outs\_What-have-yous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ins_Outs_What-have-yous)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-conspiracy-theories/349948/8 "2006-03-26T19:07:27Z")
> [@Mr. Miskatonic](#): > > And know this: Engineers study failure. They learn from it. Yes, I know. I took courses in failure analysis taught at an ABET accredited engineering program. It is convenient that the rubble left by the WTC collapse was cleaned up fast enough that a detailed failure analysis was not possible. > [@Mr. Miskatonic](#): > > Any demolition experts? Yep. > [@](#): > > [Link](http://911research.wtc7.net/disinfo/retractions/romero.html) > The collapse of the buildings appears “too methodical” to be a chance result of airplanes colliding with the structures, said Van Romero, vice president for research at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. “My opinion is, based on the videotapes, that after the airplanes hit the World Trade Center there were some explosive devices inside the buildings that caused the towers to collapse,” Romero said. > **Romero is a former director of the Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center at Tech, which studies explosive materials and the effects of explosions on buildings, aircraft and other structures.** > [@Mr. Miskatonic](#): > > One of them, David Ray Griffin, seems to be a Philosphy Phd. Excuse me, but I’ll get my building info from the guys that do it. The focus of most of these ‘experts’ is not on the WTC collapse; many of them are ‘experts’ in other areas (such as communication, politics, history, whatever, etc) who believe there is more than meets the regarding the 9/11 attacks. [Here’s what David Ray Griffin offers:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9/11_conspiracy_theories#_note-66) : > [@](#): > > Griffin theorizes so few individuals have come forward out of fear from threats, possibly in regards to family or employment. In an interview with the Santa Barbara Independent, Griffin states: "You have a wife and children, and somebody says to you, ‘If you go public with that I cannot guarantee the safety of your family.’ Griffin does not cite any examples of this occurring. > > Griffin also argues that many would likely feel they have little incentive to come forward, given the lack of interest on the part of the mainstream media thus far. “You might just be denounced as a conspiracy kook. The press would ignore you, belittle you. People might look into your past and find that you had done some things you’re not so proud of. People would learn very quickly to keep their mouths shut.” In spite of these supposed repercussions, he claims a number of whistleblowers such as Kevin Ryan, Sibel Edmonds, and David Schippers have chosen to speak out. > [@Mr. Miskatonic](#): > > Absolutely. Find me the structural engineer amongst the ‘scholars’ and I will apoligze fully. I know of a couple of them in real life actually, but they would be reluctant to stick their heads out publicly. Yes, I realize my statement will not be convincing to you and I don’t blame you, frankly. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-conspiracy-theories/349948/9 "2006-03-26T19:19:11Z")
> [@ArchitectChore](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > The collapse of the buildings appears “too methodical” to be a chance result of airplanes colliding with the structures, said Van Romero, vice president for research at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. “My opinion is, based on the videotapes, that after the airplanes hit the World Trade Center there were some explosive devices inside the buildings that caused the towers to collapse,” Romero said. > > Romero is a former director of the Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center at Tech, which studies explosive materials and the effects of explosions on buildings, aircraft and other structures. Mark Loizeaux, president of Controlled Demoliton, Inc., doesn’t believe the buildings were imploded. This is a guy who implodes buildings for a living. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-conspiracy-theories/349948/10 "2006-03-26T19:20:23Z")
My personal belief : The Bushites didn’t actually _do_ it; they just stood back and let it happen, so they would have a propaganda tool. It worked quite well. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-conspiracy-theories/349948/11 "2006-03-26T19:28:05Z")
Of all the stupid conspiracy theories out there, 9/11 conspiracy theories have got to be the stupidest. Thousands and thousands of people saw the planes hit the towers. Are they all making it up? I know someone who saw the plane hit the Pentagon. Is he making it up? Jesus tap-dancing Christ, you’re making the moon hoax people look sane. ---
**Author:** ![Ins\_Outs\_What-have-yous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8797f3/32.png) [@Ins\_Outs\_What-have-yous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ins_Outs_What-have-yous)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-conspiracy-theories/349948/12 "2006-03-26T20:20:15Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > I can find no evidence that the pipeline has been built at all… all stories about it peeter out around 2004. Maybe you should spend a little more time looking before jumping to conclusions. April 2005: [A proposed trans-Afghanistan gas pipeline running from Turkmenistan to Pakistan has been given the go-ahead by the Asian Development Bank, which declared that the project is feasible.](http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/4/B38B22B3-FA81-4273-AA44-4A1C3A57373B.html) Apparently, those plans fell through. The latest negotiations to build a pipeline do not involve Afghanistan. March 4, 2006: [US has no problem with India-Pakistan-Iran pipeline](http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=368003) March 16, 2006: [Talks between India, Iran and Pakistan on building a new gas pipeline ended today without any agreement and a new round of negotiations is scheduled for late April.](http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=370597) > [@JohnT](#): > > Here’s a clear debunking of the pipeline myth. Clear debunking? I don’t think so. **Lute Skywatcher** , I am well aware that most legit experts do not support an organized demolition theory. I personally don’t see strong evidence for the case of an organized demolition. However, I do not see that a WTC collapse caused by airplane fuel fires rules out a conspiracy. I am not a conspiracy theorist myself, but am willing to remain open-minded. Many stories out there on the net supporting conspiracy theories are ridiculous. On the other hand some debunking attempts are incredibly weak as well…such as _Popular Mechanic_’s attempt to explain the collapse of WTC building #7. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-conspiracy-theories/349948/13 "2006-03-26T21:59:13Z")
So, your “rebuttal” is an admission that the Afghan pipeline did not, in fact, materialize. What am I missing here? Because a pipeline deal was being thwarted, Bush “allows”/“blames” an Afghanistan terror organization for blowing up the WTC and Pentagon with hijacked (or not) airplanes (or not) so he can invade Afghanistan (and Iraq!) so that the pipeline can be… cancelled? And then you bring up another pipeline plan, one that is falling into the same bureaucratic morass? Aren’t conspiracy plans… you know… successful? JFK _was_ killed. The US _was_ duped into believing we landed on the moon. Israel _does_ exist. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-conspiracy-theories/349948/14 "2006-03-26T22:04:30Z")
One question that I’ve never been able to get a conspiracy theorist to provide an answer to (and I mean an **answer** , when I bring this up, they just stand there, gaped mouth and quickly change the subject): If there **was** a conspiracy of some kind, how is it that TPTB are able to keep it silenced up when they can’t conceal photographs from Abu Graib, torture accounts from Gitmo, the fact that the intel forces knew _something_ (if not exactly what or when) was going to happen prior to 9/11, or even hide the ID of CIA agents? You can’t even realistically claim that all those are deliberate leaks, since they bring attention to the very things that TPTB would most like to keep quiet, and would add to the number of people who know “the secret” thus increasing the odds of someone blabbing “the truth.” Finally, what _good_ does it do to know “the truth” if there is, in fact, a conspiracy? Given the kind of power that TPTB would be able to wield were they able to accomplish such a thing, were someone to discover a document detailing everything and signed by GWB and somehow get it on to the net where everyone could see, there’d be a whole lotta nuthin’ anyone could do about it. TPTB would simply declare martal law (or whatever) and we’d all be helpless bitches. Even an illegally owned .50 cal machine gun with unlimited ammo is a pop-gun compared to the weapons that the military has access to, and if a government is willing to kill some 3K innocent people to further their aims, they’d have no problem dropping a nuke to maintain “order.” ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-conspiracy-theories/349948/15 "2006-03-26T22:06:13Z")
I’m wondering; if they had bombs in the WTC, why bother with airplanes? Why not just blow it up with the bombs and blame that on the terrorists? Or do you think maybe the THOUSANDS of engineers who DO think the WTC was destroyed by being hit by huge jetliners are right? Hmmm, what to do, what to do… I’m going with the sane choice. 'Twas the planes. You see, I saw them hit the WTC. I saw no bombs and neither did anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-conspiracy-theories/349948/16 "2006-03-26T22:13:20Z")
Leaving out the “why’s” and “who’s”, the people who argue about the “how” are the ones that I don’t understand. I’m still having difficulty trying to figure out what the difficulty is in seeing what would happen if you have a 45,000 ton object that is being held up on ever-weakening support beams, this object suddenly losing its support structure, falling straight down upon a structure that _needed_ the 45,000-ton objects unceasing existence in its original, supported, state order to stand. The roof was critical to the support of the WTC, far more than any other skyscraper. Once it went, the support beams had no ending-point to support _them_. Drop a 45,000 ton object directly on top of an unstable object like the WTC’s without a roof and what you’d see is _precisely what happens_. The beams didn’t have to break, they just had to weaken… enough. That’s all. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-conspiracy-theories/349948/17 "2006-03-26T22:22:15Z")
> [@ArchitectChore](#): > > Yes, I know. I took courses in failure analysis taught at an ABET accredited engineering program. That does not a structural engineer make. > [@](#): > > It is convenient that the rubble left by the WTC collapse was cleaned up fast enough that a detailed failure analysis was not possible. NIST, the agency that is studying the matter in some detail has said it has all the material it requires. Other structral engineers have agreed with their conclusions, there has been little hard dissent. As for the insinuiting ‘convenient’ comment, I would point out that the city of New York wanted the bodies recovered and their financial district back. We saw the planes fly into the buildings and the subsequent fire and collapse. The idea that we had to delay recovery for the sake of a few conspiracy cranks in the future was an idea that would have gotten you punched in the immediate days after 9/11. > [@](#): > > Yep. [Nope](http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/defense/1227842.html?page=4&c=y) > [@](#): > > Demolition expert Romero regrets that his comments to the Albuquerque Journal became fodder for conspiracy theorists. “I was misquoted in saying that I thought it was explosives that brought down the building,” he tells PM. “I only said that that’s what it looked like.” > [@](#): > > The focus of most of these ‘experts’ is not on the WTC collapse; many of them are ‘experts’ in other areas (such as communication, politics, history, whatever, etc) who believe there is more than meets the regarding the 9/11 attacks. None of which adds up to any evidence that explsives were used, and in fact reduces the ‘Scholars’ to a political group. > [@](#): > > [Here’s what David Ray Griffin offers:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9/11_conspiracy_theories#_note-66) : I’m not impressed. How is it that they manage to threaten engineers in countries that are not friendly with the US? How do they manage to threaten S.E.'s in China?! This does not add up, sorry > [@](#): > > I know of a couple of them in real life actually, but they would be reluctant to stick their heads out publicly. Yes, I realize my statement will not be convincing to you and I don’t blame you, frankly. Yes. I really have my doubts that you are fully forthcoming about these people’s beliefs or expertise. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-conspiracy-theories/349948/18 "2006-03-26T22:34:24Z")
> [@Larry Borgia](#): > > Jesus tap-dancing Christ, you’re making the moon hoax people look sane. Say… maybe you’re on to something. 9/11 was engineered by the moon hoax folks so that people would develop conspiracy theories, thereby providing legitimacy for the moon hoax people by comparison! My god, it’s all so clear now… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-conspiracy-theories/349948/19 "2006-03-26T23:56:18Z")
The conspiracy-minded also love bringing up Windor Tower, as if the partial collapse of a stronger building has any bearing. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-conspiracy-theories/349948/20 "2006-03-27T00:49:20Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > One question that I’ve never been able to get a conspiracy theorist to provide an answer to (and I mean an **answer** , when I bring this up, they just stand there, gaped mouth and quickly change the subject): If there **was** a conspiracy of some kind, how is it that TPTB are able to keep it silenced up when they can’t conceal photographs from Abu Graib, torture accounts from Gitmo, the fact that the intel forces knew _something_ (if not exactly what or when) was going to happen prior to 9/11, or even hide the ID of CIA agents? Yeah that always seems to me the obvious response to 9/11 consp. I mean everything we know about the rank incompetence of this admin. What possibly gives you the idea they could run something like this, and keep it quiet. Though of course you then get into the realms of “well actually the TPTB aren’t really TPTB their just puppets for the REAL powers that be who are…” Kinda like Princess Diana Conpiracies invovling Prince Prince Philip. I mean c’mon Prince Phillip ? like I’d beleive he could successfully plan and cover-up complex assination plot. If he’d planned it, he’d have been found in nearby gentlemen’s club sipping a G&T while carrying a still smoking shotgun, saying “I’m glad I killed them, the bloody slapper what sha\*\*\*g a rag-head”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/9-11-conspiracy-theories/349948.md?page=2)