Firefight - Inside the Battle to Save the Pentagon on 9/11

Right Truth Book Club is proud to present our latest reading selection, "Firefight - Inside the Battle to Save the Pentagon on 9/ll", by Patrick Creed and Rick Newman.  (Random House)

Amid all the stories of tragedy and heroism on September 11, there is one tale that has yet to be told– (until now) -- the gripping account of ordinary men and women braving the inferno at the Pentagon to rescue friends and co-workers, save the nation’s military headquarters, and defend their country.

Michael Doyle of the Modesto Bee writes:

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Remember the Pentagon.

It burned, too, dismembered by the same terrorists who brought down the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center. Circumstances, though, have rendered the Pentagon a Sept. 11 afterthought. It's the place that survived.

At the World Trade Center, 343 New York City firefighters died. At the Pentagon, every firefighter returned home. But not all came back safe and sound. The Arlington County Fire Department subsequently lost 9 percent of its force to health-related retirements.

But still.

The FDNY battalions marched into the World Trade Center and were entombed there. The Arlington crews subdued a different beast, smaller but still lethal, and in their victory they've remained largely anonymous. 

Until now

Six years on, the Arlington firefighters and their compatriots are getting the accounting they deserve.

In "Firefight: Inside the Battle to Save the Pentagon on 9/11," authors Patrick Creed and
Rick Newman detail what happen- ed after American Airlines Flight 77 flew into the nation's military command center at 530 mph, killing 189 people, including the 64 people aboard the jet.

A military helicopter takes off after dropping off personnel at the Pentagon in this Sept. 12, 2001 file photo. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds, File) AP

I  hope you will purchase this book and read along with us.  So much has been written and reported about the American Airlines Flight 175 and American Airlines  Flight 11, the World Trade Center;  United Airlines Flight 93 and the field in Pennsylvania;   now finally we can read the personal stories of the Pentagon and American Airlines flight 77.

About the Author

Patrick Creed

is an amateur historian, volunteer firefighter, and U.S. Army Reserve officer who recently returned from a tour in Iraq as a civil affairs officer with the Army’s Special Operations Command. Creed has one son and lives in Havertown, Pennsylvania, where he is a member of Bon Air and Lansdowne Fire companies.

Rick Newman

is an award-winning journalist and staff writer for U.S. News & World Report. He has also written for The Washington Post and many other publications, and is the co-author of Bury Us Upside Down: The Misty Pilots and the Secret Battle for the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Newman has two children and lives in Westchester County, New York.

Comments

[Brian]

Hello Stormwarning,
I am going to be away from my computer for about two months, so will not be able to engage in any more polemics for a while. Before I go, I invite you to check out a Google video "The Truth and Lies of 9-11". This is essentially a presentation by a former LAPD cop named Mike Ruppert, one of whose briefs was narcotics investigations (bear with me, you'll see where this is going). The video starts with a public confrontation with the then head of CIA, John Deutch, where Ruppert makes the accusation of CIA involvement in narcotics importation and distribution, based on evidence going back about 17 years. This is by way of presenting his bona fides. Before moving onto his 9-11 discussion proper, he briefly shows the video of the JFK assassination, making the point that the official verdict took absolutely no account of the incontrovertible evidence of the direction from which came the fatal shot. In other words, it has not made not a blind bit of difference to the official cover-up of a conspiracy, despite the passage of time. The bulk of the 9-ll discussion then follows, the entire length being 2 hours and 17 minutes, including yhe afore-mentioned ground-laying. I think you will find it challenging.
Brian
P.S. You could also take a look at "Pilotsfor9-11truth.org"
Hope to hear from you.

[brian]

Hello Stormwarning,
I may have misconstrued your latest contribution regarding your witnessing the first plane hit. It seemed from your wording that you were watching the CNBC station and saw the first hit live. That may not have been what you meant.Perhaps you were referring to the French documentary footage that was made available to the networks later. Still, that's by-the-by. It doesn't explain Bush's reply, sometime after the events, when asked by a child on another occasion "What went through your head when you saw the plane hit the first Tower?" Bush: "I was sitting outside the classroom waiting to go in and I saw the plane fly into the Tower; obviously the TV was on. My first thought was: There goes one terrible pilot (I used to fly myself) or it must be some terrible accident". (or words very much to that effect).
He simply could not have witnessed that first hit. Live TV coverage of the WTC did not commence until AFTER the first hit, and crews were on the spot and filmed the second hit live.
So, if I misunderstood your comment, my apologies.
Brian

[Brian]

Hello again, Stormtrooper,
I unexpectedly had to go out so did not have time to finish what I wanted to reply to you.
So, you say you saw the FIRST plane strike the WTC on CNBC.
Well, I have a multiple choice question for you:
I (that means you) was able to see the first plane hit the WTC because:
1) CNBC routinely trained its cameras on the WTC every morning so that anyone could take a gander at the Twin Towers any day of the week and (sub-question) I was watching the station as I usually did (or it was just a coincidence).
2) By the most extraordinary coincidence (yet another in this whole sorry tale, which is replete with them), CNBC JUST HAPPENED to have its cameras trained on the WTC in time to catch the FIRST plane hit.
3) CNBC had advance knowledge that something major was about to happen at the WTC (not necessarily an attack of this kind) and had its cameras in place.

Tick the appropriate box(es).

Furthermore, I never said that no plane hit the second Tower any more than I ever said no plane hit the first Tower. Where did that come from?

To move on to something else. If you are in e-mail contact with Debbie (I am), ask her to forward you an article from the Boston Globe "Big Oil and the War in Iraq" which I sent her. I'd be glad to hear your opinion.
Watch this bottle.
Brian

[Stormwarning]

Check out 31:57 to 33:15 of that tape and tell me that there was no airplane that hit the 2nd building.

http://www.archive.org/details/nbc200109110831-0912

That didn't happen, right? Truth?

[Stormwarning]

Actually Brian, Elvis did it. He worked for the DEA undercover, and he was responsible for the whole thing. He's now in witness protection.

http://www.elvislives.net/

That's at least a good of a theory as anything else. Other than the facts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shRPdvwG81o

Or at 22:30 of this tape, it cannot be denied: http://www.archive.org/details/nbc200109110831-0912

The idea that thousands of journalists across the country all would be in on some HUGE consipracy via the US Government is comical at best...

[Stormwarning]

First you called Debbie "Pom-Pom," and not you call me another name. This isn't my blog. I saw what I saw. You believe something different. I watched CNBC that morning. You claim that a plane didn't hit the Pentagon. You're entitled to your opinion. End of discussion. Let me know that you're "you" if we ever meet in person. Thanks.

[Brian]

Hello Stormtrooper,
The only TV coverage of the FIRST plane hit that I saw was the transmission, repeated endlessly,of the video shot, I believe, by one of two French guys who were in NYC to do a documentary on FDNY firefighters, and that footage was not shown until either later in the day, or perhaps even the following day. Why would TV cameras have been trained on the WTC in the first place,in time to catch the FIRST plane hit? There was nothing going on at the WTC that morning that would have warranted TV coverage. The entire world certainly saw the live coverage of the SECOND plane hit. If that was the one Bush saw, he would also have seen smoke pouring from the first tower, but he made no mention of it.He only referred to one hit. Furthermore, he was sitting in the classroom in Florida when an aide came in to inform him of the attacks. You can find that footage on the net.
Do you honestly expect me to believe that TV cameras were already trained on the Twin Towers, as if the TV stations were expecting something to happen there? If that were the case, the implications would be sinister indeed,and would be a dead giveaway that they had been forewarned. That first hit was a total surprise. If Bush already knew about the FIRST plane hit, would he have calmly gone into the classroom to read some animal story to children? Surely he would have given top priority to the national crisis that was unfolding and got the hell out of there. And as for coincidences, he just happened to be well out of the way, down in Florida, having left the seat of power and affairs of State to go and read an animal story to a classroom full of children, while (surprise surprise) Cheyney was running NORAD war games with terrorist attacks as their theme on that very same day, having shunted aside its commanding General in order to do so.
Watch this bottle.
Brian

[Stormwarning]

OK, Brian, I along with a number of others were watching, among other stations, CNBC the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. So you wrote, "There are simply too many coincidences, contradictions and lies on record to blindly believe Bush & Co, starting with the very first lie when Bush tripped over his own two feet with the statement that implied he had seen the FIRST plane hit the WTC. How could he have? There was no TV coverage going out at the time."

They played the video tapes over and over after the first plane hit the Tower. They played it over and over until, on live TV, the second plane hit.

That's a lie?

As for all of the rest, ask away.

[Brian]

Hello Stormtrooper,
Here I am, patiently waiting in my conspiracy theory bottle for you to come up with a few cogent answers to my questions and comments on this site. So far no luck; just the usual shrug-off. It ain't good enough. You wouldn't believe how many questions I could put to you on the subject, the makings of a wall-to-wall migraine, believe me. Ready for the challenge?
Name-calling? Not really. So far, your low-flown prose in my regard has included the underside of stones, slugs, slimy trails and bottles. Quite a collection.
Don't take it too personally, Stormtrooper. If you stick your head above the parapet, you must expect to get shot at.
Watch this bottle.
Brian

[Stormwarning]

Well, my mistake, Brian, for not scrolling down the page to see all of your lengthy missives. The simple point is that your watching everything on television does nothing to convince me or anyone else that your view that "it didn't happen that way" is remotely valid.

Out of curiosity, did you watch the aftermath of September 11th on a BIG SCREEN teevee?

[Stormwarning]

What's with the name calling, Brian? Have no other way to express yourself?

[Brian]

Hello, Stormtrooper,

Bob describes himself as an "Arlington VA firefighter", if you will take the trouble to scroll down the series of contributions on this subject, you will find those precise words in an article posted by him. Sorry, but your "Crawl back into your conspiracy theory bottle" just doesn't hack it. There are simply too many coincidences, contradictions and lies on record to blindly believe Bush & Co, starting with the very first lie when Bush tripped over his own two feet with the statement that implied he had seen the FIRST plane hit the WTC. How could he have? There was no TV coverage going out at the time.And then go on from there. It's just too easy to simply dismiss people who are willing to consider "conspiracy theories". Instead, why don't you "do some digging" yourself and try finding some rational answers to the various questions I've raised? And here's another one for you: if, as you undoubtedly believe, an airliner hit the Pentagon, according to the official story, why did FBI agents rush within minutes to confiscate the tapes (or whatever the recording medium) from the cameras at the gas station just opposite and at the Sheraton? If an airliner WAS involved, why did they rush to suppress the very evidence that would corroborate the official story? The speed with which they acted also points to a preplanned operation.Those tapes have never been released, as far as I can ascertain. There is a logical answer: whatever was on those tapes had to be kept from public view. So get your head around that one as well.
Finally, "to take a good look" is neither delusional nor insulting; it's called intellectual honesty, and I have nothing but respect for firefighters.
Anyway, nice to know you're still alive and kicking. Watch this space.

Brian

[Stormwarning]

Brian, it has got to be the ultimate of delusion for someone who watched on television, events seen first hand (and Brian, I don't believe that Bob, the gentlemen, actually said that he was a fireman), to tell that person to "dig for the truth" Right Truth
Counterterrorism blog, politics, Islam, terror. Arm Yourself With The Weapons of Mass Education! Right Truth is a valuable portal of information. I am a voice of the resistance!and to "take a good look." Its not only delusional, its insulting.

Crawl back into your conspiracy theory bottle.

[Brian]

Hello Bob, Thanks for taking the time to answer my queries. What did I "personally" see, you ask. I suppose you are implying "in person". No, I wasn't there. What I "personally" saw was live TV coverage of the Pentagon site literally minutes after the event and it bore absolutely no resemblance to any airliner crash site I have ever seen, whether on TV, in photos or (one) in real life. There was smoke issuing from the 15-20 ft hole (the upper floors were still intact), some vehicles were damaged and on fire, firefighting trucks were aiming water canon (strange for a jet fuel fire, what you need is foam, not water) into the building, but there was no trace whatsoever of the fuselage, wings, tail-fin, undercarriage or engines lying in front of the building. Original damage to the facade was in fact minimal with no visible lateral damage along the wall indicative of wing/engine impact, no damage higher up due to the 40 ft tail-fin. Adjoining windows were intact. There was just the small hole through which we are expected to believe passed an entire Boeing 757. So, against all the laws of mechanics, the plane folded its wings neatly back along its body, like a fly landing on a piece of meat, then passed through said hole? Where it totally shredded and vaporized, so we were told. That is totally impossible on the grounds of dimensions alone. The only aerial vehicle that could have inflicted such pin-point damage, punching through three Pentagon rings, would likely be some kind of directed-energy missile.
Bob, the official story is an insult to common sense, never mind to scientific possibility. The crunch question I would like to put is this: at the impact site, did you or did you not on your arrival find yourself in the presence of the wreckage of a wide-bodied plane you could positively identify as a Boeing 757 airliner, (sadly) containing dead passengers? Do you have any photos of the wreckage? Do you know where I could find such photos? (For comparison's sake, check out the web for photo evidence of the wreckage of Pan Am flight 103 (a Boeing 747-121) that was blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland on 21 December 1988. It fell from 31,000 ft, yet massive sections of the fuselage structure, tail, one wing and the engines pretty much survived the fall in recognizable form and were clearly identified for what they were after hitting the ground in or around the village.)
Now, with great delicacy, as I have no wish to rekindle gruesome memories, could the human remains you mentioned not have come from people who unfortunately happened to be in the building, and in the immediate vicinity, at the time, as opposed to body parts of passengers in this mythical jet?
If you have the time and patience, I'd recommend you to have a look at the 911 lies.org site (there are many serious sites on the theme,I know, and I won't bore you with a list) and check out the very impressive list of people who, through the lens of their various areas of expertise, demolish the official story without hesitation or recourse. You're a firefighter; hundreds of your comrades died or were injured or are experiencing serious and probably irreparable health problems, all for a political agenda and to put mega-bucks into the pockets of a few. You owe it to yourself and to them to dig for the truth (I say that with the fullest possible respect). Just take a good look. As for myself, you will have gathered by now that I totally reject the Gospel according to St. Dubya and as preached by his minions in the servile media. Happily, our number is growing.
Brian

[Bob]

Brian,

To answer your questions: I arrived at the Pentagon in the first hour of the attack, and worked the incident for eleven days. Aircraft parts and pieces consisted of large fuselage shrapnel, the body parts consisted of jaw bones and other obvious remains. Federal authorities were quick to collect the collateral remains, both human and machine.

This is all I have to say, I know what I saw. What did you "personally" see?

[Brian]

Hello again Pom-Pom, somehow the name of the Latin author disappeared from my contribution.
It was Tacitus.
Brian

[Brian]

Hello Pom-Pom,
Glad to know you received the Boston Globe article. Its content only confirms me in my belief,widely held over here (and by many Americans, I know) that Dubya and his entire wretched clan and clique are probably the biggest catastrophe to have been visited on America since the Civil War.
Here are a couple of thoughts to speed you through your day:
Writing nearly two thousand years ago, in his work the Annals of Imperial Rome, and though referring specifically to a law dating from Julius Caesar on money lending and land ownership, then widely disregarded,he made the general observation that "...patriotism comes second to private profits". Nearer to our own time, George Orwell wrote this: "Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind". Does the fore-going put you in mind of anything or anyone? It seems that not much has changed over two thousand years and probably for a lot longer than that.
Take care,
Brian

[Brian]

Hello, Pom-Pom,
If you have time, check out an article on boston.com i.e. The Boston Globe, by Derick Z. Jackson: "Big Oil and the War in Iraq", June 24. I think you'll find it edifying.
Take care and have a good day.
Brian

[Brian]

Hello again Pom-Pom,
If its O.K. with you, I'll leave the Book of Revelation and go back to the Book of Bush, Chapter 9-11.
Referring to your comment the other day that you have no time for conspiracy theories and those who believe in them, I hope you will make an exception in my case because I really like this ding-dong we have started up, and it's amusing to think people might be following it on the site.
May I put it to you that your stance on the matter is due to your unwillingness to contemplate the awful alternative. Not the certainty, not the probability, but not even the teeny-weeniest possibility, that this horrendous act just might have been perpetrated by Americans on fellow Americans? Outrageous, inconceivable,preposterous, I imagine you saying, but it would not be the first time in History that a State has resorted to self-inflicted damage and to causing injury and death to its own people in order to further a political agenda. "But we're decent God-fearing people,we would never commit such a vile act", I imagine you saying. The vast majority are...and then there are the others. Perhaps you have heard of the plan proposed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the days of the Eisenhower Administration to stage an incident involving American property and life in the vicinity of Cuba so as to have an excuse for declaring war. If memory serves, it involved shooting down an American passenger plane in or near Cuban airspace. To his eternal credit, Eisenhower refused. I don't know if the plan was proposed to intervening Presidents, but it certainly was to JFK, who also refused (which might explain Dallas).
To achieve ONE high-jacking is a considerable feat, as so many things can go wrong, but to successfully pull off FOUR on the same morning in the space of about an hour, in roughly the same geographical area, indicates far-reaching inside knowledge and a sophisticated level of planning and execution that could only belong to a State (a powerful one at that), Government agencies and, in all likelihood, elements of the military. It is hard to see how a miscellaneous bunch of guys from the Middle East with zero flying skills could do it. Have you considered that those planes at the WTC might have been empty, flying by remote control? Don't laugh,it's perfectly feasible. And as for those telephone calls, cell phones don't work at those altitudes and speeds. Consider this also: a few days before 9-11, there was a flurry of activity,quite exceptional, involving American and United Airlines' shares. This activity involved placing so-called "put" options on the shares. I have about zero stock-market savvy, bur "put" options, I'm told, are speculation that share prices will fall, which they did spectacularly. In other words, some people KNEW that something big was about to go down (no pun intended) involving those two airlines (not Delta, Continental or any other U.S airline, but only those two). This fact ALONE and of itself points to the existence of a conspiracy. A group of people KNEW and coldly and callously set out to make a pile of money out the mayhem, suffering and death of 9-11. We are out of the realm of theory here, and into the world of fact and it would be very illuminating to know who those people were.
On a related but somewhat different topic,the figure generally accepted in the media for the death-toll at the WTC is around 3000. However, if current medical opinion is proved right, this figure will eventually pale into almost insignificance, as many thousands more start dying (indeed, some already have, I gather) due to their exposure to the poisonous cocktail of pollutants, notably particles of asbestos, cadmium, lead, dioxins and concrete billowing through the air and covering every conceivable surface. There has been a steep rise in the number of people in the New York area consulting their doctor for respiratory ailments. There is even a condition that has been labeled "WTC cough". It was tragic enough for the people in the vicinity who were overtaken by the rushing clouds of debris and could not escape, but unbelievably people were actually encouraged by a lying Bush, a lying Giuliani and even by misleading statements from the EPA, notably through Christine Whitman (something particularly reprehensible) to go back to their homes and offices in Lower Manhattan shortly afterwards. No problem folks, there's no danger, they were told. White dust? Just wipe with a damp cloth. Bush you can dismiss as a complete (though dangerous) fool. Not so Giuliani. As mayor,he could not NOT have been alive to the danger posed by countless tons of asbestos (and other pollutants)from the WTC. I don't know where you live, Pom-Pom, and am not prying, but I guess it's not in Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn or Queens, because if it were the case you would today be a terribly worried woman for yourself and your family. Me, I'd be terrified.
Well, Pom-Pom, I hope I have not exhausted your patience because, though I have no rational reason for saying so, I like what we're doing. I wouldn't go to all this trouble if I did not genuinely care about your country.
Take care
Brian

[Brian]

Hello Pom-Pom, You are quite correct, it should read Revelation, without an "s" (a typing error -twice- on my part). In speech, you often hear people say, in error, that such-and-such is mentioned in RevelationS, which may explain but not excuse my typing mistakes. That aside, I didn't say YOU referred to Muslims being mentioned in the Book. The claim that the text reveals the Anti-Christ as being of Muslim descent was contributed by Erik and apparently impressed you greatly, in light of your heretofore held belief that the Anti-Christ would arise from Europe. I was in no way taking issue with you on the matter and am sorry if I gave you that impression. I stick to my contention, however, that no such identification of a descendant of a Muslim is to be found anywhere in the Book.
Great talking to you, and thanks for pointing out the typos.
Brian

[Debbie]

Brian:

I never said anything about Muslims being mentioned in Revelation (it IS Revolation, NOT RevolationS)

I believe I said that the anti-christ was to be born in Europe, at least I read that idea somewhere.

The truth is no human knows who the anti-christ is, where he will be born, etc. Only God/Jesus/The Holy Spirit know that.

[Brian]

Hello Pom-Pom, I'm back. Hope you had a good day. Let's briefly leave the tragedy of 9/11 and move to a neighboring discussion on the Right Truth site, namely the birth, life and character of Obama. Now, Pom-Pom, I have NO political agenda. I am not American, nor do I live in America, but I truly like your country where I have not a few friends and have often visited. I am simply worried by the road your country has started down since Bush was handed his first term by the U.S. Supreme Court, following all the electoral bulletin shenanigans down in Florida, where guess-whose brother was Governor. I frankly couldn't care less if your electoral dream ticket consists of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck as President and Vice-President respectively, with Pluto substituting for Rumsfeld in his former incarnation. However, you utter an awed "wow" on reading an item from someone named Erik who claims that the Book of Revelations reveals the Anti-Christ as being of Muslim descent; in other words, is this Obama? Pom-Pom, if you can find a single direct or indirect reference to a Muslim ANYWHERE in the Book of Revelations, I will, on this site, make you a groveling apology. It is a total fabrication. Pull out the New Testament and read the said Book attentively. No more do I have a religious, than a political, agenda. I'm now waiting for some other nut to come up with a mathematical formula that transforms Obama's birth date, car registration or Social Security number, or his inside-leg measurement, into 666, the Number of the Beast. (Now THERE'S a challenge for all you Bible-Belters out there.) Because y'all just KNOW that Obama HAS to be Satan's agent, emissary and messenger on Earth. Don't you? Over to you, Pom-Pom.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Take care.
Brian

[Brian]

Hello Pom-Pom,
Delighted to know you're still out there.
You take me for a brick wall, and you don't have time for conspiracy theories. Who's talking about theories? Try looking at a few facts and at the evidence. For instance, the extraordinary attack on the Pentagon. Someone high-jacks an airliner to use as a flying bomb. Having reached the Pentagon, unchallenged, does he do the obvious thing and dive the plane onto the roof? No, he does not. Instead, in a brilliant display of aerobatics, he puts the airliner through an amazing series of aerial maneuvers (the blip as witnessed by Dulles Air Traffic Control) that would normally either have stalled the plane or ripped it apart(ask any airline pilot). This Top Gun, who, it should be remembered, was one of a group said by flying school instructors down in Florida and elsewhere, to be incapable of handling a 2-seat Cessna,brings the plane skimming over the rising ground opposite the Pentagon, over the highway (without blasting vehicles off the road), and finally down to lawnmower level in a perfectly flat trajectory to score a bulls-eye at ground level; and all that at around 500mph! And here we have another miracle: the nose of an airliner is made of some kind of fiberglass that allows unimpeded scanning by its weather radar. Impact with the building would have shattered it, but for 9/11 it is suddenly turned into a battering ram that punches through three Pentagon rings and makes a neat exit hole on the inner side of the third ring. And you believe it? Sorry, I have to go out right now, but I'll call you again. Take care and have a good day. Brian

[Debbie]

Brian: Most of us like a good debate, but also most of us don't have time for conspiracy theories and people who believe in them. And we won't waste our valuable time arguing with a brick wall.

Pom Pom? I've certainly been called worse...

[brian]

Debbie,
Henceforth, Ye shall be known as Pom-Pom.

[brian]

How disappointed I am! No reaction from Storm-trooper, Bob the Firefighter or Debbie, Storm-trooper's N° 1 Groupie,Cheer-Leader and Pom-Pom girl. What's wrong, all of a sudden? I was just starting to appreciate our exchanges, and all of a sudden you duck out. Don't tell me you're not too sure of yourselves? Jeez!

[brian]

Hello Stormwarning,
I wasn't aware that you had a website until an accidental click of the mouse pulled it up. It made for interesting reading, and I understand things much better now. It is clear that you and your robot-minded admirers have the mindset of a goose-stepping Hitlerite legion. No wonder you are so happy arse-crawling your way through Bushdom, the realm of King Rat himself enthroned in the White House, Vice-Rat Cheyney, and Rumsfeld, the Lord High Executioner. No wonder you so virulently seek to refute and ridicule anything or anyone who questions the official junk put out by the Government and the supine main-stream media. You must be rolling around like a pig in shit. Around three thousand people died at the WTC, including many extraordinarily brave men from the FDNY,plus those who lost their lives at the Pentagon, just so that garbage like the above-three mentioned and their inner coterie can abuse their power and remain in gainful employment. Watch out America - Big Brother is alive and well and coming to a computer (or a TV set) near you. Stormwarning, henceforth Ye shall be known as Stormtrooper.

[Brian]

Just a couple of questions for Bob, the Arlington County VA firefighter.
According to your comment likely "Fellow firefighters working at the Helipad from the Ft.Myer Fire Department were seriously injured and burned upon impact." Now does this mean that there was ALREADY a fire at the Helipad, which would account for their presence, BEFORE the Pentagon was hit, or were they there on some kind of exercise? Secondly, the Helipad being just a few yards away from, and directly in front of, the impact point on the Pentagon facade, anyone in the immediate vicinity, as these firefighters were according to your account, would have been killed by the aircraft itself or likely blown to smithereens by the massive displacement of air caused by an object the size of a Boeing 757 traveling at around 500 mph just a few feet away, the blast from its engines and the percussive shock wave of its impact on the building."Seriously injured and burned" scarcely fits the bill. Can you enlighten me? Finally,considering that the impact occurred at ground floor level with the center of the entry hole, about ten feet above ground level, corresponding to the mid-point of the airplane's nose, this would mean that the engines would have been in the ground, ripping up the Pentagon lawn like two enormous plows.There was no such damage to the lawn.Again, can you enlighten me?

[Brian]

Just got back after a few days absence to find a comment from Bob,an Arlington County firefighter. First of all,Bob,I wish to express my admiration for whatever action you took inside the stricken building, so please be assured I mean no disrespect to you in what follows. You do not specify how long after the event you were sent to the crash site, nor do you specify what kind of aircraft debris, if any, you saw. If the same indecent haste occurred at the Pentagon as happened on Giuliani's orders at the WTC, and contrary to the most basic forensic practices at what was a crime scene, whatever wreckage there was would have been removed in a great hurry, possibly before you even arrived. That said, following such a cataclysmic event, it is inconceivable that no one at the scene seems to have taken and released a single photo showing identifiable wreckage of a Boeing 757, 155 ft long, 125 ft wingspan, about 45 ft high tail-fin, jammed into a hole about 20 ft across. Because there sure as hell was nothing lying outside that could be so
recognized, judging from the TV coverage immediately following. Of course,the received wisdom at the time was that the entire plane had disintegrated on impact and then vaporized in the kerosene fire, inside the building; matchsticks and vapor. No shit, Shylock? Are we really expected to believe that an entire aluminum-clad airliner weighing around a hundred tons, not to mention two massive turbofan engines each weighing over three tons and constructed of high tensile steel and titanium alloys, fed on a diet of burning kerosene under enormous pressure, would simply vaporize? Shafts, compressor and turbine disks, combustion chamber, blades and vanes? (Kerosene burns at around 660°C in open air).That was what the first firefighters on the scene were apparently told by (Ed?) Plaugher. I would direct your attention to an article by Morgan Reynolds/Rick Rajter "No more games.net - 9/11" for a scientific discussion of the vaporized plane theory and won't burden you with the details here.
Furthermore, if the heat was enough to vaporize a plane, how come recognizable body parts were found?
There are just too many contradictions and coincidences to place any trust in the official version: Bush conveniently in Florida, Cheyney running NORAD on the day, a passport purportedly belonging to a high-jacker that miraculously escaped the inferno at the WTC, flew out of the cockpit, through a window and was found intact in a nearby street, and a list of about 20 names of Arabs in a "forgotten" suitcase, produced by Bush just a few days later like a rabbit out of a hat.And suddenly we all learn about Al Quaeda and Bin Laden. The list could go on for ever. So to you and to Stormwarning, I would entreat you to start doing some research. The fanciful and the nonsensical and the downright ridiculous will soon be apparent, but there is just too much serious stuff out there to be ignored. Of course, it may be that you are now scared to check out the Internet sites for fear of FBI snoopers checking on your computer usage. (Don't tell me it doesn't happen).Maybe you don't want to be accused of being unpatriotic, un-American, or of sympathising with terrorism. Happily, there are millions of intelligent Americans out there with inquiring minds who flatly disbelieve Bush and his cronies, whose agenda revolves around big-business interests (Halliburton - former proprietor one Richard Cheyney, Esquire, for example). Take an honest look. Good luck.

[Debbie]

BOB:

God bless you and thank you for this comment. I will never forget that day, I will never forget all those who were killed, injured, and still carry the physical and emotional scars of that day.

It's high time the firefighters and personnel at the Pentagon got the attention, praise and thanks they so greatly deserve.

Thank you again.

[Bob]

To all those disbelievers and know-it-all's:

I am an Arlington County, VA Firefighter. I served at the Pentagon for elevan days following the attack. I can tell you with the utmost ceretainty that an aircraft crashed into the Washington Blvd side of the Pentagon. One of our Engine companies was returning from the Crystal City area of the county that sits adjacent to the pentagon when the Boeing 757 flew low and fast overhead, striking several light poles and slammed into the building. Fellow firefighters working at the Helipad from the Ft. Myer Fire Department were seriously injured and burned upon impact.

I wittnessed the mangled bodies and bits and pieces of the aircraft spread over much of the impact side of the building. many of my brother firefighters have been forced to retire due the impact of the attack.

For those who were never there and seem to think you know all about what "really" happened, the only thing I can say is "You haven't a clue what really happened" So keep your know-it-all comments to yourself. Some of us live with the event everyday of our lives!

[Stormwarning]

Brian, I have friends who worked at the Pentagon that day and survived. They would disagree with you.

[Brian]

Hello Stormwarning,
Contrary to what you assume, I watched (repeatedly) the TV coverage of the attacks on the WTC and fully acknowledge that the Twin Towers were struck by two airliners. Don't be stupid. Regarding the Pentagon, I was attending a meeting on a military base when we were informed of the attack, and was able to watch TV coverage literally minutes after it occurred. It was blindingly obvious no airliner was involved. Use you eyes. I have no answer to the question of who engineered 9/11, but the Bush Administration's version is a cover up. I'll pass on the beer, but apparently slugs like it.

[Stormwarning]

Forgive me Debbie! So, Brian, you've crawled out from the underside of the Sept. 11th conspiracy theory rock...like a slug that crawls at night leaving a trail of slime in its wake. I suppose that you did not watch the television that morning (as I and many others did) when the first, and then the second, airplane struck the World Trade Center towers. I suppose that you believe one of the handful of conspiracy theories including the one that has our own government being behind the devastation of that morning. I also suppose that you would claim that there was no airplane that hit the Pentagon that morning either.

Brian, you are a consummate idiot. I only wish I had a chance to look you in the eye and have you tell me that two planes did not hit the WTC that morning...[PS: I may be back in NYC next Monday...I'll buy you a beer - NOT!]

[Brian]

No one can have anything but praise for the people, firefighters or not, who struggled to save lives and help the injured at the Pentagon. But anyone who believes the building was hit by a jet airliner is seriously deluded. No passenger plane could fly at near ground level at a speed of over 500 mph without self-destructing due to air density. Professional pilots have asserted, furthermore, that it would be impossible to control such a large plane so near the ground at high speed. The entry hole was nowhere near as big as the author claims (look at the video evidence)and the damage to the facade was minimal. All this has been raked over many times, I know, but to buy this book is to lend credence to one of the greatest deceptions of all time. The official story is a pack of lies.

[Debbie]

A.C.: I though of that. We've all see the videos that try to dispute there was a plane at the Pentagon.

Stormwarning: Me too.

[A.C. McCloud]

Just think, the nuts will be saying this is disinformation (missile struck Pentagon theories, etc). Even guys like Jesse Ventura believe this nonsense.

[Stormwarning]

Perhaps ignored by some, but not by anyone who knows people who escaped without injury either by fate or scheduling. But I will try to find the book...its a part of that day that I will never forget.

[Debbie]

Karen: I just got the book today and can't wait to start reading. This has been a long time coming. Thanks and spread the word.

[Karen]

The attack on the Pentagon is a piece of the day that is often ignored. Thanks for the book recommendation, Debbie. I'll look forward to adding it to my 'to read' list.