Numerous peculiarities exist within the array of conspiracy theories that fall under the “9/11 Truth” umbrella, most notably the often antisemitic notion suggesting that the U.S. government had advance knowledge of, or even actively participated in, the September 11 attacks. Perhaps the most astonishing aspect is that the seeds of these theories were sown a mere three months before the actual events took place.
The Precursor to Conspiracy
On June 28, 2001, Milton William “Bill” Cooper took to the airwaves of his national radio show after watching a CNN report. He informed his audience of a supposed revelation: “A reporter from CNN has found Osama bin Laden, taken a television crew with him, entered his hideout, and interviewed him along with his top leaders, lieutenants, and generals. He emerged stating, ‘In three weeks, Osama bin Laden will attack the United States and Israel.’”
Cooper was partially correct; indeed, a reporter had visited an Al Qaeda operational centre in the mountains near Kandahar, Afghanistan, but he was not from CNN. Baker Atyani, a correspondent for a Middle Eastern broadcaster, had interviewed Al Qaeda’s military chief, Mohammed Atif, not Bin Laden himself. Atif warned Atyani of an impending large-scale attack targeting U.S. and Israeli facilities, adding ominously, “The coffin business will increase in the United States.” Bin Laden, present during the conversation, reportedly smiled and nodded.
To Cooper, this interview signified either a monumental failure of the U.S. government, which had been pursuing Bin Laden for years, or evidence that the authorities were misleading the public regarding the nature of the threat posed by him. “Isn’t it strange, friends?” he questioned. “The most powerful intelligence apparatus in the world, with the largest budget in history, has spent years looking for Osama bin Laden and cannot find him. Yet a dumb reporter with a camera crew manages to waltz into his hideout and interview him?”
He concluded that “this indicates two things: either everyone in the intelligence community and all the intelligence agencies in the U.S. government are complete idiots and incompetent, including the entire FBI and their staff, or they are lying to us. They are not looking for him at all.” Cooper went so far as to assert that “the CIA created Osama bin Laden” and was now leveraging him to impose a global government, branding him the new boogeyman in place of Saddam Hussein.
He argued that the entire Bin Laden threat was a charade, a precursor to what we would now term a “false flag” operation. “If you believe it, you are one of the stupidest idiots that ever existed, and whatever happens, they will blame it on Osama bin Laden.”
Roughly ten weeks later, Cooper’s comments would be interpreted as prophetic.
The Aftermath of September 11
The events of September 11 fundamentally altered nearly every aspect of American society, from the pervasive surveillance in daily life—such as the restrictions on liquids at airports and the defensive posts that now dominate urban landscapes—to the expansion of the surveillance state, the two-decade-long war in Afghanistan, and the pervasive climate of fear and anxiety that permeates culture. However, few recognise one of the most significant and insidious impacts of 9/11: how it transformed society’s understanding of and relationship with facts and truth.
This narrative is not widely comprehended, with roots in the conspiracy theories about UFOs from the 1980s and ramifications that extend to the National Mall on January 6, 2021. It particularly elucidates the transformation of Alex Jones from a fringe talk show host in Austin, Texas, to one of the most significant and disruptive political forces of the 21st century. This transformation began in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks.
From UFO Theorist to Conspiracy Vanguard
Cooper first gained prominence in the 1980s, becoming one of the early members of a group known as “UFO whistleblowers”: former military personnel or intelligence veterans who claimed to possess insider information about the government’s cover-up of alien civilisations, captured spacecraft, and recovered extraterrestrial life forms. This period marked a golden age for modern conspiracy theories, as public trust in the government plummeted following Vietnam, the Watergate scandal, and revelations of dark assassination plots from the Pike and Church Committees.
Cooper claimed to have served as a naval intelligence officer in the 1970s and asserted that, as part of his work with a high-ranking admiral, he had been privy to classified materials that morphed over time to suit his conspiracy theories. In early iterations, he hinted that these documents contained the truth about the assassination of JFK and government contact with extraterrestrials.
In the 1990s, amidst the rise of far-right talk shows like Rush Limbaugh’s, Cooper became a national radio figure with his shortwave programme, The Hour of the Time, which featured a volatile mix of sinister government conspiracies, alternative narratives, warnings about the New World Order, secret societies, and a healthy dose of widespread scepticism; he often urged his listeners to “wake up, sheep!” Much of his conspiratorial rhetoric was laced with barely concealed antisemitism.
For a short while, Cooper was one of the most famous UFOlogists in the country, though few took him seriously, and he often clashed with peers in the field. Eventually, he published an elaborate conspiracy theory in his 1991 memoir, a work that resembled a fever dream: Behold a Pale Horse.
A Disturbing Legacy
Behold a Pale Horse is an extravagant work; there is no other way to describe it. At one point, it includes the full text of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a fabricated antisemitic pamphlet from the early 20th century that alleged a secret Jewish conspiracy to overthrow Christianity. Cooper’s book was, in essence, a precursor to QAnon, detailing a vast global conspiracy spanning decades aimed at robbing the United States and its freedoms from true Americans, all serving a supposed global super-elite. The book became a clandestine bestseller and remains influential within militia movements.
This newfound fame coincided with the start of his talk radio career at WWCR, World Wide Christian Radio, in January 1993. With a 100,000-watt signal, he could reach vast swathes of the country from his home in Arizona. Over time, Cooper garnered two notable fans, who later became infamous: one was a young Gulf War veteran named Timothy McVeigh, who, in early spring 1995, travelled with an unidentified companion to Arizona to attempt to speak with Cooper. “The last thing he said before leaving in his vomit-yellow Mercury Marquis was: ‘Watch out for Oklahoma City,’” Cooper later recounted.
Shortly after their encounter, McVeigh bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168 people and injuring nearly 700.
The Rise of Alex Jones
Then there was Alex Jones, a local public access talk show host in Austin, Texas, who gained national notoriety for fundraising efforts to rebuild a church at the site of the Davidian compound in Waco, Texas. This site had burned in 1993 following a 51-day siege by the U.S. government, when federal agents attempted to arrest the sect’s leader, David Koresh. Ultimately, agents in armoured vehicles attempted to fill the compound with tear gas. The buildings caught fire (the cause of the fires has never been determined), claiming the lives of 75 individuals, including nearly two dozen children. The Waco siege marked a flashpoint for the far-right in the 1990s.
Jones found inspiration in Cooper’s model and became a kind of mentor to the younger broadcaster, calling for interviews in Jones’s early programmes. Jones’s show on KJFK-FM continued until 1999, during which he was even named “Best Radio Host in Austin” by a local newspaper, described as “Austin’s great truth revealer or a conspiracy theory fanatic, depending on your perspective.” However, his conspiratorial narratives made it challenging to secure sponsorships, leading to his dismissal from KJFK in December 1999. Jones quickly embarked on a new venture on the burgeoning internet: Infowars.com.
On September 11, 2001, Cooper was outraged by the attacks and cautioned about the impending aftermath. “Friends, I assure you that within 72 hours, we will be at war. We will bomb two or perhaps three countries… That’s how it works. When governments are attacked, they react violently. Thousands of people who had absolutely nothing to do with what’s happening at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon will die,” he stated. “Nothing will ever be the same after today.”
During that same broadcast on Infowars and approximately 100 syndicated stations, Jones went further: “I went on air and said, ‘Those were controlled demolitions,’” he later recounted.
In the weeks that followed, Cooper and Jones diverged politically. Cooper came to view Jones as an imitator, an alarmist, and a liar. On September