How could an event witnessed by hundreds, if not thousands, of people
be whipped up into a conspiracy theory? In the world of the tin foil hats
anything is possible.

Pentagon 9/11: Getting the Facts Straight

The New American | August 23 2004 Issue

A growing number of people have been led to believe that an airliner did not
hit the Pentagon on 9/11. However, in this case the "official version" of
events is irrefutable.

Father Stephen McGraw had taken a wrong turn on his way to Arlington
National Cemetery the morning of September 11, 2001. After taking the
Pentagon exit onto Washington Boulevard, Fr. McGraw found himself mired in
traffic, stewing impatiently over being late for a planned graveside
service. Suddenly the priest heard a deafening roar as a large aircraft
passed directly over the roof of his car. "It looked like a plane coming in
for a landing . I mean, in the sense that it was controlled and sort of
straight," recalled Fr. McGraw.

The priest "looked out just as the plane clipped an overhead sign and then
toppled a light pole, injuring a taxi driver a few feet away," recounts
investigative author James Bamford in his new book A Pretext for War. "A
second later, American Flight 77 smashed into the gray concrete wall of the
Pentagon. The jet hit with such force that it penetrated four of the five
concentric rings of corridors and offices surrounding a gazebo in the center
court, long nicknamed Ground Zero."

"I saw it crash into the building," testifies the priest. "There was an
explosion and a loud noise, and I felt the impact. I remember seeing a
fireball come out of two windows.... I saw an explosion of fire billowing
through those two windows. I remember hearing a gasp or scream from one of
the other cars near me. Almost a collective gasp, it seemed."

That "collective gasp" was wrenched from the throats of numerous witnesses
who - like Father McGraw - saw the crash with their own eyes, heard the
explosions with their own ears, and felt the percussive aftershock with
their own bodies.

"Did you see that?" exclaimed Aydan Kizildrgli, a student from Turkey who
had also been snarled in traffic. Notes Bamford: "Traffic along the highway
came immediately to a halt as people jumped out of their cars and began
putting their cell phones to their ears. Stunned and dazed, Kizildrgli left
his car on the road and began walking aimlessly for half an hour."

Also among the eyewitnesses were Dan Creed and two colleagues from Oracle
Software, who, seated in a car near the Naval Annex, watched in horrified
wonder as the hijacked plane dived, leveled off and struck the Pentagon next
door. Telling his story to the Phoenix, Arizona, Ahwatukee Foothills News,
Creed recalled the dreadful events. "It was no more than 30 feet off the
ground, and it was screaming. It was just screaming. It was nothing more
than a guided missile at that point," said Creed.

Moments later, the plane struck the Pentagon, killing all 64 of its
passengers and crew. The crash took the lives of another 125 people on the
ground. "I can still see the plane. I can still see it right now. It's just
the most frightening thing in the world, going full speed, going full
throttle, its wheels up," Creed recalled.

Frank Probst, an employee of the Pentagon Renovation Program Office, was
outside the Pentagon on the morning of September 11, 2001. In an interview
with the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Probst gave his own
eyewitness account. He had been watching live television coverage of the
second plane hitting the World Trade Center tower in one of the construction
site trailers.

Around 9:30 a.m., Probst left the trailer and (as paraphrased in an ASCE
report) "began walking to the Modular Office Compound . located beyond the
extreme north end of the Pentagon" for a 10 o'clock meeting. Approaching the
heliport, he looked over and saw "a plane flying low over the Annex and
heading right for him." Understandably, Probst "hit the ground and observed
the right wing tip pass through the portable 750 kW generator" that provided
backup power to a portion of the Pentagon. He saw the right engine take out
"the chain-link fence and posts surrounding the generator." The left engine,
he said, "struck an external steam vault before the fuselage entered the
building."

Probst described to the ASCE how, "as the fireball from the crash moved
toward him," he ran toward the South Parking Lot. He said that he fell down
twice, and while running, "fine pieces of wing debris floated down about
him." He only saw "fire and smoke within the building at the point of
impact."

The ASCE also interviewed Don Mason, another employee of the Pentagon
Renovation Program Office. At the time of the crash, Mason was "stopped in
traffic west of the building," according to the ASCE account of his story.
"The plane approached low," flying "directly" over him, "possibly clipping
the antenna of the vehicle immediately behind him." It also "struck three
light poles between him and the building."

Mason, the ASCE recounted, said that he saw his colleague Probst "directly
in the plane's path, and he witnessed a small explosion as the portable
generator was struck by the right wing." He also recalled "seeing the tail
of the plane" as it entered the building, followed by a "fireball that
erupted" upon the plane's impact.