.gif)
Loose Change (video)
Encyclopedia
Loose Change is a series of films released between 2005 and 2009 which argue that the September 11, 2001 attacks were planned and conducted by elements within the United States government
, and base the claims on perceived anomalies in the historical record of the attacks. The films were written and directed by Dylan Avery
, and produced by Korey Rowe
, Jason Bermas
and Matthew Brown
.
The original 2005 film was edited and re-released as Loose Change: 2nd Edition (2006), and then subsequently edited a third time for the 2nd Edition Recut (2007), each time to tighten the focus on certain key areas and to correct some inaccurate claims and remove copyrighted material. Loose Change: Final Cut, deemed "the third and final release of this documentary series" was released on DVD and Web-streaming format on November 11, 2007.
Another version of the film, Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup, released on September 22, 2009, is narrated by Daniel Sunjata
and distributed by Microcinema International
.
Coverage for the film increased in 2006 with the recut release having airings on U.S. and European television stations and over 4 million views online in four months, leading Vanity Fair to say it could be the first internet
blockbuster. Loose Change puts the 9/11 attacks within a context of a false flag
operation and goes on to question the plausibility of the Pentagon attack, World Trade Center collapse and United 93 phone calls and crash. The film's main claims have been controverted by journalists, independent and 9/11 Truth researchers, and prominent members of the scientific and engineering community.
that the attacks were orchestrated by members of the United States government, and started working on a non-fiction version.
In April 2005, the first edition of Loose Change was made available for free on the Internet and was given a limited DVD release with 50,000 sold and 100,000 given away. It cost around $8,000 to make and was made primarily on Avery's laptop computer, featuring a distinctive soundtrack produced by DJ Skooly. Avery's childhood friend, Korey Rowe, left the service of the United States Army in June 2005 to assist with the marketing of the movie. Soon after Avery decided that "there was new information that needed to be added and improvements made", and so began creating Loose Change: 2nd Edition. Korey Rowe assumed the role of producer, and Jason Bermas, a graphic designer, worked as production assistant. This edition cost around $6,000. It was originally released in December 2005, but was re-released in June 2006 as Loose Change: 2nd Edition Recut. Before the release of this edition, Avery, Rowe and Bermas set up an independent movie
production company called Louder than Words, an organization that identifies with the 9/11 Truth Movement
. In April 2009 the rights to Loose Change were bought by Microcinema International DVD.
In August 2006, Korey Rowe was featured in an article admitting to the inaccuracy found in Loose Change, such as inaccurately stating a B-52 flew into the Empire State Building
(it was actually a B-25 in the 1940s). "We don't ever come out and say that everything we say is 100 percent. We know there are errors in the documentary, and we've actually left them in there so that people discredit us and do the research for themselves." In 2007 there was speculation that media entrepreneur Mark Cuban
would distribute Loose Change, and that Charlie Sheen
would narrate.
The third edition of the movie, Loose Change Final Cut, was released in November 2007. According to the Loose Change website, this edition "is substantially different from Loose Change and Loose Change 2nd Edition Recut in the way it presents the information surrounding 9/11/2001. However, it remains true to the spirit that has made Loose Change what it is today." Professor David Ray Griffin
was brought on as script consultant, and radio host
Alex Jones
and Tim Sparke of Mercury Media served as executive producers. Due to an estimated cost of $200,000, this version is the first not to be available for free online, although it is in fact available for free on Google Video and YouTube in a lower quality version. This edition is also substantially longer than previous versions, at over 2 hours in length.
Director Dylan Avery
and producers Korey Rowe
and Matthew Brown
released a new film through their production company, Collective Minds Media Company, entitled Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup on September 22, 2009. The film is distributed by Microcinema International
. It is narrated by Daniel Sunjata
, and explores historical events leading to 9/11 and its aftermath. It was financed by Joel Bachar and Patrick Kwiatkowski of Microcinema International, and its world premiere was on September 9, 2009 at the 9/11 Film Festival at the Grand Lake Theater
.
.jpg)
Loose Change 2nd Edition Recut (2006) opens with a brief description of past suspicious and questionable motives in the history of American government. This discussion includes mention of Operation Northwoods
, a plan put forward during the Cuban Missile Crisis
in 1962 to create and utilize bogus terrorist attacks against the United States which were to be blamed on Cuba
as a pretext for invasion of the country. Focus is particularly directed at the previously proposed plans to substitute real commercial airliners with pilotless drone aircraft in order to investigate the plausibility of covertly using them as weapons whilst maintaining the cover of an accident.
Attention is also given to the Project for the New American Century
, a neo-conservative think-tank which released a report in 2000 titled "Rebuilding America's Defenses". In particular the film points out a line from that report which states:
It also highlights the fact that during the same year the report was released the Pentagon conducted the first of two training exercises which simulated a Boeing 757
crashing into the building. There is also mention that from September 6 to September 10 an unusual amount of put option
s were placed on the stock of American Airlines, Boeing and United Airlines.
This is followed by an examination of the attacks on the Pentagon. The film opposes the official story of Flight 77
hitting the Pentagon, alleging that the path of destruction does not match that which a 757 would leave. In particular it points out the size of the hole in the Pentagon caused by the crash, examining a lack of debris and landscape damage seemingly inconsistent with prior airliner crashes. It is also alleged that too few parts were recovered from the crash site to reliably ascertain that they were of a Boeing 757 and that certain flywheel observed at the site seemed too small to have been part of the aircraft's engine turbine. The wheel was officially declared to have been part of the APU
but disputed by some experts as not to have come from the APU of a 757 but likely from an E-3 Sentry
aircraft. It is also claimed that the alleged hijacker-pilot Hani Hanjour
had difficulty performing basic controls on a small Cessna
at a flight school where he rented, and that perhaps not even an experienced pilot could have maneuvered the reflex angle of turn at the airspeed and altitude at which the aircraft approached without going into a high speed stall
. Mention is also given to three cameras on nearby buildings that allegedly caught the entire incident at the Pentagon on film, which the government confiscated and has refused to release in full.
The next section focuses on the destruction of the World Trade Center itself. The film comes out in favor of the controlled demolition theory
of the destruction of World Trade Centers 1, 2 and 7. Cited as evidence are eyewitness reports from a janitor, firemen, and other people near the buildings who heard bangs, many of them describing them as explosions as well as videotapes showing windows far below the burning floors blow out during the collapse and seismograph results recorded during the collapse compared to the collapse of other similar buildings. The film claims that WTC 1, 2 and 7 were the first steel frame buildings in history to collapse due to fire. Another allegation centers on an audio recording in which it is claimed two distinct explosions can be heard at the time of the impact. The film also posits that the official story of the collapse ignores the laws of physics.
In particular, the video alleges that the fires inside the twin towers were not hot enough to bring the buildings down. An audio tape is presented in which the Captain of Ladder 7 claims that the fires can be brought under control by two lines and it is mentioned that building 7
had taken only minor damage before its own collapse. These allegations follow a listing of buildings that burned longer than the Twin Towers and did not fall.
For Flight 93
, the video ignores the more mainstream theory of the plane being crashed by passengers to instead allege it was landed safely at Cleveland Hopkins Airport where it was evacuated by government personnel into an unused NASA research center
. Evidence cited included photographs and eyewitness reports of the crash site as evidence, media reports of a corresponding and bizarre evacuation at Cleveland Hopkins Airport, 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.
This is then followed by a more miscellaneous listing of allegations. It is claimed that cell phone calls could not be made from American Airlines flights at the time of the crash, asking why American Airlines had to install a system in their own airplanes to allow the reception of cellular signals within the planes if they could do this regardless on September 11. It is suggested that the calls from passengers and crew were faked using sophisticated voice-morphing technology developed by the Los Alamos National Laboratory
in New Mexico and that the December 13, 2001 video of Osama Bin Laden
claiming responsibility for the attacks was also faked, featuring what appeared to be an overweight lookalike version of Bin Laden. Finally it is alleged that of the list of hijackers initially released by the government, many were not in the planes and therefore survived September 11, 2001 and may even be alive today.
In the end, the film gives financial motives for people who would have benefited from launching the attacks themselves. Mention is first made of Larry Silverstein
, who stood to receive a substantial insurance payout after the attacks due to a specific anti-terrorism clause. Other allegations of insider trading and Halliburton
's benefiting from the subsequent launch of America's "War on Terror
" are made.
and other urban style music. Avery does not appear in the video itself, though is shown in the bonus features. Video and still footage used includes considerable video content from CNN
, MSNBC
NBC
, and Fox News Channel
, as well as a number of other sources. The end of the film shows a clip from The American Scholar's Symposium that was aired on C-Span
on June 25, 2006 at the Sheraton Hotel in Los Angeles. Jason Bermas, wearing the signature "Investigate 9/11" t-shirt that he designed, is describing their plans to peacefully demonstrate at Ground Zero
on September 11, 2006.
, there were significant revisions between the particular theories that different editions posited. For example:
On May 26, 2006, a letter was sent to Dylan Avery regarding copyright and trademark infringement
in Loose Change 2nd Edition resulting from the use of footage from French filmmakers the Naudet brothers
. The letter states that Avery used copyrighted images from the film 9/11
and that those images violate the Lanham 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." Dylan Avery announced that the recut version of the 2nd edition would omit some of the infringing material.
Station RTP
aired Loose Change in prime time hours. RTP aired it again on 2:
for September 17, 2006. FreeLooseChange is an initiative in Berlin, Germany. One-hundred shops, galleries, theatres and a daily newspaper office so far distributed 50,000 free DVDs featuring the documentaries Loose Change and Terrorstorm by Alex Jones in German language
versions.
An August 2006 Vanity Fair
article suggested that Loose Change "just might be the first Internet blockbuster." Millions more have viewed the film via unaffiliated websites. More than one million copies of the DVD have been sold, and many more have been given away.
The film has been broadcast on state media outlets in Belgium, Ireland and Portugal. According to Broadcast magazine
, the video was to have a special screening at the UK Houses of Parliament on June 14, 2006. Michael Meacher
, the British MP
who had considered sponsoring the screening, decided against it. On September 11, 2006, Dylan Avery and Jason Bermas appeared on Democracy Now!
the War and Peace Report, to debate with James Meigs and David Dunbar, two of the editors of Popular Mechanics
and the book Debunking 9/11 Myths
.
have spoken out against the film's claims about the September 11 attacks.
Loose Change has been subject to criticism from a variety of different sources. In March 2007, the United States Department of State
published an article called "Loose Change Debunked" in which it says that the movie makes "sloppy mistakes". The article is highly critical of the evidence cited to support the claim that Flight 77 did not hit the Pentagon, and it criticizes the controlled demolition
hypothesis of the World Trade Center claiming that "Demolition professionals say controlled demolition of the Towers that day would have been impossible." The article goes on to say:
It goes on to note that Loose Change has also been criticized by other members of the 9/11 Truth Movement, referring specifically to the critique Sifting Through Loose Change. Michael Green, a member of the 9/11 Truth Movement, has analyzed the film and is critical of many of its claims and methods. Several independent researchers have also written critiques of the film. The Loose Change Guide, created by Mark Roberts, features the whole transcript of the show, along with his comments and criticisms. Roberts also compiled a lengthy selection of interview quotes in which the Loose Change creators elaborate on the claims made in the film.
In May 2006, the blog Screw Loose Change was created to criticize the claims in the film. In collaboration with the creators of the blog and drawing upon the work of Mark Roberts, an edited version of Loose Change which was created with subtitled criticisms. Another analysis of the film has been created by the Internet Detectives. Many of the critiques argue that Loose Change quote mines, uses unreliable or out-of-date sources, and cherry-picks evidence to claim that there are serious problems with official accounts of the events of September 11.
One of the many aspects focused on by these critiques is Loose Change's analysis of the collapse of the World Trade Center
. The comparison to other notable high-rise fires which did not lead to collapse ignores differences in building design
, significant WTC structural damage and compromised fireproofing; as most steel loses over half its strength at 600°C (1112°F). The comparison with Madrid's Windsor Tower
fails to note its steel-supported perimeter floors that collapsed during the fire. Kevin Ryan, described by Loose Change as working for Underwriters Laboratories
(UL), was actually employed in a water-testing subsidiary. Furthermore, UL does not certify structural steel
, and ASTM E119 certification is not meant to predict performance in real uncontrolled fires. The NIST found no evidence of any firm having conducted tests on WTC materials in the past. Another expert quoted, Van Romero, has clarified that he was misquoted by the Albuquerque Journal
; he had actually said that it "looked like" explosives took down the WTC. When the misquote was printed, he felt his "scientific reputation was on the line."
On September 11, 2006, the public-TV network program Democracy Now! broadcast a discussion between two Loose Change creators and two editors from Popular Mechanics, where they debated at considerable length various aspects of the documentary. Jason Bermas claimed United Flight 93 did not crash into the field, and classified Popular Mechanics as a publication in the spirit of Hearst's yellow journalism. "There’s no plane in this open field at all. There’s a ten-foot crater by 16-foot, and there’s just smoke there. So where is this plane?" The opposing argument, also citing specifics, was equally emphatic. Matt Taibbi
of Rolling Stone
wrote that the 9/11 Truth Movement: "gives supporters of Bush an excuse to dismiss critics of this administration
."
George Monbiot
, political activist and columnist for the Guardian, wrote an article on the improbability of the conspiracies cited in Loose Change, and then wrote a follow-up article in response to negative comments from some of his readers. On SModcast, Kevin Smith
discussed Loose Change and other conspiracy videos about aliens and various things. However, he maintains that he enjoys the film purely as entertainment, and does not believe or agree with the theories presented in the film. Popular satirical site, The Best Page in the Universe
, parodied the movie with a short video "Unfastened Coins", which "exposed" a Titanic-sinking conspiracy, and an article mocking the logic of conspiracy theories in the film. The History Channel aired a two-hour episode on August 20, 2007, entitled "The 9/11 Conspiracies: Fact or Fiction?" featuring interviews with the creators of Loose Change.
In Britain, BBC
's documentary television show The Conspiracy Files
aired two documentaries focused on 9/11 and the conspiracy theories surrounding the collapse of WTC7. Several claims made by Loose Change were investigated and specifically rejected. Dylan Avery was interviewed for the program, which cast him in a negative light.
s fourth season is a mockumentary
called The Oceanic Six: A Conspiracy of Lies. Edited in a manner similar to Loose Change, this faux documentary attempts to expose the truth behind the official story presented by six characters who survived the crash of Oceanic flight 815. Expert testimony is used to argue that the wreckage found of Oceanic Flight 815 is not the real plane and that the "Oceanic Six" are involved in a vast cover up.
Criticism
Media Coverage
9/11 conspiracy theories
9/11 conspiracy theories are theories that disagree with the widely accepted account that the September 11 attacks were perpetrated solely by al-Qaeda. These theories arose because of what proponents of the conspiracy theories believe to be inconsistencies in the official conclusions or some...
, and base the claims on perceived anomalies in the historical record of the attacks. The films were written and directed by Dylan Avery
Dylan Avery
Dylan Avery is the writer, director, and editor of the Loose Change films. He is from Oneonta, New York, and currently lives in San Diego, California. After being denied admission twice by Purchase College's film school, Avery planned to make a fictional thriller about a group of friends who...
, and produced by Korey Rowe
Korey Rowe
Korey Rowe is a producer of Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup, a film by Dylan Avery. Rowe was born in Oneonta, New York and currently lives in upstate New York. He is a former US soldier who served six months in Kandahar, Afghanistan and one year in Kuwait and Iraq...
, Jason Bermas
Jason Bermas
Jason Bermas was born July 24, 1979 in Hollywood, Florida. He studied at SUNY Oneonta located in Oneonta, NY, where he currently lives. Bermas is also a filmmaker, and has played a large role in the creation of many controversial films such as Fabled Enemies, Loose Change, and Invisible Empire.-...
and Matthew Brown
Matthew Brown (entrepreneur)
Matthew Brown is an American entrepreneur, film and television producer, and founder of The Frankfurt Group & Holdings, a conglomerate entertainment holding company specializing in film finance, production, and distribution...
.
The original 2005 film was edited and re-released as Loose Change: 2nd Edition (2006), and then subsequently edited a third time for the 2nd Edition Recut (2007), each time to tighten the focus on certain key areas and to correct some inaccurate claims and remove copyrighted material. Loose Change: Final Cut, deemed "the third and final release of this documentary series" was released on DVD and Web-streaming format on November 11, 2007.
Another version of the film, Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup, released on September 22, 2009, is narrated by Daniel Sunjata
Daniel Sunjata
Daniel Sunjata is an American actor who performs in film, television and in the theater.-Career:...
and distributed by Microcinema International
Microcinema International
Microcinema International is one of the world's largest independent production distributors founded by Patrick Kwiatkowski and Joel S. Bachar. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California, but has offices in Houston, Texas and one under construction in London, England...
.
Coverage for the film increased in 2006 with the recut release having airings on U.S. and European television stations and over 4 million views online in four months, leading Vanity Fair to say it could be the first internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
blockbuster. Loose Change puts the 9/11 attacks within a context of a false flag
False flag
False flag operations are covert operations designed to deceive the public in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by other entities. The name is derived from the military concept of flying false colors; that is flying the flag of a country other than one's own...
operation and goes on to question the plausibility of the Pentagon attack, World Trade Center collapse and United 93 phone calls and crash. The film's main claims have been controverted by journalists, independent and 9/11 Truth researchers, and prominent members of the scientific and engineering community.
History
In May 2003, when researching for a fictional screenplay based on the 9/11 attacks, writer Dylan Avery felt there was enough evidence to support the 9/11 conspiracy theories9/11 conspiracy theories
9/11 conspiracy theories are theories that disagree with the widely accepted account that the September 11 attacks were perpetrated solely by al-Qaeda. These theories arose because of what proponents of the conspiracy theories believe to be inconsistencies in the official conclusions or some...
that the attacks were orchestrated by members of the United States government, and started working on a non-fiction version.
In April 2005, the first edition of Loose Change was made available for free on the Internet and was given a limited DVD release with 50,000 sold and 100,000 given away. It cost around $8,000 to make and was made primarily on Avery's laptop computer, featuring a distinctive soundtrack produced by DJ Skooly. Avery's childhood friend, Korey Rowe, left the service of the United States Army in June 2005 to assist with the marketing of the movie. Soon after Avery decided that "there was new information that needed to be added and improvements made", and so began creating Loose Change: 2nd Edition. Korey Rowe assumed the role of producer, and Jason Bermas, a graphic designer, worked as production assistant. This edition cost around $6,000. It was originally released in December 2005, but was re-released in June 2006 as Loose Change: 2nd Edition Recut. Before the release of this edition, Avery, Rowe and Bermas set up an independent movie
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
production company called Louder than Words, an organization that identifies with the 9/11 Truth Movement
9/11 Truth Movement
9/11 Truth movement is a collective name for loosely affiliated organizations and individuals who question the accepted account of the September 11, 2001, attacks....
. In April 2009 the rights to Loose Change were bought by Microcinema International DVD.
In August 2006, Korey Rowe was featured in an article admitting to the inaccuracy found in Loose Change, such as inaccurately stating a B-52 flew into the Empire State Building
Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a 102-story landmark skyscraper and American cultural icon in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet , and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 ft high. Its name is derived...
(it was actually a B-25 in the 1940s). "We don't ever come out and say that everything we say is 100 percent. We know there are errors in the documentary, and we've actually left them in there so that people discredit us and do the research for themselves." In 2007 there was speculation that media entrepreneur Mark Cuban
Mark Cuban
Mark Cuban is an American business magnate and investor. He is the owner of the National Basketball Association's Dallas Mavericks, Landmark Theatres, and Magnolia Pictures, and the chairman of the HDTV cable network HDNet....
would distribute Loose Change, and that Charlie Sheen
Charlie Sheen
Carlos Irwin Estevez , better known by his stage name Charlie Sheen, is an American film and television actor. He is the youngest son of actor Martin Sheen....
would narrate.
The third edition of the movie, Loose Change Final Cut, was released in November 2007. According to the Loose Change website, this edition "is substantially different from Loose Change and Loose Change 2nd Edition Recut in the way it presents the information surrounding 9/11/2001. However, it remains true to the spirit that has made Loose Change what it is today." Professor David Ray Griffin
David Ray Griffin
David Ray Griffin is a retired American professor of philosophy of religion and theology. Along with John B. Cobb, Jr., he founded the Center for Process Studies in 1973, a research center of Claremont School of Theology which seeks to promote the common good by means of the relational approach...
was brought on as script consultant, and radio host
Radio programming
Radio programming is the Broadcast programming of a Radio format or content that is organized for Commercial broadcasting and Public broadcasting radio stations....
Alex Jones
Alex Jones (radio)
Alexander Emerick "Alex" Jones is an American talk radio host, actor and filmmaker. His syndicated news/talk show The Alex Jones Show, based in Austin, Texas, airs via the Genesis Communication Network over 60 AM, FM, and shortwave radio stations across the United States and on the Internet...
and Tim Sparke of Mercury Media served as executive producers. Due to an estimated cost of $200,000, this version is the first not to be available for free online, although it is in fact available for free on Google Video and YouTube in a lower quality version. This edition is also substantially longer than previous versions, at over 2 hours in length.
Director Dylan Avery
Dylan Avery
Dylan Avery is the writer, director, and editor of the Loose Change films. He is from Oneonta, New York, and currently lives in San Diego, California. After being denied admission twice by Purchase College's film school, Avery planned to make a fictional thriller about a group of friends who...
and producers Korey Rowe
Korey Rowe
Korey Rowe is a producer of Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup, a film by Dylan Avery. Rowe was born in Oneonta, New York and currently lives in upstate New York. He is a former US soldier who served six months in Kandahar, Afghanistan and one year in Kuwait and Iraq...
and Matthew Brown
Matthew Brown (entrepreneur)
Matthew Brown is an American entrepreneur, film and television producer, and founder of The Frankfurt Group & Holdings, a conglomerate entertainment holding company specializing in film finance, production, and distribution...
released a new film through their production company, Collective Minds Media Company, entitled Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup on September 22, 2009. The film is distributed by Microcinema International
Microcinema International
Microcinema International is one of the world's largest independent production distributors founded by Patrick Kwiatkowski and Joel S. Bachar. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California, but has offices in Houston, Texas and one under construction in London, England...
. It is narrated by Daniel Sunjata
Daniel Sunjata
Daniel Sunjata is an American actor who performs in film, television and in the theater.-Career:...
, and explores historical events leading to 9/11 and its aftermath. It was financed by Joel Bachar and Patrick Kwiatkowski of Microcinema International, and its world premiere was on September 9, 2009 at the 9/11 Film Festival at the Grand Lake Theater
Grand Lake Theater
The Grand Lake Theater is a historical movie palace located at 3200 Grand Avenue and Lake Park Avenue in the Grand Lake neighborhood of Oakland, California in the United States of America.-History:...
.
Recut contents
Operation Northwoods
Operation Northwoods was a series of false-flag proposals that originated within the United States government in 1962. The proposals called for the Central Intelligence Agency , or other operatives, to commit acts of terrorism in U.S. cities and elsewhere...
, a plan put forward during the Cuban Missile Crisis
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation among the Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States in October 1962, during the Cold War...
in 1962 to create and utilize bogus terrorist attacks against the United States which were to be blamed on Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
as a pretext for invasion of the country. Focus is particularly directed at the previously proposed plans to substitute real commercial airliners with pilotless drone aircraft in order to investigate the plausibility of covertly using them as weapons whilst maintaining the cover of an accident.
Attention is also given to the Project for the New American Century
Project for the New American Century
The Project for the New American Century was an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. that lasted from 1997 to 2006. It was co-founded as a non-profit educational organization by neoconservatives William Kristol and Robert Kagan...
, a neo-conservative think-tank which released a report in 2000 titled "Rebuilding America's Defenses". In particular the film points out a line from that report which states:
"The process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor."
– Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
It also highlights the fact that during the same year the report was released the Pentagon conducted the first of two training exercises which simulated a Boeing 757
Boeing 757
The Boeing 757 is a mid-size, narrow-body twin-engine jet airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Passenger versions of the twinjet have a capacity of 186 to 289 persons and a maximum range of , depending on variant and cabin configuration...
crashing into the building. There is also mention that from September 6 to September 10 an unusual amount of put option
Put option
A put or put option is a contract between two parties to exchange an asset, the underlying, at a specified price, the strike, by a predetermined date, the expiry or maturity...
s were placed on the stock of American Airlines, Boeing and United Airlines.
This is followed by an examination of the attacks on the Pentagon. The film opposes the official story of Flight 77
American Airlines Flight 77
American Airlines Flight 77 was American Airlines' daily scheduled morning transcontinental flight, from Washington Dulles International Airport, in Dulles, Virginia to Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California...
hitting the Pentagon, alleging that the path of destruction does not match that which a 757 would leave. In particular it points out the size of the hole in the Pentagon caused by the crash, examining a lack of debris and landscape damage seemingly inconsistent with prior airliner crashes. It is also alleged that too few parts were recovered from the crash site to reliably ascertain that they were of a Boeing 757 and that certain flywheel observed at the site seemed too small to have been part of the aircraft's engine turbine. The wheel was officially declared to have been part of the APU
Auxiliary power unit
An auxiliary power unit is a device on a vehicle that provides energy for functions other than propulsion. They are commonly found on large aircraft, as well as some large land vehicles.-Function:...
but disputed by some experts as not to have come from the APU of a 757 but likely from an E-3 Sentry
E-3 Sentry
The Boeing E-3 Sentry is an airborne warning and control system developed by Boeing as the prime contractor. Derived from the Boeing 707, it provides all-weather surveillance, command, control and communications, and is used by the United States Air Force , NATO, Royal Air Force , French Air Force...
aircraft. It is also claimed that the alleged hijacker-pilot Hani Hanjour
Hani Hanjour
Hani Saleh Hasan Hanjour was the hijacker-pilot of American Airlines Flight 77, crashing the plane into the Pentagon as part of the September 11 attacks....
had difficulty performing basic controls on a small Cessna
Cessna
The Cessna Aircraft Company is an airplane manufacturing corporation headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, USA. Their main products are general aviation aircraft. Although they are the most well known for their small, piston-powered aircraft, they also produce business jets. The company is a subsidiary...
at a flight school where he rented, and that perhaps not even an experienced pilot could have maneuvered the reflex angle of turn at the airspeed and altitude at which the aircraft approached without going into a high speed stall
Stall (flight)
In fluid dynamics, a stall is a reduction in the lift coefficient generated by a foil as angle of attack increases. This occurs when the critical angle of attack of the foil is exceeded...
. Mention is also given to three cameras on nearby buildings that allegedly caught the entire incident at the Pentagon on film, which the government confiscated and has refused to release in full.
The next section focuses on the destruction of the World Trade Center itself. The film comes out in favor of the controlled demolition theory
Controlled demolition hypothesis for the collapse of the World Trade Center
The World Trade Center controlled demolition conspiracy theory is a conspiracy theory which contends that the collapse of the World Trade Center was not caused by the airliner crash damage that occurred as part of the September 11, 2001 attacks, nor by resulting fire damage, but by explosives...
of the destruction of World Trade Centers 1, 2 and 7. Cited as evidence are eyewitness reports from a janitor, firemen, and other people near the buildings who heard bangs, many of them describing them as explosions as well as videotapes showing windows far below the burning floors blow out during the collapse and seismograph results recorded during the collapse compared to the collapse of other similar buildings. The film claims that WTC 1, 2 and 7 were the first steel frame buildings in history to collapse due to fire. Another allegation centers on an audio recording in which it is claimed two distinct explosions can be heard at the time of the impact. The film also posits that the official story of the collapse ignores the laws of physics.
In particular, the video alleges that the fires inside the twin towers were not hot enough to bring the buildings down. An audio tape is presented in which the Captain of Ladder 7 claims that the fires can be brought under control by two lines and it is mentioned that building 7
7 World Trade Center
7 World Trade Center is a building in New York City located across from the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan. It is the second building to bear that name and address in that location. The original structure was completed in 1987 and was destroyed in the September 11 attacks...
had taken only minor damage before its own collapse. These allegations follow a listing of buildings that burned longer than the Twin Towers and did not fall.
For Flight 93
United Airlines Flight 93
United Airlines Flight 93 was United Airlines' scheduled morning transcontinental flight across the United States from Newark International Airport in Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco International Airport in California. On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, the Boeing 757–222 aircraft operating the...
, the video ignores the more mainstream theory of the plane being crashed by passengers to instead allege it was landed safely at Cleveland Hopkins Airport where it was evacuated by government personnel into an unused NASA research center
Glenn Research Center
NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field is a NASA center, located within the cities of Brook Park, Cleveland and Fairview Park, Ohio between Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and the Cleveland Metroparks's Rocky River Reservation, and has other subsidiary facilities in Ohio...
. Evidence cited included photographs and eyewitness reports of the crash site as evidence, media reports of a corresponding and bizarre evacuation at Cleveland Hopkins Airport, 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.
This is then followed by a more miscellaneous listing of allegations. It is claimed that cell phone calls could not be made from American Airlines flights at the time of the crash, asking why American Airlines had to install a system in their own airplanes to allow the reception of cellular signals within the planes if they could do this regardless on September 11. It is suggested that the calls from passengers and crew were faked using sophisticated voice-morphing technology developed by the Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory, managed and operated by Los Alamos National Security , located in Los Alamos, New Mexico...
in New Mexico and that the December 13, 2001 video of Osama Bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
claiming responsibility for the attacks was also faked, featuring what appeared to be an overweight lookalike version of Bin Laden. Finally it is alleged that of the list of hijackers initially released by the government, many were not in the planes and therefore survived September 11, 2001 and may even be alive today.
In the end, the film gives financial motives for people who would have benefited from launching the attacks themselves. Mention is first made of Larry Silverstein
Larry Silverstein
Larry A. Silverstein is an American businessman, and real estate investor and developer in New York City.Silverstein was born in Brooklyn, and became involved in real estate, together with his father, establishing Silverstein Properties...
, who stood to receive a substantial insurance payout after the attacks due to a specific anti-terrorism clause. Other allegations of insider trading and Halliburton
Halliburton
Halliburton is the world's second largest oilfield services corporation with operations in more than 70 countries. It has hundreds of subsidiaries, affiliates, branches, brands and divisions worldwide and employs over 50,000 people....
's benefiting from the subsequent launch of America's "War on Terror
War on Terror
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
" are made.
Presentation
Loose Change: 2nd Edition Recut is one hour and 22 minutes in length. The film consists of Dylan Avery narrating over photographs and news footage relating to 9/11, with an underscore of hip hopHip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
and other urban style music. Avery does not appear in the video itself, though is shown in the bonus features. Video and still footage used includes considerable video content from CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, and Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
, as well as a number of other sources. The end of the film shows a clip from The American Scholar's Symposium that was aired on C-Span
C-SPAN
C-SPAN , an acronym for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, is an American cable television network that offers coverage of federal government proceedings and other public affairs programming via its three television channels , one radio station and a group of websites that provide streaming...
on June 25, 2006 at the Sheraton Hotel in Los Angeles. Jason Bermas, wearing the signature "Investigate 9/11" t-shirt that he designed, is describing their plans to peacefully demonstrate at Ground Zero
World Trade Center site
The World Trade Center site , also known as "Ground Zero" after the September 11 attacks, sits on in Lower Manhattan in New York City...
on September 11, 2006.
Revisions
Although each version of the film asserts that the events of 9/11 were essentially an "inside job"9/11 conspiracy theories
9/11 conspiracy theories are theories that disagree with the widely accepted account that the September 11 attacks were perpetrated solely by al-Qaeda. These theories arose because of what proponents of the conspiracy theories believe to be inconsistencies in the official conclusions or some...
, there were significant revisions between the particular theories that different editions posited. For example:
- The first edition, Loose Change, suggested that there was an unusual device (which the filmmakers refer to as a "pod") under the fuselage of the planeUnited Airlines Flight 175United Airlines Flight 175 was United Airlines' daily scheduled morning transcontinental flight, from Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, to Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California...
that struck the South Tower of the World Trade Center. The "pod" was presented as evidence that the planes involved in the attack were replaced with remote-controlled drones. Official flight records were also presented as evidence that the aircraft involved are still in active service, though it is stated that the producers do not know what happened to the passengers of the flights. This information is omitted from all subsequent versions. - While the first edition asserted that United Airlines Flight 93United Airlines Flight 93United Airlines Flight 93 was United Airlines' scheduled morning transcontinental flight across the United States from Newark International Airport in Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco International Airport in California. On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, the Boeing 757–222 aircraft operating the...
was shot down over Pennsylvania, Loose Change 2nd Edition and Loose Change 2nd Edition Recut theorize that Flight 93 was actually flown to and landed at Cleveland Hopkins Airport. The third edition states less information about Flight 93, but maintains that it is impossible that it crashed in Shanksville, PennsylvaniaShanksville, PennsylvaniaShanksville is a borough in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, United States, with a population of 245, as of the 2000 census. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area and is approximately 60 miles southeast from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
.
On May 26, 2006, a letter was sent to Dylan Avery regarding copyright and trademark infringement
Trademark infringement
Trademark infringement is a violation of the exclusive rights attaching to a trademark without the authorization of the trademark owner or any licensees...
in Loose Change 2nd Edition resulting from the use of footage from French filmmakers the Naudet brothers
Jules Naudet and Gedeon Naudet
Jules Clément Naudet and Thomas Gédéon Naudet are French-born American filmmakers. The brothers, residents of the United States since 1989, were in New York City at the time of the September 11 attacks to film a documentary on members of the Engine 7, Ladder 1 firehouse in Lower Manhattan...
. The letter states that Avery used copyrighted images from the film 9/11
9/11 (film)
9/11 is a 2002 American documentary film about the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City, in which two planes crashed into the buildings of the World Trade Center from the point of view of the New York City Fire Department...
and that those images violate the Lanham Act
Lanham Act
The Lanham Act is a piece of legislation that contains the federal statutes of trademark law in the United States. The Act prohibits a number of activities, including trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and false advertising.-History:Named for Representative Fritz G...
"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." Dylan Avery announced that the recut version of the 2nd edition would omit some of the infringing material.
- The statement that New York's Empire State BuildingEmpire State BuildingThe Empire State Building is a 102-story landmark skyscraper and American cultural icon in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet , and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 ft high. Its name is derived...
was hit by a B-52 bomberB-52 StratofortressThe Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is a long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber operated by the United States Air Force since the 1950s. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, who have continued to provide maintainence and upgrades to the aircraft in service...
"sometime during the 1950s or 1960s" was corrected; the Empire State Building was hit by a much smaller plane, the twin-propeller B-25 MitchellB-25 MitchellThe North American B-25 Mitchell was an American twin-engined medium bomber manufactured by North American Aviation. It was used by many Allied air forces, in every theater of World War II, as well as many other air forces after the war ended, and saw service across four decades.The B-25 was named...
, in 1945. - References to the rumors concerning the amount of gold stored beneath the World Trade Center (such as one claim of $167 billion in gold) were removed, leaving only confirmed statements, including that of the "$230 million in precious metals".
- The implication the film makes that Flight 77 had Pratt & WhitneyPratt & WhitneyPratt & Whitney is a U.S.-based aerospace manufacturer with global service operations. It is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation . Pratt & Whitney's aircraft engines are widely used in both civil aviation and military aviation. Its headquarters are in East Hartford, Connecticut, USA...
engines made of steelSteelSteel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
and titaniumTitaniumTitanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. It has a low density and is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant transition metal with a silver color....
alloy, was corrected; in fact the engines of Flight 77 were Rolls-RoyceRolls-Royce plcRolls-Royce Group plc is a global power systems company headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s second-largest maker of aircraft engines , and also has major businesses in the marine propulsion and energy sectors. Through its defence-related activities...
engines. - Multiple instances of Wikipedia articles being shown as source material were removed and replaced with news articles containing the reported information.
- Throughout the film minor changes in talking pointTalking pointA talking point in debate or discourse is a succinct statement designed to persuasively support one side taken on an issue. Such statements can either be free standing or created as retorts to the opposition's talking points and are frequently used in public relations, particularly in areas heavy...
s, images and language were made.
Release and reception
In North America it aired on Fox TV affiliates, but received further screenings internationally. On September 10, 2006 BNN (Bart News Network) Nederland 3 and Portuguese public TVPublic-access television
Public-access television is a form of non-commercial mass media where ordinary people can create content television programming which is cablecast through cable TV specialty channels...
Station RTP
Rádio e Televisão de Portugal
Rádio e Televisão de Portugal, S.A.,commonly known as RTP, is Portugal's public service broadcasting organization. It operates four terrestrial television channels and three national radio channels, as well as several satellite and cable offerings....
aired Loose Change in prime time hours. RTP aired it again on 2:
2:
RTP2 is the second television channel of Rádio e Televisão de Portugal, the Portuguese public broadcasting corporation. Commonly referred as the "Second Channel", or simply "Dois" , this historically state-run television channel started its regular broadcasting on December 25, 1968...
for September 17, 2006. FreeLooseChange is an initiative in Berlin, Germany. One-hundred shops, galleries, theatres and a daily newspaper office so far distributed 50,000 free DVDs featuring the documentaries Loose Change and Terrorstorm by Alex Jones in German language
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
versions.
An August 2006 Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
article suggested that Loose Change "just might be the first Internet blockbuster." Millions more have viewed the film via unaffiliated websites. More than one million copies of the DVD have been sold, and many more have been given away.
The film has been broadcast on state media outlets in Belgium, Ireland and Portugal. According to Broadcast magazine
Broadcast magazine
Broadcast is a weekly magazine for the United Kingdom television and radio industry. It covers a wide range of news and issues affecting the professional broadcast market in the UK. Broadcast has regular weekly sections covering News, Commissioning, Facilities, Analysis, Opinion, Interview,...
, the video was to have a special screening at the UK Houses of Parliament on June 14, 2006. Michael Meacher
Michael Meacher
Michael Hugh Meacher is a British Labour politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Oldham West and Royton since 1997. Previously he had been the MP for Oldham West, first elected in 1970. On 22 February 2007 he declared that he would be standing for the Labour Leadership, challenging...
, the British MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
who had considered sponsoring the screening, decided against it. On September 11, 2006, Dylan Avery and Jason Bermas appeared on Democracy Now!
Democracy Now!
Democracy Now! and its staff have received several journalism awards, including the Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television; the George Polk Award for its 1998 radio documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship, on the Chevron Corporation and the deaths of...
the War and Peace Report, to debate with James Meigs and David Dunbar, two of the editors of Popular Mechanics
Popular Mechanics
Popular Mechanics is an American magazine first published January 11, 1902 by H. H. Windsor, and has been owned since 1958 by the Hearst Corporation...
and the book Debunking 9/11 Myths
Debunking 9/11 Myths
Debunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can't Stand Up to the Facts is a non-fiction book that is published by Hearst Communications, Inc. on August 15, 2006...
.
Criticism
Journalists, researchers, as well as scientists and engineers, and members of the 9/11 Truth movement9/11 Truth Movement
9/11 Truth movement is a collective name for loosely affiliated organizations and individuals who question the accepted account of the September 11, 2001, attacks....
have spoken out against the film's claims about the September 11 attacks.
Loose Change has been subject to criticism from a variety of different sources. In March 2007, the United States Department of State
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
published an article called "Loose Change Debunked" in which it says that the movie makes "sloppy mistakes". The article is highly critical of the evidence cited to support the claim that Flight 77 did not hit the Pentagon, and it criticizes the controlled demolition
Demolition
Demolition is the tearing-down of buildings and other structures, the opposite of construction. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a building apart while carefully preserving valuable elements for re-use....
hypothesis of the World Trade Center claiming that "Demolition professionals say controlled demolition of the Towers that day would have been impossible." The article goes on to say:
"It treats statements made at this time as if they represent reasoned judgments, not impromptu, often poorly thought-through misimpressions and uninformed speculation... In sum, Loose Change is researched very shoddily, making numerous mistakes of fact and judgment. Nevertheless, this has not prevented it from becoming extraordinarily popular."
It goes on to note that Loose Change has also been criticized by other members of the 9/11 Truth Movement, referring specifically to the critique Sifting Through Loose Change. Michael Green, a member of the 9/11 Truth Movement, has analyzed the film and is critical of many of its claims and methods. Several independent researchers have also written critiques of the film. The Loose Change Guide, created by Mark Roberts, features the whole transcript of the show, along with his comments and criticisms. Roberts also compiled a lengthy selection of interview quotes in which the Loose Change creators elaborate on the claims made in the film.
In May 2006, the blog Screw Loose Change was created to criticize the claims in the film. In collaboration with the creators of the blog and drawing upon the work of Mark Roberts, an edited version of Loose Change which was created with subtitled criticisms. Another analysis of the film has been created by the Internet Detectives. Many of the critiques argue that Loose Change quote mines, uses unreliable or out-of-date sources, and cherry-picks evidence to claim that there are serious problems with official accounts of the events of September 11.
One of the many aspects focused on by these critiques is Loose Change's analysis of the collapse of the World Trade Center
Collapse of the World Trade Center
The twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed on September 11, 2001, as a result of al-Qaeda's September 11 attacks, in which terrorists affiliated with al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners, flying one into the North Tower and another into the South Tower...
. The comparison to other notable high-rise fires which did not lead to collapse ignores differences in building design
Building design
Building design refers to the broadly based architectural, engineering and technical applications to the design of buildings. All building projects require the services of a building designer, typically a licensed architect or structural engineer...
, significant WTC structural damage and compromised fireproofing; as most steel loses over half its strength at 600°C (1112°F). The comparison with Madrid's Windsor Tower
Windsor Tower
The Windsor Tower was built in 1979 in the financial center of Madrid, Spain. This office building was 106 m high and had 32 floors of which 29 were above ground level and 3 below, thus ranking it as the eighth tallest building in Madrid...
fails to note its steel-supported perimeter floors that collapsed during the fire. Kevin Ryan, described by Loose Change as working for Underwriters Laboratories
Underwriters Laboratories
Underwriters Laboratories Inc. is an independent product safety certification organization. Established in 1894, the company has its headquarters in Northbrook, Illinois. UL develops standards and test procedures for products, materials, components, assemblies, tools and equipment, chiefly dealing...
(UL), was actually employed in a water-testing subsidiary. Furthermore, UL does not certify structural steel
Structural steel
Structural steel is steel construction material, a profile, formed with a specific shape or cross section and certain standards of chemical composition and mechanical properties...
, and ASTM E119 certification is not meant to predict performance in real uncontrolled fires. The NIST found no evidence of any firm having conducted tests on WTC materials in the past. Another expert quoted, Van Romero, has clarified that he was misquoted by the Albuquerque Journal
Albuquerque Journal
-History:Its earliest predecessor, the Albuquerque Daily Journal, was first published on October 14, 1880. The newspaper is owned by the Journal Publishing Company, a family-owned business headed by president/publisher T.H. Lang; it is operated by the Albuquerque Publishing Company...
; he had actually said that it "looked like" explosives took down the WTC. When the misquote was printed, he felt his "scientific reputation was on the line."
On September 11, 2006, the public-TV network program Democracy Now! broadcast a discussion between two Loose Change creators and two editors from Popular Mechanics, where they debated at considerable length various aspects of the documentary. Jason Bermas claimed United Flight 93 did not crash into the field, and classified Popular Mechanics as a publication in the spirit of Hearst's yellow journalism. "There’s no plane in this open field at all. There’s a ten-foot crater by 16-foot, and there’s just smoke there. So where is this plane?" The opposing argument, also citing specifics, was equally emphatic. Matt Taibbi
Matt Taibbi
Matthew C. "Matt" Taibbi is an American author and journalist reporting on politics, media, finance, and sports for Rolling Stone and Men's Journal, often in a polemical style. He has also edited and written for The eXile, the New York Press, and The Beast.- Early years :Taibbi grew up in the...
of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
wrote that the 9/11 Truth Movement: "gives supporters of Bush an excuse to dismiss critics of this administration
George W. Bush administration
The presidency of George W. Bush began on January 20, 2001, when he was inaugurated as the 43rd President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, George W...
."
George Monbiot
George Monbiot
George Joshua Richard Monbiot is an English writer, known for his environmental and political activism. He lives in Machynlleth, Wales, writes a weekly column for The Guardian, and is the author of a number of books, including Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain and Bring on the...
, political activist and columnist for the Guardian, wrote an article on the improbability of the conspiracies cited in Loose Change, and then wrote a follow-up article in response to negative comments from some of his readers. On SModcast, Kevin Smith
Kevin Smith
Kevin Patrick Smith is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer, and director, as well as a popular comic book writer, author, comedian/raconteur, and internet radio personality best recognized by viewers as Silent Bob...
discussed Loose Change and other conspiracy videos about aliens and various things. However, he maintains that he enjoys the film purely as entertainment, and does not believe or agree with the theories presented in the film. Popular satirical site, The Best Page in the Universe
The Best Page in the Universe
The Best Page in the Universe is a personal satirical humor website created by George Ouzounian, better known as Maddox, of Salt Lake City, Utah.Launched in 1997 without any high expectations, the website became known by word of mouth.-History and status:...
, parodied the movie with a short video "Unfastened Coins", which "exposed" a Titanic-sinking conspiracy, and an article mocking the logic of conspiracy theories in the film. The History Channel aired a two-hour episode on August 20, 2007, entitled "The 9/11 Conspiracies: Fact or Fiction?" featuring interviews with the creators of Loose Change.
In Britain, BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's documentary television show The Conspiracy Files
The Conspiracy Files
The Conspiracy Files is a British documentary television series broadcast on BBC Two, investigating various modern day conspiracy theories...
aired two documentaries focused on 9/11 and the conspiracy theories surrounding the collapse of WTC7. Several claims made by Loose Change were investigated and specifically rejected. Dylan Avery was interviewed for the program, which cast him in a negative light.
In other media
Contained on the DVD boxset of the TV series LostLost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
s fourth season is a mockumentary
Mockumentary
A mockumentary , is a type of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself...
called The Oceanic Six: A Conspiracy of Lies. Edited in a manner similar to Loose Change, this faux documentary attempts to expose the truth behind the official story presented by six characters who survived the crash of Oceanic flight 815. Expert testimony is used to argue that the wreckage found of Oceanic Flight 815 is not the real plane and that the "Oceanic Six" are involved in a vast cover up.
See also
- 9/11: Press for Truth9/11: Press for Truth9/11: Press for Truth is a 2006 documentary film about the September 11 attacks on the United States, directed by the American filmmaker Ray Nowosielski, and partially based on The Terror Timeline, by Paul Thompson.-Development and release:...
- World Trade Center controlled demolition conspiracy theories
External links
- LooseChange911.com – Official website
- Loose Change 911: An American Coup - Last version (full length)
- Loose Change 2nd Edition Recut Online Version (Google Video)
- Beyond The Ordinary – Interviews with Loose Change director and producer
Criticism
- Loose Change: Loose with truth
- Screw Loose Change – Not Freakin' Again edition Subtitled critical version of Loose Change
- 9-11 Loose Change Second Edition Viewer Guide – Point-by-point criticism
- The 9-11Research Companion to "Loose Change 2nd Edition – An interactive and detailed point-by-point critique of the film using an illustrated transcript
- Debunking Loose Change – By Internet Detectives
Media Coverage
- Democracy Now! Exclusive 9/11 Debate: Loose Change Filmmakers vs. Popular Mechanics Editors of "Debunking 9/11 Myths" Broadcast on September 11, 2006
- 9/11 conspiracy movie taken off the web – June 5 2006 – Naudet brothersJules Naudet and Gedeon NaudetJules Clément Naudet and Thomas Gédéon Naudet are French-born American filmmakers. The brothers, residents of the United States since 1989, were in New York City at the time of the September 11 attacks to film a documentary on members of the Engine 7, Ladder 1 firehouse in Lower Manhattan...
allege infringement - CBC Interview with Dylan Avery "The Hour: 9/11 Conspiracy Theory" May 17 2006
- Popular Mechanics on 9/11: Debunking The Myths
- Scientific American: Fahrenheit 2777
- Salon Article "Ask the Pilot": A pilot takes on the 9/11 conspiracy theoristsConspiracy theoryA conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...
- A 9/11 conspiracy virus is sweeping the world, but it has no basis in fact by George MonbiotGeorge MonbiotGeorge Joshua Richard Monbiot is an English writer, known for his environmental and political activism. He lives in Machynlleth, Wales, writes a weekly column for The Guardian, and is the author of a number of books, including Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain and Bring on the...
- That makes 10,000 sworn to 9/11 silence by Gwynne Dyer