A week ago, a friend sent me a link to a site that claimed that the 9/11 attacks were not by Al Qaida, and that the Twin Towers were really blown up from the inside instead of succumbing to fires from the two airliners. The site hence draws the conclusion that some shadowy conspiracy working in the uppermost echelons of American government is the real culprit for 9/11. For those of you who want to investigate further, the link is here.

For the record, I don't believe that such a conspiracy exists. Not because I think everyone loves fresh air and sunshine or some such platitude, but simply because I don't believe such a well-organised, all-pervasive group can exist, carry out its activities to a T and stay out of the public view in America. An "American group" killing, in one fell swoop, 3000+ Americans who had nothing in common that made them a target for persecution as a whole? What aim does that accomplish? Assuming that it was some American conspiracy makes no practical sense to me.

For all who think that the best trick the Devil pulled was to make everyone think he didn't exist, I suggest that you folk are like the man who pours garbage in his backyard every evening to keep the elephants away. Conspiracies, I suspect, are the product of a refusal to believe that the Everyman can be capable of immense cruelty.

But who cares what I think -- you can all read and think for yourselves. A conspiracy is a tempting explanation. Sadly, perhaps the only truth of 9/11 is that the truth may never be known.

That said, 9/11 makes a poor basis for waging war with Iraq. In fact, on its own (de)merits I think war with Iraq is an incredibly stupid and pointless exercise. What weapons of mass destruction targeted at the US? The Gulf War ended in 1991. You'd think that in the 12 years in between, with US fighters bombing Iraq on a weekly basis and forcing economic sanctions, Iraq would have done something if it had really wanted to.

That said, if the Bush Admin was going to wage war in the first place, it probably should have taken a leaf out of Machiavelli's "The Prince" -- make your wars short and sharp.