Thread by @drbairdonline

The "official" story says perimeter steel columns "falling" from #WTC1 "punched" through Building 6 #WTC6 on 9/11 & created this huge "crater" down to sub-basement levels? Others look at this crater and think "No way! This HAD to have been an explosion!" So which is it?
Thread
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For nearly a year after 9/11 there was nothing controversial about the #WTC6 crater. On 16 Sep 2001 #NYTimes published this satellite image that clearly shows the black hole marked "6" but it certainly didn't stand out from all the other destruction
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nytimes.com/2001/09/16/us/…

On 5 Oct 2001, AP released a photo of a priest blessing a cross of steel beams that reportedly had fallen from WTC1 into #WTC6 that a laborer had found in the WTC6 rubble two days after 9/11
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What should have gotten - but apparently never did get - people's attention that maybe it wasn't WTC1 steel beams that caused the #WTC6 crater was a segment of Sixty Minutes II broadcast on 31 Oct 2001.
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In this must see segment titled "Under Ground Zero," CBS's Dan Rather takes a tour under Ground Zero with Ken Holden, Commissioner of New York's Department of Design & Construction, starting with #WTC6.
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cbsnews.com/news/i60-minut…

Providing our first close-up views of the #WTC6 crater, Rather reports that Commissioner Holden says "debris from the tall towers crashed through the roof" of #WTC6 & "through the basements six stories underground"
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For those unfamiliar with the WTC underground, #WTC6 was in the "Deep Foundation" (aka "Bathtub") section that had six basement levels (B1 to B6) protected from the Hudson River by the slurry wall.
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Holden: "Large chunks of that heavy facade broke off, presumably from the upper floors 90 or higher & just crashed through the center of this building [#WTC6], crashing through the nine floors of this building" & "many of the concrete slabs that create the parking structure"
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Holden is referring to pre-fabricated sections of vertical columns attached to horizontal beams (called spandrels) 48 ft long x 10 ft wide that weighed about 22 tons
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science.howstuffworks.com/engineering/st…

Rather: "The debris, some of the individual pieces weighing 30 tons, cannonball through Building 6, creating an open space that looks like an atrium."
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Deeper under #WTC6, Comm'r Holden points at one of "the huge exterior columns that support the exterior of the building" & said "you can see the force of the fire and the explosion has basically sheared off." Excuse me! "Force of the fire"? "Explosion"? "Sheared off"?
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Comm'r Holden adds: "And so that when you look at it [WTC6] from the outside, you see that northern facade is leaning against this building, and that's why it's leaning because these have sheared off.” (It's hard to judge from photos of #WTC6 any leaning facade. )
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Descending further, Comm'r Holmes announces “This is level B3, three floors beneath Ground Zero,” what used to be a garage for fed govt employees who worked in #WTC6 where Rather says daylight "filters in from that giant crater at the bottom of what Holden calls, the atrium."
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In the 20 years since 9/11, there has been much confusion abt how deep the #WTC6 crater was. Indeed in this very segment Rather had earlier reported Comm'r Holden said debris crashed "through the basements six stories underground" suggesting bottom was not B3 but instead B6
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Similarly #NYTimes reporter James Glanz after taking a tour of the WTC basement wrote "a giant hole punched through the middle of the U.S. Customs House [aka #WTC6] by falling debris from the north tower continues to the bottom of the basement"
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sfgate.com/news/article/A…

For my part, I have oft tweeted Jack White's claim that the #WTC6 crater was 10-story crater in an 8-story building. White simply assumed #WTC6 had only a two-story basement and the debris one could see in photos was lying on the bottom of the crater.
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https://twitter.com/drbairdonline/status/1089288652784467968

But looking at this still that Comm'r Holmes says is level B3 & Rather says daylight "filters in from that giant crater at the BOTTOM" of the "atrium", it appears B3 is the BOTTOM of the "crater." The B3 floor seems to extend to where the car is parked in the daylit area.
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However George Tamaro (who supervised repairs to slurry wall) in 2004 reported "tiebacks" were installed on segment of Vesey St wall where falling debris had punched thru #WTC6 & 3 levels of basement floor slabs - suggesting damage to B3 floor as well
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scholarsmine.mst.edu/cgi/viewconten…

This diagram of WTC basement damage posted by Lawrence B. Karp, Consulting Engineer, seems consistent w/George Tamaro showing greatest #WTC6 damage to B1 & B2 where "crater" located, reduced damage to B3 & no damage to B4, B5 & B6
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lbkarp.com/wtc/basement.j…

Knowing that the bottom of the "crater" lay on B3 and maybe in part on B4 we could ask "How much debris was on the bottom of the crater?" Well, to judge by this image - with all that daylight coming in - I would say on B3 (& thus likely B4) the debris pile was NOT VERY HIGH!
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Indeed to judge by this photo captioned "This debris field in the center of the U.S. Customhouse at 6 World Trade Center," if this represents B3 we might surmise the pile was no higher than HALF the height of the basement floor or about 5 feet.
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commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CBP_…

While we're on this photo, we might ask where are all those "large chunks" of perimeter columns from #WTC1 that Comm'r Holden & Dan Rather referred that "cannonballed" into #WTC6 b/c I certainly don't see many of them at the bottom of the "crater"?
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It is not clear what part of the #WTC6 "crater" the earlier video clip of the jumbled "large chunks" of #WTC1 perimeter columns was taken, but if anything it appears to be from the TOP of the crater where they penetrated only partially into #WTC6
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And while we're on this photo we might note it is strange how these #WTC1 perimeter columns seem to have broken in two. How does that happen? Were they supposed to be from the north side of #WTC1 that American Airlines Flight 11 reportedly crashed into?
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The #WTC6 "crater" photo caption also states "Steel beams formed several crosses in the midst of the debris field." We might ask from WHAT PART of #WTC1 or #WTC6 did these "crosses" supposedly come and what function could they have possibly served?
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WaPo reported these "crosses" were actually "T-beams" & stated "There were T-beams on every floor of the World Trade center buildings." But these "crosses" are NOT "T-beams". So what are they? Were these "crosses" somehow planted for laborers to find?
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washingtonpost.com/politics/911-m…

From these photos it appears the debris field at the bottom of #WTC6 "crater" is all on one level (B3) but, whether on 1 or 2 levels, it seems the debris was only about 5 feet high. So where did all that steel, concrete, office furnishings, etc. from an 8-story building go?!
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But there was a lot more happening on B3 than the bottom of a scooped out crater. Dan Rather exclaimed “Good God, this is an automobile hanging like this" & Comm'r Holden added "With its tires burnt off. Obviously the rubber has been burnt off. The fire here was so hot."
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As they walked past many other burnt out cars on B3, Comm'r Holden observes "Obviously, these cars are all burnt out, but you'll be able to see over, I believe it's over here, and see the aluminum hubcap is just melted right off. That's a puddle of aluminum from the fire.”
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Yes, indeed, that's "a puddle of aluminum"! But it's not the hubcap. That the entire rim that has melted! FYI the melting point of aluminum is 1221°F/660°C while the melting point of the standard A356 aluminum alloy used for car rims is a little less 1130°F/610 °C.
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Aluminum alloy rims have been known to melt when cars are left abandoned in forest fires but it is curious what could have possibly caused and sustained this fire on B3? From the photos the debris field itself on B3 does not seem to have suffered any fire damage.
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May 2002 FEMA issued its "Building Performance Study" with single chapter combining WTC4, WTC5 & #WTC6 based almost exclusively on WTC5 b/c access in WTC6 "severely limited" & WTC4 "declared unsafe" while all 3 buildings "similar design features"
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fema.gov/pdf/library/fe…

According to FEMA, WTC5 & #WTC6 "impacted by exterior column debris from WTC1 that caused large sections of localized collapse & subsequent fires spread throughout most of the bldgs" but all 3 bldgs able to resist progressive collapse in spite of extensive local collapses
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According to FEMA, in #WTC5 localized collapses occurred from roof to 3rd floor in most of areas where exterior columns impacted the structure (Fig 4-6) &
ensuing fires that burned unchecked in the bldg caused a localized collapse from 9th floor to 4th floor
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FEMA did not do similar analysis for #WTC6 but based on "site observations" concluded WTC 6 suffered significant impact & fire damage from #WTC1 collapse w/most impact appearing to have been in center of bldg where "the damage extended TO THE GROUND LEVEL." What no BASEMENT?
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FEMA had not identified "the source of ignition" of #WTC5 fire but "likely" due to "flaming debris" from WTC1 & WTC2. There was "a complete burnout of all combustibles" from 5th floor up, some steel beams supporting roof deformed due to heat & some local buckling & pancaking
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According to FEMA, #WTC5 "punctures" the result to be expected from "large debris falling over a great distance. Generally, the debris punched through the roof & floor slabs & severed or otherwise damaged framing until sufficient energy had dissipated to arrest the collapse."
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"Until sufficient energy had dissipated to arrest the collapse" reminds me of the episode of "King of the Nerds" where the nerds had to guess how many glass sheets would be shattered from dropped weights & pink-haired Danielle won after researching some 9/11 Physics sites!
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The 1st person to really question the "official" #WTC6 story was Christopher Bollyn, American Free Press (AFP) reporter, in his article "Video Evidence of Unexplained Explosion in WTC 6" published 2 July 2002
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bollyn.com/the-mystery-of…

In this article, Bollyn claimed video from 9/11 reveals a missile streaking toward #WTC6 & #WTC7 "at the precise moment the plane exploded in the south tower" & suggested it could be a "bunker buster" missile responsible for the unexplained explosion & crater in #WTC6
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In a follow-up article "What Caused the WTC 6 Crater?" (10 July 2002), Bollyn described how "a mysterious explosion shot 550 feet into the air" above #WTC6 immediately after UA Flt 175 smashed into South Tower as shown by CNN that later CNN confirmed happened at 9:04
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It seems quite likely that Bollyn was getting his info from a website cyberspaceorbit.com that had posted this gif of the relevant CNN video clip as early 20 Sep 2001 although the website made no mention of #WTC6
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web.archive.org/web/2001092010…

The same webpage also had a link labeled "MISSILE" to Drudge Report of "a flying mystery object" captured on video just moment after second plane crashed into South Tower that was likely basis for Bollyn's "missile"
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web.archive.org/web/2001092004…

On the 1st anniversary of 9/11 there was a burst of #911Truth activity, most prominently Eric Hufschmid’s book Painful Questions (2002) that includes quite a few excellent color photos of #WTC6
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Hufschmid argued this "plume of dust" near Bldgs 5 & 6 shooting upwards "so quickly that it passed the top of Building 7 *nearly 600 feet tall) within a few seconds" happened NOT as Bollyn would have it at the time of the "second jet" but as each tower COLLAPSED
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Hufschmid suggests collapse of the towers would have pushed dust into WTC basement increasing air pressure underground & "these plumes of smoke might be the result of the high pressure dust blowing open" those mysterious holes in #WTC6 & #WTC5
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Hufschmid's book includes a 3-dimensional elevation map of WTC taken by NOAA 23 Sep 2001 in which the dark green color shows the hold in #WTC6 was very deep. below ground level and would be even deeper but full of rubble from 8 floors above the hole
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Hufschmid questions whether #WTC1 pieces could have crushed such a deep hole only in center of #WTC6 suggesting something might have exploded in Building 6 which could explain the "smoke" (mentioned above) at the time of #WTC2 collapse
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Hufschmid credits Bollyn w/pointing out the large hole in #WTC6 is "so deep (below ground level) that it was not likely to be from falling debris & adds "It is also a clean hole, not a ragged hole"
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Hufschmid even suggests the 9/11 perps he calls "the Axis of Good" (to contrast w/Bush's "Axis of Evil") may have planted explosives in #WTC6 to create a vent, noting how #WTC6 employees & police moved so quickly to evacuate bldg right after "plane" crashed into #WTC1 at 0846
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