9-11/anomalies/straw men

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9/11: anomalies: denial

Overview

Although a number of reasonable questions relating to the events of 9/11 have been raised, a great deal of effort continues to be expended discussing only the most "far-out" objections and using the dismissal of those objections as a way of discrediting the idea that there remains anything significant to investigate – essentially a straw man argument but choosing only those actual arguments (from among those proposed by people who would like to see further investigation) which are easiest to ridicule and discredit.

Criticisms seem to focus on theories such as:

• Bush arranged to have the planes flown into the WTC towers and the Pentagon
  • nugget: Bush was certainly looking for an excuse to do many things, including invade Iraq and generally grab more power
• The planes were flown by remote control
  • nugget: There were reports that the terrorists reported to have flown the planes performed terribly in flight school and could not have performed the necessary maneuvers
• What crashed into the Pentagon was not a plane, but a missile
  • nugget: These arguments often show pictures of a missile-sized hole in the Pentagon wall as evidence – the photo is real, but it is the exit hole
• WTC1 and WTC2 were taken down by explosives planted on orders from the Bush administration
  • nugget: Although there are several pieces of evidence pointing to controlled demolition, there is as yet no evidence pointing to who might have planted the explosives or how they were set off, much less that it was done deliberately
  • nugget: The situation would not have been quite as unprecedented had the buildings remained standing, and almost certainly Bush would not have been given as much rope to play with by stunned citizens and legislators. As implausible as the scenario is, it is certainly understandable that some more impulsive individuals might presume method upon seeing the intersection of motive and opportunity.

In each case, there is a nugget of truth around which rumor and speculation have accreted until it has become distorted into something both unreasonable (in the absence of any real evidence) and easily discreditable.

Links

• 2006-09-10 The 9/11 Conspiracy Nuts by Alexander Cockburn
  • 2006-12-12 Cockups Are Worse Than Conspiracies by Alexander Cockburn takes some of the ideas (and text) from the earlier article and launches into criticism of conspiracy theories in general
• 2006-09-07 White House Targets Conspiracy Theorists As Terrorist Recruiters: George W. Bush implies that "conspiracy theories" about 9/11 are themselves a conspiracy to support terrorism