credit where credit's due.

"lando calrizzian blew up the second death star in the millenium falcon. credit where credit's due."
- my poor memory of the quote from clerks, which is unaccountably not on the internet somewhere. i probably didn't even spell "calrizzian" right.

this article caught my eye the other day. but not for the obvious reason. i mean, ok, there's the initial boy-some-people-are-gullible reaction, but then i got to wondering.

what does al qaeda think of all these people that believe that the 9/11 attacks were a conspiracy by the united states government? i mean, these men trained for years, they laid out their plans with pretty close precision, as far as we can tell. it cost them a lot of money. there were 17 men in on it, as well as their trainers and financial backers abroad. and the most amazing thing is, they managed to do it under the nose of what is supposedly one of the best intelligence services in the world.

i remember, one of the first things i said that morning when the second plance crashed into the second tower and it was quickly becoming clear that this was no accident was, "what i want to know is, what intelligence service fell down on the job" (i would also like to thank, if i never have, those people who supported me that morning until i found out that my uncle wasn't in his office on the 104th floor, but had been sent to chicago the night before).

and here, all their credit is going to the shadowy g-men of the CIA. shit, that would piss me off *grin*

i mean, faked moon landings are one thing. that's something that's pretty out there. if you don't know all that much about physics. which i can understand. i happen to find astrophysics fun and educational, but i am fully aware that i am something (...) of a nerd.

but, i mean, 9/11. you've got people who claimed responsibility for it! people who are still killing. and, what the fuck, it was all a plan by "the government"? or even better, they didn't want to have to refurbish the towers? these guys go out of their way to release audio and videotapes to keep reminding us that they did it, and they're still being denied the credit.

no wonder they're so angry.