Where Conspiracy and Reality Collide

By Eric Harrington

For months now, I have found myself in a difficult position. No matter how much I try to explain the details of the 9/11 official story that are simply impossible, the conversation inevitably comes back to a few basic questions. These questions are not based in facts, or data, or physical evidence, but instead, what most would refer to as common sense. Unfortunately, while extremely common, there is nothing sensible about these “opinions” when viewed with a little perspective, and so I would like to try to provide just that, a little perspective, and maybe finally put these unsupported objections to rest.  The first question that inevitably comes up when initiating a new person to the extensive evidence which suggests actual participation by factions in the government and/or local administrations or businesses in 9/11 is:

1)  How could they keep it secret? It would require the complicity of hundreds of people to orchestrate, execute, and cover-up such an attack.   People talk, and SOMEONE would inevitably come forward.”

 This question has two parts. First is the suggestion of a huge conspiracy being necessary. Second, that given a large conspiracy, someone would inevitably talk.  As for the first part, the actual number of people who would need to know the true details and scope would be very few. A couple generals, a few Neo-con cabinet members, a Governor, a couple people high up in the FBI and a couple small teams on the ground, (idealy foreign nationals with phony ID who could simply be deported if caught) to set the demolitions and fly the planes.  Hundreds more might know a small piece, and might very well be suspicious, but not suspicious or courageous enough to risk losing a job or better yet imprisonment for those with secret clearance, just to voice a suspicion.  And frankly, several small players have come out, and have immediately been dismissed as disgruntled or loonies. There simply is no evidence to suggest that the number of players who truly knew what was really happening would be more than a just handful. And the complicity would not necessarily be obvious, and could easily be hid in a veil of feigned incompetence, the catch-all excuse for all modern political devastation.  It should be highly suspicious that NO ONE was penalized, fired or prosecuted for the “Failures” of 9/11. This is standard procedure in a major cover-up, unless of course it can be easily pinned on one patsy. Such was not the case here. 

The more troubling question is, how people could be found to execute the planting of explosives, the piloting of the planes, maybe even with an end result of personal suicide (although it is more likely the planes were remotely piloted.)  But one only needs to look at history to find an answer.  One problem with this argument is it assumes, because WE consider the murder of 3000 in the WTC attack to be an evil thing, that it is implicitly so to everyone. But we need to remember that the authors of the PNAC papers may truly BELIEVE what they say.  They may truly believe that America’s only hope for survival at the level of dominance and consumption we now enjoy is through military world domination, starting with the Middle East. They could believe it with fervor. And it is also easy to assume that there are other “patriots” who agree with them completely and love America enough to commit such an atrocity to protect America’s future.  Ever heard the term “collateral damage”?

Did Hitler think he was doing wrong?  Highly doubtful.  Did Saddam? Unlikely. They believed what they were doing was in the best interest of their people, as twisted as their logic may have been, and that is precisely what we are likely facing with 9/11.  I do not believe it would be even difficult to find hard-line American loyalists who could be convinced that control of the middle-east was imperative, and that the WTC complete collapse was the necessary spark. Numerous Generals during the cold war considered a nuclear first-strike a legitimate strategic choice, to the tune of tens of millions of “collateral casualties”.

Once you are dealing with people content with murder for the “good of the country” the question of why they wouldn’t talk about it becomes silly. They do not tell because they are Patriots, deluded as they may be.  And there are plenty of military men who sacrifice 3000 men in a blink to attain an important military objective. The suggestion that such “military leaders” would draw a clear distinction between soldiers and civilians is patently absurd. Just look at the respect they show for the lives of the civilians in Iraq. The estimate of civilian casualties in Iraq is now over 500,000.   3000 Americans is a drop in the bucket to achieve world domination.  Particularly disturbing is the verified BBC story of the “Arab looking men” with a white van seen dancing and yelling joyously while witnessing  the collapse of the Twin Towers and their subsequent arrest and later positive identification as Mossad agents.   They were immediately deported back to Israel without as much as a thorough interrogation not to mention a legitimate investigation. The “Dancing Israeli’s”  answer, when asked what they were doing and why they were here was “to document the event”.  If so then how did they know it was going to happen?  But this illustrates the potential value of having foreign nationals do the ground work, in that not only would foreign agents hold little concern for American “collateral damage” in the same way many Americans view the dead in Iraq, but foreign agents, if caught in any stage of the operation, could simply be quietly deported as were the “Dancing Israelis” (the name given them to in the BBC report), and not a word would be said about it further to protect an “ally”. I am not suggesting Israel was directly involved, but this report is very bizarre and creates many questions…

An interesting historical example of a false flag operations is the case of attack on the USS Liberty in 1967, in which it is now public knowledge based on a published eye-witness account from an American plane suppressed for decades, that the USS Liberty was attacked by, strangely enough, Israeli planes, with the clear intent of killing all aboard to eliminate witnesses, and then use it as a false flag operation, i.e. blame the attack on someone else. And it was blamed on someone else for decades.  More important, however, was Lyndon Johnson’s alleged reply. When asked if they should publicize the incident he said, “I don’t care if the ship sinks, I will not embarrass our [Israeli] allies.”   

More information on the Liberty attack 

And of course Operation Northwoods:   is another example of documented American plans for a false flag operation.. 

So to summarize, the number of people necessary to actually know what was really happening could be very small, and the ones who executed it could not only be loyal to the cause and believe it absolutely necessary for America’s future, but they could even be foreign nationals, who also believe it as necessary for their countries survival, while holding far less concern for foreign casualties.  And none would likely talk, even if captured.   

2) “The Government has demonstrated they are far too incompetent to execute such a complex operation.”

This statement is based on a false assumption, namely that just because the Bush administration has demonstrated gross incompetence to the level of absurdity, that it is indicative of the American government as a whole.  While it is quite true that many aspects of our government are incredibly inefficient and inept, this is simply not true of our military.  The modern US military is extremely effective, and demonstrated that in the  overwhelming military victories in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Notice I said victories, because that is precisely what they were. Stunning victories. The Soviet Union fought the “freedom fighters” in Afghanistan for a decade with no success, and the US overwhelmed them in a matter of weeks. But these “victories” were limited to the actual Military operations. What now exists in both countries, and is being foolishly dumped on the US military’s shoulders, are police actions, not military operations, and the military is not really effective for such missions. In situations such as Iraq, police actions can only work when set against a framework of constructive efforts for and by the the Iraqis, and that simply never happened due to horrendous choices and failures by the administration, but NOT the military. Choices so bad that they suggest intent. I am not defending the military, or their conduct of the occupation, but their conduct of the WAR was superlative. 

That being said, the US military is absolutely capable of planning and executing such an operation flawlessly, and there are without a doubt factions at the top of the military establishment who agree with “The Project for a New American Century” or PNAC  and their goals. And thus, the only other thing necessary, is to find a few “Patriots” who can keep their mouths shut.  Again, it is not necessary for the entire Military brass to know or agree, or even the entire Bush administration.  In fact, only a couple people in each group would have to know. The rest would be left to suspect, and fear for their lives, careers, or reputations with no real proof of anything.

3) “I can’t believe they would do such a thing.”

This is the final refuge of the serial disbeliever. A generalized value judgment of the US government establishment as a whole.  But again, this is simply not based in fact and history paints a far different picture.

False flag operations have been used by the United States on numerous occasions over the last 2 centuries. In fact, if you actually analyze all of the wars the United states has been involved with in the last 2 centuries, you will find that the MAJORITY of them, were started over US false-flag operations.   

Do the research and it is clear that not only would the “Government” do such a thing (or at least factions within the government) but they have, many times, and they successfully kept the operations secret from the American public for many decades after. 

It is now clear that insiders in the Roosevelt administration knew of the impending Pearl Harbor attack almost a day in advance, but issued no warning to Pearl Harbor. Apparently they felt they needed major casualties to fire sufficient outrage in a fiercly isolationist US, and a warning would have prevented all but just a few deaths.  It is now also known that the US provoked the Japanese to attack, by cutting off their oil supplies and other essential resources in a secret embargo. We forced their hand, ignored the warnings, and our first Pearl Harbor came to fruition.  

Major problems with the Official Conspiracy Theory…

So much for these “common sense” objections… Now let’s get into the facts of the 9/11 case and the inarguable evidence of complicity in the attacks from parties within the US government or others besides 19 Arab “terrorists”…

1) Freefall collapse…

This issue, while being possibly the most persuasive argument for controlled demolition of the WTC towers, is also one of the hardest for non-scientific people to understand. It makes sense to them on a superficial level, but the math and science involved makes it appear too easy to tweak or adjust to fit a conspiratorial hypothesis. But in fact the opposite is true. The official Conspiracy Theory is completely based on explanations created to support the pre-existing conclusion…that Plane impacts and fire brought the buildings down.

The problem is, the issue of freefall collapse is one that cannot be tweaked. It is absolute, immutable.  The buildings collapsed so quickly, that the roofs would have hit the ground in roughly the same time as a ball bearing dropped in free air would do so. For the 1360 foot tall WTC towers, that freefall time in a vacuum is 9.2 seconds (you can calculate it yourself from the formulae T(time) = Square root of the D(distance) divided by ½ G (acceleration of gravity or 32.2 f/s/s (feet per second per second))  and would be slightly slower in air. The WTC towers are said by the 9/11 Commission to have collapsed in 9 and 10 seconds respectively.  This implies that when the fire zone support failed and the top section of the buildings began to fall, they managed to plow through 70-80+ floors COMPLETELY UNIMPEDED, at the speed that a steel ball bearing would fall the same distance in free air,  and this is absolutely impossible for a several reasons.  WTC Collapse – COnservation of Momentum – Click for PDF

The first is conservation of momentum.  If we were to envision the Towers as 110 individual floors of mass X (since each is roughly identical,) and they were suspended magically in the air 12 feet apart, and the top 20 or so floors then as a unit began to fall (at the fire zone) and strike the lower floors successively,  the following would apply. The top 20 floors (for example sake) of mass 20X  would begin to accelerate at 32 f/s/s and would reach roughly a speed of 27 f/sec when it struck the first floor X (floor 90). The resultant Mass of the new falling mass would be 21X and the resultant velocity would be the fraction 20/21 of the original velocity or 25.7 f/sec.  This would continue down with each collision giving a resultant velocity of  Vr=Vi* Ft/Ft+1 or 21/22nds, then 22/23rds, etc etc. and each collision would impose a reduction in the resultant velocity of the falling mass necessary to instantaneously accelerate the next struck floor from stasis to that resultant speed.  While the calculus necessary to actually solve this problem is very complex, the construction of the problem is not, and when solved, the result is an increase in the freefall time of roughly 40% or 3.6 seconds. A white paper outlining this calculation performed by a BYU mathematician regarding Building 7 can be found on the website http://www.Journalof911studies.com 

What is important to remember is that this calculation implies that even in a VACUUM,  and assuming absolutely NO structural resistance imparted by the roughly 1 billion pounds of columns and beams, and simply considering the effects of conservation of momentum of the Mass itself, the collapse would have to take at least approxinately13-14 seconds.  Now when the structural resistance is considered, and the FACT that with each successive floor struck by the falling mass, the columns and beams beneath it would have to be snapped, sheered and shattered to permit the mass to continue through, this structural resistance would have to be HIGHER than that imparted by the momentum, being the inertial resistance is effectively the static load, and would have to be at least equal the force of gravity acting upon it. In fact the structures were over designed to the tune of 5 to 7 times to account for wind shear, and hence this structural resistance would have to have slowed the fall at LEAST as much as the conservation of momentum would and more likely significantly more.

Another factor not considered is that observed phenomena of the pulverization of the concrete floors. Virtually NO concrete was found in chunks in the WTC debris. It was pulverized in a virtual pyroclastic cloud seen graphically in the videos. Not only does the pulverization of this concrete also extract energy from the only force acting on the debris, namely that of gravity, and effectively REDUCE the acceleration further, but it also dramatically increases the air resistance of all that concrete mass, arguably the single largest mass component in the building.  All that mass did not plow down through floors but billowed out in a cloud.  Even the steel columns, beams, and floor pans, as they demolished to a wave of falling debris, dramatically INCREASE  in their air resistance,  and would encounter substantial air turbulence slowing their decent slightly more.  

Thus we see that EVERY factor in the collapse, while more difficult to accurately calculate than the conservation of momentum one presented here, still consistently and pervasively resists the collapse, and increases the time necessary well beyond the 13-14 seconds we have already mentioned.

THIS IS INARGUEABLE. Any physicist, who claims otherwise can be assumed to either be an idiot, a liar, or simply incompetent.  Now I do not claim that my analysis or the falling times are precise, but they are inarguable proof that the WTC towers could not collapse in 9 and 10 seconds respectively without explosives being used to remove the underlying support structure. It is IMPOSSIBLE.

2) Molten Steel in the basements..

There have been numerous eye witness accounts and pictures of huge pools of molten metal, glowing red discovered in the basements of the WTC towers, not only buildings 1 and 2 which had jet fuel fires, but also building 7 which did not, and which, right up to the moment of collapse, showed very limited fires and little structural damage.

The very fact that this molten metal glowed red, overcomes the first explanation; that is that it was molten aluminum from the Jets, (since molten aluminum does not glow red but retains its silver color even when liquid.) And that simply would not explain it’s presence in the basement of building 7. This metal was still red hot (implying a temperature of well over 1000deg f) and in fact was in some places running and dripping in a fully liquid state of 2700 degrees (for Iron), weeks later when the debris pile was finally removed.

The suggestion that this molten metal was from the steel beams melted by the fires is patently absurd, for while it can at least be argued that Jet fuel, aka kerosene, could under ideal circumstances heat steel to a point of loosing some of it’s strength, it is rediculous to suggest it could MELT steel at almost 3000 deg F.  Yet that is precisely what was found in the WTC basements, molten Iron, and this amazing detail was never mentioned in any official report.

There is one answer that perfectly explains the presence of this molten metal (I say “metal” because while we can assume given the description of glowing red, it was some iron based metal,) and that is the use of Thermite. (Video footage of molten iron leaking from WTC1) 

Thermite is a compound used in controlled demolitions to cut steel. It consists of Iron Oxide (rust) and fine Aluminum powder, and when ignited burns at several thousand degrees and can rapidly melt steel. The by-product of a Thermite reaction is Aluminum Oxide, visibly seen as a white smoke, and pure molten Iron.  Thermite, and it’s more powerful sulfur laced cousin Thermate, perfectly explain both the freefall problem AND the pools of molten iron in the basements. That Iron was a combination of cut steel columns, and the iron by-product of the Thermite or Thermate that did the cutting.  This supposition is supported by the forensic research conducted by BYU Professor Jones on samples of slag taken form WTC steel debris set in several 9/11 monuments around the New York Area. These samples had little or no chromium, Commonly found in structural steel, and yet trace amounts of sulfur and manganese, both highly detrimental to steel, but neccesary components to make Thermate cut steel better than standard Thermite.  While this is not proof, it is extremely compelling forensic evidence that could convict someone in a common murder trial. None of it was even discussed in ANY official investigations.

Dr. Jones Discussing Thermate:

 Neils Harrit Interview – NanoThermite and 9/11

3) Pentagon Hole

After the 9/11 attacks, it was a couple years before I became suspicious of the official story. It hit me like a brick, when I happened to look at an email from someone I barely knew, that showed a small hole in the front of the Pentagon. It suggested this was one of the only pictures of the damage prior to the roof collapse since shortly after the “attack” the area was sealed and no photographers were allowed in.  Within hours, all the video from dozens of cameras from stores, hotels and other businesses surrounding the pentagon were seized by the FBI and have never been released, and the FOIA requests have been denied with “National Security” as the reasoning. What have they to hide?

Could it be that when one looks at the picture of the Pentagon Hole, and gauges it by the size of the windows, one sees that the hole was at best 16 feet across, just slightly larger than the fuselage of a 757?  But what is more interesting is that there are intact windows on each side, specifically where the 9’ tall, 4 ton engines would have struck, as well as where the 40 foot tail would have hit. Where did 120 feet of wings, 8 tons of engines, and a 40 foot tail go? Into a 16 foot round HOLE?

In a moment I knew, that if this picture was legitimate, the official story was a lie. I have subsequently proven to my satisfaction; through research and even a conversation with the well respected 25 yr. freelance D.C. news videographer who took them, that the pictures were real, and that the hole was not made by a 757. So what then? The entire story began to unravel for me…

It is unfortunately far too easy to allow healthy skepticism to prevent us from approaching this information with an open mind. I am fortunate to have scientific training and education that provides me a very clear, science based, unemotional perspective on this information,   but one thing should be clear to any intelligent, caring American: The WTC towers could not collapse in 10-11 seconds without explosives (Thermate etc..) and the hole in the Pentagon was not made by a 757.

EVERYTHING else is secondary.  If these two things are true, then there MUST have been collusion by SOMEONE in the US besides the 19 “Arab terrorists” and we MUST reopen the investigation and find out what actually did happen and who was responsible. We must show this case the same judicial diligence we would show a common murder.   It will no be easy as much of the physical evidence from WTC was immediately sent to China for recycling. But we must honor the dead by doing everything possible to get to the truth of that terrible day, no matter where it leads.  If the perpetrators are allowed to get away with this, they WILL do it again. 

Maybe the best Technical analysis from the video footage by British Engineer: EXCELLENT!     

For the Scientists out there:

Read – Revisiting 9/11/2001 – Applying the Scientific Method
Dr. Steven E. Jones

Also A good compendium piece

~ by Eric Harrington on September 2, 2008.

Posted in 9/11, Conspireality, Eric's Commentary
Tags: 9-11, 9/11, 9/11 inside job, 9/11 Truth Links, 911 conspiracy, Building 7, freefall collapse, molten iron, pentagon attack, pentagon hole, terrorists, WTC, WTC collapse