Science 9-11

Examining the 9/11/01 Attack Using the Scientific Method

The attack of 9/11/2001 was a crime on a vast scale. Even a summary examination of all of the aspects and relevant circumstances of the crime would fill volumes. Because of the breadth of the crime, our success in applying the scientific method to it will depend on a judicious selection of particular aspects to study.

Some of the parts of the crime, such as what happened on the doomed flights between their takeovers and collisions, are documented by only scant public evidence. Other parts of the crime, such as the destruction of the Twin Towers, are documented by bodies of evidence so large that they have yet to be digested.

The official explanation has the following main elements:

1. Sleeper cells of Islamic terrorist directed by Osama bin Laden hijacked four jetliners using only primitive weapons (boxcutters).
2. The hijackers flew the first plane into the North Tower.
3. The hijackers flew the second plane into the South Tower.
4. The hijackers flew the third plane into the Pentagon.
5. The South Tower, weakened by the collision and fires, collapsed.
6. The fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania as passengers attempted to regain control.
7. The North Tower, weakened by the collision and fires, collapsed.
8. WTC Building 7, weakened by damage from the Towers' collapses and fires, collapsed.

Scenarios have been formed based on falsifying every element of this account. Several such scenarios have been promoted vigorously despite the lack of any evidence to support them. For example, widely distributed videos have suggested that all four of the jetliner crashes were faked.

Science 9-11 focuses on propositions that elements 5, 7, and 8 are false -- that the buildings came down for reasons other than crash- and fire-induced stress.