Loose Change and other films further the false idea that the Pentagon was not struck by a plane on 9/11. I think there's no question that it was. The 9/11 Truthers, PrisonPlanet/Infowars fringe folk I think really do unfortunately discredit by association the truly troubling facts of 9/11 (Moussoui, 8/27 President's Daily Briefing, Phoenix Memo, Coleen Rowley, Able Danger, Harry Samet, Sibel Edmunds) by their truly outlandish and suspect claims. I think like Keane said (Republican ex-governor of New Jersey and chair of the 9/11 Commission), if history is to be remembered correctly, then it must be said that this administration had sufficient specific, actionable intelligence to have prevented 9/11 and failed to act.
My annual re-post of one of my more popular blogs. "Considering that virtually none of the standard fare surrounding Thanksgiving contains an ounce of authenticity, historical accuracy, or cross-cultural perception, why is it so apparently ingrained? Is it necessary to the American psyche to perpetually exploit and debase its victims in order to justify its history?" – Michael Dorris Ah, our lovely annual turkey day celebration of one of the greatest ethnic cleansings in all of human history (caveat: by genocide, I refer not to population decimation by disease which was not deliberate save the single extant example of Lord Jeffrey Amherst, commander of British forces during the French-Indian War [and the image of U.S. Cavalry doing the same originates in Ward Churchill’s spurious scholarship and has been exposed as deceit], although the decimation wrought by disease was what informed Manifest Destiny ), but instead the long history of exterminationist and assim
Comments
"
I’m not quite sure where to begin, other than to open by stating that this kind of paranoid thinking defines true believers of these ridiculously paranoid ideas. Their viral memes are forwarded thoughtlessly and uncritically and by virtue of repetition become conventionally ‘true’ in the sense that repetition of these falsehoods creates a socially transmitted perception—and because perception is reality, an unchallenged social truth. This unchallenged paranoid thinking then becomes hallowed truth to the cultish true believer, and no amount of reason or evidence can persuade them otherwise. And in the same way the zealous unyielding faith of anyone who is indoctrinated in any cult (and major religions are essentially and properly considered as popular cults) is reified, reinforced, and validated by- and any persisting doubts assuaged by- the faith of other true believers (see social comparison theory and false consensus effect), true believers of these paranoid conspiracy theories suspend their disbelief and validate each other. It's especially bad when true believers are so delusional they can't be phased by reality and remain convinced in the face of incontrovertible evidence, clinging all the more desperately to their absurd faith.
First, let me begin by stating hijackers indeed were piloting all four of these flights at the time of their collisions (with the WTC towers, with the Pentagon, with the Pennsylvania flight). They overtook the flight staff and passengers by force using box cutters and then barricaded themselves in the cockpits and were piloting these planes to their destinations. Most of these nineteen (Zacarias Moussaoui being in custody) hijackers had received flight training and were pilots. But, originally, each of these flights also had a legitimate flight crew when these planes departed and its members have been identified where families have permitted disclosure of their names.
I’m afraid that although I will expend massive amounts of time trying to prove to you that your notion is utterly false, it will be in futility because you’re not sufficiently open-minded to admit the possibility that you’ve been badly disinformed. I will hope that the time I have expended will plant seeds of doubt in you that might help talk you down from where you’ve been misled.
9/11 Truthers were quick to note discrepancies in the passenger counts and official passenger lists for each flight. This is easily explained by the facts that (a) the hijacker names were initially withheld while investigators tried to piece together what had happened, and (b) some family members requested that the names of their loved ones not be published and media outlets respectfully obliged. Those discrepancies are no evidence, whatsoever, of a conspiracy, and to suggest otherwise is absurd. Yet that is precisely what most of the 9/11 Truthers do in pointing out these discrepancies in order to cast doubt on the official version. Obviously, if the official counts don't match the passenger lists, something is amiss, and it's obviously evidence of a far-reaching vast conspiracy to dupe the public, of course.
The information you said was not available and use as further evidence of your foregone conclusions that only took me seconds to find:
American Airlines Flight 77 (the hijacked plane flown into the Pentagon)
AA Flight 77
Boeing 757-223 (registration number N644AA)
Pilot Charles Burlingame
First Officer David Charlebois
Flight attendants Michele Heidenberger, Jennifer Lewis, Kenneth Lewis, and Renee May
Hijackers:
Khalid al-Mihdhar
Majed Moqed
Hani Hanjour
Salem al-Hazmi
Nawaf al-Hamzi
American Airlines Flight 11 (the hijacked plane flown into the north tower of the WTC)
AA Flight 11
Boeing 767-223ER
Registration number N334AA
Pilot John Ogonowski
First Officer Thomas McGuinness
Flight attendants Barbara Arestegui, Jeffrey Collman, Sara Low, Karen Martin, Kathleen Nicosia, Betty Ong, Jean Roger, Dianne Snyder, and Madeline Sweeney
Hijackers:
Mohamed Atta (the ringleader of the attacks, see Operation Able Danger)
Abdulaziz al-Omari
Waleed al-Shehri
Wail al-Shehri
Satam al-Suqami
United Airlines Flight 175 (the hijacked plane flown into the south tower of the WTC)
United Flight 175
Boeing 767-222/ER
Registration number N612UA
Pilot Victor Saracini
First Officer Michael Horrocks
Flight attendants Robert Fangman, Amy Jarret, Amy King, Kathryn Laborie, Alfred Marchand, Michael Tarrou, and Alicia Titus
Hijackers:
Hamza al-Ghamdi
Ahmed al-Ghamdi
Marwan al-Shehhi
Fayez Banihammad
Mohand al-Shehri
The United Airlines Flight 93 (the flight that crashed near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania after, according to the official account, passengers tried to retake control of the plane; others have suggested that a ground-based missile was used to take the plane out given that the order was given after the first two planes hit to shoot any other planes down)
Boeing 757-200
Registration number N591UA
Pilot Jason Dahl
First Officer LeRoy Homer Jr.
Flight attendants Lorraine Bay, Sandra Bradshaw, Wanda Green, CeeCee Lyles, and Deborah Welsh
Hijackers:
Ziad Jarrah
Ahmed al-Nami
Ahmed al-Haznawi
Saeed al-Ghamdi
1.
all of the eyewitness testimony of people who witnessed these planes collide was false and part of a media conspiracy
2.
that all of the video and photographic evidence of the collisions themselves was somehow computer-animated hoaxery
3.
that all of the cockpit recordings and mobile phone calls from the hijacked planes were also part of this hoax
4.
that all of the aggrieved family members we saw in tears lamenting the loss of their loved ones on these flights were actors and involved in this media conspiracy
To me, the principle of parsimony would mandate these ideas would be utterly absurd and even laughable if it wasn't so embarrassingly obtuse and shameful that otherwise intelligent people would be so taken by such tripe.
I realize MOST of the 9/11 Truthers and prison planet folks aren't disputing that there were real planes flown into the World Trade Center, Pentagon, and the field in Pennsylvania although most do dispute that it was a plane that collided with the Pentagon and suggest a truck bomb (and also that the buildings would not and could not have collapsed without a controlled demolition). I have run into many paranoid conspiracy subscribers that do believe no planes were involved and actually believe 1-4 above, however.
And so, here, I hope I have proved to you that these flights were real. I'm afraid no one and no amount of evidence could convince you, however. Frankly, I don't have that kind of faith in the ability of people to execute a conspiracy of this nature without it having been found out and without more incontrovertible proof of said alleged conspiracy
Most reasonable people would not dignify with a response, but with the way I see these paranoid conspiracy theories spreading virally amongst otherwise reasonable people, I'm very alarmed so I'm taking the time to try to stop their spread.