Topic: US releases video of Pentagon attack
ShadowEagle's photo
Mon 04/30/07 02:25 PM
The US Defence Department on Tuesday released the first video images of
American Airlines Flight 77 crashing into the military headquarters
building and killing 189 people in the September 11, 2001 terrorist
attacks.

The images, recorded by Pentagon security cameras outside the building,
were made public in response to a December 2004 Freedom of Information
Act request by Judicial Watch, a public interest group. Some still
images from the video had previously been leaked and publicly
circulated, but this was the first official release.

The airplane is a thin white blur on the video as it slams into the
Pentagon at ground level. Almost instantly a white flash and a huge
orange fireball appear on the video, followed by a tower of grey-black
smoke. One of the videos shows a Pentagon police car driving in the
direction of the impact point shortly after the plane hit.

Travelling at an estimated speed of 848 kilometres per hour, the
hijacked plane rammed into the southwest side of the Pentagon at
midmorning, shortly after two other hijacked airlines were flown into
the twin towers at the World Trade Centre in New York. The attack set
off fires in a portion of the Pentagon and killed 125 people inside, in
addition to the 59 passengers and crew and the five men who hijacked the
plane at Dulles International Airport.

Debra Burlingame, whose brother Charles was the pilot of the American
Airlines plane, said in a telephone interview that she realized Pentagon
officials were compelled to release the videos under the Freedom of
Information Act. But she said the images provide no new information
about what happened that day.

Ms Burlingame said she doubted that release of the videos would do
anything to dispel the many conspiracy theories, including the claim by
some that the Pentagon was hit by a missile. The Pentagon videos provide
only the briefest glimpse of the plane as it hits the building; the
images were recorded on cameras designed to record license plates of
vehicles entering the Pentagon grounds and were too slow to capture the
airplane's approach.

The Pentagon had previously refused to release the videos, saying they
had been provided to the Justice Department as evidence in any criminal
proceedings.

Judicial Watch said the Pentagon told the group it would release the
images "now that the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui is over." Judicial
Watch said the government previously had refused to release the video
because it was "part of an ongoing investigation" involving Moussaoui,
sentenced this month to life in prison for conspiracy in the Sept. 11
attacks.

"We fought hard to obtain this video because we felt that it was very
important to complete the public record with respect to the terrorist
attacks of September 11," Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a
statement. "Finally, we hope that this video will put to rest the
conspiracy theories involving American Airlines Flight 77

davinci1952's photo
Mon 04/30/07 03:13 PM
So?....doesnt change a thing grumble

Barbiesbigsister's photo
Mon 04/30/07 09:17 PM
Nope davinci it sure doesnt! So many people actually believe the
Pentagon is just a building. Its actually a city. flowerforyou