The kind of theory Little Hawk had there is a lot more plausible than ones that that would have the whole thing home grown. Of course the next stage in that would have the "certain elements in the US government" being manipulated by outsiders.

And so it goes, mirrors within mirrors...Think about it too long and you go mad. Agents, double-agents, turned double-agents, turned double agents who have been turned...

There's no real point in wasting time speculating about how many people were in the conspiracy and who they were. (And of course it was a conspiracy, by definition, even if the correct conspiracy theory is that only Al Qaeda and it's immediate operatives were involved.)

Whatever happened, one thing is clear, and that's the thing to focus on. The US administration seized on the disaster, and its aftermath, as a way of carrying out policy objectives which had been there in advance. It may not have welcomed 911, it may not have planned and organised it, or stood back and let it happen - but 911 suited it right down to the ground.