By THOMAS HARGROVE
Scripps Howard News Service
More than a third of the American public suspects that federal officials assisted in the 9/11 terrorist attacks or took no action to stop them so the United States could go to war in the Middle East, according to a new Scripps Howard/Ohio University poll.
The national survey of 1,010 adults also found that anger against the federal government is at record levels, with 54 percent saying they "personally are more angry" at the government than they used to be.
Widespread resentment and alienation toward the national government appears to be fueling a growing acceptance of conspiracy theories about the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Suspicions that the 9/11 attacks were "an inside job" _ the common phrase used by conspiracy theorists on the Internet _ quickly have become nearly as popular as decades-old conspiracy theories that the federal government was responsible for President John F. Kennedy's assassination and that it has covered up proof of space aliens.
Seventy percent of people who give credence to these theories also say they've become angrier with the federal government than they used to be.
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."
"One out of three sounds high, but that may very well be right," said Lee Hamilton, former vice chairman of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also called the 9/11 commission.) His congressionally appointed investigation concluded that federal officials bungled their attempts to prevent, but did not participate in, the attacks by al Qaeda five years ago.
"A lot of people I've encountered believe the U.S. government was involved," Hamilton said. "Many say the government planned the whole thing. Of course, we don't think the evidence leads that way at all."
The poll also found that 16 percent of Americans speculate that secretly planted explosives, not burning passenger jets, were the real reason the massive twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed.
Conspiracy groups for at least two years have also questioned why the World Trade Center collapsed when fires that heavily damaged similar skyscrapers around the world did not cause such destruction. 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 military cruise missile in 2001 rather than by an airliner captured by terrorists.
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That lower percentage may result from an effort by the conservative Washington-based Judicial Watch advocacy group to debunk the claim. The group filed claims under the Freedom of Information Act and got two fill loops released from Pentagon security cameras.
"Some people claim they can't see anything, but I see a plane hitting the Pentagon at incredibly high speed," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "I see the nose of the plane clearly entering the frame of one video and the tail of the plane entering the Pentagon in the other video."
Many conspiracy Web sites have posted the video loops and report the films are inconclusive or were manipulated by the government.
"Some folks will never be convinced," Fitton said. "But I'm hoping that these videos will dissuade reasonable people from falling into a trap with these conspiracy theories."
University of Florida law professor Mark Fenster, author of the book "Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and Power in American Culture," said the poll's findings reflect public anger at the unpopular Iraq war, realization that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction and growing doubts of the veracity of the Bush administration.
"What has amazed me is not that there are conspiracy theories, but that they didn't seem to be getting any purchase among the American public until the last year or so," Fenster said. "Although the Iraq war was not directly related to the 9/11 attacks, people are now looking back at 9/11 with much more skepticism than they used to."
Conspiracy-believing participants in the poll agree their suspicions are recent.
"I certainly didn't think of conspiracies when 9/11 first happened," said Elaine Tripp, 62, of Tabernacle, N.J. "I don't know if President Bush was aware of the exact time it was going to happen. But he certainly didn't do enough to stop it. Bush was so intent on having his own little war."
Garrett Johnson, 19, of Manassas, Va., said it was "well after the fact" before he started questioning the official explanation of the attacks. "But then people I know started talking about it. And the Internet had a lot to do with this. After reading all of the different articles there, I started to think we weren't being told the truth."
The Scripps Survey Research Center at Ohio University has tracked the level of resentment people feel toward the federal government since 1995, starting shortly after Timothy McVeigh bombed the federal building in Oklahoma City. Forty-seven percent then said they, personally, feel "more angry at the federal government" than they used to. That percentage dropped to 42 percent in 1997, 34 percent in 1998 and only 12 percent shortly after 9/11 during the groundswell of patriotism and support for the government after the attacks.
But the new survey found that 77 percent say their friends and acquaintances have become angrier with government recently and 54 percent say they, themselves, have become angrier _ both record levels.
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.
"We know that there are a lot of people now asking questions," said Janice Matthews, executive director of 911Truth.org, one of the most sophisticated Internet sites raising doubts about official explanations of the attacks. "We didn't have the Internet after Pearl Harbor, the Gulf of Tonkin or the Kennedy assassination. But we live in different times now."
Matthews' Web site averaged 4,000 "hits" a day last year, but currently has at least 12,000 visits every 24 hours. The site, according to its online policy statement, is dedicated to showing the public that "elements within the U.S. government must have orchestrated or participated in the execution of the attacks for these to have happened the way in which they did."
Participants in the poll were asked to respond to "several serious accusations that some people have made against the federal government in recent years." Five conspiracy theories were described and participants were asked if each was "very likely, somewhat likely or unlikely."
The level of suspicion of U.S. official involvement in a 9/11 conspiracy was only slightly behind the 40 percent who suspect "officials in the federal government were directly responsible for the assassination of President Kennedy" and the 38 percent who believe "the federal government is withholding proof of the existence of intelligent life from other planets."
The poll found that a majority of young adults give at least some credence to a 9/11 conspiracy compared to less than a fourth of people 65 or older. Members of racial and ethnic minorities, people with only a high school education and Democrats were especially likely to suspect federal involvement in 9/11.
The survey was conducted by telephone from July 6-24 at the Scripps Survey Research Center at the University of Ohio under a grant from the Scripps Howard Foundation. The poll has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
(Thomas Hargrove is a reporter for Scripps Howard News Service. Guido H. Stempel III is director of the Scripps Survey Research Center at Ohio University.)
1/3 of all Americans
It should read that all Americans believe hat 911 was an inside job. This is the saddest story that I had to witness personally as an adult. Why is it that all non white and non americans KNOW that 911 was an inside job? Why is it that this nation has fallen asleep while the entire universe knows that criminals are housed in the White House and that no one will ever trust us again. This inside job was so obvious that the blind could see it when it occurred.
US government is SCUM
there are literally hundreds of unsolved questions that directly involve corruption of the scummy US government. if u dont believe the US government was directly involved with 9/11 you are a nothing more than a sheep wandering pointlessly through life. Why don't they release the video footage of the "jet" that crashed into the scummy Pentagon, because it was a windowless aircraft that hit the building. Fu@# the US government and anyone who believes it was the result of middle eastern men.
proof in the planning
why would al kay da plan a crime that on paper does not succeed.
On paper the planes get busted in mid air////LET ME ASK U THIS>>>>>WOULD YOU PREMEDITATE A ROBBERY AT A POLICE STATION??
NO CRIME THAT FAILS ON PAPER IS EXECUTED UNLESS SPONTANEOUS!!
Thank you for your even-handed article!
Whatever you do, don't mention Building 7. Oh, and make sure you bring up UFOs, and Bigfoot, too, because, hey, everybody knows these people are wacko, right? Yeah, I know the media are owned by just five corporations, but hey, corporations are people, too, aren't they? They care about me! I'm more likely to consume if I'm properly informed, right? Sure! So I can relax, right? Thanks for reassuring me! And thanks especially for not bringing up the incontrovertible talking points, like thermate detected in WTC steel sample and Building 7! I wonder what's on TV... I bet THEY'RE telling me the truth! Boy, we sure better clamp down on this pesky internet before the People start talking with each other and Common Sense has a chance to resurface! Phew! That was close! Woah, they might sell the Supersonics! No! Go, Mariners! Woo-hoo! WWIII! Yee-haw!
Why Are Not More Christians already aware of 9/11?
What I want to know is Why Are not More Christians not already aware of this 9/11 truth movement????
I'm a Christian and the BIble says we should always "Prove all things" and Not support men who like to be seen and sit in the upper seats and greeted as the "Christian President" George W Bush. A "Christian President" who likes to spend his time once a year pow wowing at the Bohemian Grove, Caifornia where the elites and a bunch of old men get dresssed up in red and black robes, do a mock sacrifice of an effigy of a child (sacrifice) and cite some santainc prose as they throw the effigy into the burning fire in front of a this Large stone OWL also known in the Old Testament scriptures as Moloch.
Why are Christians not more aware of the evil of their own nation and its unholy leaders. Can't they see through the lies?
And what's with "Christians United For Israel" CUFI this latest group by John Hagee worshiping the golden calf of antichrist Zionism... as it funds the israli war machine to butcher more inocents in the middle east...again?
My peopel seem truly to be destroyed for lack of knowlege
My pathetic website has lots of articles on 9/11, 7/7 other topics. Since I woke up in 2004 after the being in a conservitive news fog of World Net Daily and like "Christain conservative" media which have not told us the truth about topics like 9/11.
I am so glad Americans are waking up, But Why is the Church still alseep?
Wake up my People
Come out of Babylon!
Go to CSpan www.prisonplannet.com or Infowars.com or www.Whatreallyhappened.com for 9ll info or visit my front page bottom for several excelent videos on 9/11 truth.
May God help everyone expose this Issue.
May Christain stop supporting the war machine in the middle east. Peace
your website
what is the name of your website? it did not appear in you message..thank you, pls reply here or you could send it to me personally at otrabogada@hotmail.com
Because...
"Why Are More Christians not already aware of this 9/11 truth movement???"
Among MANY other things
"Why is the Church still alseep?"
Simple...Most preachers and churches today teach that Christians should respect their leaders and governmental authorities NO MATTER WHAT. Regardless of their wickedness. It makes no difference.
AND
The question I have for Christians is: Who do you fear... God or man?
The reason people don't take a stand against a corrupt and tyranical government is that they fear it. Which, by the way, is exactly what God commands His people NOT to do.
"Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master" - George Washington
"The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing" - Edmund Burke
One last thought... As most people already know, Patrick Henry quotes "Give me Liberty or Give me Death!" Most people don't think about WHAT MADE HIM SAY THAT? He was referring to a minister who was scourged to death for none other than NOT TAKING A LICENSE! A license often becomes an arbitrary control by government that makes a crime out of what ordinarily would NOT be a crime.
No better argument
"The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing" - Edmund Burke
Exactly!! I'm so glad you believe in the war on terror also. Americans are the good men and Islamic Extremists, the ones who want to kill ALL Americans, are Evil.
fact v. fiction
as if on cue, the 9/11 Commission has just announced that they felt they were being misled and misinformed by the DOD, but decided not to escalate their concerns to DOJ (as if the same Ashcroft who classified the testimony of Sibel Edmonds would've cared that the 9/11 Commission wasn't getting the 'full story').
two wars and nearly 3000 US casualties later, and the bin laden unit has just been shut down...
thanks for waiting to tell us, guys. it's really helped alot.
(i made a short song/video that tries to sum up most of what doesn't make sense about 9/11 in just under six minutes, feedback is welcome and appreciated: skeptosis.blogspot.com and/or myspace.com/skeptosis)
steel and concrete
Being a Boilermaker for 33 years I knoww that steel does not burn withe jet fuel or how would the jet engine survive. Someone demo,d those buildings and that,s a fact Jack.....
Oops, you did it again ...
Suspicions that the 9/11 attacks were "an inside job" _ the common phrase used by conspiracy theorists on the Internet _ quickly have become nearly as popular as decades-old conspiracy theories that the federal government was responsible for President John F. Kennedy's assassination and that it has covered up proof of space aliens.
JFK assassination?
Space aliens?
You just had to put those in your survey too huh? Sigh.
Duh
Of course more than a third believe it was an Inside Job. It was and people aren't stupid. Now, if only the ontly two thirds would wake the hell up, we'd be well on our way to a better world.
face it...
(1) massive voter fraud (80% of u.s. voting goes through 2 corporations, each of which is primarily controlled by one of two brothers [ yes, one is diebold])
(2) cheney's comment 'we need another pearl harbor' - umm, why? to incite the people to war, put them in fear so that they'll invest authority in those who deserve none (the feds)
(3) the federal reserve / world bank basically controls the world financially - which means they make the rules. period.
(4) iraq > iran > syria > lebanon > sudan, etc. gee, now why would they make up all sorts of bullshit reasons to invade these miserable countries? oh, maybe because that way they can completely dominate the world's energy resources and thus the world. duh.
(5) the world trade center was no doubt an 'inside job'. just dig a bit, it's not hard to find facts that completely discount the official bull shit
(6) what's up with all these new detention centers being quietly built across the country? and I'm not talking mere prisons. these are being built for LARGE populations
(7) not trying to be a fear monger here, but if you're not seriously concerned you're not paying attention.
"The poll found that a
"The poll found that a majority of young adults give at least some credence to a 9/11 conspiracy compared to less than a fourth of people 65 or older. Members of racial and ethnic minorities, people with only a high school education and Democrats were especially likely to suspect federal involvement in 9/11."
Interesting demographic.
Based on what I've seen on various Internet sites, I would suggest that libertarians and paleoconservatives are also likely to be suspicious of federal involvement in 9/11.
But then, they're suspicious of federal government in general. ;-)
Democrats and minorities tend to trust the federal government otherwise -- especially when it's in liberal hands.
Only because liberals arent
Only because liberals arent lying cheating bastards.
YOUR GOD BILL CLINTON
"Only because liberals arent lying cheating bastards."
Your greatest lying cheating bastard didn't have sex (cheat)with that women...didn't lie under oath.
BILL CLINTON IS THE MAIN REASON THE ATTACK HAPPENED. (By not acting)
I plead to all you students out there ... please don't let your teachers teach you what to think but teach you how to think.
Well a likely reason for
Well a likely reason for less than a quarter of those 65 and older realizing that it was an inside job would be because the older someone gets the more they have "psychologically invested" in the status quo and their belief system. For someone who is 20-something to admit their country is run by war criminals and mass murderers who would kill 3,000 of their own citizens to use as a pretext is one thing. Someone who has lived 65+ years in this country, for them to even consider that it was their own government would be to most likely destroy their (false) belief system they had built up over the years about America. Except for example elderly blacks who had to live through the end of Jim Crow and realize what a shitpile this country is and has always been. Older white people (and I am white by the way) tend to prefer a fantasy world where the U.S. is a white knight on a horse, riding in to save the day and would never have anything other than pure motives for its actions, would NEVER do something like massacre its own people for political gain. So they tend to be more naive, less skeptical, less cynical. In other words, they have their head up their ass.
ROFL @ ALIENS
Aliens did 911, and took Saddam's WMD to Syria. No wait, Iran did it, with help of Kim Jong Il and Hugo Chavez, oh and scientists. Saddam is innocent, except, of course for the Oklahoma City federal bldg.
Seriously, the next time someone laughs at 911 "conspiracy theories", ask them: isn't a caveman and 19 inept pilots the real whackjob conspiracy theory?
Also, to the poster who wrote (paraphrasing) "why would al qaeda execute a plan which would certainly fail? The planes would be intercepted."
Duh, I never thought of that. Thanks.
WHERE'S THE DISSENTION? No "official story" shills on here? I guess, like Paul McCartney's ex, they don't have a leg to stand on. Old joke sorry.
Check out the new videos at http://www.americanscholarssymposium.org if you haven't already.
And for your daily "what's up?" I'd highly recommend http://www.whatsreallyhappening.com
Peace or something.
Peace or the internet is full of scholars or something
"Check out the new videos at http://www.americanscholarssymposium.org"
I'm glad to see you believing such great American Scholars as the highly (emphasis on high) accomplished, drug addict, high school dropout as Charlie Sheen.
But then again these sites come HIGHLY recommended by you also.
"why would al qaeda execute a plan which would certainly fail? The planes would be intercepted."
Maybe Al Qaeda was betting on the fact that with no real time to react our leaders weren't going to make the call of blowing airliners packed full of its citizens out of the sky without knowing the highjackers real intentions.
Which leads me back to the only plane I think could be under debate is flight 93 ... did the passengers fight back or was that plane shot down?
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=911_morons k, shh.
It's simple physics.....
Buildings that collapse at freefall rate, do so with no resistance. The "pancake theory" of collapse would necessarilly provide significant resistance to the process. Therefore, if the known laws of physics relative to linear motion are to be accounted for, the pancake collapse theory is a fallaciousl explanation.
Take your pick, either believe the laws the physics or believe your government.....I ask you, which is more credible?
THE GOVERNMENT LOVES US
the government can do no wrong against its own citizens. Come on people the Tuskegee experiment was only a movie. And what of the Japanese internment camps you ask?? It was only a summer retreat..
Sigh.............
"THE GOVERNMENT LOVES US"
Then stop: paying an income tax
Stop driving WITH a license
Stop getting a permit to build on your own land
AND Then tell me how much our government loves you.
The right to work, travel, and own property are some of the most basic rights that were given to us BY GOD and reinforced in the constitution. Yet, under our "loving government", they are all considered illegal.
The post is ironic you know..
You're on the same team here ;)
Your God intrigues me
"The right to work, travel, and own property are some of the most basic rights that were given to us BY GOD"
So what religion is this you practice? This God of capitolism sounds great!!
"Yet, under our "loving government", they are all considered illegal."
And what country do you live in? I live in America. I work in America. I freely travel anywhere I want in America. I own multiple properties in America.
YOU SHOULD COME HERE!!
SHAME ON SCRIPPS
The blatant attempt to equate concerns over the truth of 9-11 with "Space Aliens" ranks as the lowest form of "poison well" propaganda.
There are some very real questions about 9-11, and more than ample evidence that the official story of 9-11 was as absent of truth as was the official story of Saddam's 'nookular' bombs.
Hargrove has lost his objectivity, if indeed he ever had any.
st911.org
There are now peer reviewed scholarly papers at the st911.org website which clearly spell out, as most of the readers already apparently know, that the govts story goes so much against the laws of physics that is has absolutley no factual basis.
In the 911 conference on C-Span, it is said there are only 5 or 6 demolition experts in the world competent enough to blow the WTC and have it fall in its own footprint. For it to fall so evenly when being struck by a plane is another fact that goes against the laws of physics. As one other commentor wrote, you can either believe in the laws of physics or in the gov'ts story, but not both.......
There so many 'holes' in the offocial story, you just need to focus on any one.
Some others;
The hole in the pentagon is too small for a passenger jet to have fit through. There is no debris (to speak of) at the Pentagon. Apparently all of the damaged plane as well as all of the bodies of the people who died were all burned up in the fire, though that's NEVER happened before. And there were undamaged desks and file cabs, etc., in a photo right next to the hole in the pentagon AFTER it was said to be so white hot that it melted a plane and all of the passengers bodies and bones. Huh???
Molten pools of metal remained at the base of all 3 bldgs in NY for many months afterwards. A recent analysis of some of that debris by Dr. Steven Jones of BYU (on st911.org) found the ingrediants of thermate, which is normal thermite plus sulfer, which is used exclusivly for demolition. No aluminum was found in the molten substance, so it was not melted metal from planes as some have speculated.
On 911, the head of the Pakistani defense dept was having breakfast with some US Senators. A few days earlier he had wired money to the allegded hijackers.
9/11=INSIDE JOB
9/11=INSIDE JOB
So, 36% of Americans need to go back on their meds, huh
Given this new data, serious consideration needs to be given to "adjusting off" this portion of the population when relaying other major polling data. For example, let's say 48% of people report that they believe that America is worse off today than we were five years ago. If we assume that the "36% whack job" contingent would all state that they were worse off, well then, that's really only like 1 in 6 legitimate folks who think that America is worse off now than half a decade ago.
Just think at the unbridled common sense and optimism that would reign if we could make such an adjustment.
So, 36% of Americans need to go back on their meds, huh
You are 100% correct. You can not give any credence to these polls. It is scary to think that these are our peers. G-D Bless (and help) America and the rest of the peace loving democratic world!!!
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