In the days before the attacks, traders placed unusually large bets that United and American Airlines stock would fall. Those were the two airlines whose planes were hijacked. The 9/11 Commission found no sign that anyone had advance knowledge. A finance professor, a former Australian market regulator, and a widow who testified before the Commission all saw something different.
"Follow the money." That was the advice to Bob Woodward during Watergate, and 25 years after September 11, it may be the best way into the one 9/11 theory that won't go away. This week, Rich and Nick quickly run through the five best-known 9/11 theories before following the money into the trades that regulators, academics, and families have argued about for a quarter of a century.
The guys look at whether any of the theories have any kernel of truth. The intelligence failures were real, with warnings about hijacked planes flying into buildings circulating as far back as 1998.
Some of this is statistics: put-to-call ratios, trading volumes up a hundredfold, and a peer-reviewed 2006 study that found the activity consistent with informed traders. Some of it is just the plain fact that al-Qaeda's plans were an open secret in parts of the intelligence world.
Contact the show at conspiracycabal@outlook.com.
The first listener to write in with their name and postal address gets one of the first Conspiracy Cabal tinfoil hat brewing trucker caps.
The Conspiracy Cabal doesn't promote conspiracy theories — we examine them. We search for the kernel of truth in every story, exploring how conspiracies start, why they persist, and what drives people to believe them.
","author_name":"Southern Ocean Media"}