33.3% of Americans suspect federal officials assisted in 9/11

IS0LD0UT · 08-09-06, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Thursday, August 3, 2006

Was 9/11 an 'inside job'?

By THOMAS HARGROVE AND GUIDO H. STEMPEL III
SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE

More than a third of the American public suspects that federal officials assisted in the 9/11 terrorist attacks or took no action to stop them so the United States could go to war in the Middle East, according to a new Scripps Howard/Ohio University poll.

The national survey of 1,010 adults also found that anger against the federal government is at record levels, with 54 percent saying they "personally are more angry" at the government than they used to be.

Widespread resentment and alienation toward the national government appear to be fueling a growing acceptance of conspiracy theories about the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Suspicions that the 9/11 attacks were "an inside job" -- the common phrase used by conspiracy theorists on the Internet -- quickly have become nearly as popular as decades-old conspiracy theories that the federal government was responsible for President John F. Kennedy's assassination and that it has covered up proof of space aliens.

Seventy percent of people who give credence to these theories also say they've become angrier with the federal government than they used to be.

Thirty-six percent of respondents overall said it is "very likely" or "somewhat likely" that federal officials either participated in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon or took no action to stop them "because they wanted the United States to go to war in the Middle East."

"One out of three sounds high, but that may very well be right," said Lee Hamilton, former vice chairman of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also called the 9/11 Commission). His congressionally appointed investigation concluded that federal officials bungled their attempts to prevent, but did not participate in, the attacks by al-Qaida five years ago.

"A lot of people I've encountered believe the U.S. government was involved," Hamilton said.

"Many say the government planned the whole thing," he said. "Of course, we don't think the evidence leads that way at all."

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The poll also found that 16 percent of Americans speculate that secretly planted explosives, not burning passenger jets, were the real reason the massive twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed.

Conspiracy groups for at least two years have also questioned why the World Trade Center collapsed when fires that heavily damaged similar skyscrapers around the world did not cause such destruction. Sixteen percent said it's "very likely" or "somewhat likely" that "the collapse of the twin towers in New York was aided by explosives secretly planted in the two buildings."

Twelve percent suspect the Pentagon was struck by a military cruise missile in 2001 rather than by an airliner captured by terrorists.

University of Florida law professor Mark Fenster, author of the book "Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and Power in American Culture," said the poll's findings reflect public anger at the unpopular Iraq war, realization that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction and growing doubts of the veracity of the Bush administration.

"What has amazed me is not that there are conspiracy theories, but that they didn't seem to be getting any purchase among the American public until the last year or so," Fenster said. "Although the Iraq war was not directly related to the 9/11 attacks, people are now looking back at 9/11 with much more skepticism than they used to."

The Scripps Survey Research Center at Ohio University has tracked the level of resentment people feel toward the federal government since 1995, starting shortly after Timothy McVeigh bombed the federal building in Oklahoma City. Forty-seven percent then said they, personally, feel "more angry at the federal government" than they used to. That percentage dropped to 42 percent in 1997, 34 percent in 1998 and only 12 percent shortly after 9/11 during the groundswell of patriotism and support for the government after the attacks.

But the new survey found that 77 percent say their friends and acquaintances have become angrier with the government recently and 54 percent say they, themselves, have become angrier -- both record levels.

The survey also found that people who regularly use the Internet but who do not regularly use so-called "mainstream" media are significantly more likely to believe in 9/11 conspiracies. People who regularly read daily newspapers or listen to radio newscasts were especially unlikely to believe in the conspiracies.

"We know that there are a lot of people now asking questions," said Janice Matthews, executive director of 911Truth.org, one of the most sophisticated Internet sites raising doubts about official explanations of the attacks. "We didn't have the Internet after Pearl Harbor, the Gulf of Tonkin or the Kennedy assassination. But we live in different times now."

The survey was conducted by telephone from July 6-24 at the Scripps Survey Research Center at the University of Ohio under a grant from the Scripps Howard Foundation. The poll has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
Thomas Hargrove is a reporter for Scripps Howard News Service. Guido H. Stempel III is director of the Scripps Survey Research Center at Ohio University.

I heard about this survey on CNBC last night. Pretty interesting.
You could include me in the 1/3 after seeing this video.
http://www.seeloosechange.com/

What are your thoughts?

Leets · 08-09-06, 09:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IS0LD0UT

What are your thoughts?

Well, as much as I'd love another reason to point out why our government is evil

I'm still a bit skeptical that they actually helped carry out the attacks.

One thing I am positive about is that they definitely failed at their job of protecting US citizens... and in a big way. Our protection agencies in our time of need were just an utter failure.

I don't know about the rest of you, but if I caused that kind of failure at my place of employment, it would no longer be my place of employment. I wouldn't even be able to get a job anywhere else in the same industry. ... I wonder how harsh the punisment was for those who failed us on 9/11.

CVsIS250 · 08-09-06, 09:12 AM

I agree with the sentiments about if we failed in our jobs like that. However, I think that these people have too much time on their hands. Reminds me of the conspiracy theories on Pearl Harbor where we knew about it too.

CV

videcormeum · 08-09-06, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leets

I wonder how harsh the punisment was for those who failed us on 9/11.

Well, I'm no expert, but I imagine that it'd be difficult to punish/release entire agencies without sacrificing our defense readiness even further. If you know where the government can hire trained, experienced defense analysts, engineers, scientists, and field agents who can clear the necessary prereq's - I'm sure they would like to hear from you.

The problem isn't/wasn't that one person screwed up - it was an amalgamation borne of poor intelligence gathering capability (low human intelligence), poor judgement by many, and communication failures. But, no-less-tragically the result was September 11th.

M.

PhilipMSPT · 08-09-06, 09:55 AM

Time to go to the Debate Forum!!!

loveslexus · 08-09-06, 10:05 AM

If you really take the time to study and put the puzzle pieces together, I find it hard to believe that you could not see that there was government involement in all of it. It's the people who have no experiece in the subject other then what they watched on cnn who voice the most oposition to these ideas.

CVsIS250 · 08-09-06, 11:18 AM

Just got a chance to review the entire thing. The film is a little misleading. The information about finding no plane reminants at the pentagon is a farce. They found landing gear and etc. Also, with that much heat, it is possible that the plane melted inside the building. The argument about being able to identify the bodies still along with the heat is possible. DNA holds up real well to heat...so do bones.

CV

bmgs400 · 08-09-06, 11:33 AM

I see this moving to the debate forum.

Assisting...how absurd anyone to think that.
Took no action...again absurd.

I believe it's known the attack was being planned; where, how and when was unknown. If a ship full of terrorists came cruzing across the ocean for our shore...I'm sure we'd intercept and not ask them it they need fuel.

CVsIS250 · 08-09-06, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmgs400

I see this moving to the debate forum.

Assisting...how absurd anyone to think that.
Took no action...again absurd.

I believe it's known the attack was being planned; where, how and when was unknown. If a ship full of terrorists came cruzing across the ocean for our shore...I'm sure we'd intercept and not ask them it they need fuel.

CV

bitkahuna · 08-09-06, 05:51 PM

The government's too incompetent to pull off 9/11.

mmarshall · 08-09-06, 06:33 PM

So 33% believe that Federal officials pulled off 9-11?

I hope they pull their wallets out......I'm going to be a rich man.

I got a LOT of beachfront property in Kansas for sale.

mmarshall · 08-09-06, 06:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CVsGX470

Just got a chance to review the entire thing. The film is a little misleading. The information about finding no plane reminants at the pentagon is a farce. They found landing gear and etc. Also, with that much heat, it is possible that the plane melted inside the building. The argument about being able to identify the bodies still along with the heat is possible. DNA holds up real well to heat...so do bones.

CV

In addition to my everyday car talk, I am a licensed pilot, an FAA Flight Procedures Specialist, and a former tour guide of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. I know airliner pieces when I see them. I SAW a number of pieces from the Pentagon wreckage....some before they were even removed. They were CLEARLY from a large, under-wing, twin-engine jet airliner.
I also knew a couple of the people who died there...my church is the military chapel right next door at Ft. Myer where many of the Pentagon victims were buried.

HarrierAWD · 08-09-06, 11:11 PM

I wonder where they found that 33.3% percent... the Islamic Jihad society maybe?

Our government officials are too inept to pull of 9/11. Like Corporate America that outsources to India and Mexico, our military outsourced the fight to Northern Alliance in Afghan. Osama bin Ladin is still at large. Saddam Hussein is still alive. Insurgence is at all time high in Iraq. New Orleans is still in ruins. Oil price went from $27 before the Iraq war (the sequel) to $78 now. Alaskan oil pipe went unmaintained for decades. This simply shows that our administration is totally incapable of anything.

Saying our government officials assisted in 9/11 is giving them way too much credit. They can't catch a tall Muslim man confined in a postage stamp size tribal area in Pakistan.

They do know how to funnel corporate money to their own pockets without getting caught. Now that's talent.

link13 · 08-09-06, 11:50 PM

I am no defender of the Bush Administration and I have been and am still critical of the decision to go to war in Iraq, but there is no way I would believe that the Bush Administration or entities within our government are responsible for the collapse of the WTC.

The presence of the attackers was known before 9/11 and there was cause to expel them from the country and yet, nothing was done. The thing is, the intelligence agencies did not get the job done, but the failure to prevent the attack does not indict the agencies involved or the administration.

What is known now is known with the benefit of hindsight. Whats may seem an obvious conclusion now is only so because of hindsight. I think the intel analysts blew it in not kicking the 9/11 hijackers out of the country, but I have hindsight on my side. Also, who knows how much data those guys get and how it's prioritized? Any guess now is guaranteed to be closer than a guess on 9/10/01.

To say the failure to indict the govy has no legs and is not a valid argument. To further suggest that the towers came down as a result of a widespread government conspiracy is simply crazy.

The attack was not prevented.

I am almost as critical of George W. Bush as they come and I can say I am confident the govy did not blow up the WTC with explosives as suggested.

bitkahuna · 08-10-06, 06:37 AM

That video is so juvenile and amateurish. Their attempt to be 'spooky' and clever. It's a joke.

By interspersing perhaps relevant things with things clearly irrelevant is an attempt at 'piling on' to make it look like a mass of 'evidence' but they're not even close to making a case. In court they'd be laughed out.