Conspiracy theorists often take evidence of government cover-ups as proof that a conspiracy occurred. Sometimes a conspiracy may indeed have occurred, but often the cover-up was designed to hide not some grand conspiracy, but malfeasance, incompetence, or wrong-doing.
Clearly there's been a lot of lying regarding 9-11. To the 9-11 Truth movement, this is taken as decisive proof that Bush (or the CIA or the NSA or some combination thereof) planned and/or manufactured the 9-11 attacks. But that officials who were sworn to protect the United States and had bungled their foremost responsibility would lie to cover up their failures doesn't seem so surprising.
The Information Clearinghouse website posts much useful anti-war material, but also has a penchant for conspiracy articles, particularly relating to 9-11. So I was intrigued when I saw an article on their top page headlined, "Exposed: 9/11 Commission Warned About ‘Line’ It ’Should Not Cross’. The teaser to the article stated:
"Senior Bush administration officials sternly cautioned the 9/11 Commission against probing too deeply into the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, according to a document recently obtained by the ACLU."
I clicked to the full article, now headlined "Revealed: Ashcroft, Tenet, Rumsfeld warned 9/11 Commission about ‘line’ it ’should not cross’."
What, I wondered, was the line going to be that the Commission was not supposed to cross? Do not look into the placement of explosives in the World Trade Center? Do not investigate whether the North American Aerospace Defense Command had remotely taken over the controls of the hijacked planes and directed them to their targets? Don't ask questions about whether a missile struck the Pentagon?
No. Instead the Commission is told not to inquire into the treatment of prisoners post-9-11, specifically the use of torture. This is a revelation. It shows top officials trying to cover up their illegal and immoral use of torture in the "war on terror" that followed the September 11th attacks. But this revelation provides no support to the 9-11 Truth movement's conspiracy theories. Quite the contrary. It provides further evidence that the desire to hide monstrous conspiracies is not the only motive for cover-ups and lies by government officials.
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