I was channel surfing the other night when I came across a documentary entitled The Demolition of Truth that was airing on PBS. I was riveted to the screen. The movie is about the questions that have been raised by architects, engineers, and pilots among others concerning the “truth” behind the 9/11 attacks.

The government story is that the terrorist group Al-Qaeda, led by Osama Bin Laden, was solely responsible for the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York City, damage to the Pentagon and many deaths there, plus the crash of a hijacked airliner in Pennsylvania, which apparently was supposed to be headed to Washington, D.C.

Much like the assassination of JFK, most people in the United States who were alive and old enough to understand the significance of the event can remember where they were when the 9/11 attacks occurred and the feelings they experienced at the time. The world and life in the United States will never be the same. Within 45 days of the attacks, the Patriot Act was passed and signed into law, essentially stripping us of many freedoms we experience under the constitution, all in the name of “security.” Within less than two years we invaded Afghanistan and Iraq and are still there, the Marine base at Guantanamo Bay became synonymous with torture and holding people for years in prison uncharged, and the list of consequences goes on.

According to the people interviewed in the film, the government story does not hold water. Yes, airliners were hijacked and crashed into the twin towers, which everyone saw, but according to the film, and from further reading I have done subsequent to watching the documentary, the crashed airliners were not responsible for the total collapse of the buildings. In fact, the prevailing belief among those who do not believe the government’s version of events, the twin towers and tower #7, the Goldman Sachs building, which came down many hours later at 5:20 pm, actually came down through planned demolition.

According to the N.I.S.T. commission report, which was commissioned by President Bush some four years later, the buildings came down due to intense fires caused by the planes crashing into the buildings, weakening the structure and the weight and force of the top floors above where the planes crashed were such to essentially blast through the floors beneath causing a snowball-like effect on the whole structures.

I never questioned the commission report, never read it, in fact, never paid much attention. I suspect many people did the same. I assumed as did most, Al-Qaeda was responsible. But the film shows in stark detail that another very plausible explanation is that the terrorists were aided in their efforts by the purposeful demolition of the buildings.

I have witnessed the demolition of buildings. They come straight down so as to cause no or very little impact to the buildings around them, but for this to happen demolitions must be placed very strategically in the right amounts and with the right materials. Only experts in demolition have the knowledge and skill to do it. The twin towers and tower #7 came straight down as if demolition charges had been placed in them. The film shows on each floor a puff of smoke coming out just before the floors above crash onto them. Many eyewitness survivors and first responders have testified that they distinctly heard explosions in the buildings. Their accounts were not included in the commission report. Thermite, an explosive agent, was found in the rubble, also not included in the report. Tower 7 was not hit by any airliners, yet many hours later it came down just like the twin towers. Why? According to the commission it was collateral damage causing fires in the building. But its surface structure was unharmed.

According to the structural engineer of the twin towers, the buildings were designed to withstand a Boeing 707 crashing into them at more than 600 mph. He described the effect as being like poking holes in a screen netting. Granted, the planes crashing into the twin towers were Boeing 767s, which are bigger than a 707, but they were traveling at approximately 440 mph, effectively having the same crash potential as a 707.

A hijacked plane, United flight 11, supposedly crashed into the Pentagon. Yet, no plane debris was recovered, no luggage, no body parts from passengers. Similarly, none of these same items were recovered from the crash of flight 93 in a Pennsylvania field. Anyone who has ever seen a plane crash site knows there is much plane debris, as well as body parts and clothing and luggage.

I am no architect, engineer, or pilot and cannot opine authoritatively on planes, buildings, etc., but I watched in the film and have read subsequently the opinions of many of these professionals who can give authoritative opinions and have, and they seriously question the commission findings, and provide very convincing arguments for alternative interpretations of what actually happened.

I also am not a conspiracy theorist, especially of one of this magnitude. My usual response to the idea of a conspiracy is that it falls apart when there are more than two people involved. In this case, there would have to have been many people, hundreds, who would have to not speak about what they really knew to be the truth. What are the odds?

Yet, is it possible that others were involved in the terrorist acts, possibly individuals from our highest levels of government? Could our government have colluded with Bin Laden? He had been a CIA operative working  with the moujahideen in Afghanistan during the time the Soviets invaded and occupied the country. Why is it Bush had seven years to track him down but couldn’t find him? Yet, Obama found him in two years or did he? Maybe the individual said to have been killed by Seal Team Six wasn’t Bin Laden at all.

It took Congress just 45 days to pass the Patriot Act. Legislation of that importance usually takes much, much longer. Had the Bush administration actually prepared the legislation in advance of 9/11, knowing it was to take place, and let it happen? Or was the administration actually involved in the planning and carrying out of the 9/11 event? It would have taken days to plant explosives to blow up those buildings. Granted, the terrorists could have had explosive experts doing the work for them, but they would have to have been very seasoned and knowledgeable demolition experts to do the work. If they used barely trained pilots, who were trained on Cessnas to fly the airliners, using very complicated maneuvers, is it reasonable to assume they obtained very knowledgeable demolition experts to set the charges to blow up the buildings? It seems unlikely unless they had the help of some organization that had connections to such individuals with the necessary expertise.

Why is it Bush went after Iraq in response to the 9/11 event? Al-Qaeda wasn’t even in Iraq, and the terrorist perpetrators hailed from Saudi Arabia. Did Bush and Cheney plan 9/11 to provide the excuse necessary to galvanize public opinion for an invasion of Iraq, using the pretense of the presence of WMDs there as further justification, only to find once there that there were no WMDs (which they probably knew all along), and quickly pivoted to the excuse of bringing democracy to the country? Could our country’s leaders have been so callous as to murder nearly 3,000 of their own citizens just to provide the excuse necessary to achieve their desired political ends? It seems too horrific to consider.

Yet, it has been speculated that FDR planned or at least did nothing when he could have to avert the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941. He as Bush faced public opinion at the time decidedly against any further foreign adventures. FDR was barely able to get his Lend-lease program to England through Congress much less joining in the war effort with American troops. Without Pearl Harbor the United States would never have joined in the war in Europe. Without 9/11 would the American public have been so willing to support an operation in Iraq simply on the possibility Iraq had WMDs? It seems unlikely.

We may never know the answers to these questions, but if enough experts believe that the government’s story about 9/11 is extremely fishy and are calling for another investigation, it seems to me that another one should be made, independent of the executive branch this time, so the truth about that fateful day can come to light, or at least the findings of the N.I.S.T. commission can be confirmed. We owe nothing less to those who perished and to those of us who remain and to future generations to ensure the sanctity, security, and preservation of our democracy.

For further reading on the subject see: http://patriotsquestion911.com; political leaders for 9/11 truth; pilots for 9/11 truth; The New Pearl Harbor by David Ray Griffin and later editions. Many other titles on the same subject can be found on Amazon or at other booksellers. There also are many other groups calling for further investigation into the 9/11 events. They can be found through a Google search.