11 Questions on the 16th Anniversary of the 9-11 Tragedy; Plus a Bonus Question

I have written frequently on the World Trade Center Tragedy . Here is a bare-bones list of some of the many unanswered questions that remain.

1. Why did Cheney order the stand-down of the air defense system that was supposed to shoot down non-responding hi-jacked aircraft?

2. Why were Osama bin Laden's family members and other Saudis flown out of the country, during the 3-day "all aircraft" grounding following the World Trade Center destruction?

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3. What made the 16-ft. circular hole in a Pentagon inner wall and apparently left no debris?

4. Why has there never been an investigation of the Pentagon bombing?

5. Why did Rudy Giuliani order that the debris at the site of the Twin Tower collapses cleaned up and deposited in the Jersey swamps within six weeks, without any opportunity for a forensic examination?

6. Why did Giuliani and Christie Todd Whitman, the EPA Director (who NOW looks so good in comparison with the present one) declare that there was no danger in breathing the dust/paricles from the explosions?

7. Why did Bldg. 7 fall precisely in its own footprint, well after the original attacks, without any attack on it?

8. Why did Bush, sitting in the elementary school classroom, not respond immediately when informed of the crashes, and what was he thinking during the 7-minute delay before he left the room?

9. On what basis did Bush declare the tragedy a "terrorist attack" well before, apparently, anyone knew who was flying the planes and that they were (supposedly) connected with the CIA asset, the "terrorist" Osama bin Laden (who always held that he had nothing to do the attack)? And when captured, why was he killed and not brought to trial in open court?

10. Why did Bush/Cheney fight so hard against the formation of the Commission and why did they eventually testify, but together, and not under oath?

11. Why is the standard conspiracy theory, that 20 Arabs who know not-too-much about flying big planes, nevertheless able to pull off the feat (plus the Pentagon bombing, which would he required a really difficult aeronautical trick, when all the other conspiracy theories are labelled "just conspiracy theories?"

And finally, the Bonus Question: Why, 16 years after the horrible, tragic event, is it still necessary to ask questions like these, among the many-too-many that remain unanswered?