Fact Sheet Disputes WTC Conspiracy Theories

WorldNetDaily reported today that the US government has issued a fact sheet, published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST, addressing the various parts of the conspiracy theories concerning 9/11.

The government's response comes in response to accusations and suspicions of increasing numbers of Americans that the official explanation of the events of Sept. 11, 2001 – that 19 Muslim terrorists hijacked four U.S. jetliners and crashed them into the World Trade Center and Pentagon, with a fourth being downed in rural Pennsylvania – are wrong. In fact, a shocking new Scripps Howard poll shows a third of Americans believe the U.S. government was complicit in the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

It's hard to believe there are that many people in our country who believe--now, get this--that the Bush administration had the desire to destroy the World Trade Center AND had the competence (nobody on the Left even believes Bush is competent to tie his shoes or eat a pretzel) to actually pull it off in such a way as to fool the world into blaming al-Qaeda. But 34% of the country believes it.

That means you work with some of these people. You live near them. You attend church or Scouts or VFW meetings with them. You may even be married to one of them.

One of the conspiracies the fact sheet disputes is the one saying it was a controlled demolition. This allegation is a huge part of the DVD making the rounds called, "Loose Change." Here's how the fact sheet summarizes its findings on this issue:

Video evidence also showed unambiguously that the collapse progressed from the top to the bottom, and there was no evidence (collected by NIST, or by the New York Police Department, the Port Authority Police Department or the Fire Department of New York) of any blast or explosions in the region below the impact and fire floors as the top building sections (including and above the 98th floor in WTC 1 and the 82nd floor in WTC 2) began their downward movement upon collapse initiation.

In summary, NIST found no corroborating evidence for alternative hypotheses suggesting that the WTC towers were brought down by controlled demolition using explosives planted prior to Sept. 11, 2001. NIST also did not find any evidence that missiles were fired at or hit the towers. Instead, photographs and videos from several angles clearly show that the collapse initiated at the fire and impact floors and that the collapse progressed from the initiating floors downward until the dust clouds obscured the view.

Read the full text. It could give you some good ammunition the next time one of the 34% starts talking crazy.