No place for 9/11 conspiracy theories
The unhinged love social media. You can be anonymous and free to spread bile.
If it’s an opinion, bring it on. The First Amendment is a right worth fighting for — except when it crosses the line.
Legal scholars say a person “cannot be held liable, either criminally or civilly for anything written or spoken about a person or topic, so long as it is truthful or based on an honest opinion and such statements.”
Truth, no matter how uncomfortable it can be sometimes, is undeniable.
But conspiracy theories — especially about the 9/11 attacks — should not be protected speech. We’ve just passed a solemn anniversary, and the hurt is real.
It’s not even worth repeating the varied conspiracy theories. Why give them any legitimacy? What we can do is keep digging for the truth.
The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were launched by al-Qaeda terrorists hellbent on destruction. They found holes in the aviation matrix and slaughtered nearly 3,000 people from all walks of life.
It wasn’t a conspiracy. It was an attack.
9/11 Families United, which serves thousands of families and survivors of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, are pushing the Biden administration to release secret documents they allege will expose ties to the attacks back to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
That’s not a conspiracy theory. It’s a push to obtain, once and for all, every investigative report showing who helped the hijackers pre-9/11.
That’s just hard work. It’s pushing the FBI and Department of Justice to drop any diplomatic deals to share with the American public what is known — or not known.
“We have watched year after year as the Saudis have thrown sand into the eyes of the 9/11 families and survivors and fought truth and transparency with the priciest lawyers, lobbyists and public relations firms that their oil money can buy,” the group said this week in a release.
They added: “The Kingdom is making aggressive arguments in federal court … and have also opposed production of their own documents, opposed the questioning of witnesses, and asked the court to foreclose us from seeking evidence from the FBI about its investigation of the Saudi government agents at all. In short, the Kingdom’s actions in federal court completely undercut its public claim to support transparency.”
That’s what the public should be focusing on. Seeking the truth not sharing ridiculous parlor game theories on what allowed what to happen.
The pain is real. Those families who lost loved ones on 9/11 — and others who must watch their firefighter and police family members suffer from cancer after being exposed to toxic fumes at Ground Zero — deserve our sympathy and solidarity.
It’s not too much to ask.
As we wrote in this space yesterday, on the 20th anniversary of the attacks, that day saw humanity at its worst and its best.
We the people had to do something, we had to help. Long lines stretched to donate blood at Red Cross and other blood banks thousands of miles from New York. Firefighters and rescue workers poured into the city from other states to assist with the Herculean efforts, and restaurants fired up the grills to provide free food to those working on the scene.
Why not rekindle that patriotism? Everybody enjoys a good murder mystery, but this isn’t one of them. Terrorists targeted our neighbors. Only the truth can put this to rest.