9/11: An Unforgettable Day in US History - Essay Sample

Introduction

On September 11, 2001, the United States witnessed one of the worst terrorist attacks in its history. Two American flights, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines 175 flew into the World Trade Center on its opposite ends. Barely an hour later, two other flights, American Airlines 77 and United Airlines Flight 93 flew into the Pentagon’s West Wall. In contrast, the other crashed near Shanksville town after the hijackers were overpowered by the passengers.

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On that awful day, 2996 lives were claimed. Since then, a number of people have succumbed to their injuries. A number of people hold a strong belief that the truth on the happenings of that fateful day was not fully disclosed to them by the government. They insist that the explanations provided by the government were merely to paper over the cracks. Consequently, a number of conspiracy theories have since evolved as people seek to quench their thirst for the truth.

One such theory is that the 911 attack was an inside job. Those that subscribe to this theory believe that the attack was orchestrated by officials of the U.S. government to justify their intentions to attack Afghanistan and Iraq. Further, they do believe that the government officials did have intel on the impending attack but did not do anything in response to the warning (Person, 2018). They add that the manner in which the towers collapsed was in such a way as to simulate impactful plane crashes.

Following numerous interviews and polls conducted, the idea that the government was not being truthful in its handling of the situation has propelled further belief in this particular theory. Further, there has been growing apathy from family members who hold the belief that their people may have died due to a well-orchestrated scheme from the government. Such are the people who have set out in such for the truth, and as such, the proponents of the theory.

David Ray Griffen, who is a retired professor in theology, in his book called Loose Change, writes:

“We must understand that what we were told about that day is a lie, and those lies drastically changed the course of perpetual war.” He avers that the only way the World Trade Center buildings would have been able to crumble down was because of explosives that had been detonated. He insists that on the fateful day, the Air Force one had lowered its guard (Person, 2018).

This theory birthed another altogether. That the fires that resulted from the jet fuels would never have been hot enough to melt down the steel reinforcements supporting the building. This seeks to further prove that prior to the collision, there had been multiple detonations that weekend the reinforcements, thus when the flights flew into the building, they hastened the demolition.

To dispute or to poke holes into this theory, other theorists have come up. They suggest that for steel frames to collapse, they don’t necessarily need to have been melted. Instead, the flights need to have weakened them just a bit, and the weight, in collaboration with gravity, would bring it all down.

Further, visible clouds of smoke and dust were observed to have emanated from the buildings’ sides. It is suggested that the manner in which they came out of the building was akin to those from implosions. This was indicative of there having been the presence of explosives that were detonated within the towers. This aspect of the theory is disapproved based on “pancaking” in engineering. That following the subsequent collapse in the floors, the impact on the flow directly beneath was so huge that the debris would be flung outward (Person, 2018).

Finally, a further branch in this theory elaborates on how the demolition of the World Trade Center was controlled. The theorists believe that since no debris of the plane was ever recovered, no plane hit the building. Instead, the detonations were set off when the plane had appeared to hit the tower. However, investigators determined that there was damage on that side of the building and concluded that the resultant fire from the jet fuel and damage was enough to cause the collapse.

This theory identifies with a number of beliefs and proceeds to try and justify them via existing footage and various accounts from witnesses on that fateful day. However, just like other theories, the belief of one theory is founded on the bias, and only subscribing to information that is in your favor.

References

Person. “Debunking the 9/11 Myths: Special Report – The World Trade Center.” Popular Mechanics, Popular Mechanics, February 15 2018, https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/a6384/debunking-911-myths-world-trade-center/

“9/11 Conspiracy Theories: How They’ve Evolved.” BBC News, BBC, 29 Aug. 2011, www.bbc.com/news/magazine-14665953.