Loose Change
Loose Change is a documentary written and narrated by Dylan Avery which questions the events surrounding the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on the United States and alleges that the attacks were really the result of an orchestrated US government conspiracy. Loose Change's arguments are part of the body of 9/11 conspiracy theories.
Overview
Loose Change is a documentary by Dylan Avery (director and narrator), Korey Rowe (producer) and Jason Bermas (webmaster and graphic designer), released through their company, Louder Than Words.
The documentary presents a rebuttal to the established version of events during the September 11, 2001 attacks and the official versions of events as recounted in 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.
Released as two separate editions, the documentary has been the focus of much debate with many websites and individuals counter-challenging the validity of claims made by it. Avery is currently developing a script for a feature film version titled Loose Change: The Movie, scheduled for release in 2006.
History
The idea for the project was coined by Avery in May 2002 after a conversation with actor James Gandolfini in which Gandolfini told Avery If you want to be a successful director, you have to have something to say to the world. [4] Avery began writing a fictional story in which he and his friends discover that the events of September 11, 2001 were not the result of terrorist attacks but rather, orchestrated by the US government. While conducting research for the story, Avery became increasingly satisfied that his story was more factual than fictional so he abandoned the story idea and turned it into a documentary project.
Financial backing for the project came in April 2005 from producers such as Phil Jayhan of letsroll911.org [5]. Avery released the first edition of Loose Change with an initial press of 1,000 DVDs. 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 [6]. It can also be viewed online and downloaded through Google Video.
Editions
The documentary has been released in two editions. The first was released in April 2005 with the second released in November 2005. Both are similar however the second contained significant additions and changes. The first edition does not make any strong statements regarding underlying motives for the attacks while the second edition includes a segment near the end outlining possible motives.
Assertions
Timeline
- Includes background information of a plan put forward in the days of the Cuban Missile Crisis then outlines significant events leading up to September 11, 2001.
Pentagon
- Alleges that based on the evidence, or lack of, American Airlines Flight 77 could not have possibly crashed into the Pentagon and that damage sustained to the building may have been caused by a cruise missile or a smaller military 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 buidlings that were detonated shortly before each building collapsed.
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.
Oddities
- 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 are still alive today.
Cui Bono
- Outlines possible motives for the attacks.
The official website contains a statement saying not to take anything the documentary says at face value and encourages viewers to personally research information on 9/11 and to form their own opinions.
Factual inaccuracies
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 authors have since apologized and acknowledged this error.
Dylan Avery claims that the motors 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 oxyen 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)[1] significantly closer to titanium (1725 C) than to steel (1500 C).
Criticisms
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 [2]. 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 [3], [4], [5], [6].
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[7] 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, implies that an equal number of witnesses reported different aircraft as reported a commercial jet, and does not mention the large body of witness reports in support of a commercial jet. Critics of the missile theory note that not a single witness at the scene has ever reported seeing a missile[8].
In response to the film's suggestion 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 center, critics in the 9/11 Truth Movement contend that there is virtually no evidence to support that claim and that many witnesses at the time reported seeing and hearing the plane at the crash site.[9], [10]. (One basis for this claim, possibly the chief one, is the short-lived WCPO story citing the mayor of Cleveland, Ohio regarding the plane's alleged landing [11][12][13], and the criticism appears to ignore the witnesses Loose Change itself cites, one of whom physically describes the distinctive A-10 Warthog immediately trailing whatever crashed, without being familiar with the A-10 by name.)
Wikipedia was used as a source for some information from the documentary. Critics argue that since Wikipedia can be publicly and anonymously edited, the producers of the documentary could have edited articles to suit their own purposes. None of the Wikipedia-based information has yet been verified as correct or incorrect.
The film carries many of the features of a Conspiracy Theory, most notably, it appeals to common sense, letting the spectator draw some of the conclusions himself to make its claims more convincing. Regarding for example the events at the Pentagon, Dylan Avery shows a piece of the plane's fuselage on the lawn, and says: « And why is not singed, or scratched, after a 530 mph impact, and the subsequent fireball ? », without trying to explain why it should be. He also claims that another part found on the site could not have come from a 757: « Let's look a little closer at the defuser case of a 757. Do you see the triangular bezels around the openings ? Those are nowhere to be found on the case found at the Pentagon ». Rather than relying on an expert, it puts the spectator in the expert's seat.
Influence On Pop Culture
Samples from the Loose Change documentary can be heard in Ministry (band)'s song, LiesLiesLies, which can be found on the Rio Grande Blood record.
See also
References
- ^ [http://www.efunda.com/materials/alloys/titanium/properties.cfm
- ^ "'Loose Change' An analysis", by Michael B. Green, 911research.wtc7.net, retrieved March 1, 2006
- ^ Pentagon Attack Errors, 9-11 Review, retrieved March 1, 2006
- ^ Why the No-757 Crowd is Making an Ass out of Itself, Joël van der Reijden, retrieved March 1, 2006
- ^ The Pentagon attack: the "no plane" theories discredit 9/11 skepticism, oilempire.us, retrieved March 1, 2006
- ^ Flight 77.info, retrieved March 29, 2006
- ^ Pentagon eyewitnesses 'It was a plane bomb,' Eric Bart, retrieved April, 2006
- ^ "Eyewitness Accounts Describe Jetliner Approaching Pentagon", 911research.wtc7.net, retrieved March 1, 2006
- ^ "UNLIKELY: 'The Bumble Planes Theory'", 9-11 Review, retrieved March 1, 2006
- ^ How Did United Flight 93 Crash?, website exploring different theories of Flight 93's crash, retrieved March 1, 2006
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2], text of WCPO article
- ^ [3], discussion of WCPO article
External links
- loosechange911.com - Official website
- Google™ streaming video link to Loose Change - First Edition
- Google™ streaming video link to Loose Change - Second Edition
- YouTube streaming video link to Loose Change - Second Edition Trailor
- High Quality streaming video (for purchase)
- torrent link to downloadable copy on thepiratebay website
Comment
- Observer UK Review
- Mens News Daily article (Conservative view)
- PledgeBank Loose Change Pledge