1 post tagged “9/11”
I really don't talk about much in my personal life on Vox. To people who don't know me very well, I am a kind of reserved and conservative person. I try not to speak without thinking first and rarely force my opinion on other people. For people who know me very well, my personality is somewhat different. I still try to think before I speak (or type), but I have no problem sharing my opinion. I think I am logical about most things, and I tend to be a realist. I don't normally react without realizing what I'm doing, and I tend to make decisions and form my opinions based on facts rather than emotions. That does NOT mean I am always right. But, sometimes, I feel strongly about something and I don't mind telling my friends.
With all that being said, I have a feeling this could be the point in my Vox life where a few people decide to drop out of my neighborhood (I hope not, though). I want to, for possibly the first time on Vox, talk about something I feel strongly about. Feel free to disagree, and always know that I would never bash you for your opinions.
Want I want to talk a little about is our shitty government and, more specifically, 9/11. There are a lot of people out there talking about what they think really happened on 9/11. It's a very touchy subject and often leads to heated debates and straight-up fisticuffs at times (yeah, I really used "fisticuffs" in a sentence).
The two sides are basically this:
1) On Sept. 11, 2001, 19 Middle Eastern terrorists armed with only boxcutters hijacked four commercial airliners, flew two of them into buildings 1 and 2 of the World Trade Center in New York, flew another into The Pentagon in Washington DC, and lost control of the fourth when American passengers decided to fight back, resulting in a high-speed crash into a field in Shanksville, PA. The result of the planes hitting the two buildings in New York was that both steel frame skyscrapers collapsed onto themselves at almost free-fall speed.
2) The U.S. government was directly responsible for the events of Sept. 11, 2001. While there is some disagreement over exactly how the "hijackings" were carried out, after the airplanes hit the WTC buildings 1 and 2 preplanted explosive devices were detonated, causing the first steel frame skyscrapers in world history to collapse onto themselves. In order for this to be accurate, someone with a lot of power (like the U.S. government) would have to orchestrate the events. The third plane that hit the Pentagon was not an airplane at all. It was most likely some type of cruise missle that could have been launched from a military aircraft or from a helicopter. The fourth airplane that went down in Shanksville, PA, is the biggest mystery of all. Since there was absolutely no airplane wreckage or bodies found at the scene of the crash, it makes it more difficult to explain. While the official report says the airplane completely disintigrated on impact, the skeptics believe that either the airplane didn't exist at all, or it was shot down by U.S. military aircraft.
This is the part where my friend count begins to drop. I 100% believe that our government was, at the very least, partially responsible for the events of 9/11. Wost case scenario: the government was 100% behind the entire thing. I have been doing a lot of research on this subject for the past couple of years. In actuality, I have been reading and watching a lot of the results of other people's research. This subject is way too complicated and multi-faceted to touch on every aspect, but I will point out a few FACTS about the events, and I will also add a few links for you to check out videos that contain a lot of information that would simply be repetitive for me to type here. But, if you have an open mind, wish to know more about this, or simply want to have ammunition for calling me an idiot, then please read more.
First, some facts about 9/11 that you may or may not know (with a little of my opinion and commentary thrown in):
1) Three steel framed buildings fell in New York on 9/11. WTC 1, 2, and 7 all fell. These were the FIRST steel framed buildings in history to ever collapse due to fire - EVER. They were not the first to catch on fire, but they were the first to collapse because of fire. They were built in the early 70s, and engineered SPECIFICALLY to withstand airplane crashes and the burning of the jet fuel they carried. That was the purpose for being built the way they were. After an airplane got lost in the fog and hit the Empire State Building, they became much more aware of that danger. They wanted to make sure the WTC buildings couldn't be brought down by airplanes. Here is a video clip:
2) Larry Silverstein took over the lease on the entire WTC complex just a few months before the disaster on 9/11. New York City and the Port Authority were forcing him to remove all the asbestos from the buildings in the WTC. This was going to cost tons of money (upwards of a billion dollars!). Silverstein knew this before he took control of the WTC. At the time he took over, he also took out insurance on the buildings that protected him SPECIFICALLY against acts of terror. After 9/11, he tried to collect money from the insurance company for MULTIPLE acts. Not one airplane hit, but two, so he felt he should get twice the money.
3) A third building (WTC 7) fell in the afternoon of 9/11. This steel framed building was not hit by an airplane; it simply caught on fire, reportedly from the debris. There were a couple of small fires in the building, but it still fell straight down at near free fall speed.
Here's a short video of WTC 7 falling. Doesn't it kind of remind you of the controlled demolitons you would see on television of the casinos or old buildings being demolished to make way for the newer, more modern buildings?
4) The official report and explanation for the WTC 7 collapse says that fires caused the collapse of WTC 7, making it the third steel framed building in history to collapse because of fire (the other two were WTC 1 and 2). However (and remember, these are FACTS), Larry Silverstein himself admitted (sort of) that controlled demolitions were used to bring down WTC 7. He said that they decided to "pull it." "Pull" is a term used by demolition crews to describe the controlled demolition of a building. When you "pull" a building, you bring it down. After Silverstein gave the interview where he admitted they decided to "pull" building 7, he changed his story completely, and attempted to collect insurance money for WTC 7 falling due to a terrorist attack. If it looked like demolitions brought down WTC 7, there may be a very good reason for that! Here's Silverstein himself talking about "pulling" WTC 7.
Some people will say that he was referring to pulling out the firefighters from the building. Multiple reports, however, suggest that there were no firemen inside the building at that time. There are also videos of firefighters and police officers on the street telling people to clear the area because WTC 7 was about to fall. How did they know? Who told them it was going to fall? How did that building fall straight down into it's own footprint? If this is making you think at all, then think about this: Larry Silverstein also owns the lease on the Sears Tower in Chicago. Do you remember a couple of years ago when a group sympathetic to Al-Qaida was arrested in Florida for allegedly plotting to bring down Sears Tower? Wow... bad luck must follow this guy around, huh?
5) The company in charge of security for the WTC complex was a company called Securacom. One of the principals in this company was... ready for this?.. Marvin Bush, the President's younger brother. True story. Securacom was responsible for security at the WTC complex (through fiscal year 2000) up until the day the building fell. Yeah, their contract expired on 9/11. There seem to be a lot of coincidences in this story. Securacom also provided security for United Airlines and Dulles International Airport. In addition to this, there was a "power down" in buildings 1 and 2 the weekend prior to 9/11. Also, bomb-sniffing dogs were removed from the regular security detail on the Thursday before 9/11. There's more. Watch this:
Okay, time to take a break. There is a ton more, but that is all for now. If you are removing me from your neighborhood: Sorry, and it was fun while it lasted. If you are sticking around for Part 2 of the story, then thank you for not hating me, and I will still be reading your Vox regularly. Part 2 is coming soon.
If you find this info interesting, here are a few links for you to check out:
And here is the full length "Loose Change" video 2nd Edition. This video covers a lot of information, but can be crucial to helping you understand what really happened on 9/11. I don't think everything in "Loose Change" is 100% accurate, nor do I agree with every conclusion they draw, but I believe they are uncovering a lot about our goverrnment that we didn't know before.
See ya next time... I hope! --Tom
