“LIHOP” vs. “MIHOP”?

Well, I learned something new today. I thought I knew what “LIHOP” and “MIHOP” meant. Apparently, not quite.

As I understood it, LIHOP (“Let It Happen On Purpose”) is the view that the events of 9/11 were primarily Al Qaeda’s doing, but that high officials in the U.S. government were aware of the plot and deliberately let it happen for political convenience, whereas MIHOP (“Made It Happen On Purpose”) is the view that that the 9/11 attacks were primarily the work of a cabal within the U.S. government, and that any foreign terrorists involved were at most patsies.

However, judging by a discussion I got into in the thread NIST Report Release Date for WTC 7: Second anniversary! on the TruthAction board, it turns out that some folks use “LIHOP” to refer to any hypothesis that involves real live human hijackers at all, even if, say, the CIA was ultimately behind their activities. Some folks also reserve the term “MIHOP” for those hypotheses that don’t involve any foreign terrorists at all, even as patsies.

What surprised me even more is that the latter usage is accepted by at least one influential person who I would have thought of as “MIHOP” but who, under the latter definitions, is “LIHOP.” (This person believes that 9/11 was an inside job, but that it also involved foreign terrorists.)

Nicholas Levis wrote, in What Is Your “HOP” Level?:

5 FULL LIHOP/LIHOP PLUS
LIHOP = “Letting It Happen On Purpose”

As in the official story, hijackers were dispatched by “al-Qaeda” (the Bin Laden-inspired cell networks) to carry out the 9/11 plan. However, Bush & Co. and/or other elements within the U.S. government, secret services or establishment knew about the attacks in advance and worked to ensure they would happen, with the intent of exploiting a New Pearl Harbor. This insider help may have included protection of the alleged hijackers, obstruction of FBI investigations, a standdown of air defense, an intentional leadership AWOL during the attacks, and possible construction of other excuses for inaction, such as “we were only holding a wargame and it was subverted by evildoers.” This is the minimum position of Michael Ruppert, David Ray Griffin, and the mainstream of the 9/11 truth movement.

VARIANT 5a, LIHOP PLUS: The insiders took additional steps to guarantee that the 9/11 plot would succeed (why leave something so important in the hands of amateurs?), for example by infiltrating and helping out the hijackers, possibly even replacing them with loyal doubles or steering the planes (or drones) by remote control, or doing whatever else was thought necessary.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I think the likeliest hypothesis is of an inside job that exploited a “genuine” terrorist plot. Sometime between the Bojinka Plot of 1996 and 9/11 itself, the original Islamic-extremist dream of crashbombing planes into American targets was subverted and then steered to fruition by masterminds within the US power elite. This is the logical way to leave a robust trail of evidence pointing to the patsies. The perfect plot would produce a patsy who sincerely believed he had himself committed the crime – like Marinus van der Lubbe, the man who went proudly to his execution for burning down the German Reichstag (parliament) in 1933, although there is no realistic doubt the Nazis themselves set the fire.

6 NORTHWOODS 2001
MIHOP = “Making It Happen On Purpose”

There were no hijackers. The whole thing was planned long before 2001 and finally executed as an inside job by elements within the US intel apparatus and/or the Bush mob. They created the false-flag excuses, using patsies or a completely fake list of perpetrators. The planes were likely flown by remote control, or were replaced in mid-flight by drones. Wargames mimicking the actual attacks were held on Sept. 11 so as to confuse the majority of the military and provide a back-up cover story. The whole thing might as well have been Made in Hollywood, and was in fact pre-figured in Hollywood productions such as “The Lone Gunmen” pilot episode of March 2001, “The Siege” (1998), “The Long Kiss Goodnight” (1996) and other films. In fact, such movies may have been used consciously as propaganda preparation. This is the conclusion of author Mamadou Chinyelu, Webster Tarpley, John Leonard and others.

Further down in the article, he says:

NOTE ON DEMOLITIONS: Scenarios 5a to 8, all of which qualify as “Inside Job Theories,” may or may not include the idea that the WTC buildings were brought down by pre-planted explosives. While the demolition theory (for those who believe in it) is considered to prove that 9/11 was an inside job, one can easily believe in an inside job without requiring demolitions. Those who make the case for inside job with demolition generally focus on two possible sets of motives. One is based in the theory of psychological operations (“psyops”): the downright biblical vision of collapsing towers generates an even greater shock than the plane hits. It traumatizes the hundreds of millions who see it live or on television, making them far more susceptible to the mental programming of a new enemy image and a perpetual “War on Terror.” The other set of motives draws from the pedestrian world of material gains: the buildings were obsolete and full of asbestos, and an orderly disposal would have cost billions; the owners made a killing on the insurance; the destruction stimulates a later re-development of Manhattan; the damaging records stored in WTC 7 were destroyed; etc.

Previously, I had assumed that “MIHOP” was synonymous with “inside job.” Apparently, though, a lot of people use “MIHOP” to refer only to a narrower concept.

I consider this usage to be confusing and misleading. But it seems to be widely accepted, to my surprise. Perhaps because of this misleading usage, these labels have also been a topic of much bickering. That being the case, I’m now inclined to agree those who think that the terminology of “MIHOP” vs. “LIHOP” should just be dropped.

I personally, like Nicholas Levis, lean toward the viewpoint he described as “LIHOP plus,” at least for now. (My opinion might change as I explore the evidence more.)

P.S., 11/17/2007: Here on the Truth Action board, Abel Ashes recommends some books about Al Qaeda.