I vote we waterboard Dick Cheney to see if it really works on the evil doers like he claims

@Jspatz
Thanks for the link, it was hilarious. The "Single Point of Failure" theory of the collapse of Building 7 brought back fond memories of both the "Single Bullet Theory" and the destruction of the Death Star. I also enjoyed the footnoted article "Iron Burns!", from which I've quoted this most incendiary passage:

"For perspective, I found this children's educational webpage that further illustrates that "Professor Jones" (among the "9-11 Scholars") is an incompetent ignoramus because he ignores the scientifically provable (or disprovable) fact that Iron metal itself burns, and that when amassed in large piles can ignite fires (and can even melt itself). The article discusses child-safe experiments observing a very slow oxidation of iron (rusting at room temperature), but also mentions:

"Sometimes a big load of iron in a ship can get hot. The heat can even set other materials on fire. That’s because the iron is rusting, which means it is burning very, very slowly. Iron rusts in a chemical reaction called oxidation. That means the iron reacts with oxygen gas from the air. Oxidation is the chemical reaction that occurs when anything burns in air. Like most oxidations, rusting gives off heat."

@brianluce
The bottom line is that none of the major conspiracy theories (including the US government's assertions) have been able to stand up to much scrutiny. No matter which theory you choose, they each invoke multiple improbable coincidences and/or implausible collusions that raise more disturbing questions than they answer. That is why the Architects & Engineers are calling for a genuine investigation of the evidence.

I don't think that "government" is to blame for the horrors of 911 or the Wall Street meltdown. We are for being so stupid…they think they can get away with it…with anything. "Bend Over, Bow Down, Bow Wow"

In each of us is a desire for MORE. And if not checked that desire becomes NEED. And the need for more can never be satisfied. More stuff, more wealth, more power. Those who allow themselves to carry on in such a way are far more numbered than your basic criminal that gets caught. But those who CHOOSE to be better than that are rising indeed…everywhere. And we've recently been enabled to communicate with others around the world and so will continue to do so on many fronts.

No more "Evil Empire" - Pavel Bure joined the Canucks! And did a helluva job. As did other athletes and artists who used to "defect" and now just move around like the rest of the "free world". And that was some time ago but that's okay because somethings take more time than others and that's what time is for, is it not? To go through this and that and hopefully learn from it, and the times of it.

Sept 11 was a wake up call for many. I remember thinking- why'd it take so long?

"U.S. out of El Salvador!", we chanted. And leave Nicaragua alone, god dam it, and why'd the CIA kill Allende and you Americans are at war against … (fill in the blanks) Why didn't any of them hit back?

That's the thing about the States, they're always at war against something or someone. Pick your year- who's on the shit list. Get 'em! War on drugs, is a good one. War on poverty. War on crime. War on… yeah whatever.

But what's happening now is far more serious. TRUST. Do we trust them, whoever them may be? Someone with a badge and silly hat? Should you trust your teacher or friend or politician going blah blah?

Now I ain't a violent man but the idea of waterboarding Cheney kinda makes me giddy. If he thinks it works, well gosh golly who am I to get in the way of the master know it all? Let's hear what he knows. And if anyone can do that…I'd trust him with my sister. Well…maybe

Can I just point out that the official causes of the incident are actually a conspiracy theory, the conspirators in this being a group known as Al Qaida. The US Govt. are conspiracy theorists.

Also, let's stop pretending it was the biggest disaster that ever befell the earth. This just smacks of racism. A few hundred mostly white Americans dying is a horrible disaster, of course, but nothing that doesn't happen in poorer countries on a weekly if not daily basis, from poverty and war, not helped by the greedy corporate structures put in place by the western powers, and especially the US Govt. since WW2, nor by the US/UK military machines and again, their corporate agenda.

I certainly do think that WTC7 was demolished by pre-installed explosives. My chief suspect is the American secret services, principally the CIA. I think that false flag operations are something they are expert in, having used them to start many wars over the years.

Why isn't ripping the front of building 7 top to bottom enough to cause collapse? That explanation satisfied the experts. how come no one here? Btw, any structural engineers here? I noticed the socalled expert for the conspiracy theorists is a demolition guy, those guys have nicknames like "Blast" and aren't typically engineers.

You're suggesting the American government planned a coordinated attack in unison with 15 islamic fundamentalists with a deep, abiding hatred for the West. That's not a credible theory. Logistically a near impossibility, ideologically impossible. Bin Laden, I'm sure, was not texting Dick Cheney regarding mission status updates.

@Lucas, it's a big disaster as it precipitated events that cost the lives of over 100,000 Iraqis and committed trillions of dollars in world treasure to a couple of stupid wars. It's not just about the "White People" who died on Sept 11.

@LPowell
Have you given a fair shake to the engineers who say Tower 7 collapsed as a result of the front being gouged out? Do you feel qualified to assess? I have no idea how it was designed and/or how it might be expected to collapse. Certainly precision demolition could cause such a uniform collapse, but perhaps there are other explanations, I've seen garages and houses pancake and collapse under fire loads, so I don't find it completely unintuitive that something larger could do likewise. But for sure, I'm not qualified to assess.

There are some fishy things in the video, for example the FDNY's alleged complicity in the alleged demolition. That's really a load, Fireman have the biggest mouths in the world and know where to find mics. FDNY was hit hard, 350 guys died, they wouldn't sit on the hands if they knew something.

@LPowell
"Do skyscapers built over the past decades actually harbor the potential to abruptly collapse like pancakes in a manner that to date, has occurred only on 9-11-01? If so, I don't understand why this completely unanticipated failure of architectural engineering practice has not resulted in industry-wide reevaluations of the safety and reliability of skyscapers across the planet."

Again, I'm no architect or engy, but I do have a fair amount of exposure to building and fire codes, statutes that are fairly standardized nationwide. To my knowledge, the structural members holding up hi rise buildings just have coatings of sprayed lightweight concrete and offer little protection against heat. For a firefighter, working off a roof supported by heavy timber is always preferable to anything involving steel -- obviously you can't make a hi rise with wooden structural members because of the crazy spans and tolerances. Steel is awesome for building in some ways, in other ways not so much. And there's an obviou$ reason the hi rise codes are written with minimal attention to insulating $tructural supports. They try and compensate for it with sprinkler requirements -- which of course are useless if pitted against thousands of pounds of burning jet fuel.

@LPowell
I find it hard to believe the office fires ignited in that building would have challenged the 2000F-degree thermal rating of its structural steel supports:
..........................

Don't forget, it was weakened by the collapse of WTC so perhaps the threshold might be different. 2000F hmmmm I don't know, I was actually at this one, years ago and it was purely building contents and no accelerants. The fire intensity and volume were staggering. It's anecdotal but pancaking was one of the biggest concerns. I wouldn't have thought office furniture and carpet could create that much heat, but it did. We went back a few days later and the fire floors were nearly empty -- so complete was the combustion. Like an incinerator.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Interstate_Tower_fire

Nylons and wools in carpets ignite at about 550 to 600 degrees centigrade, about 1112 degrees F. At that temperature, structural steel would lose 40 to 50% of its strength. Coupled with ground shaking from the WTC collapses, plus physical damage from the collapse of the skyscrapers and uncontrolled fires, it shouldn't be any surprise that Building Seven collapsed as well. It wasn't any one cause, but it's apparent to me that multiple factors were involved. Had it only been one factor (a fire), I doubt the building would have collapsed; indeed, firefighters probably would have been able to put out a fire.