Beep, beep, beep. I run out of the bathroom, as I was getting ready to head to work and pick up my cell phone.

Me: Hello?
My Friend: The World Trade Center has been hit by an aircraft.
Me: What!?!?!?! What are you talking about?
My Friend: Check the news on tv.
Hang up.

What then followed was a frightening account retold on the television sets across the world. The towers and the Pentagon was hit. Thousands hurt and dead. Dust and debris all over New York City by the WTC. The Pentagon with a whole on the side. People screaming in pain. Out of the debris the saviors walk their first steps towards becoming heros. The firefighters, the cops, the officials, the surviors, the victims and the citizens pulled together as a country, as a community, as one to rise above the hurt, pain and destruction. The one minute silent vigils, the half mast flags do not do justice to these brave individuals.

On the fifth year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, I find myself bombarded by new documentaries, articles and other sources of material. As I sift through these sources, I am confounded by the different conspiracy theories floating around. I understand this quest for the truth, as this was one incident that affected us all and sent ripples of shock across the world. But what is the truth? Do these theories hold value? Why do people choose to believe this?

Previously, I have never put much thought to these theories. This does not mean that I believed everything the government fed us, but I never before took the time to sit down are research these theories. Here’s a few I came across.

Theory 1: Thierry Meyssan wrote a book called, “The Big Lie” was a bestseller in Europe. It put forth the theory that the Pentagon was not hit by a plane but rather by a surface to air missile fired by the US government itself. In addition, he claims that jets that hit the WTC’s were empty of gas and were controlled by radio beacons from the ground. Supposedly, behind these acts were George W.Bush and other government officials.
This is a pretty popular theory that many are choosing to believe. I find this so hard to believe. A conspiracy/coverup this large would involve many individuals and the probability of keeping them all quiet is pretty slim to none.

Theory 2: Morgan O. Reynolds, former cheif economist appointed by Bush (quit in 2002) , believe that the M-16, the Mossad and our Government is responsible for the 9/11 attacks, which serveas a pre-text in leading to the Iraq invasion, which was the ultmate goal of Bush/Cheney.
I do believe that Bush and Cheney wanted Saddam out of Iraq, but I don’t believe that they would go to this extent to carry that out.

Theory 3: United Flight 93 never crashed in Shanksville, PA.
My question: If it did not, where are the passengers?

These are just a few of the theories floating around. The 9/11 review shows that we had sufficient intelligence and information, yet we failed to prevent this disaster from occurring on our own soil.

I suppose the pain of our failure is pushing us to question every action and pushing us to find the truth in all of this. I hope the quest for truth continues so we can once and for all put these theories to rest.

Take a minute today to recongnize and realize, what we as a community have lost and gained.