The latest outrageous 9/11 conspiracy theory
AS THE Twin Towers fell, everyone in the United States recoiled in horror … unless you believe this conspiracy theory.
ON THE morning of September 11, 2001, as thousands of New Yorkers watched the Twin Towers crumble beneath them, another story was taking place nearby, across the Hudson River in New Jersey.
Just a hop, skip and a jump from Manhattan, New Jersey is one of the few hot spots boasting impressive views of the New York City skyline, including the World Trade Center.
And on that fateful day, it was there where American Muslims cheered on the new era of war on home soil, who celebrated as American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 plummeted into the north and south towers. Or so the theory goes.
It’s this conspiracy Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has been flouting for the last week, insisting he saw “thousands” of people he described as “Arab” cheering the attacks from across the river on television.
“I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down,” Trump declared.
“And I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey, where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down. Thousands of people were cheering.
“It did happen. I saw it. It was on television. I saw it. There were people that were cheering on the other side of New Jersey, where you have large Arab populations. They were cheering as the World Trade Center came down.
“I know it might be not politically correct for you to talk about it, but there were people cheering as that building came down, as those buildings came down. And that tells you something.”
Problem is, no one can find any evidence of such celebrations — anywhere. Trump wasn’t in New Jersey at the time. He was in his Manhattan apartment. But even if he insists he only saw this on TV, it’s a difficult claim to back up.
It’s no secret that some Muslims in the Middle East cheered on the attacks; footage was broadcast on TV screens and news outlets across the globe. But a search for similar footage in New Jersey has led to a dead end. No one can find any proof.
“This is an urban legend that has been going on for 14 years,” Ryan Jacobs, a city hall spokesman, told The Guardian.
“It’s been looked into, it’s been denied, there’s no evidence of it. The people definitely did not cheer in Jersey City on 9/11, and that’s basically all there is.”
Trump cited a 2001 Washington Post article that claimed authorities were talking to “a number of people who were allegedly seen celebrating the attack and holding tailgate-style parties on rooftops,” but those claims were never substantiated, or proven.
“Law enforcement authorities detained and questioned a number of people who were allegedly seen celebrating the attacks and holding tailgate-style parties on rooftops while they watched the devastation on the other side of the river,” the report read.
Critics of Trump believe it’s all a calculated plan from the billionaire, who, along with his unverified claims, has been spouting anti-Muslim propaganda in his race to the Oval office, calling for greater surveillance of the American Muslim population since the Paris attacks.
Politifact conducted an “exhaustive” search from September 2001 — December 2001 that may have made references to the event at hand, but apart from the Washington Post article, all they could find was a mention by the Associated Press from September 17, 2001 describing “rumours of rooftop celebrations of the attack by Muslims” in Jersey City. But, say Politifact, the same report said those rumours were “unfounded.”
It doesn’t help that at least two of the hijackers who crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon, rented an apartment in Paterson, New Jersey, according to the 9/11 Commission Report. Paterson boasts one of the largest and most diverse Muslim communities in the US.
Yet according to The New York Times, its residents erected a banner in the town’s main strip that read: “The Muslim Community Does Not Support Terrorism.’’
Its police commissioner, Jerry Spezaile told the Washington Post of the claims: “That is totally false. That is patently false … that never happened. There were no flags burning, no one was dancing.”
Jersey City’s current mayor Steven Fulop has joined the party, calling Trump “plain wrong, and he is shamefully politicising an emotionally charged issue.
“No one in Jersey City cheered on September 11th. We were actually among the first to provide responders to help in lower Manhattan.
“Trump needs to understand that Jersey City will not be part of his hate campaign. Clearly, Trump has memory issues or wilfully distorts the truth, either of which should be concerning for the Republican Party.’”
1 thing for certain is #JerseyCity doesn't want to be part of the @realDonaldTrump hate campaign - we aren't about that
— Steven Fulop (@StevenFulop) November 22, 2015Not sure what luxury spider-hole @realDonaldTrump was hiding in on Sept11 but I saw Americans come together that day @GStephanopoulos
— George E. Pataki (@GovernorPataki) November 22, 2015There was a glimmer of hope for Camp Trump when fellow presidential candidate Ben Carson confirmed he witnessed the same celebrations. But the party fizzled fairly quickly.
“I saw the film of it, yes,” he told reporters. “There are going to be people who respond inappropriately to virtually anything. I think that was an inappropriate response.”
Yet hours later, Mr Carson’s people began to step away from the comments, saying he was “thinking something differently” and apologised to “anybody offended by that.”
“Dr. Carson does not stand by the statements that were reported today. He was hearing and thinking something differently at the time,” Carson communications director Doug Watts said in a statement. “He does, however, recall and had his mind focused on the celebrations in the Middle East. He is not suggesting that American Muslims were in New Jersey celebrating the fall of the twin towers.”
The comments are a stab in the back for New Jersey, who was among the first to answer New York’s cry for help on that fateful day - providing emergency services, ferrying in victims, staging a command centre and hosting first responders for months during the clean up.
New Jersey state senator Sandra Cunningham has slammed Trump’s claims. Her late husband Glenn was mayor of Jersey City at the time of the attacks, she told The Guardian.
“As soon as the buildings started coming down, people in Jersey City were on the waterfront offering people places to stay the night.
“They were on the waterfront with water and with food for people coming over from New York.
“Our hospitals handled many people who were brought to Jersey City, and I have to say, that it is one of the proudest moments because I think the entire city opened their arms to help these people.”
Undeterred by the backlash against his comments, Trump steamrolled ahead, suggesting he has “the world’s greatest memory”.
But the Washington Post followed up with an investigation on flawed memory, suggesting “people unconsciously fabricate memories all the time, and that Trump might have done the same.”
“I can’t say that he’s not lying,” said Deryn Strange, a psychologist at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. “But my research, and the research of my colleagues, certainly supports a more charitable interpretation: that this is a false memory.”
- youngma@news.com.au
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