...was that the 9/11 attacks on the United States were carried out by a conspiracy of a few dozen individuals - largely but not exclusively Saudi nationals - associated with the Sunni Muslim extremist/terrorist group Al-Qaeda, on the orders and direction of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and operational planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who lived as guests under the Taliban government in Afghanistan (who were, in turn, protected by Pakistan's military and intelligence forces).
At this point, I'm more or less convinced that the attacks benefited from some level of covert financing and facilitation by agents of the Saudi and Pakistani governments, and perhaps some agents of a few other Sunni Gulf governments (the UAE, Qatar, and Kuwait), along with Yemen, Sudan, maybe even Iran. However, to what extent this level of state support actually was real, and how intentional (read: knowing of what or who these state agents were supporting) it was, is quite ambiguous and probably, ultimately, unprovable; from what I understand, bin Laden and KSM let only a few other individuals in on the full details of the 9/11 plot, countable on two hands - reportedly, most of the "muscle", non-pilot hijackers didn't even know what they had signed up for before they arrived in the US a few months before 9/11, and from what I understand, the entire operation was actually opposed by most of Al-Qaeda's senior leadership - leading bin Laden and KSM to cut them out of the chain of command and knowledge of the plot altogether. It seems likely that even Mullah Omar and other senior Taliban leaders weren't really aware of what bin Laden was up to in 2000-2001.
Overall, the seemingly large and sophisticated 9/11 conspiracy was effectively decentralized, deputized, and delegated to a few autonomous or semi-autonomous operational cells. Knowledge of the plot's most important components was entrusted to a very, very small number of individuals (besides bin Laden, KSM, probably Ayman Al-Zawahiri, and certainly Al-Qaeda's military commander Mohammed Atef, they were Ramzi Bin Al-Shibh, Mohammed Atta - and pretty much no one else, aside from a few of the other hijackers, ie. Atta's fellow pilots). That's no more than 10 people - hardened, experienced, and skilled jihadist leaders and operatives who trusted each other with their lives - truly "in the loop." THAT's how you carry out a major conspiracy.
As for the "theory" part of "conspiracy theory": this is what a good, substantiated theory looks like. Conspiracy "Theories" are more like Conspiracy Speculation, or Conspiracy Fiction or Fantasy, or indeed, outright delusion. This is what the real world looks like. This is what actually happened, as far as I can tell - with the knowledge and acceptance of the fact that we'll never know all of the answers, but we do know enough to get a pretty good understanding of how the 9/11 plot transpired.
At this point, I'm more or less convinced that the attacks benefited from some level of covert financing and facilitation by agents of the Saudi and Pakistani governments, and perhaps some agents of a few other Sunni Gulf governments (the UAE, Qatar, and Kuwait), along with Yemen, Sudan, maybe even Iran. However, to what extent this level of state support actually was real, and how intentional (read: knowing of what or who these state agents were supporting) it was, is quite ambiguous and probably, ultimately, unprovable; from what I understand, bin Laden and KSM let only a few other individuals in on the full details of the 9/11 plot, countable on two hands - reportedly, most of the "muscle", non-pilot hijackers didn't even know what they had signed up for before they arrived in the US a few months before 9/11, and from what I understand, the entire operation was actually opposed by most of Al-Qaeda's senior leadership - leading bin Laden and KSM to cut them out of the chain of command and knowledge of the plot altogether. It seems likely that even Mullah Omar and other senior Taliban leaders weren't really aware of what bin Laden was up to in 2000-2001.
Overall, the seemingly large and sophisticated 9/11 conspiracy was effectively decentralized, deputized, and delegated to a few autonomous or semi-autonomous operational cells. Knowledge of the plot's most important components was entrusted to a very, very small number of individuals (besides bin Laden, KSM, probably Ayman Al-Zawahiri, and certainly Al-Qaeda's military commander Mohammed Atef, they were Ramzi Bin Al-Shibh, Mohammed Atta - and pretty much no one else, aside from a few of the other hijackers, ie. Atta's fellow pilots). That's no more than 10 people - hardened, experienced, and skilled jihadist leaders and operatives who trusted each other with their lives - truly "in the loop." THAT's how you carry out a major conspiracy.
As for the "theory" part of "conspiracy theory": this is what a good, substantiated theory looks like. Conspiracy "Theories" are more like Conspiracy Speculation, or Conspiracy Fiction or Fantasy, or indeed, outright delusion. This is what the real world looks like. This is what actually happened, as far as I can tell - with the knowledge and acceptance of the fact that we'll never know all of the answers, but we do know enough to get a pretty good understanding of how the 9/11 plot transpired.
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