Debunking 9/11 Myths

Last updated
Debunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can't Stand Up to the Facts
Debunking 911 Myths.jpg
The front book cover art of Debunking 9/11 Myths.
EditorsDavid Dunbar
Brad Reagan
Original title9/11: Debunking the Myths
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Subject 9/11 conspiracy theories / September 11 attacks / Terrorism
Genre Non-fiction / History / Terrorism
PublisherHearst Communications, Inc.
Publication date
August 15, 2006
Published in English
August 15, 2006
ISBN 1-58816-635-X
Website http://www.origin.popularmechanics.com/blogs/911myths/

Debunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can't Stand Up to the Facts is a non-fiction book published by Hearst Communications, Inc. on August 15, 2006. The book is based on the article "9/11: Debunking the Myths" in the March 2005 issue of Popular Mechanics [1] and is written by David Dunbar and Brad Reagan, responding to various 9/11 conspiracy theories. The authors interviewed over 300 sources for the book, relying on expert and witness accounts. [2]

Contents

Original article

The front magazine cover art of Popular Mechanics' March 2005 issue, displaying the article's title. Popular Mechanics March 2005.jpg
The front magazine cover art of Popular Mechanics' March 2005 issue, displaying the article's title.

"9/11: Debunking the Myths" was the original article in the March 2005 issue of Popular Mechanics , on which the book was based. It also attempted to debunk the various 9/11 conspiracy theories. [1] The magazine cover referred to the article as "Debunking 9/11 Lies, Conspiracy Theories Can't Stand Up to the Hard Facts." The online version's title was later changed to "Debunking the 9/11 Myths: Special Report." [3] The original reporting team included Benjamin Chertoff, Davin Coburn, Michael Connery, David Enders, Kevin Haynes, Kristin Roth, Tracy Saelinger, Erik Sofge and the editors of Popular Mechanics. [1]

The article (available at: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military/news/1227842) has been referred to by publications and organizations such as the Chicago Tribune , [4] the San Francisco Bay Guardian, [5] and the Bureau of International Information Programs. [6]

Coverage of the book

Debunking 9/11 Myths has been referred to by news sources such as the San Francisco Chronicle [2] and The Courier-Mail . [7]

On the fifth anniversary of the attacks, Democracy Now! screened a debate between Dunbar and James B. Meigs from Popular Mechanics and Dylan Avery and Jason Bermas, respectively the director and producer/researcher of the 9/11 online-documentary Loose Change . [8] Popular Mechanics responded to early criticisms of their book on October 13, 2006. [9]

The History Channel featured interviews with the editors of Popular Mechanics in an August 2007 90-minute special which debunked a number of the conspiracy theories. Entitled 9/11 Conspiracies: Fact or Fiction, the program contained interviews with several 9/11 conspiracy theorists and repeatedly referred to the Popular Mechanics book as a reference. [10]

Benjamin Chertoff

Proponents of the 9-11 conspiracy theories have claimed that one of the researchers at Popular Mechanics, Benjamin Chertoff is the cousin of former Department of Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff because they share the same last name. [11] However, Chertoff has repeatedly denied this claim, most notably in the September 11, 2006, issue of U.S. News & World Report, stating "No one in my family has ever met anyone related to Michael Chertoff". [11] In an audio interview, he noted that any possible relationship would likely only be found in "19th-century Belarus", and that his mother has described any such possible relationship as "distant". [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roswell incident</span> 1947 unspecified object crash near Corona, New Mexico, US

The Roswell incident centers on the July 1947 recovery of metallic and rubber debris from a crashed military balloon by Roswell Army Air Field personnel, who issued a press release announcing possession of a "flying disc". Decades later, conspiracy theories claimed that debris from an alien spaceship had been covered up by the government. In response, in 1994 the United States Air Force published a report concluding the crashed object was a top secret nuclear test surveillance balloon from Project Mogul.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">9/11 conspiracy theories</span> Conspiracy theories regarding the September 11 attacks

There are various conspiracy theories that attribute the preparation and execution of the September 11 attacks against the United States to parties other than, or in addition to, al-Qaeda. These include the theory that high-level government officials had advance knowledge of the attacks. Government investigations and independent reviews have rejected these theories. Proponents of these theories assert that there are inconsistencies in the commonly accepted version, or that there exists evidence that was ignored, concealed, or overlooked.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michel Chossudovsky</span> Canadian economist and author

Michel Chossudovsky is a Canadian economist and author. He is professor emeritus of economics at the University of Ottawa and the president and director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), which runs the website globalresearch.ca, founded in 2001, which publishes falsehoods and conspiracy theories. Chossudovsky has promoted conspiracy theories about 9/11.

Jeffry Shearer Rense is an American radio talk-show host. His show, the Jeff Rense Program, was broadcast via satellite radio and is now released through his personal website.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Ray Griffin</span> American philosopher (1939–2022)

David Ray Griffin was an American professor of philosophy of religion and theology and a 9/11 conspiracy theorist. Along with John B. Cobb, Jr., he founded the Center for Process Studies in 1973, a research center of Claremont School of Theology that promotes process thought. Griffin published numerous books about the September 11 attacks, claiming that elements of the Bush administration were involved. An advocate of the controlled demolition conspiracy theory, he was a founder member of Scholars for 9/11 Truth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">9/11 truth movement</span> Group of loosely affiliated 9/11 conspiracy theorists

The 9/11 truth movement encompasses a disparate group of adherents to a set of overlapping conspiracy theories that dispute the general consensus of the September 11 attacks that a group of Al-Qaeda terrorists had hijacked four airliners and crashed them into the Pentagon and the original World Trade Center Twin Towers, which consequently collapsed. The primary focus is on missed information that adherents allege is not adequately explained in the official National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) reports, such as the collapse of 7 World Trade Center. They suggest a cover-up and, at the least, complicity by insiders.

<i>Loose Change</i> 2005–2009 series of films by Dylan Avery

Loose Change is a series of films released between 2005 and 2009 that argue in favor of certain conspiracy theories relating to the September 11 attacks. The films were written and directed by Dylan Avery and produced by Korey Rowe, Jason Bermas, and Matthew Brown.

Jim Hoffman is a conspiracy theorist from Oakland, California, who created several web sites about the September 11, 2001 attacks that analyze and suggest alternative accounts for the events of that day. His primary website, 9-11 Research, serves as an archive of documentation and alternative analyses about the attacks. Hoffman has also written numerous technical essays which focus on the World Trade Center controlled demolition hypothesis.

Jesse Walker is books editor of Reason magazine. The University of Michigan alumnus has written the books The United States of Paranoia: A Conspiracy Theory and Rebels on the Air: An Alternative History of Radio in America, and he maintains a blog called The Perpetual Three-Dot Column. His articles have appeared in a number of publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Salon, The New Republic, Politico, L.A. Times, L.A. Weekly, Chronicles, Boing Boing, No Depression, and the Journal of American Studies.

<i>The CIA and September 11</i> 2003 book by Andreas von Bülow

The CIA and September 11 is a controversial 2003 non-fiction book by Andreas von Bülow, a former state-secretary in the German Federal Ministry of Defence and a Social Democratic member of the Bundestag from 1969 to 1994. The book disputes al-Qaeda's responsibility for the September 11 attacks and suggests that it may have instead been a false flag operation arranged by the U.S. federal government and Israel. The book has enjoyed considerable commercial success in Germany, where it is published by Piper Verlag, and has sold over 100,000 copies. However, it has faced allegations ranging from absurdity and fostering anti-Americanism, to anti-Semitism, while the quality of its sourcing and the timing of its publication have given rise to debate within the German publishing industry. In subsequent media appearances, Bülow has defended his work, and strongly denied that its content is anti-Semitic.

Benjamin Chertoff is a journalist, photographer and video producer. He is most known for his work on the Popular Mechanics article 9/11: Debunking The Myths. He also created the Popular Mechanics Show, the weekly podcast of Popular Mechanics magazine. He is currently a freelance photojournalist, writer and documentary producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World Trade Center controlled demolition conspiracy theories</span> 9/11 conspiracy theories

Some conspiracy theories contend that the collapse of the World Trade Center was not solely caused by the airliner crash damage that occurred as part of the September 11 attacks, and the resulting fire damage, but by explosives installed in the buildings in advance. Controlled demolition theories make up a major component of 9/11 conspiracy theories.

Antisemitic tropes or antisemitic canards are "sensational reports, misrepresentations, or fabrications" that are defamatory towards Judaism as a religion or defamatory towards Jews as an ethnic or religious group. Since the Middle Ages, such reports have been a recurring motif of broader antisemitic conspiracy theories.

Christopher L. Hodapp is an American author and filmmaker, noted for his writings about Freemasonry, fraternalism, the Knights Templar, secret societies and conspiracy theories. He is the founding editor in chief of the Journal of The Masonic Society, the Associate Director of the Masonic Library and Museum of Indiana, and Public Relations Director for the Grand Lodge F&AM of Indiana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">G. Edward Griffin</span> American conspiracy theorist, film producer, author, and political lecturer

George Edward Griffin is an American author, filmmaker, and conspiracy theorist. Griffin's writings promote a number of right-wing views and conspiracy theories regarding political, defense and health care. In his book World Without Cancer, he argued in favor of a pseudo-scientific theory that asserted cancer to be a nutritional deficiency curable by consuming amygdalin. He is the author of The Creature from Jekyll Island (1994), which advances debunked conspiracy theories about the Federal Reserve System. He is an HIV/AIDS denialist, supports the 9/11 Truth movement, and supports the specific John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theory that Oswald was not the assassin. He also believes that the Biblical Noah's Ark is located at the Durupınar site in Turkey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karl T. Pflock</span> American novelist

Karl Tomlinson Pflock was a CIA intelligence officer, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense in the Reagan Administration, strategic planner, UFO researcher, and author of both fiction and non-fiction. He was best known for his book Roswell: Inconvenient Facts and the Will to Believe.

Jason Colavito is an American author and independent scholar specializing in the study of fringe theories particularly around ancient history and extraterrestrials. Colavito has written a number of books, including The Cult of Alien Gods (2005), The Mound Builder Myth (2020), and Legends of the Pyramids (2021).

Big Pharma conspiracy theories are conspiracy theories which claim that pharmaceutical companies, especially large corporations, act in sinister and secretive ways, such as concealing effective treatments, or even intentionally causing and worsening a wide range of diseases, in pursuit of profitability, or for other nefarious reasons. Some theories have included the claim that natural alternative remedies to health problems are being suppressed, the claim that drugs for the treatment of HIV/AIDS are ineffective and harmful, the claim that a cure for all cancers has been discovered but hidden from the public, claims that COVID-19 vaccines are ineffective, and that alternative cures are available for COVID-19. In most cases the conspiracy theorists have blamed pharmaceutical companies' search for profits. A range of authors have shown these claims to be false, though some of these authors nevertheless maintain that other criticisms of the pharmaceutical industry are legitimate.

The FEMA camps conspiracy theory is a belief, particularly within the American Patriot movement, that the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is planning to imprison US citizens in concentration camps, following the imposition of martial law in the United States after a major disaster or crisis. In some versions of the theory, only suspected dissidents will be imprisoned. In more extreme versions, large numbers of US citizens will be imprisoned for the purposes of extermination as a New World Order is established. The theory has existed since the late 1970s, but its circulation has increased with the advent of the internet and social media platforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mick West</span> Science writer and retired programmer

Mick West is a British-American science writer, skeptical investigator, and retired video game programmer. He is the creator of the websites Contrail Science and Metabunk, and he investigates and debunks pseudoscientific claims and conspiracy theories such as chemtrails and UFOs. His first book is Escaping the Rabbit Hole: How to Debunk Conspiracy Theories Using Facts, Logic, and Respect.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "PM: Debunking The 9/11 Myths – Mar. 2005 Cover Story". Archived from the original on February 10, 2005. Retrieved 2013-03-16.
  2. 1 2 Curiel, Jonathan (September 3, 2006). "The Conspiracy to Rewrite 9/11". San Francisco Chronicle.
  3. 9/11: Debunking The Myths Archived February 10, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
  4. "Topic Galleries". Chicago Tribune.[ permanent dead link ]
  5. Seth Wolf (2005-03-29). "San Francisco Bay Guardian News". Sfbg.com. Retrieved 2013-03-16.
  6. "The Top September 11 Conspiracy Theories" Archived February 28, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  7. Harvey, Adam (September 3, 2006). "9/11 Myths Busted". The Sunday Mail. Qld.
  8. "EXCLUSIVE...9/11 Debate: Loose Change Filmmakers vs. Popular Mechanics Editors of "Debunking 9/11 Myths"". Democracy Now!. Retrieved 2013-03-16.
  9. "The Conspiracy Industry: Afterword to PM Expanded Investigation". Popular Mechanics. Archived from the original on 2008-06-08. Retrieved 2013-03-16.
  10. "The 9/11 Conspiracies: Fact or Fiction".
  11. 1 2 "Viewing 9/11 From a Grassy Knoll" Archived 2007-02-17 at the Wayback Machine , Will Sullivan, U.S. News & World Report , March 9, 2006
  12. Odeo podcast Archived 2007-06-01 at the Wayback Machine with Popular Mechanics executive editor David Dunbar, contributing editor Brad Reagan and editor-in-chief Jim Meigs, August 22, 2006