September 11th, 2001, our nation saw evil. An ordinary morning where moms and dads dropped their kids off at school and went to their normal 9-5 day jobs ended up not ordinary at all. September 11th, 2001, two planes crashed into the World Trade Center; one plane crashed into the Pentagon and a fourth plane was overtaken by the passengers from the terrorist, known as Al-Qaeda, and crashed into the ground. We now remember this day as a day that terrorists struck us at home. Some might argue that Al-Qaeda was not the reason behind all this devastation and shock. They might blame it on President Bush and his team, or some might say it was not necessarily President Bush, but the contractors behind the construction of The World Trade Center who placed bombs underground strategically. The best solution for solving the 9/11 conspiracy theories is simple; the planes were seen by thousands of people, and it is almost impossible to prove otherwise.
Character Analysis
George Bush was a very philanthropic man. The definition of Philanthropic is as stated, “seeking to promote the welfare of others…” and George Bush was the perfect example of this (Hayes). He was prepared when he came into office, had being the vice president prior, he knew just what he needed to do to make America the best Nation he possibly could. On January 8th, 2002, he signed the No Child Left Behind Act into law (Feller). This created new expectations and standards for Americas’ Public schools that created tough corrective measures that schools had to face if they failed to meet them. This helped ensure that all kids would be given a better and more fair opportunity to learn and be successful in the future, which showed that Bush cared about the Nation’s future.
Despite others’ views on religion, Bush was seen as a religious individual. He attended St. Ann's Episcopal Church growing up with his mom dad and his 5 siblings (Churches Honor the Legacy…). Along with attending church regularly on Sunday mornings he pushed for “faith-based welfare” and socially conservative acts (Duignan). When the whole Nation turned to anger, Bush called for September 14th, 2001, to be a “National Day of Prayer” for those who were lost in 9/11 or hurt (President's Remarks at National…). Bush would put others before himself and when he needed to get to the point of a problem, he certainly didn’t procrastinate.
Overall, Bush was known as a leader. Even though some may blame him for planning 9/11, he was very giving to the nation and others, and he was not selfish about his wealth. He cared about kids and their future and went the extra step to ensure kids have equal opportunity. Bush also had strong religious beliefs and did a lot with his church growing up and continued as he served in office as the President of the United States.
Conspiracy Theories
Following in his father’s footsteps, President George W Bush was elected in 2001 and entered office that January. On September 11th, 2001, two planes crashed into the World Trade Center; one plane crashed into the Pentagon and a fourth plane was overtaken by the passengers from the terrorist, known as Al-Qaeda, and crashed into the ground. But who was AL Qaeda? Al Qaeda was a group founded by Osama Bin Laden and many other Arab volunteers during the Soviet-Afghan War in 1988 (“Al-Qaeda”). To this day, The United States is still involved in a war in Iraq because of what this mess created (Riedel). In 2011, Leader Osama Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan by the United States Navy SEALs team six (“Ex-Navy Seal Says He'd…”).
Did Osama Bin Laden plan the attack on the United States? Many people choose to venture out on their own and come up with situations that make the situation seem less vivid, such as blaming someone else for the problem like President Bush or blaming the construction company because the fact our military failed us is unbearable. For example, here are two major conspiracy theories on the attacks. Some blame it all on President Bush because he was new in office, so they say that he planned the whole thing (“How 9/11 Conspiracy Theories…”). Meanwhile, Others may say that President Bush was not capable of doing such a thing and that the construction company that built The World Trade Center knew it was coming and they strategically built the building to make it impossible to evacuate all the workers safely (Corbett).
George Bush let it happen. Conspiracy Theory number one states, “President Bush let it happen on purpose” (“How 9/11 Conspiracy Theories…”) also known as LIHOP. President George W Bush being so new in office he simply didn’t know how to stop the attack, so he let it happen. For Americans, it was too hard to accept the fact our military system had failed us and that coming up with a less vivid story could maybe somehow make them feel better. President Bush was so new in-office people turned on him and blamed him for the disaster. President Bush was not prepared to protect the country and he didn’t have experience, so it would make somewhat sense to blame him. Right? Not really… Although President Bush was a republican candidate, after this incident occurred “51 percent of Democrats believed that Bush was in charge and 18 percent of Republicans agreed that Bush was in charge” which is shocking (1). The fact that people who were once for Mr. Bush being president and turned on him had anything over 10 percent is astonishing. Even though people were blaming President Bush, and some people to this day still blame him, he continued to show he was trying (1).
Conspiracy theory number two is not necessarily about President Bush, but about the construction company. Maybe they liked President Bush and didn’t want to blame him but still felt the need to blame another occupation. There are claims that the construction company knew what was going to happen and they failed to build the building to the city’s code standards (Corbett). The Twin towers were established in 1973 and were located in New York City (“World Trade Center”). Each tower was 110 stories tall creating nearly “10 million square feet of office space” making it an essential workspace for many companies (1). Being this large, the buildings combined held about 430 companies with a combination of about 35 thousand people working there every day (1). Conspiracy theorists claim that the construction company built the buildings too big for the number of stairs they installed, making it impossible to evacuate all the workers safely (Corbett). “Providing only three stairwells in the center core of each tower, instead of six that would have been required under the code” made it impossible (1). In a normal situation, the elevators would have been working which made the building okay for evacuation without a fire, but because the building was collapsing and on fire, the elevators were out of service. Considering it only took the North Tower 1 hour and 43 minutes to collapse, “It would have taken at least 4 hours for everyone to get out, which was much longer than the buildings stood” (1).
In the end, you can do your research and find many crazy conspiracy theories on many different events, but what you choose to believe is your choice. Most of the conspiracy theories for the September 11th terrorists’ attacks such as ‘President Bush let it happen’ and ‘the construction company planned it’ has been debunked, although, that doesn’t stop a handful of conspiracy theorists from believing in it still. Conspiracy theories are defined as “a belief that some covert but influential organization is responsible for a circumstance or event” meaning it is just a belief that some choose to have (“Conspiracy Theory”). Not all people will come to even consider most conspiracy theories, especially one blaming The United States President, but “people who feel a degree of helplessness are more likely to believe in conspiracies” (“How 9/11 Conspiracy Theories…”). They claim that although it may not be true, that “making up come story, might make them feel better” about a situation that is too horrible to believe as true (1).
Conclusion
Looking back on the situation on the September 11th attacks, although some might blame it on President Bush or the contractors who built the building, that doesn’t necessarily mean it is true. Not all people will come to even consider most conspiracy theories, especially one blaming The United States President, but “people who feel a degree of helplessness are more likely to believe in conspiracies” (“How 9/11 Conspiracy Theories…”). President Bush was a very Philanthropic man and did many things to help others and he also was a very religious individual. After looking into the conspiracy theories, a little deeper, it is a little more obvious that the conspiracy theories about 9/11 are false. President Bush had no control over Al-Qaeda, and he had no way of stopping them. President Bush is still human, and no human being holds the power to control another country in what they do. Both conspiracy theories have been debunked, but if you choose to believe in them still, that is up to you. Also, many resources have live footage recorded of the planes colliding into each building, which eventually caused them to fall to the ground which proves there was an outside force attacking the United States (“How 9/11 Conspiracy Theories…”). We know who that outside force is, and it will have always been Osama Bin Laden and his group, Al-Qaeda. September 11th is now a day of prayer where we choose to remember those who passed and those who helped save others. We will never forget the devastation from that day and use it to make the United States stronger as a union.
Works Cited
"Al-Qaeda". Encyclopedia Britannica, 6 Feb. 2019, https://www.britannica.com/topic/al-Qaeda. Accessed 25 October 2021
“Churches Honor the Legacy of the Bush Family.” WGME, 13 WGME on Your Side, 1 Dec. 2018, https://wgme.com/news/local/churches-honor-the-legacy-of-the-bush-family
“Conspiracy Theory” The Oxford Classical Dictionary, by Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth, Oxford University Press, 200
Corbett, Glenn. “How the Design of the World Trade Center Claimed Lives on 9/11.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 10 Sept. 2018, https://www.history.com/news/world-trade-center-stairwell-design-9-11.
“Ex-Navy Seal Says He'd Save Americans in Afghanistan by Shooting 'Everyone I See'.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 21 Aug. 2021, www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/navy-seal-bin-laden-shooting-afghanistan-b1906639.html
Feller, Ben. “Analysis: Bush's Personality Shapes His Legacy.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 3 Jan. 2009, https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna28482517
Hayes, Adam. “What Is Philanthropy?” Investopedia, Investopedia, 2 Oct. 2021, https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/philanthropy.asp
“How 9/11 Conspiracy Theories Fueled the War on Reality”, Washington Post, 8 Sept. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=itBC228XSh4
“President's Remarks at National Day of Prayer and Remembrance.” The White House, National Archives and Records Administration, 14 Sept. 2001, https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010914-2.html
Riedel, Bruce. “9/11 And Iraq: The Making of a Tragedy.” Brookings, Brookings, 17 Sept. 2021, www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2021/09/17/9-11-and-iraq-the-making-of-a-tragedy/amp/
“September 11 Attacks.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 17 Feb. 2010, www.history.com/topics/21st-century/9-11-attacks
“World Trade Center.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 3 Dec. 2009, www.history.com/topics/landmarks/world-trade-center