No plane hit the Pentagon

Claim

No plane hit the Pentagon.⁰

Background

The claim points to something else than Flight 77 hitting the Pentagon, which would mean that the terror attack was not carried out by Islamic terrorists.

There is disagreement in the Truth Movement what damaged the Pentagon instead of Flight 77. One of the most popular theories is that it was a bomb detonated from within the building ¹. Another theory is that it was a missile, either a Global Hawk drone or a Tomahawk cruise missile, remotely controlled, far away from the Pentagon ².

The claim also includes the claim that the debris found at the Pentagon was not from a Boeing 757 ³.

Additionally, the Truth Movement has proposed a parallel claim that the flight motor parts and landing wheel that was found at the Pentagon fit a Global Hawk drone ⁴.

Facts

All evidence – technical evidence, witness testimonials, forensic evidence, electronic data – points unanimously to Flight 77 being hijacked by Islamic terrorists from al Qaeda and deliberately flown into the Pentagon.

There is no evidence that points to other explanations.

Debris

• There are an impressive number of photographs of the attack on the Pentagon, and a large part of these clearly show debris from an airplane. Some are easily recognizable parts of a plane engine, landing wheel and the hull itself, which corresponds to a Boeing 757 from American Airlines ⁵.

Damages

• There are damages on objects in the area outside the Pentagon, e.g. toppled light poles, that cannot be caused by either a missile or a bomb ⁶.
• There are photographs and recordings from surveillance cameras of the attack ⁷.

Bodies

• There are photographs of bodies at the scene of the crime ⁸.

Technical evidence

There are:

• Data from the Flight Data Recorder, one of the so-called “black boxes”, confirming the route ⁹.
• Data from radar, confirming the route ¹⁰.
• Passenger lists, identifying the crew, passengers, and terrorists ¹¹.
• Telephone calls from the plane, confirming the hijacking ¹².
• Videos of the hijackers at the airport ¹³.

Witnesses saw the plane

• 136 witnesses confirm seeing a plane. Of these, 39 saw a passenger plane and 26 could identify the plane as an American Airlines, confirming that it was a Boeing 757. 104 witnesses saw the impact itself ¹⁴.
• American Airlines are missing two Boeing 757 planes ¹⁵.
• A large number of relatives are missing family members ¹⁶.

Three witnesses have said that they thought it was a bomb. These three were all inside the Pentagon building and could not observe either the plane or the impact of the plane and could not have seen a missile either ¹⁷.

No evidence of a conspiracy

• None of the few experts or professionals, who believe it was not a passenger plane, were witnesses to the attack.
• No photographs, technical evidence, witnesses, or other documentation confirm either a missile or a Global Hawk drone.
• No witnesses saw a missile, a military plane, a Global Hawk drone, or other objects that are incompatible with the official explanation.

Logic

Lack of photographs
There are a number of self-contradicting aspects of this claim.

The most obvious is that if it really had been a planned hoax, it would have been easy to present faked photographs, or videos, clearly showing a plane hitting the Pentagon. This was not done. Only frames from the surveillance cameras exist where it is difficult to recognize a plane. This means that the alleged conspirators on one hand would be able to blow up the building, place tons of debris from a similar plane, bribe hundreds of witnesses, but not be able to manufacture one single faked photograph.

Global Hawk drone

The Truth Movement argues that there could not have been a plane at the Pentagon, because there are no pictures of a plane. The same goes for the alternative theory about a remotely controlled missile or a Global Hawk drone. No photographs of either of these exist.

Additionally, the Global Hawk drone was still in development in September 2001 and not operational until the war in Afghanistan that started in October 2001 ¹⁷. If it really was a Global Hawk drone that hit the Pentagon, it would immediately have revealed where it came from and would thus have exposed the whole conspiracy.

A simple comparison of a Global Hawk and a Boeing 757 also shows the absurdity of that claim ¹⁸:

It would also have been the first time a Global Hawk drone was used to destroy a building. But according to the Truth Movement, it is impossible that an event happens for the first time (see the article “High-rises on fire have never collapsed”.

Ockham’s Razor
If you believe that a Global Hawk drone could be mistaken for a Boeing 757, you actually have an even bigger problem: If the two could be mistaken for one another, those who believe they saw a Global Hawk drone could just as easily have seen a Boeing 757.

How do we solve that problem? We apply Ockham’s Razor.

Ockham’s Razor is a basic philosophical principle in science. It was first stated by a Franciscan monk, William of Ockham (1285–1349). It states that in case you have two explanations, you should choose the one with the fewest assumptions.

For example: In olden days, Danish farmers would put out a small bowl of porridge with a lump of butter on top for the farm nisse. The bowl would be empty next morning.

We can propose at least two possible explanations:

1. The farm nisse has eaten the porridge.
2. The cat has eaten the porridge.

Since no evidence has ever been presented (outside folklore) that a nisse exists, and since cats are plentyful on farms, it would be correct to conclude that it was the cat that ate the porridge.

It should be stated that Ockham’s Razor does not automatically point to the correct conclusion if the data is insufficient. In the example above, the culprit could also have been a hungry farmhand. But as a pragmatic solution, Ockham’s Razor has proven itself scientifically to be a very efficient tool. Ockham’s Razor cuts through everything that is not based on evidence and leaves the most reasonable conclusion.

Applied to the claim in question, we must realize that:

• The Global Hawk drone was not operational in September 2001.
• A Boeing 757 can be mistaken for a Global Hawk drone – and vice versa.

We could also add more realizations, but already we have no reason to conclude that it was a Global Hawk drone that hit the Pentagon. On the contrary, it follows that any argument that rests on the claim that a Global Hawk drone was observed on its way to the Pentagon and that such a drone can be mistaken for a Boeing 757, actually supports the official explanation that it was Flight 77 that hit the Pentagon.

Bomb
It is also argued, albeit less often, that the Pentagon was blown up from the inside by a bomb. The claim is supported by a few witnesses that heard the collision and the explosion and interpreted that as a detonating bomb ¹⁹. But if it had been a bomb, the alleged conspiracy would have no reason to claim otherwise, for a bomb that kills hundreds, and destroys part of the building, would have been terrifying enough in itself.

However, the bomb claim presents another problem for the conspiracy theorists. If there was a bomb, it would contradict the conspiracy theorists claim that the United States does not let itself be surprised by primitive means and unsophisticated people such as Islamic terrorists. But since Islamic terrorists are known for using bombs as a weapon of terror, a bomb in the Pentagon would almost unanimously point to Islamic terrorists and not a sophisticated technological plot planned and carried out by a conspiring secret internal power, in this case, the U.S. Government, the U.S. Military, and wealthy Jewish magnates.

It should be noted that al Qaeda succeeded in bombing the World Trade Center 1 in 1993 ²⁰. The bomb attack was intended to make one tower fall into the other and kill thousands of people. Al Qaeda was also behind the attacks on two American embassies, in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania ²¹ and Nairobi, Kenya²², which were bombed on the same day, August 7, 1998, and when the American destroyer, U.S.S. Cole, was hit by suicide bombers in Aden, Yemen, on October 12, 2000 ²³. Al Qaeda has also carried out numerous bomb attacks in Northern Africa ²⁴, the Middle East ²⁵, and Kashmir²⁶. The Danish embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, was likewise hit by an al Qaeda bomb on June 2, 2008 ²⁷.

Debris
Occasionally, it is claimed that the debris from the plane was placed there in order to make it look like a passenger plane. If this is the case, it was done very clumsily, since all kinds and sizes of debris were placed. The simple plan would have been to place very recognizably, e.g. large pieces of debris, with clear identification numbers on them, and to make sure that a photograph of it was published worldwide.

Remote control
When viewed together with the attacks on the World Trade Center, the self-contradictions are even more pronounced. Conspiracy theorists claim that the planes that hit the World Trade Center were remotely controlled ²⁸, but this must mean that the plane at the Pentagon was also remotely controlled. This claim is also hinted at, by some conspiracy theorists, because the plane flew a very complicated route. But if that is the case, it merely confirms that there really was a plane at the Pentagon, which contradicts the claim that it was a missile or a bomb.

The crazy spins out of control if remotely controlled planes were used in the attacks on the World Trade Center, but at the same time a missile or drone – claimed to be a plane – in the attack on the Pentagon. This would not only be clumsy and dreadfully complicated because it would be necessary to haul a lot of debris on to the site, bribe a lot of witnesses, and make sure that the surveillance cameras did not show a plane.

Conclusion

All things considered, the terror attack on September 11, 2001, is perhaps one of the best-documented catastrophes in the history of mankind. Considering the scope of the catastrophe, much more information have been made public than what is usually expected when a plane has crashed. This has been done out of concern for the bereaved and the far-reaching consequences of the attack itself.

The claim is therefore:

• False
• Without witnesses
• Denied by documentation (photographs, video, phone calls)
• Denied by technical evidence (debris, bodies, “black boxes”)
• Denied by witnesses
• Self-contradicting

Sources

0. Løbeseddel, i11time.dk
1. “Bomberne som Forsvandt”, Henrik Melvang, BombsInsideWTC.dk
2. Mystik omkring Pentagon den 11. september 2001, Henrik S. Rasmussen, i11time.dk
3. Pentagon & Boeing 757 Wheel Investigation
   Pentagon & Boeing 757 Engine Investigation
4. Mystik omkring Pentagon den 11. september 2001, Henrik S. Rasmussen, i11time.dk
5. Vragdele
   United States vs. Zacarias Moussaoui, Government Exhibit P200030 01-455-A
   Pentagon & Boeing 757 Engine Investigation, Aerospaceweb.org
   Pentagon & Boeing 757 Wheel Investigation, Aerospaceweb.org
   

   

   

   

   

6. To video clips, 12 still billeder, overvågningskamera, Pentagon
7. United States vs. Zacarias Moussaoui, Government Exhibit P200042 01-455-A
   United States vs. Zacarias Moussaoui, Government Exhibit P200045 01-455-A
   United States vs. Zacarias Moussaoui, Government Exhibit P200047 01-455-A
   United States vs. Zacarias Moussaoui, Government Exhibit P200048 01-455-A
8. Specialist’s Factual Report of Investigation, Digital Flight Data Recorder, National Transportation Safety Board
9. Recorded Radar Data Study, National Transportation Safety Board
10. Passagerliste, Flight 77
11. Telefonopkald fra Flight 77, Government Exhibit P200045 01-455-A
12. Videoer af kaprerne i lufthavnen
13. Pentagon vidner, Excel regneark
14. “8:37:52: Boston Center control notifies NEADS of the hijacking of Flight 11, the first notification received by NORAD that American 11 had been hijacked. The controller requests military help to intercept the jetliner.”
    Tidslinie, terrorangrebet den 11. september 2001, Wikipedia
15. American Airlines bekræfter at Flight 11 og Flight 77 er kapret og styrtet (video).
16. Passagerliste, Flight 77
17. Global Hawk, Wikipedia
18. Global Hawk, specifikationerBoeing 757, specifikationer
19. U.S. Army Medical Department, Office of Medical History, Responding in the Pentagon 1
20. 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Wikipedia
21. 1998 United States embassy bombings, Wikipedia
22. 1998 United States embassy bombings, Wikipedia
23. USS Cole bombing, Wikipedia
24. al-Qaeda involvement in Africa, Wikipedia
25. al-Qaeda involvement in the Middle East, Wikipedia
26. Kashmir conflict, Wikipedia
27. 2008 Danish embassy bombing in Islamabad, Wikipedia
28. The planes were remotely controlled

Q & A