The leftist Berlin newspaper Taz, famous for blunt headlines, reported this with the heading, "Germans have a screw loose." The result was a flood of letters to the editor from conspiracy-minded readers.
Taz suggests anti-American sentiment is on the rise in Germany, blinding better judgment.
In France, conspiracy theorists are led by Thierry Meyssan, whose book September 11, 2001: The Awful Confidence Trick appeared in March last year. He claims the World Trade Center could not have collapsed from plane strikes alone, and denies any jet hit the Pentagon.
A French book, The Awful Lies,ripped apart Meyssan's claims, but the theorist is still at it, with a new book entitled Pentagate.
Conspiracy theories have been widely reported in Middle East nations as well, but have made very little headway in the US, where much of the population knew, at least indirectly, someone who died in the jets, the two towers or the Pentagon.
Americans have been more susceptible to far-fetched books claiming the intelligence services could have prevented the attacks but were too lax, or that Saudi leaders are posing as US allies while allegedly in cahoots with al-Qaeda.
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