Conspiracy Theories About 9/11

After the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, there were many questions asked. Who had done this? What did we do to deserve this? What will we do to respond? Will there be more attacks? Fear and uncertainty controlled the minds of the country. The people of America turned to the government to answer these questions. However, as time went on, the people didn't ask the government questions, but instead began to question the government. These new set of questions became: did the government know about the attacks before hand? Why hadn't they tried to prevent them? Did they actually help plan and execute them? Many people began to form conspiracy theories, saying the attacks were all part of a scheme by the Bush administration to turn a profit, gain support, and build a case for war. Obviously accusations like this weren't taken lightly, or widely accepted. One man however sought to dig deeper than just the basic theories. In 2004, filmmaker Michael Moore released the controversial documentary, Fahrenheit 911, aimed at exposing the secrets of the Bush administration, and an overall look to how America's political and economic systems and influenced by foreign powers.

Before I saw this movie, I myself had wondered greatly about these attacks. Granted I was only in 7th grade when they happened, I still felt something did not fit. America is supposed to have the best defense in the world. We can shoot down a nuclear missile launched from half way round the world within minutes, or have a satellite read a license plate, but we let known terrorists hijack American planes? It would later be released that President Bush and his advisers knew that Osama Bin Laden and the Al-Qaida terrorist network were planning to conduct terrorist attacks against America, possibly using hijacked planes (Presidential Daily Brief, August 6th 2001). If you have reliable intelligence from the FBI stating a hijacking was likely, why would you not implement some type of security measures? This type of behavior suggests they wanted the attack to occur. Perhaps the administration wanted the attacks to occur in order to gain greater public support. In the months just before the attacks Bush's approval rating among the American public reached as low as 50%, but just after the attacks it reached as high as 90% (Four phases of post 9/11 world, September 2004). By vowing to defend our country, President Bush was able to gain support of an angry and frightened nation. This would help the government build its case to go to war against the Middle East. Everyone knows the Middle East is bursting with oil, and America is in dire need of all the oil it can get. However we can't just invade a country demanding the natural resource it has a right to. However, every good American citizen would support a war to seek revenge of the attacks, as well as eliminate the terrorist threats that still exist in the world.

When a military response was ordered on terrorist locations in Afghanistan in the months after the attacks, the public widely supported the troops, and credited the president with defending our nation. The president claimed that within weeks the terrorist network and its leader would be eliminated. However, as weeks turns into months, and American troops began dying, many people grew restless. Support for the war began to decline as the number of casualties rose, and no justice was bought to Bin Laden. Many people began to suggest the government not only knew where he was, but they were protecting him. According to published reports, which the government denies, over 20 members of the Bin Laden family were flown out of the US shortly after the 9/11 attacks (National Commission on Terrorist Attacks, 2001). Clearly there was something else going on than a Middle East terrorist network attacking an evil foreign power. Apparently Bush had financial ties to the Saudi based family when he was wrapped up in oil companies, far before he was president. Almost 25 years before the terrorist attacks, President Bush had financial ties to the family that "organized" the attacks. Many people have noted that the Bush family in fact profited from the attacks because of the companies they were invested in.

In 2003, Bush sought to expand his war on terror by going to war with Iraq. He claimed there was proof Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, as well as strong ties to terrorists. While the US did not find any of these things to be true, they now are stationed in yet another country full of oil.

After the attacks, President Bush did a lot of things that seemed strange. He did not allow full investigations to take place, nor did he fully freeze known terrorist assets. There were a lot of questionable coincidences involving oil investments in terrorist countries, and massive financial ties with those countries. It was estimated that Saudi Arabia alone, the native country of the Bin Laden family, had over 860 billion dollar invested in America (House of Bush, House of Saud, 2004). It today's world money is power. And to think a foreign country like that has so much influence over our country is frightening.

I think George Bush and his business partners helped plan and execute these attacks. Bush is a business man, and his business is oil. The vice president, Dick Cheney, is also widely known for his oil company. Both of these men knew oil was becoming scarce, and the region with the most potential for export is the Middle East. Because buying the oil wouldn't make money, they needed a plan to take it. But with the US such a promoter of dilomatic solution and peace, they would never be able to declare war with the goal of stealing oil, especially for their own profit. They would need to gain the support of the country, especially Congress. What better way to gain support than to fight for a just cause. If America was helplessly attacked, then we would have to respond. But how do we get a country like Afghanistan to attack us? O yes, I remember! Our business friends from Saudi Arabia! We'll have Saudi born terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden carry out the attacks. We shall let terrorists into our country and ignore the threats. When these horrifying and un-provoked attacks occur, we will rise up and defend our nation, with everyone's support. As promised, we will provide protection to all members of the Bin Laden family, as well as any other Saudis investing in this plan. Once we invade Afghanistan, we will have total control over the precious oil pipelines. We will also use this as a stepping stone for a war in Iraq, to gain further oil resources. Whenever the country questions whether there really is a threat or not, we shall issue terror alerts, saying an attack is planned. When no attack occurs, the government will look strong because they protected the nation. We will be great men for riding the world of terror, while turning massive profits for ourselves. The world will never know what really happened.

Where in the past America used imperialism to exploit colonies and native people, our government uses it today to exploit our own citizens. The attacks of 9/11 bring up many questions that the government cannot answer. I feel more has happened than we were told, and trusting those with power will be hard to do.