It Makes a Difference to the Sheep

that's what trying to pin down conspiracy theorists often feels like. Any counter-evidence one brings to the table is ignored, obfuscated, subjected to the "yes, but what about ..." routine or (my favorite) is accepted as evidence of just how deep the conspiracy runs.

That doesn't mean that trying to debunk conspiracy theories isn't a worthwhile effort, merely that it is a frustrating one. As such, the conclusions of James Meigs of Popular Mechanics are gratifying but not terribly surprising:

In every single case, we found that the very facts used by conspiracy theorists to support their fantasies are mistaken, misunderstood or deliberately falsified.

Here's one example: Meyssan and hundreds of Web sites cite an eyewitness who said the craft that hit the Pentagon looked "like a cruise missile with wings." Here's what that witness, a Washington, D.C., broadcaster named Mike Walter, actually told CNN: "I looked out my window and I saw this plane, this jet, an American Airlines jet, coming. And I thought, 'This doesn't add up. It's really low.' And I saw it. I mean, it was like a cruise missile with wings. It went right there and slammed right into the Pentagon."

We talked to Walter and, like so many of the experts and witnesses widely quoted by conspiracy theorists, he told us he is heartsick to see the way his words have been twisted: "I struggle with the fact that my comments will forever be taken out of context."