In a news report published this week, co-authors Thomas Hargrove of the Scripps Howard News Service and Guido H. Stempel III, director of the Scripps Survey Research Center at Ohio University, presented results of a poll that found more than one-third of the American public “suspects that federal officials assisted in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks or took no action to stop them so the United States could go to war in the Middle East.”
The Scripps Survey Research Center at Ohio University telephone survey of 1,010 adults was conducted from July 6 to July 24 and the margin of error in the poll is 4 percentage points.
To some people, the more than one-third percentage seems high. To others, it seems low. Are Americans who already have concerns or are developing suspicions simply paranoid or even unpatriotic? Or, is there actually an adequate basis for views that the whole story about 9/11 has not yet been revealed?
An additional question to consider is whether the percentage of Americans with these suspicions will increase as more credible information is presented and covered by the media.
PSYCHOLOGY OF SUSPICION
In looking at the concerns that Americans and people internationally have about the 9/11 attacks, there are many factors to consider. Some people report being suspicious about many of the specific circumstances involved in the 9/11 attacks.
Respected scientists, former U.S. Government officials, former high-ranking U.S. military officers and other credible people have also expressed serious concerns about particular elements of the attacks.
According to the article by Hargrove and Stempel, the poll found that “thirty-six percent of respondents overall said it is ‘very likely’ or ‘somewhat likely’ that federal officials either participated in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon or took no action to stop them ‘because they wanted the United States to go to war in the Middle East.’”
In addition, Hargrove and Stempel wrote that results of the poll concluded that “16 percent of Americans speculate that secretly planted explosives, not burning passenger jets, were the reason the towers of the World Trade Center collapsed. Sixteen percent said it's ‘very likely’ or ‘somewhat likely’ that ‘the collapse of the Twin Towers in New York was aided by explosives secretly planted in the two buildings. Twelve percent suspect the Pentagon was struck by a cruise missile in 2001 rather than by an airliner captured by terrorists.”
ADVANCED KNOWLEGE OF ATTACKS
On the point of concern that some U.S. officials knew about the coming attacks in advance, one aspect of many that has been focused on is the multiple military exercises planned and ongoing during the time frame around 9/11.
According to reports, many U.S. military aircraft and air defense assets were dispersed from their normal bases and redirected from their normal duties to participate in these exercises.
Some of the exercises reportedly involved hijacked jets, and air traffic controllers and other officials experienced confusion about the real hijacked aircraft and the simulations planned in the training exercises.
Although this may have just been an unfortunate coincidence, some skeptics of the official story have pointed out this circumstance.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) audio tapes of military air defense officials’ communications on 9/11, released this week and the subject of a detailed article in VANITY FAIR magazine, do show the confusion of that day by NORAD, air defense and air traffic control personnel.
Also this week, news reports revealed that the 9/11 Commission considered testimony from Pentagon and government aviation officials given to the commission about the air defense activities on 9/11 to be false. Commissioners considered requesting legal action from the Department of Justice because of the inaccurate testimony.
Reports that FBI and U.S. military officials, as well as friendly foreign intelligence agencies, were detecting elements of the planned attacks and trying to report warnings to U.S. Government officials, with no apparent result, have also triggered concerns.
In addition, reports have circulated that foreign intelligence agents may have had the hijackers under surveillance during the run-up to the attacks.
Again, whether these are indications of officials “allowing” the 9/11 attacks to occur certainly have not been proven, but raise suspicions among many.
COLLAPSE OF WTC BUILDINGS
As to poll results that question whether the World Trade Center buildings were brought down by pre-planted explosives, the manner in which they collapsed straight down has been cited as a strong indicator.
New York City firefighters and other witnesses reported seeing and hearing what seemed like demolition-type explosives as the buildings collapsed.
Physics Professor Steven Jones of Brigham Young University stated in a televised C-Span panel discussion last weekend that scientific analysis of metal recovered from the site indicated residue from enhanced explosives.
Other engineering experts have stated that jet fuel alone from the crashed jets should not have been able to bring down the WTC buildings. Building 7 was not even hit by a plane, yet it collapsed in the same way.
PENTAGON ATTACK
On the issue of whether a passenger airliner struck the Pentagon, most questions have centered on the small size of the hole in the building, the fact that it punched through several rings of the reinforced structure and that what wreckage was found did not seem to be that of an airliner.
Some experienced military witnesses reportedly stated they smelled explosives rather than jet fuel on the scene. The flight path of the craft on radar, according to some reports, did not seem to be that of a passenger airliner.
MOTIVATION FOR 9/11
Regarding the poll result finding that Americans suspect that the 9/11 attacks were planned or allowed to occur “because they wanted the United States to go to war in the Middle East,” this alleged desire by some to take the U.S. to war has been a widespread concern.
That some people very much wanted the U.S. to go to war has been a concern and allegation apart from any connection to the 9/11 attacks and a suspicions of wider and deeper 9/11 plot.
It is well-documented that several individuals and groups felt it was appropriate to invade Iraq. One organization even wrote in an elaborate report that a “New Pearl Harbor” would be needed to motivate the American people to support markedly increased military operations in the Middle East and around the world.
Current government leaders have given their rationale (WMDs, spreading democracy and peace, etc.) and other people have claimed additional less-noble motivations. These doubters allege that these additional motivations include:
- Creating political support for government officials in power
- Centralizing power within the U.S. Government
- Creating new laws and policies within the U.S.
- Expanding U.S. military dominance in the world
- Accessing oil resources in the region
- Creating a base of operations for further military action in the region
- Supporting allies in the region
- Ramping up government defense spending and profits for contractors
- Creating economic opportunities for private businesses in Iraq
Allegations of these kinds of motivations have some reasonable basis, but again, have not been conclusively proven.
MEDIA AND PUBLIC OPINION
In the article by Hargrove and Stempel about the opinion poll, they reported “The survey also found that people who regularly use the Internet but who do not regularly use so-called ‘mainstream’ media are significantly more likely to believe in 9/11 conspiracies. People who regularly read daily newspapers or listen to radio newscasts were especially unlikely to believe in the conspiracies.”
This finding could reflect several factors. The freedom of the Internet has certainly allowed for a wide range of information, data, speculation, rumors and theories to be presented for public consumption. Much of this information on the Web may far-fetched or clearly inaccurate while other aspects may seem quite valid.
People who use the many kinds of media platforms available on the Web to get news and information certainly have a wider array of resources to attempt to get an accurate view of the overall picture. The unreliable information on the Web may also cause confusion and invalid conclusions by the public.
The major TV networks’ news programs and major newspapers and magazines have provided limited coverage of questions and anomalies about the 9/11 attacks.
Part of this undoubtedly has been the desire to be patriotic in a time of war, an honorable objective for all of us. Another motivation may be to stay in the good graces of the people currently in power in Washington, D.C., perhaps less honorable.
Still another element is that it has taken nearly five years for much of the information questioning the official story of 9/11 to be adequately investigated, compiled and presented in a manner that makes a reasonable case for suspicion about the 9/11 attacks.
Coverage of these topics in the mainstream media could realistically be expected to become more thorough in the future. The possibility or probability of improved media coverage is based on the adequate credibility of some, but not all, claims of questionable aspects and circumstances of the 9/11 attacks.
The poll conducted by the Scripps Survey Research Center at Ohio University seems to have provided valuable insight into public opinion and some of the specific issues about views of the 9/11 attacks.
Ohio University’s Scripps College of Communications, the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism and the School of Telecommunications are considered some of the top such programs in the U.S.
Ohio University alumni include Roger Ailes, president of FOX News, Matt Lauer, co-host of NBC’s Today show, Clarence Page, columnist for the Chicago Tribune, George Voinovich, U.S. senator and former Ohio governor as well as actors Ed O’Neil, Richard Dean Anderson, Paul Newman and many other distinguished people in the media, government, the military and other walks of life.
This most recent poll is one of many conducted by Survey Research Center at Ohio University that attempt to measure the thoughts, feelings and beliefs of the American people.
It seems appropriate that Ohio University, envisioned and founded in the late 1700s and early 1800s by veterans of the American Revolution, and built on the western frontier of the new nation, is a source to help Americans gain insight into ourselves, pursue truth and understand important issues about defending our country from enemies, foreign and domestic.
