On a lighter note…

Jamie McIntyre at The Line of Departure discusses another aspect of 9-11: the nutcase conspiracy theories that seem to be popular in various parts of the world.

On this somber anniversary, I am going to take the advantage of the fact that I now have my own blog to set the record straight on one event of eight years ago.

For years now a tiny snippet of my reporting from that day has been circulating around the Internet, and used – out of context — to buttress the malevolent arguments of some wacky conspiracy theorists who claim to believe September 11 was in "inside job."

Click on this excerpt from YouTube to see how a the clip has been used to portray me as someone who was on the scene but yet saw no evidence a plane hit anywhere near the Pentagon. Listen carefully...

Now check out what I really said in this longer clip, which can also be found on YouTube. Here you see that I am answering a question from Judy Woodruff about an earlier, erroneous report that the plane may have crashed short of the Pentagon. No, I say, nothing NEAR the Pentagon only AT the pentagon.

This is a good cautionary tale about believing what you "see" on the internet. As I like to say, It's good to have an open mind, but if your mind is too open your brain can fall out.

On a plane trip from Dubai to Sydney (I know, my mid-tour leave was rough), I encountered a gentleman who swore up and down that 9-11 was a government conspiracy. Among the ludicrous claims:

1. That some united Jewish organization called all the Jews and told them to stay home on 9-11.
   
2. That, since one victim who crashed into the field in Pennsylvania was still receiving Social Security checks after he perished, this must prove that the victim is still alive somewhere and that there was a conspiracy. (No, I think this just proves the inefficiencies of the Social Security system)
   
3. That, since if Boeing passenger jet crashed into the Pentagon, it should have left a jet-sized hole in the side of the Pentagon, instead of a small hole. (Maybe in Wile E. Coyote physics, you'd see a plane-shaped hole in the Pentagon, but in real physics—not likely)
   
4. That the most elaborate conspiracy scheme in history was designed to precipitate a war against terrorists based in Afghanistan in order to seize oil…in Iraq.
   
5. Somehow this fails to take into account the various admissions of Osama bin Laden that his group actually was responsible for 9-11.
   

   So, in honor of the nutcases, I give you the following links: The best rebuttal to the 9-11 Conspiracy, as well as the best parody of 9-11 Conspiracies over at The Best Page in the Universe.