Scoop: Top Ten Conspiracy Theories of 2002

1. Great Game in the Caspian Sea.

Among the theories about the administration's real reasons for bombing and occupying Afghanistan, the one with the most traction argues that Afghanistan provides the best real estate for an oil and natural gas pipeline.

2. The Afghanistan/Enron Connection.

3. The Magic Passport Theory and other planted terrorist evidence.

4. Hijacker Oddities I. How quickly determined.

5. Hijacker Oddities II. Training at US bases.

6. Insider Trades before 9/11. Traced to the CIA?

7. The New World Order Will Not Be Televised. The concentration of US media and the reports of news slanting.

8. Iran/Contra Redux. The conspiracy past of the reinstated Reaganites.

9. The Reichstag Fire and Operation Northwoods. The US intelligence community is willing to commit acts against American citizens to get support for an action.

10. Things to Come. Autocratic rule and scramble for oil and other resources is because oil is becoming scarce and there are too many people.

Honorable mention conspiracy theories:

1. The Mel Carnahan and Paul Wellstone plane crashes.

2. Jeb Bush's 7 September 2001 martial law declaration in Florida (Executive Order 01-261).

3. The Flight 93 debris patterns and the ease with which the Flight 93 story that circulated in the major media fits into an archetypal "hero" narrative.

4. Warren Buffett, who – among with several other World Trade Center executives – went to Offutt AFB before the attacks on the morning of September 11. This is where Bush went after the attacks began.

5. Potential CIA links to the coup in Venezuela.

6. Cynthia McKinney's insinuation of possible government complicity in September 11 on the floor of Congress.

7. The Phoenix memo and the curious case of the FBI whistleblowers.

8. The idea that the anti-aircraft missiles used when Bush visited Genoa, Italy, we intended to thwart a kamikaze attack.

9. The Bin Laden family's clandestine flight out of the United States in the days after September 11.

10. Bush's 6 August 2001, comprehensive briefing, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US." Mentions hijacking planes.

Internet searches on terms mentioned here are instructive, but not if you want to sleep easily.