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]s of the documentary's proposal that a ] missile or a small ] may have been the cause of damage to the Pentagon, cite the nearly 100 documented accounts from witnesses on the scene <ref> 'It was a plane bomb,' Eric Bart, retrieved April, 2006</ref> who reported seeing a large ]. Some witnesses specifically noted seeing a 757, while only two witnesses, located some distance from the scene, reported seeing a small plane. ''Loose Change'', however, does not mention the large body of witness reports in support of a commercial jet. Not a single witness at the scene has ever reported seeing a missile. <ref>, 911research.wtc7.net, retrieved March 1, 2006</ref> ]s of the documentary's proposal that a ] missile or a small ] may have been the cause of damage to the Pentagon, cite the nearly 100 documented accounts from witnesses on the scene <ref> 'It was a plane bomb,' Eric Bart, retrieved April, 2006</ref> who reported seeing a large ]. Some witnesses specifically noted seeing a 757, while only two witnesses, located some distance from the scene, reported seeing a small plane. ''Loose Change'', however, does not mention the large body of witness reports in support of a commercial jet. Not a single witness at the scene has ever reported seeing a missile. <ref>, 911research.wtc7.net, retrieved March 1, 2006</ref>


Loose Change claims that the engines belonging to the plane that crashed into the Pentagon, made of steel and titanium alloys, could not have melted, because the burning temperature of kerosene in even a pure oxygen environment is below the melting point of titanium. Critics contend the melting point of titanium is irrelevant since the motors involve steel-titanium alloy rather than pure titanium, although Ti alloys melt at temperatures (1668&nbsp;°C) <ref></ref> significantly closer to titanium (1725&nbsp;°C) than to steel (1500&nbsp;°C). Loose Change claims that the engines belonging to the plane that crashed into the Pentagon, made of steel and titanium alloys, could not have melted, because the burning temperature of kerosene in even a pure oxygen environment is below the melting point of titanium. Critics contend the melting point of titanium is irrelevant since the motors involve steel-titanium alloy rather than pure titanium, although Ti alloys melt at temperatures (1668&nbsp;°C) <ref></ref> significantly closer to titanium (1725&nbsp;°C) than to steel but major questions still prevail. why did the roof not collapse immedately and why do the initial photographs not show the impact expected from american airline flight 77 (1500&nbsp;°C).


The group ] successfully obtained, from the ], video footage of the airliner striking the Pentagon taken from relevant, though quite distant, security cameras at the Pentagon on ]. On ] ] the group released videos from the two cameras on their website with hopes to "...put to rest the ] involving American Airlines Flight 77..." However, the producers of Loose Change claim that the videos released only bolster their claims that Flight 77 never hit the Pentagon. <ref> &ndash; Defense Department Releases September 11 Pentagon Video to Judicial Watch</ref> The group ] successfully obtained, from the ], video footage of the airliner striking the Pentagon taken from relevant, though quite distant, security cameras at the Pentagon on ]. On ] ] the group released videos from the two cameras on their website with hopes to "...put to rest the ] involving American Airlines Flight 77..." However, the producers of Loose Change claim that the videos released only bolster their claims that Flight 77 never hit the Pentagon. <ref> &ndash; Defense Department Releases September 11 Pentagon Video to Judicial Watch</ref>

Revision as of 23:28, 23 June 2006

File:Screening color.jpg
Flyer for a screening of the documentary

Loose Change is a documentary written and narrated by Dylan Avery which presents a rebuttal to the official version of events during the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks and the 9/11 Commission Report. It alleges that the attacks were not the result of terrorism but a series of cleverly executed events carried out by the US government. It was released through the creators' company, Louder than Words, and received wide attention after being featured on FOX News.

Format

Loose Change is 81 minutes long. The movie consists mostly of still photographs and news footage of events relating to 9-11, which are shown against hip-hop music, or soft melodic background music, while narrator (director Dylan Avery) makes various claims and observations. Video and still footage used includes considerable video content from CNN, NBC, and FOX News, as well as a number of other public domain sources. The film also uses clips from the Naudet Brothers 9/11, allegedly without their permission.

History

Financial backing for the project came in April 2005 from producers such as Phil Jayhan of letsroll911.org. Avery released the first edition of Loose Change with an initial press of 1,000 DVDs. Korey Rowe, a former soldier who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, joined the project in June 2005. Bermas also joined the team and together they released an updated second edition in November 2005.

The documentary is available for purchase and distribution through its official website. It can also be viewed for free online and downloaded at Google Video, where as for mid 2006 holds the first position in the top ranking of available videos.

According to Broadcast magazine, the film will have a special screening at the Houses of Parliament on June 14th, 2006. However, Michael Meacher, the British MP who had considered sponsoring the screening, has decided against it, although as of 3 June 2006, Dylan Avery's blog states that the screening is still planned as scheduled.

Content

The film is broken out into six sections:

"Timeframe"

  • Includes background information of Operation Northwoods, a plan put forward in the days of the Cuban Missile Crisis to switch out real commercial airliners with drone planes, and tests the effect of using them as weapons, all the while seeming to be an accident. It then brings to light certain events that could be evidence of this practice being used in the attacks of September 11, 2001.

"Pentagon"

  • Alleges that American Airlines Flight 77 could not have crashed into the Pentagon and that damage sustained to the building may have been caused by a cruise missile or a smaller military aircraft. It defends this by examining the size of the hole in the Pentagon caused by the crash, examining the lack of debris consistent to prior airliner crashes, and showing that certain pieces of debris are inconsistent in size or shape to the corresponding parts on that type of aircraft.

"World Trade Center"

  • Suggests that the actual collapses of the World Trade Centers 1, 2 and 7 were not triggered by the plane crashes but by a series of explosions within the buildings that were detonated shortly before each building collapsed, and supports this with eye witness reports from a janitor, firemen, and other people near the buildings who saw and heard things consistent with controlled demolitions; videotapes showing flashes in windows far below the burning floors prior to the collapse, and seismograph results recorded during the collapse compared to the collapse of other similar buildings. The movie also claims that all the buildings came down at free-fall speed and that, therefore, the official story that the buildings pancaked is impossible without breaking the laws of physics.

"Flight 93"

  • Suggests that United Airlines Flight 93 did not crash in rural Shanksville, Pennsylvania but actually landed safely at Cleveland Hopkins Airport where it was evacuated by government personnel into an unused NASA research center. Uses photographs and eye-witness reports of the crash site as evidence, suggesting that they show a lack of debris or severity of damage to site, a corresponding evacuation at Cleveland Hopkins Airport due to another hijacked plane and the corresponding reports, oddities in the transcripts of cell-phone calls supposedly placed from the plane during the hijacking, and the sighting of the tail number of Flight 93 on an aircraft in use at a later date.

"Oddities"

  • Asserts that cellular phone calls could not be made from American Airlines flights at the time of the crash. However, the video does not mention that many of the phone calls made from the hijacked aircraft – including calls that are quoted in the video – were made using the planes' installed GTE Airphones. The film cites as evidence a later system installed in American Airlines planes which allowed the reception of cellular signals within the planes. It questions why such a system would be needed if cellular transmissions were already possible within commercial airliners.
  • Suggests that cell phone calls from passengers and crew were faked by the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico using sophisticated voice-morphing technology and that the December 13, 2001 video of Osama Bin Laden admitting guilt was also faked.
  • Asserts that of the list of hijackers initially released by the government, many were not in the planes and were alive after September 11, 2001 and may even still be alive.

"Cui Bono"

  • Outlines possible motives for the attacks.
  • Alleges that Larry Silverstein stood to benefit significantly from the destruction of the towers from an extensive insurance policy.
  • Alleges that many investors engaged in insider trading with an apparent foreknowledge of the eventual destruction of the towers.
  • Alleges that millions of dollars in Kuwaiti gold bars were secretly transported away before the Twin Towers collapsed.

Legal problems

On May 26, 2006 a certified letter was sent to Dylan Avery regarding alleged copyright and trademark infringement resulting from French film makers, the Naudet brothers. The letter alleges that Avery used, "copyrighted images from the 9/11 Film," and also allege the images violate, "the Federal Lanham Trademark Act by suggesting that the Naudet brothers or Mr. Hanlon have endorsed or sponsored the controversial views in your film." The letter concludes: "Accordingly, we hereby demand that you confirm to us within three (3) business days of the receipt of this letter that you have removed all footage taken from our clients' 9/11 Film from your Loose Change Film, including from the version of your film that can be downloaded on the Internet, the DVD version of your film, and anywhere else you have used or are using our clients' footage."

Factual inaccuracies

Note: the "Loose Change Viewer Guide" is linked in this section because the errors it enumerates are too many to list here.

In the introduction to his "Loose Change Second Edition Viewer Guide," Mark Roberts states, "I counted 81 errors of fact (statements like 1+1 = 3). In addition, I counted 345 instances of conjecture not supported by evidence, logical fallacies, uses of images that do not support the conclusions being drawn, and other flubs. And that’s only counting errors of commission. The errors of omission are more serious."

For example, major omissions about the Pentagon attack include not mentioning that dozens of eyewitnesses state that they saw an American Airlines jet strike the Pentagon, that tons of Flight 77 debris was recovered there, along with numerous personal effects of passengers, and that all but one of flight 77's victims' remains were positively identified by forensics experts. No attempt is made in "Loose Change" to interview – or to present the findings of – the thousands of experts who were involved in the 9/11 investigations.

The "Loose Change Second Edition Viewer Guide" is available as a 146-page, 5 Mb .doc download , or as an HTML document. (Note: this guide is to be updated when the "Loose Change" creators resolve their copyright violation issues.)

The film states that New York's Empire State Building was hit by a B-52 in 1945. It was actually a B-25 Mitchell, an aircraft less than one-third the size of a B-52 (the B-52 was not in service in 1945). The authors have since acknowledged this error and apologized.

The movie cites a study in which cell phone calls were increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to get through up to and at an altitude of 32,000 ft (9 750 m). According to air traffic controllers in Cleveland, who alerted their counterparts at John P. Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County, Flight 93 headed south and then east and began a steady descent from an altitude of over 20,000 feet (6 100 m) to less than 6,000 feet (1 830 m).

The film states that 5 light posts were knocked over by Flight 77 and suggests that a plane hitting a single light pole would crash, citing the example of a Gulfstream II headed to Houston saying it crashed because it hit a light pole. The film suggests the pole ripped the wing off. In fact the Gulfstream II jet crashed and a TV reporter noted it had clipped a light pole while crashing. Light poles are designed to detach on impact to save lives if a car crashes into it.

Another possible flaw within the film is the suggestion of voice manipulation on Flight 93. While it is true that the technology does exist, it would seem that in order for voice manipulation technology to take place as Loose Change suggests, the voice needs to be recorded, not live. Flight 93 conversations were live. Although the above state voice modulation technology was touted as being able to recreate voices in almost "real time."

The film suggests that there is a rumour claiming $167 billion in gold was stored in vaults beneath the World Trade Center, and that only $200 million of that amount was recovered. This amount would have exceeded the entire amount of U.S. gold reserves by approximately $67 billion, and would be about 56% of the world's gold reserves in September, 2001. In fact, all of the approximately $230 million in precious metals stored in the vaults beneath the WTC was recovered.

The film focuses on the wrong type of engine for Flight 77. Bollyn, the reporter of American Free Press that Loose Changes uses, had contacted the factory in Indiana which makes engines for small planes like the Cessna Citation and Global Hawk, rather than the plant in Quebec that overhauls the 757 engines or the factory in Derby, England. Loose Change implies 757's only have Pratt & Whitney engines made of steel and titanium alloy. This is incorrect, because the engines used in Flight 77 are Rolls-Royce engines.

Criticisms

The film carries many of the features of a conspiracy theory. The viewer is often asked to draw his own conclusions based on selective evidence and quote mining.

Two different, detailed point-by-point critiques (Fisking) were prepared by 911research.wt7.net and an anonymous writer connected with ScrewLooseChange.com. ScrewLooseChange has also prepared a video version of Loose Change, subtitled with criticisms. The following points out the major disputes:

Pentagon crash

Loose Change has been criticized as disinformation even by some within the 9/11 Truth Movement, which disagrees with many aspects of the official version of events on 9/11/01. A primary concern of many in the movement is the promotion by documentaries such as Loose Change and In Plane Site, that a commercial jet did not hit the Pentagon.

Critics of the documentary's proposal that a cruise missile or a small aircraft may have been the cause of damage to the Pentagon, cite the nearly 100 documented accounts from witnesses on the scene who reported seeing a large airliner. Some witnesses specifically noted seeing a 757, while only two witnesses, located some distance from the scene, reported seeing a small plane. Loose Change, however, does not mention the large body of witness reports in support of a commercial jet. Not a single witness at the scene has ever reported seeing a missile.

Loose Change claims that the engines belonging to the plane that crashed into the Pentagon, made of steel and titanium alloys, could not have melted, because the burning temperature of kerosene in even a pure oxygen environment is below the melting point of titanium. Critics contend the melting point of titanium is irrelevant since the motors involve steel-titanium alloy rather than pure titanium, although Ti alloys melt at temperatures (1668 °C) significantly closer to titanium (1725 °C) than to steel but major questions still prevail. why did the roof not collapse immedately and why do the initial photographs not show the impact expected from american airline flight 77 (1500 °C).

The group Judicial Watch successfully obtained, from the Department of Defense, video footage of the airliner striking the Pentagon taken from relevant, though quite distant, security cameras at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. On May 16 2006 the group released videos from the two cameras on their website with hopes to "...put to rest the conspiracy theories involving American Airlines Flight 77..." However, the producers of Loose Change claim that the videos released only bolster their claims that Flight 77 never hit the Pentagon.

Chris Farrell, the Director of Investigations & Research at Judicial Watch, warned in an interview that his organization "could be the water carriers for a honey pot operation, in which the government attracts overwhelming attention to the Pentagon issue, making it the cornerstone of the 9/11 truth movement, and then blowing it out of the water by releasing clear footage of Flight 77." He stated, "Let's just call it a baited trap, it draws somebody into a situation in which they're compromised."

World Trade Center collapse

The documentary focuses on the combustion temperature of jet fuel (1517 °F / 825 °C) which is much lower than the melting point of steel (2777 °F / 1525 °C). This is true but irrelevant as it does not elaborate on the combustion temperatures of office equipment and open air flame which can be much higher. It also fails to note that "steel loses 50 percent of its strength at 1,200 degrees F ."

As temperatures rose in the buildings, the remaining core columns softened and buckled, shifting much of the burden to the building's exterior. The floors, which largely remained intact outside the impact zone, reacted by pulling the exterior columns inward, adding to the extreme stress on the exterior columns. In the north tower, as fires consumed office furniture and other debris, softening the steel in the exterior columns, they gradually started to bow inward and then buckle.

This buckling and the resulting floors falling could be heard as "secondary explosions" and "crashes" prior to the collapse. As the Twin Towers had strong outer shells and light weight trusses for floors, that would force the collapse inward as the towers were — structurally speaking — 95% air because of their open floor designs. It would allow the interior of the building to collapse first; so that debris and floors could fall inside the tower and blow out windows ahead of the exterior collapse. Sally Regenhard, founder of the Skyscraper Safety Campaign, has urged a reassessment of using trusses to create open floor designs; as she points out fire experts have a motto to "Never trust the truss" in a fire. The Twin Towers open floor design, greater height (wind and structural loads), their supporting columns and fireproofing being compromised by the initial impact; is significantly different from all the notable high-rise fires used as comparisons in the documentary.

Flight 93 landing

Loose Change suggests that Flight 93 landed in Cleveland instead of crashing or being shot down in Pennsylvania, and that passengers were subsequently secretly evacuated to an empty NASA research building. A number of members of the 9/11 Truth Movement, however, say that there is virtually no evidence for such a claim, and that many witnesses reported seeing and hearing the plane at the crash site.

In-flight cell phone systems

The documentary asserts cell phone calls could not be made from an airplane, and cites new cell systems being tested after 9/11 in planes as compelling evidence in support of that position. However, the video does not mention that many of the phone calls made from the hijacked aircraft – including calls that are quoted in the video – were made using the planes' installed GTE Airphones. Although cell phone calls are entirely possible at lower altitudes, it could cause interference with the airplane and ground based cell phone networks. The new in-flight systems allows phones to work over the ocean and at lower power levels as the signals are relayed using a satellite uplink; making interference far less likely. It also enables the flight crew to disable cell phones when necessary. This provides additional safety mechanisms and at the same time improves quality of reception.

Misplaced Pages as a source

Misplaced Pages was used as a source for some information. Critics allege that the use of Misplaced Pages is ill-fitting for a documentary as it is not totally reliable and easy to vandalize. However, the majority of the articles cited appear to be unvandalized and match the producers' claims of their content. One noteworthy exception is a passage in the World Trade Center article regarding the gold repository beneath the buildings. As of December 28 2005 the article matched the producers' claims, but the article has since been revised and the passage removed. Though subsequent revisions have edited the gold claims back in, they have generally been removed afterwards due to a lack of credible sources.

Parody

The parody site Loose Trains mocks the video and its methodology. Having combed through oral reports from 9/11, they highlight any mention of trains and present a crudely doctored photo, attributing the collapse to a conspiracy by the railroads. The anonymous author, tongue in cheek, describes himself as "A Seeker Of TRUTH!"

In other media

  • Samples from the Loose Change documentary can be heard in Ministry's song, LiesLiesLies, which can be found on the Rio Grande Blood record. A music video for this song has also been produced.

See also

References

  1. "Cease & Desist Letter". Retrieved 2006-05-29.
  2. "Loose Change 2nd Edition". Retrieved 2006-05-17.
  3. "Loose Change 2nd Edition". Google Video. Retrieved 2006-05-17.
  4. "Broadcast website's article excerpt from search for loose change". Retrieved 2006-05-30.
  5. "UKFilm.org". Retrieved 2006-05-30.
  6. loosechange911.blogspot.com Producer's website blog
  7. Loose Change ForumsResponse from Parliament regarding the showing.
  8. "9/11 conspiracy movie taken off the web - Copyright infringement alleged". The Independent. Retrieved 2006-06-09.
  9. A Sky Filled With Chaos, Uncertainty and True Heroism
  10. "Utility Poles - Description of Strategies". AASHTO/NCHRP Strategic Highway Safety Plan. Retrieved 2006-05-17.
  11. When Seeing and Hearing Isn't Believing
  12. 9-11 Loose Change Second Edition Viewer Guide
  13. "'Loose Change' An analysis", by Michael B. Green, 911research.wtc7.net, retrieved March 1, 2006
  14. Pentagon Attack Errors, 9-11 Review, retrieved March 1, 2006
  15. Why the No-757 Crowd is Making an Ass out of Itself, Joël van der Reijden, retrieved March 1, 2006
  16. The Pentagon attack: the "no plane" theories discredit 9/11 skepticism, oilempire.us, retrieved March 1, 2006
  17. Flight 77.info, retrieved March 29, 2006
  18. Pentagon eyewitnesses 'It was a plane bomb,' Eric Bart, retrieved April, 2006
  19. "Eyewitness Accounts Describe Jetliner Approaching Pentagon", 911research.wtc7.net, retrieved March 1, 2006
  20. Typical Properties of Titanium Alloys
  21. loosechange911.blogspot.com – Defense Department Releases September 11 Pentagon Video to Judicial Watch
  22. Judicial Watch Says More Pentagon Tapes To Come
  23. Shermer, Michael (2005). "Fahrenheit 2777". Scientific American. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  24. Lipton, Eric. (October 2004) FreeRepublic.com – Study Suggests Design Flaws Didn't Doom Towers
  25. SkyScraperSafety.org – Regenhard Calls for New High-Rise Codes and Code Group Composition. Fire Engineering Magazine (April 2002)
  26. "How Did United Flight 93 Crash?". August 1, 2003. Retrieved 2006-05-17.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  27. "The Crash of Flight 93". 9-11 Research. Retrieved 2006-05-17.
  28. "Eyewitness Reports". 9-11 Research. Retrieved 2006-05-17.
  29. PCWorld.com – In-Flight Cell Phone Systems Gain Altitude
  30. ConsumerAffairs.com – In-Flight Cell Phone System Survives Test Flight

External links

Commentary

Debunking

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