|
While discussion and coverage of these theories is mainly confined to internet chat sites and conversation, a number of mainstream
news outlets around the world have covered the issue.
The Norwegian version of the July 2006 Le Monde diplomatique sparked interest when they ran, on their own initiative, a three
page main story on the 9/11 attacks and summarized the various types of 9/11 conspiracy theories (which were not specifically
endorsed by the newspaper, only recensed).The Voltaire Network, which has changed position since the September 11 attacks
and whose director, Thierry Meyssan, became a leading proponent of 9/11 conspiracy theory, explained that although the Norwegian
version of Le Monde diplomatique had allowed it to translate and publish this article on its website, the mother-house, in
France, categorically refused it this right, thus displaying an open debate between various national editions.In December
2006, the French version published an article by Alexander Cockburn, co-editor of CounterPunch, which strongly criticized
the endorsement of conspiracy theories by the US left-wing, alleging that it was a sign of "theoretical emptiness."
An article in the September 11 2006 edition of Time Magazine comments that the major 9/11 conspiracy theories “depend
on circumstantial evidence, facts without analysis or documentation, quotes taken out of context and the scattered testimony
of traumatized eyewitnesses”, and enjoy continued popularity due to the fact that “the idea that there is a malevolent
controlling force orchestrating global events is, in a perverse way, comforting”. It concludes that “conspiracy
theories are part of the process by which Americans deal with traumatic public events” and constitute “an American
form of national mourning.”
The Daily Telegraph published an article titled "The CIA couldn't have organised this..." which said "The same people who
are making a mess of Iraq were never so clever or devious that they could stage a complex assault on two narrow towers of
steel and glass" and "if there is a nefarious plot in all this bad planning, it is one improvised by a confederacy of dunces".
This article mainly attacked Scholars for 9/11 Truth, a group of scientists which was, at the time, led by Professor Steven
E. Jones. They said "most of them aren't scientists but instructors... at second-rate colleges".
A major Australian newspaper "The Daily Telegraph", published an article in May 2007 that was highly critical of Loose Change
2, a movie which presents a 9/11 conspiracy theory.
|
