Lest We Forget: The Attack on the Pentagon

The first video clips showing American Airlines Flight 77 crashing into the Pentagon on 9/11 have been made public by Judicial Watch, a public interest group, in an effort to quash conspiracy theories about what happened that morning.

Conspiracy theorists believe that a truck bomb or missile hit the Pentagon and not a Boeing 757. This, they say, is because of the apparent lack of debris and because interceptor aircraft at nearby Andrews Air Force Base or the Pentagon's own anti-aircraft batteries would have been in play.

Said Tom Fitton, Judicial Watch president:

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. Finally, we hope that this video will put to rest the conspiracy theories . . . As always, our prayers remain with all those who suffered as a result of those murderous attacks.

Lest we forget, and I tend to do so because of the distractions of the last several years and focus on the World Trade Center attacks, 184 people were killed at the Pentagon: 53 passengers and six crew members aboard Flight 77, and 125 military and civilian personnel inside the building.

Perhaps the most shocking thing about the video is how low to the ground the Boeing 757 was.

Go here to view the video. And here for a solid 2005 Popular Mechanics story on 9/11 conspiracy theories.

It's website is bit of a mess, but Above Top Secret has an incredibly thorough analysis of the video here.

"CatHerder," who did the analysis, concludes:

I highly doubt that local firefighters would be involved in any sort of a coverup. I highly doubt that local police officers would be involved in any sort of a government cover up. Cops and firemen are just average Joes like you and me, who go home to the wife and kids, and just try to make a living and have a good life for their families . . . The men and women who pulled over a hundred people (dead and alive) out of that building would more likely than not have noticed somebody carrying over 60 bodies into the middle of the fire they were fighting. To say that the plane that hit the Pentagon was not filled with every single person who died in this terrorist attack (not counting the unfortunate people inside the building) is one thing and one thing only - ignorant.