Posted by
On the Right on Sunday, July 30, 2006 10:13:25 PM
Did a Plane Hit the Pentagon?
French Conspiracy Theorist Claims It Did Not
In
2002, French conspiracy theorist Thierry Meyssan wrote a book
suggesting that a cruise missile instead of a plane hit the Pentagon on
September 11, and the planes that hit the World Trade Center towers had
not been hijacked but were piloted by remote control. Mr. Meyssan
believes both attacks were masterminded not by al Qaeda, but "from
inside the American state apparatus." (9/11: The Big Lie, p. 139.)
Mr. Meyssan's claims suffer from numerous obvious flaws.
With regard to the Pentagon attacks, Mr. Meyssan ignores or dismisses the facts that:
- many eyewitnesses saw a plane crash into the Pentagon
- the passenger and crew remains from American Airlines flight 77 were recovered at the Pentagon crash site
- eyewitness reports and photographs show plane debris at the Pentagon crash
site
- passengers on American Airlines flight 77 made phone calls, reporting their aircraft had been hijacked
- senior Al Qaeda leaders have admitted they conducted the September 11 attacks.
With regard to the World Trade Center attacks, Mr. Meyssan ignores or dismisses the facts that:
- Boeing commercial aircraft can not be remotely controlled
- passengers
on both flights that attacked the World Trade Center made phone calls,
reporting that their aircraft had been hijacked
- senior Al Qaeda leaders have admitted they conducted the September 11 attacks.
Mr. Meyssan's book,
L'Effroyable Imposture [The Horrifying Fraud] is available in
19 languages
-- French, English, Spanish, German, Russian, Italian, Greek, Turkish,
Persian, Arabic, Korean, Greek, Portugese, Romanian, Czech, Estonian,
Croatian, Albanian, Serbian -- and is being translated into four more
-- Chinese, Slovenian, Japanese, and Dutch. The book was published in
English as
9/11: The Big Lie.
The book was severely criticized in the French press as soon as it appeared. The French newspaper Liberation
called the book "The Frightening Confidence Trick ... a tissue of wild
and irresponsible allegations, entirely without foundation."
Nevertheless, the book was an instant bestseller in France, selling
more than 200,000 copies.
The Pentagon Attack
Numerous Eyewitness Accounts
Mr.
Meyssan suggests that a cruise missile with a depleted uranium warhead,
not a plane, struck the Pentagon on September 11. But he never traveled
to the United States to conduct research or interviewed any of the many
eyewitnesses to the attack on the Pentagon. He ignores or dismisses the
many eyewitness accounts -- some of which specifically identified the
plane as having American Airlines markings, as a Boeing 757, and as a
plane with passengers onboard, visible through windows. On May 16,
2006, the Pentagon released
videotape footage showing the plane hitting the Pentagon. Excerpts from some of the eyewitness accounts are included at the end of this document.
Passenger and Crew Remains Recovered at Pentagon Crash Site
In
addition to the numerous eyewitness accounts, the remains of the
passengers and crew onboard American Airlines flight 77 were recovered
from the Pentagon crash site. A team of more than 100 forensic
specialists and others identified 184 of the 189 people who died in the
Pentagon attack (125 from the Pentagon and 64 onboard American Airlines
flight 77). All but one of the passengers onboard American Airlines
flight 77 was
positively identified
as a match with DNA samples provided by the families of the crash
victims. These positive forensic identifications provide irrefutable
proof that American Airlines flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon on
September 11. In addition, rescue and recovery personnel at the
Pentagon reported seeing the bodies of airline passengers. The
September 14, 2001 edition of
USA Today
reported, "When [Army Sergeant Mark] Williams discovered the scorched
bodies of several airline passengers, they were still strapped in their
seats."
Plane Debris Found at Pentagon Crash Site
People who went to the Pentagon crash site
reported
seeing parts of an airplane, including the nose cone, landing gear, an
airplane tire, the fuselage, an intact cockpit seat, and the tail
number of the airplane, as reported in an e-mail to a conspiracy theory
website that debunks the conspiracy theory claims. The e-mail also
contains
photographs of airplane landing gear, tires, and fuselage fragments, which were taken at the Pentagon crash site. Moreover, the
black boxes for American Airlines flight 77 were found at the Pentagon crash site.
Passengers Report Hijackings
Mr.
Meyssan's book also ignores the fact that several passengers from
American Airlines flight 77 made phone calls reporting that their plane
had been hijacked.
At 9:12 am, approximately 10 minutes after the American Airlines flight 77 had been hijacked,
passenger Renee May
called her mother, Nancy May, to report that the plane had been
hijacked and that the passengers had been herded to the back of the
plane.
Minutes later, passenger
Barbara Olson
called her husband Ted Olson, the solicitor general of the United
States, also reporting that the flight had been hijacked, and that the
hijackers had knives and box cutters.
Al Qaeda Admits it Conducted September 11 Attacks
Finally,
high-ranking al Qaeda members involved in the September 11 attacks,
including Osama bin Laden, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and Ramzi bin al
Shibh, have
openly acknowledged
that they planned and executed the attacks. As Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
told Al Jazeera reporter Yosri Fouda in April 2002, with reference to
the September 11 attacks, "I am the head of the al Qaeda military
committee and Ramzi is the coordinator of the Holy Tuesday operation.
And, yes, we did it." (Yosri Fouda and Nick Fielding,
Masterminds of Terror, p.
38.)
Mr.
Meyssan provides no explanation for what he believes happened to
American Airlines flight 77. If the plane did not crash into the
Pentagon, as he claims, where did the plane and all its passengers go?
He has no explanation for this question.
Thus, there are:
- numerous eyewitness accounts of an American Airlines passenger plane crashing into the Pentagon
- phone calls from passengers on American Airlines flight 77 reporting that it had been hijacked
- eyewitness
accounts of airplane parts and the bodies of airline passengers still
strapped in their seats found at the Pentagon crash site, as well as
photographs of airplane parts
- the remains of bodies recovered
at the Pentagon crash site positively identified as matching those of
the passengers and crew on American Airlines flight 77
- acknowledgements by high-ranking al Qaeda members that they carried out the September 11 attacks.
In light of
these facts, there is no doubt that American Airlines flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon on September 11.
The World Trade Center Attacks
Mr.
Meyssan also suggests that the two Boeing aircraft that crashed into
the World Trade Center towers had not been hijacked, but were remotely
controlled. He writes:
It was not necessary in fact to have
any hijackers on board at all, as there was no taking of hostages: by
hacking into the planes' computers before takeoff, it would have been
possible to take over the aircraft in flight, thanks to the Global Hawk
technology perfected by the Department of Defense. The Boeing would
have been under remote control, like a drone -- a plane without a
pilot. (9/11: The Big Lie, p. 34.)
Remotely Controlled Flight Not Possible
A
Boeing Company official stated that Boeing has designed its commercial
airplanes so that it is impossible to control them remotely. Elizabeth
Verdiev, a spokesperson for Boeing, stated on June 16, 2005:
No
Boeing commercial jet transport can be controlled from outside the
airplane. No Boeing commercial jet transport can be "commanded" or have
its flight controlled other than from within the flight deck by the
pilots. Pilots can program the airplane to take off, fly to a
destination and land automatically, but Boeing design philosophy keeps
pilots in control and in the decision-making loop at all times.
Meyssan's
claims about the World Trade Center attacks also ignores
acknowledgements by high-ranking al Qaeda members that they carried out
the September 11 attacks, and the fact that several passengers and crew
from the two planes that crashed into the World Trade Center towers
made phone calls describing how their flights had been hijacked.
Passengers Report Hijackings
American
Airlines flight 11 crashed into the World Trade Center's north tower at
8:46 am. It had been hijacked at approximately 8:14 am. Flight
attendants Betty Ong and Madeline "Amy" Sweeney made phone calls
describing the hijacking. Betty Ong's call lasted about 25 minutes, the
first four minutes of which were recorded (see
footnote 29 of
The 9-11 Commission Report).
At
8:19, Ong reported: "The cockpit is not answering, somebody's stabbed
in business class -- and I think there's Mace -- that we can't breathe
-- I don't know, I think we're getting hijacked." She then told of the
stabbings of the two flight attendants. ... At 8:26, Ong reported that the plane was "flying erratically." A minute later, Flight 11 turned south. ...
Sweeney
calmly reported on her line that the plane had been hijacked; a man in
first class had his throast slashed; two flight attendants had been
stabbed -- one was seriously hurt and was on oxygen while the other's
wounds seemed minor ....
United
Airlines flight 175 crashed into the World Trade Center's south tower
at 9:03 am. It had been hijacked between 8:42 and 8:46 am. Passengers
Peter Hanson, Brian David Sweeney, and an unidentified flight attendant
made phone calls reporting that United Airlines flight 175 had been
hijacked and recounting events onboard the plane.
At
8:52, in Easton, Connecticut, a man named Lee Hanson received a phone
call from his son Peter, a passenger on United 175. His son told him,
"I think they've taken over the cockpit -- An attendant has been
stabbed -- and someone else up front may have been killed." ...
Also at 8:52, a male flight attendant called a United office in San
Francisco .... The flight attendant reported that the flight had been
hijacked, both pilots had been killed, a flight attendant had been
stabbed, and the hijackers were probably flying the plane.
... At 8:59, Flight 175 passenger Brian David Sweeney ... called his
mother, Louise Sweeney, told her the flight had been hijacked, and
added that the passengers were thinking about storming the cockpit to
take control of the plane away from the hijackers.
At 9:00, Lee Hanson received a second call from his son Peter:
"It's getting bad, Dad -- A stewardess was stabbed -- They seem to have
knives and Mace -- They said they have a bomb -- ... The plane is
making jerky movements -- I don't think the pilot is flying the plane
-- I think we are going down -- Don't worry, Dad -- If it happens,
it'll be very fast -- My God, my God."
The call ended abruptly. Lee Hanson heard
a woman scream just before it cut off. He turned on a television, and
in her home so did Louise Sweeney. Both of them saw the second aircraft
hit the World Trade Center.
Thus, passengers and
crew members from both flights reported that they had been hijacked,
that passengers and crew members had been killed or wounded, and that
the planes were flying in an erratic or jerky fashion, as would be the
case if they were being flown by first-time pilots, as both hijacker
pilots were. There was no mention or indication of a mysterious "remote
control" takeover of the planes.
In conclusion, Mr. Meyssan's
book ignores obvious facts, makes sweeping, totally unfounded
allegations, and employs spurious logic to try to explain away facts
that he apparently finds inconvenient. As the French newspaper
Liberation said, the book is "a tissue of wild and irresponsible
allegations, entirely without foundation."
Eyewitness Accounts of Pentagon Attack
- Richard Benedetto: "It was an American Airlines airplane, I could see it very clearly."
- Omar
Campo, a Salvadorean" "It was a passenger plane. I think an American
Airways plane. I was cutting grass and it came in screaming over my
head."
- Joseph Candelario: "I noticed a large aircraft flying
low towards the White House. This aircraft then made a sharp turn and
flew towards the Pentagon and seconds later crashed into it."
- James
Cissell: "I saw this plane coming in and it was low - and getting
lower. ... Then I saw the faces of some of the passengers on board."
- Dennis
Clem: "There was a commercial airliner that said American Airliners
over the side of it flying at just above treetop height at full speed
headed for the Pentagon."
- Michael Dobbs: "It was an
American airlines airliner. I was looking out the window and saw it
come right over the Navy annex at a slow angle."
- Penny Elgas:
"... the plane was directly over the cars in front of my car .... I
remember recognizing it as an American Airlines plane -- I could see
the windows and the color stripes."
- Cheryl Hammond: "We saw the big American Airlines plane and started running."
- Joe Harrington: "... one of my guys pointed to an American Airlines airplane 20 feet high over Washington Blvd."
- Albert Hemphill: "The aircraft, look[ed] to be either a 757 or Airbus."
- Terrance Kean: "I saw this very, very large passenger jet. It just plowed right into the side of the Pentagon."
- William
Lagasse: "It was close enough that I could see the windows and the
blinds had been pulled down. I read American Airlines on it. ... I saw
the aircraft above my head about 80 feet above the ground."
- Robert Leonard: "I ... saw a large commercial aircraft aiming for the Pentagon."
- Lincoln Liebner: "I saw this large American Airlines passenger jet coming in fast and low."
- Elaine McCusker: "I saw a very low-flying American Airlines plane that seemed to be accelerating."
- Mitch
Mitchell: "I ... saw, coming straight down the road at us, a huge jet
plane clearly with American Airlines written on it .... It crossed
about 100 feet in front of us and at about 20 feet altitude and we
watched it go in. It struck the Pentagon."
- Terry Morin: "The
plane had a silver body with red and blue stripes down the fuselage. I
believed at the time that it belonged to American Airlines."
- Christopher
Munsey: "I couldn't believe what I was now seeing to my right: a
silver, twin-engine American Airlines jetliner gliding almost
noiselessly over the Navy Annex, fast, low and straight toward the
Pentagon ...."
- Vin Narayanan: "I looked up to my left and saw
an American Airlines jet flying right at me. The jet roared over my
head, clearing my car by about 25 feet."
- John
O'Keefe: "I don't know whether I saw or heard it first -- this silver
plane; I immediately recognized it as an American Airlines jet ...."
- Steve
Riskus: "I was close enough (about 100 feet or so) that I could see the
‘American Airlines' logo on the tail as it headed towards the building
.... I clearly saw the ‘AA' logo with the eagle in the middle."
- James
Ryan: "I see an American Airlines plane, silver plane, I could see AA
on the tail. ... The plane was low enough that I could see the windows
of the plane. I could see every detail of the plane. In my head I have
ingrained forever this image of every detail of that plane. It was a
silver plane, American Airlines plane, and I recognized it immediately
as a passenger plane."
- Joel Sucherman: "... looking straight
ahead there was a jet, what looked to be an American Airlines jet,
probably a 757, and it came screaming across the highway ... [and] hit
the west side of the Pentagon."
- Donald
"Tim" Timmerman, a pilot: "I live on the 16th floor, overlooking the
Pentagon ... and so I have quite a panorama. ... It was a Boeing 757,
American Airlines, no question."
Mike Walter: "I saw this plane,
this jet, an American Airlines jet, coming. ... It went right there and
slammed right into the Pentagon. I saw the big ‘AA' on the side." - Ian Wyatt: "I duck, I look up, it looks like a silver American Airlines, twin-engine plane and then boom."
Finally,
The 9/11 Commission Report
states that on September 11, air traffic controllers at Washington's
Reagan National Airport instructed a C-130H cargo plane that had just
taken off from the airport to try to follow the plane that had been
spotted on radar as heading toward Washington. According to the report,
"The C-130H pilot spotted it, identified it as a Boeing 757, attempted
to follow its path, and at 9:39, seconds after impact, reported to the
control tower: ‘looks like that aircraft crashed into the Pentagon,
sir.'"
In
sum, hundreds of people on nearby roads or in nearby buildings saw a
large passenger plane hit the Pentagon and, as the above eyewitness
testimonies demonstrate, numerous people specifically identified it as
an American Airlines plane.