Fact-checking: Five conspiracy theories about 9/11 under the microscope

From the assassination of John F. Kennedy to the current COVID-19 pandemic, major global events are often surrounded by a series of conspiracy theories about its origin or direction that, in a way, seek to explain such incredible and amazing episodes.

The largest terrorist attack on American soil, which took place September 11, 2001, could not be the exception.

During the last two decades, a series of theories have been woven ranging from an alleged government conspiracy to the denial that the huge Boeing 737s hit the World Trade Center, in New York, or the Pentagon, in Arlington (Virginia).

On Trade, we collected five of the most widespread conspiracy theories about 9/11 and contrasted them with the official version issued by the authorities.

1. The attack against the Twin Towers was not perpetrated with airplanes but with installed bombs. Furthermore, an aircraft would not be able to bring down the imposing structures.

FAKE

The first part is easily denied, both with the reports on the hijacking of both planes and with the audiovisual records of the moment in which the Boeing 737s hit the South and North towers of the World Trade Center (WTC). On the other hand, in 2008 the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) specified in its report that the collapse was due to structural damage caused by the impact and the chain of fires that led to temperatures of up to 1,000 ° C.

2. The United States knew about the attacks that would take place on 9/11, but did not act because it was all a government conspiracy to justify the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan.

PARTIALLY TRUE

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said in 2002 that Egyptian intelligence had alerted the US to a possible attack a week before 9/11. However, they had no details of the type of attack. In 2015, the CIA inspector general’s office declassified the report on intelligence failures prior to 9/11, which revealed that its agents were unprepared to understand the threat posed by Osama Bin Laden and al Qaeda prior to 2001.

3. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) ordered the fighter planes to withdraw or accompany without interfering with the hijacked planes.

FAKE

Rather, the official version points to a slow-reacting Norad. When the hijackers turned off the aircraft’s transponders, they lost, among others, more than 4 thousand radar points. Subsequently, miscommunication recognized by both Norad and the Air Force led to alerts being received 8 minutes before the first plane crashed, 3 minutes before the Pentagon impact, and 3 minutes after the fourth aircraft crashed in Pennsylvania. .

4. From combat veterans to ex-commercial pilots have pointed out that it would be impossible that inexperienced pilots, like the hijackers of 9/11, could have successfully directed the huge Boeing 737s against the WTC.

PARTIALLY TRUE

The National 9/11 Commission report noted that most terrorists received only a few flying lessons for a few months in California, Florida and Arizona. Also, at least one failed his piloting lessons. Despite this, various experts and flight instructors have explained that it was perfectly possible to carry out such acts, since the terrorists were able to complement the training through flight simulators.

5. The Pentagon was not hit by an airplane but by a missile. “How does a 47-meter long plane leave an 18-meter hole?” Asks French journalist Thierry Meyssan in his book “The great imposture”.

FAKE

In addition to the remains of the aircraft that were scattered in front of the Pentagon and the identification of the victims who were on board American Airlines Flight 77, Professor Mete Sozen, from Purdue University, carried out a simulation of the impact in 2002 that disrupts Meyssan’s argument. “Because the structural skeleton of the Pentagon had a high level of hardness, it was able to absorb much of the kinetic energy of the impact,” he explained.