Table Of Contents

A Personal Note Before We Begin

My name is Alex, and I write for THOUSIF Inc. – USA.

Like millions of you, I was alive on that Tuesday morning in 2001.

I was in high school when the first plane hit.

None of us knew yet that the world had already changed forever.

This article is not about conspiracy theories or pointing fingers for the sake of drama.

It is about real, documented questions that families of the 2,977 victims, first responders, engineers, pilots, and intelligence veterans have been asking for two decades, questions that official reports either sidestepped or could not fully answer.

We owe it to the fallen, to the heroes of Flight 93, and to the thousands who have died since from 9/11-related illnesses to keep asking calmly and clearly.

Let us walk through the biggest unanswered (or unsatisfactorily answered) questions, one by one, in plain English.

1. Why Were So Many Warnings Ignored Or Downplayed?

In the months and years before 9/11, intelligence agencies received dozens of specific warnings.

Here are just a few that still sting:

August 6, 2001: The famous CIA briefing to President Bush titled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US” mentioned hijackings and suspicious activity in New York.
Summer 2001: Intelligence from France, Britain, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Russia warned of imminent al-Qaeda attacks using aircraft.
July 2001: The Italian G8 summit moved an aircraft carrier into Genoa harbor because of fears that bin Laden would crash a plane into the meeting.
Phoenix Memo (July 2001): An FBI agent in Arizona warned headquarters that an unusual number of Middle Eastern men were taking flight lessons and might be planning something.
Minnesota FBI agents begged to search Zacarias Moussaoui’s laptop in August 2001. Headquarters said no. That laptop contained information about crop dusters and jihad.

The question that still hangs in the air: If so many countries saw it coming, why did the two most powerful agencies in the U.S. (CIA and FBI) fail to share information fast enough to stop even one hijacker?

The 9/11 Commission blamed “failure of imagination” and “stovepiping” of information.

Many people accept that. Others quietly ask: Was it really just bureaucracy, or were there deliberate roadblocks we have never been told about?

2. The Saudi Arabia Puzzle – What Exactly Did We Learn From The Declassified Files?

Fifteen of the nineteen hijackers were Saudi citizens.

That single fact has never sat right with many people.

Over the years, thousands of pages have been declassified.

Here are the highlights that still raise eyebrows:

Omar al-Bayoumi, a Saudi national who received a monthly stipend from the Saudi government, helped hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar find an apartment in San Diego, co-signed their lease, and threw a party for them. FBI investigators on the ground believed he was a Saudi intelligence agent. The Saudi government says he was just a student.
Fahad al-Thumairy, a Saudi consular official and imam in Los Angeles, was also linked to the same hijackers. He was later denied entry to the U.S. as a security risk.
The “28 pages” (finally released in 2016) and later FBI reports describe a support network in California that provided money, housing, and fake IDs.
Princess Haifa bint Faisal, wife of the long-time Saudi ambassador to the U.S., wrote checks to a man whose wife then passed money to families of the hijackers.

Official Conclusion: The FBI says there is “no evidence” that the Saudi government as an institution was involved. However, 9/11 families are still in court against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2025, and new documents keep trickling out under court order.

Simple Question: If there was truly nothing to hide, why did it take 20+ years and multiple presidents to release these files piece by piece?

3. World Trade Center Building 7 – The Collapse Nobody Saw Coming

If you only have five minutes, this is the part most people still cannot explain to their friends.

WTC 7 was a 47-story steel-framed skyscraper 350 feet north of the Twin Towers.
It was NOT hit by a plane.
It caught fire from debris after the North Tower collapsed.
At 5:20 p.m., seven hours after the towers fell, it collapsed straight down in about 7 seconds.

Things that make people scratch their heads:

The collapse looked almost identical to a controlled demolition (symmetrical, at near-free-fall speed).
BBC and CNN reported the building had collapsed 20–26 minutes BEFORE it actually did (they blame chaotic live reporting).
Larry Silverstein, the owner, said in a 2002 PBS interview that the fire department decided to “pull it”, a phrase some interpret as demolition slang (Silverstein later clarified he meant pull the firefighters out).
NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) took seven years to release its final report in 2008. They concluded that uncontrolled fires caused a critical column to fail, triggering global collapse, a mechanism never seen before or since in a steel building.

In 2020, the University of Alaska Fairbanks released a four-year independent study concluding that fire did NOT cause the collapse of WTC 7.

Their models showed that the only way the building falls that way is if all core columns fail at the exact same instant.

As of 2026, more than 3,600 architects and engineers have signed a petition calling for a new, truly independent investigation.

4. The Pentagon – Where Is The Clear Video Of Flight 77?

American Airlines Flight 77 left Dulles at 8:20 a.m. and slammed into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m.

What we know:

184 people died (125 in the building + 59 passengers and crew).
DNA identified everyone on board.
Parts of the plane (landing gear, engine rotor, black box) were recovered.

What still confuses people:

The Pentagon is the most heavily monitored building on Earth. However, only five grainy frames from a parking-lot camera were released, showing a white streak and explosion.
Nearby hotels (Sheraton, Citgo) and Virginia DOT cameras had their tapes confiscated by the FBI within minutes. Most have never been released.
The entry hole before the facade collapsed was about 18–20 feet wide. Many expected a bigger scar from a 124-foot-wingspan Boeing 757.

Pilots for 9/11 Truth (a group of commercial and military pilots) argue the flight path, a descending 270-degree spiral at over 500 mph near ground level, would be almost impossible for rookie hijacker Hani Hanjour, who had been graded “poor” in small Cessnas.

Official Answer: The plane hit at such speed and angle that the wings folded and much of it disintegrated or entered the building. Fair enough for many. However, 24 years later, the question remains: Why not release the dozens of other videos to put the debate to rest once and for all?

5. United Flight 93 – Did Brave Passengers Bring It Down, Or Was It Shot Down?

We all know the heroic story: passengers voted to storm the cockpit.

“Let us roll.”

The plane crashed upside-down in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at 10:03 a.m. However, fragments of the aircraft were found up to eight miles away.

That normally happens when a plane is blown apart in mid-air.

Mayor Ernie Stull of Shanksville said on the day, “There was no airplane there.”
Coroner Wally Miller initially said it looked like “someone took a dump truck of rubbish and dumped it.”
Multiple witnesses, including Susan McElwain, reported a small white jet circling the crash site at the exact moment.
Defense officials confirm Vice President Cheney gave shoot-down authorization that morning.

Official Conclusion: debris spread because the plane hit at 580 mph and broke apart on impact. No shoot-down. However, in 2006, during the Moussaoui trial, the FBI quietly stated there was “no evidence” the passengers ever breached the cockpit.

So which is it? Both stories honor the passengers’ courage, but the details still do not fully line up.

6. The Unusual Stock Trades – Who Knew The Airlines Would Crash?

In the days before 9/11:

Put options (bets that a stock will fall) on American Airlines spiked 285 times the normal volume.
United Airlines saw a 90-times spike.
Some of the trades traced to a bank formerly headed by CIA executive director Buzzy Krongard.

The 9/11 Commission investigated and said there was no evidence of al-Qaeda involvement, just a savvy U.S. investor with no ties. However, many of the profitable trades remain anonymous to this day.

7. The Human Cost That Keeps Growing

More Americans have now died from 9/11-related illnesses than died on the day itself.

As of now:

Over 125,000 people enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program.
More than 4,600 deaths from Ground Zero toxins (and climbing).
Cancers, lung diseases, and PTSD continue to claim lives.

The EPA announced the air was “safe to breathe” on September 18, 2001. We later learned that it was false and politically pressured.

First responders like NYPD detective James Zadroga (whose son started the Zadroga Act) are modern-day heroes who were betrayed by bad information.

An Interesting (and Eerie) Fact

The Pentagon was hit on September 11, 2001, exactly 60 years to the day after its construction groundbreaking on September 11, 1941.

Coincidence? Absolutely. However, on a day full of strange numerical alignments (Flight 11, 11th of the month, 93 days after the FBI’s Phoenix Memo, etc.), it still gives people chills.

Final Thoughts – Why This Still Matters

We may never get every answer. Some files are still classified. Some witnesses have passed away. However, asking respectful, evidence-based questions is not a “conspiracy theory.” It is how democracies stay healthy.

Every time we accept “just move on” without full transparency, we risk the same blind spots happening again.

The victims, the first responders, and the families who still wake up every September 11 with a hole in their hearts deserve the full truth, whatever it turns out to be.

Thank you for taking the time to read this with an open mind and a respectful heart.

If you found this helpful, please share it with someone who lived through that day.

Moreover, check out our other in-depth pieces on history, resilience, and the search for truth at our website THOUSIF Inc. – USA.