This one was an emailed request...

Clauds & Tatiana approached me with this one. I had debunked an email rumor chain a few months back with St. Theresa. You can look in September of 2004's archives to read it if you wish, but its interesting to think that I am slowly becoming the person to talk to & expose the truths in these emailed chain letters. Let's get started with the latest one sent to me, shall we?

11 has become a very interesting number. It could be a forced coincidence, but in any case this is interesting. You decide for yourself......

1) New York City has 11 letters
2) Afghanistan has 11 letters
3) Ramsin Yuseb (the terrorist who threatened the Twin Towers in 1993)has 11 letters
4) George W. Bush has 11 letters

This could be a mere coincidence....(Couldit be?)
Now here is what is interesting...

1) New York is the 11thstate
2) The first plane crashing into the Twin Towers was Flight #11
3) Flight #11 was carrying 92 passengers. Adding this number gives us 9+2
4) Flight #77 who also hit the towers, was carrying 65 passengers. Adding this gives us 6+5
5) The tragedy was on September 11, or 9-11. Adding this gives us 9+1+1
6) The date is equal to the emergency number 911. Adding this gives us 9+1+1

Now we have a very upsetting piece....

1) The total number of victims inside the planes are 254: 2+5+4
2) The day September 11 is day number 254 of the calendar year:2+5+4
3) After September 11, there are 111 days more to the end of the year
4) The tragedy of 3-11-2004 in Madrid also adds to: 3+1+1+2+4
5) The tragedy in Madrid happened 911 days after the tragedy of the Twin Towers

Spooky??!! Read on....This is really eerie.....

This is something to think about!! Since America is typically represented by an Eagle, Saddam and Bin Laden should have read up on their Muslim passages...The following verse is from the Quran, (the Islamic Bible):

Quran (9 -11) - For it is written that a son of Arabia would awaken a fearsome Eagle. The wrath of the Eagle would be felt throughout the lands of Allah and lo, while some of the people trembled in despair still more rejoiced: for the wrath of the Eagle cleansed the lands of Allah: and there was peace.....

NOTE THE VERSE NUMBER!!!

Lets break it down now.

• Yes, New York City has 11 letters and is the 11th state, so we aren't touching these.
• Ramsey Yusef is the real name of the terrorist found guilty of bombing the WTC back in 1993 and has 11 letters to his name.
• George W. Bush does have 11 letters in his name, but has 10 if we omit his middle initial that distinguishes him from his father.
• American Airlines flight 11 crashes into the North Tower, 1 World Trade Center Plaza.
• American Airlines flight 77 does not fly into the WTC, United Airlines flight 175 crashes into the South Tower, 2 World Trade Center Plaza.
• American Airlines flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon 40 minutes after flight 175 hits the South Tower.

This right here should be the nail in the coffin (no pun intended, honest) to make this chain letter email a fake. They get the flight paths of the planes wrong. But lets go further into the email to really screw with the numbers mentioned in the email.

• Flight 77 was carrying 6 crew members and 58 passengers totaling 64 people, which means the math given in the email example of 65 or 6+5 (equaling 11) is wrong. The total number of victims onboard all 4 airplanes that crashed on Sept. 11th do not total 254.
  
  

The real number of people that died on airplanes that day was 266. The numbers are:

• American Airlines flight 11 - 11 crew, 81 passengers
• American Airlines flight 77 - 6 crew, 58 passengers
• United Airlines flight 175 - 9 crew, 56 passengers
• United Airlines flight 93 - 7 crew, 38 passengers
  

If you take the 266 people that died on the airplanes that day, and subtract the 19 terrorists who flew them into various buildings and the ground, it drops the number to 247 people who died in plane crashes that day.

• Sept. 11th was the 254th day of the year (thanks to it being a leap year).
• There was 111 days till the end of the year.
• The Madrid train bombing that occurred indeed happened 911 days after Sept. 11th took place, but only since an Al Qaeda-linked group, the Brigade of Abu Hafs al-Masri, claimed responsibility does it fit into this chain letter.
  

Religious verses (much like the U.S. Constitution) are open to interpretation. However, I have to say, the interpretation used in the chain letter is completely off base with what the Qur'an actually says. I had a hell of a time trying to find the translated verse, since Google's search engine was clogged with the same email chain letter sent to me by Tatiana, care of Clauds. It seems everyone has linked this email to a search for the correct Qur'an verse. No thanks to those people, I found it.

Verse 9:11 of the Qur'an is about repentance and reads as follows in three different English translations:

• But (even so), if they repent, establish regular prayers, and practice regular charity, they are your brethren in Faith: (thus) do We explain the Signs in detail, for those who understand.
• But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then are they your brethren in religion.
• We detail Our revelations for a people who have knowledge. But if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, they are your brethren in faith; and We make the communications clear for a people who know.
  

Thinking about it, I know it's not my place to mess with the human psyche. It's wrong for one person to try and break down something that people try so hard to believe in. There are just some things that need to be corrected to get the right information out. We as Americans would love to see that the Qur'an says that we will bring peace to the lands and all that good stuff, that America is the world leader, drawing our attention away from the fact that we are vulnerable, and this somehow vaguely reminds us about it and gives us a sliver of hope to an otherwise nightmare-ish event in our history. Would it hurt us to at least get the information right before hitting the send button?

My verdict on this email? There are some oddities in the numbers 9, 11 and the combinations there-in, but you have to remember that the attacks were actually scheduled for earlier in the year. I am gonna chalk it up to a freak occurrence that usually never happens as planned, but is interesting when it does.