Yoichi Shimatsu argues the World Trade Center collapse was a controlled demolition enabled by elevator design flaws. He suggests owner Larry Silverstein and U.S. elites used the attacks as a warmongering pretext. These claims draw on his experience as a pre-9/11 courier.

Analysis of World Trade Center Vulnerabilities and the Pre-9/11 Environment

Executive Summary

The provided source context offers a retrospective analysis of the World Trade Center (WTC) prior to and during the events of September 11, 2001, authored by a former NYC business magazine staffer, Yoichi Shimatsu. The document posits that the total collapse of the Twin Towers was not solely the result of aircraft strikes but was the product of a sophisticated serial demolition.

Key takeaways include:

  • Structural Vulnerabilities: The dual-elevator system in the 110-floor towers created a “deadly impediment” to evacuation, as passengers were required to transfer midway.
  • Sabotage Theory: The author suggests that a “maintenance lift” with independent power provided a means to install explosives along main steel pillars. He argues that the collapse was a “top-down” demolition orchestrated with timed charges.
  • Confluence of Motives: The analysis identifies three primary drivers for the event: financial gain for the WTC owner (avoidance of renovation costs and insurance payouts), a geopolitical pretext for the Bush-Cheney administration to invade Afghanistan and Iraq, and retaliatory motives from Islamist factions.
  • Operational Staging: The document alleges that a nearby office building being converted into a college campus served as a staging ground, providing undetected access to the WTC’s underground tunnel maze.

Pre-9/11 NYC: The “Hustle” and Urban Environment

The memoir provides a granular view of the atmosphere in Lower Manhattan and Midtown during the 1980s and 90s. The author’s routine involved a 24-hour cycle of multiple jobs that highlighted the “stinking underside” of the city.

Professional and Social Landscape

  • Economic Activity: The author describes delivering Newsfront magazine to prestigious firms like Cantor Fitzgerald and interacting with Wall Street brokers.
  • Night Shift Culture: Much of the activity occurred late at night, involving “acrobatic” maneuvers through crowds of “night crawlers,” transvestite hookers on 8th Avenue, and Italian delivery men in the garment district.
  • Security and Survival: Residents often carried weapons, such as nun-chuks, to navigate neighborhoods like the Lower East Side and “Alphabet City.”

Workspace Logistics

The production of financial magazines at the time involved “stripping”—using razor blades to cut film for photo layouts and captions—before moving to physical labor jobs at UPS cargo bays or artists’ paint stores.

Structural Vulnerabilities of the Twin Towers

A central theme of the analysis is that the WTC was a “prestigious death trap” due to its internal logistics and design flaws.

The Dual-Elevator System

The towers used a split-lift system because the height (over 415 meters) made a continuous ride from the plaza to the top impossible.

  • Evacuation Impediments: Staffers on upper floors had almost no chance of escape due to the requirement to transfer elevators midway.
  • System Failure: During the attack, the elevators suffered a massive outage. The author notes that lower-tier elevators should have remained functional under separate control systems, suggesting that their failure was a sign of sabotage.

The Maintenance Lift

Aside from passenger elevators, each tower contained a lightweight maintenance cage with independent power.

  • Access: This lift allowed service personnel (electricians, plumbers, etc.) to travel from the basement to the service attic at the highest point.
  • Sabotage Vector: The author identifies this “unmentionable cable car” as the most plausible method for a demolition team to place explosives along the structural pillars without detection.

Theoretical Framework for Controlled Demolition

The document argues that the aircraft strikes and the structural collapses were two separate acts of sabotage.

Technical Arguments for Demolition

Feature Analysis Collapse Pattern Described as “serial explosions from the top down” rather than a fire-induced collapse. Method Origin Claims the method of precision chain-detonation was pioneered in January 1993 during the demolition of the Dunes casino in Las Vegas. Timing Errors Suggests a “premature explosion” occurred in the opposite tower before the first aircraft strike, likely causing the delay in the eventual serial implosion.

Operational Logistics

The demolition is theorized to have required the capabilities of a major intelligence agency.

  • Access Point: A former office building nearby, then under renovation for a college campus, reportedly had direct access to the WTC underground tunnels.
  • Renovation Cover: The author claims this “closed for repairs” status allowed a demolition team to work undetected.

Motives and Geopolitical Consequences

The analysis presents the WTC disaster as a “cluster ‘fork’”—a convergence of different interests that resulted in a nationally televised spectacle.

Financial and Political Drivers

  • Larry Silverstein: The WTC owner is characterized as seeking to avoid the “astronomical cost” of renovating the 30-year-old structures. The purchase of terrorism insurance shortly before the attacks is cited as a suspicious business move.
  • The Bush-Cheney Administration: The event provided a “plausible pretext” for military intervention in mineral-rich and strategically located Afghanistan, as well as the expansion of the war in Iraq.
  • Intelligence Agencies: The document questions whether elements of Israeli intelligence (Mossad) played a role in recruiting or managing the Islamist cells involved in the aerial phase of the attack.

Post-Event Observations

The author’s subsequent reporting from the Pakistan-Afghan border confirmed that the “War on Terror” was destined for failure. Observations from the region included:

  • Interviews with Taliban warriors and soldiers in the Kashmir region.
  • The conclusion that the Biden-era withdrawal from Afghanistan highlighted the region’s resistance to being “tamed” and its lack of lucrative assets relative to the cost of occupation.
Scroll to Top