Secret History: What Happened Inside The Pentagon After Being Struck On 9/11

His own building was burning. Lower Manhattan, too. But Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld knew little else about what was happening to America as he huddled with his brain trust near the National Military Command Center, deep inside the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

When word had first started to circulate about a plane hitting the World Trade Center in New York, Joint Staff officers at the Pentagon grew anxious. When a second plane struck, there was no doubt about it--a terrorist attack was underway. Then came something even more unthinkable: a huge explosion on the western side of the Pentagon, followed by a massive inferno. The nation's military headquarters was under attack, too.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[MasterPierpont]

Cool article.

If only it were true.

.

[gorideabike]

In the Feb. 11, 2002 The New Yorker, there is a James B. Stewart Reporter At Large article called "The Real Heroes Are Dead" . It Googles with "The Real Heroes Are Dead".
Well worth the time.

[jsarets]

Either 9/11 was an inside job or NORAD is a joke. Take your pick.

[RedDogBear]

Or the Bush administration is incredibly incompetent. I don't think that conspiracy theories are necessarily wrong or looney and I agree that there has never been a true investigation of what happened on 9/11 and that there are still lots and lots of loose ends, inconsistencies, and unanswered (really more like unasked) questions in the official explanation. What I object to is the way many conspiracy people leap to conclusions on little or very selective evidence. The correct answer to most of the questions about 9/11 (who did it? who funded it? what exactly happened?) are that we just don't know. When people leap to conclusions about conspiracies on little evidence it makes all people on the left look loony and it undermines the much more plausible and equally damning conclusion that the Bush administration was at a minimum criminally negligent.

[Orlando]

Just from intellectual curiousity investigate 9/11 with the following sites:

1. Watch google video "Loose Change"
2. www.infowars.com

and ask yourself..

1. Why was Cheney in charge of NORAD for the first time in history that morning?
2. How could a fire evaporate (2) twelve ton engines with Titanium blades that supposedly hit the Pentagon?
3. How can a 47 story NTC block long steel framed building collapse into its own footprint from fire on the afternoon of 9/11 after NOT being hit by a plane? (Google: World Trade Center #7)
This was shown once on TV and not even mentioned in the 9/11 commission report.
4. Where are the black box recorders?
5. Find the picture of the hole in the pentagon BEFORE the roof collapse and see if a plane fits into that hole neatly (with folded wings and engines).
6. Why in early 2001 did the sole authority to shoot down American airliners shift to Rumsfeld?
7. Where is the 2.3 TRILLION that was announced "lost" by Rumsfeld 's pentagon on September TENTH, 2001?

They hid their crime in plain sight, knowing that the American system would not challange them and secure in the fact that they operate above the law. Most American people do not want to know the truth, they would rather ignore the facts and believe the poorly constructed official verision.

Welcome to The New World Order.

[Wasp35]

Wow. Eye-opening. Just one question: who is the "they" and "them" you refer to in your comment? Oh, one more question--why would "they" do this?

[Arleen1]

I watched Loose Change. I had questions before about 9/11 now I have even more. Americans deserve answers. We desire the truth. We demand responsible leaders to respond honestly.

[RedDogBear]

I also was impressed by Loose Change however then I saw the guys who did the documentary debate people from Popular Mechanics and I was much less impressed:

http://www.democracynow.org/2006/9/11/exclusive_9_11_debate_loose_change

I suggest everyone Interested in 9/11 watch this. I still have an open mind that there may have been some foreknowledge or conspiracy on 9/11 but I don't think there is any significant evidence supporting a conspiracy yet (in contrast for example with the JFK assassination where there is compelling evidence) and I think that many of the leading 9/11 conspiracy books are very poorly written and present speculation as if it were objective analysis.

[citizenofmars]

Just another in a never-ending series of lies that support the official government fairytale. Look at that picture. It was taken AFTER the roof collapsed, 45 minutes after impact. There was originall just a tiny 12 foot hole in the building, with no traces of any jet wreckage. It looked pretty fake (which it was) so they allowed the roof to collapse, thus giving the appearnce of a possible plane crash. There are a 1000 cameras at the Pentagon, always rolling. Where is the film of that jet hitting the building? There is none, that's why they cobbled together those stupid 'video stills' of some fireball exploding. But where's the video? One day the truth about 911 may statr an insurrection in this nation. It was the greatest act of TREASON ever!!!!!!!!!

[condew]

"Rumsfeld, somehow, seemed impervious to the smoke" just like a demon from hell. Bush loved sending death row inmates to their execution, Laura killed an old boyfriend with her car, Cheney shot a friend in the face and never met a war he didn't like. So much of the Bush administration reminds me of a satanic cult.

[sharonh]

It is hard to read this without a feeling of pain for all the people involved--but a few. I took away from this story the fact that clearly Cheney was running the show, as GWB was spoken to infrequently or occasionally. Yes, GWB was in the air and Cheney was not, but it would not have mattered (remember the goat story). The real POTUS and CEO, Capitalist Extreme. Why do the innocent alway pay the price for the involved?

[Marlyn]

"There were reports that the State Department had been attacked and that out in Colorado, several cargo trucks, possibly packed with explosives, were speeding toward Cheyenne Mountain." ???

I'd like to know WHERE these reports came from since they weren't true.

[citizenofmars]

dancing Israelis?

[Robert59]

I'm no fan of Rumsfeld, but no one can he lacks balls. I can picture him pointedly ignoring the smoke and the danger and getting to the business at hand. And I think Gates would do the same. The story is really a good example of synergy, how people working together and exchanging ideas end up with a better answer. Mission continues but tempered with common sense (CO detectors and portable oxygen bottles should they need to evacuate).

That was the first time I had ever head about the suspect trucks heading towards NORAD's bunker in C. Springs or someone calling the Russians and telling them to cut that crap out.

I understood why we took the bombers off of alert but never did understand why we did the same with fighters or tankers. We have fighter units scattered all over the country and it sure makes sense to keep several on alert so you have overlapping coverage.

[laocoon]

After the second plane hit it was obvious there was a terrorist attack..... Yet it was 30 -45 minutes before the plane hit the pentagon and there was NO - ZERO defense of our military headquarters. No antiaircraft fire. Nothing. Do you really believe that is possible. Bush had been the commander in chief for 9 months and had no defenses for the pentagon. He used to be a fighter pilot. We mastered air warfare at MIdway. Any carrier commander who was that ill prepared for an attack would be removed. A taller tale was never told. People who insist the only explanation for what happened that day is the official one are DUMB.

[Marlyn]

Agreed.

[Robert59]

No, they're not. After the Cold War ended, we thought we were invulnerable and took down all our defenses. We're not dealing with idiots; they planned their move for a long time and we detected them. The bigger question is why didn't the FBI pursue a search warrant? Did the administration want an attack so it would have an excuse or are the various bureaucracies so incompetent and so protective of their rice bowls they refused to believe their field agents or to trust each other?

Past terrorist attacks that were successful all took place in other countries. We refused to be introspective after OK City and conclude our society could provide a breeding ground for homegrown terrorists. I think we're a little smarter recognizing that possibility, but we still have alot of hubris that anyone would dare attack us, especially an American.

Terrorism is a tactic. The war is about winning hearts and minds. Every move we make should keep that in mind. What we don't want to do is turn good citizens into bad ones.

[RTIII]

I finally had time to read the whole story...

There are a LOT of problems with this story, many of which have already been brought to light in earlier comments. One thing not yet mentioned is that were there any Jet Fuel, it'd have burned away in the first few minutes, not hours. The tanks would have ruptured OUTSIDE THE BUILDING during the initial stages of impact. Most fuel is kept in the wings because you can't put luggage there - it's a space saving feature. In theory, that plane would have been fully fueled, headed for California, so most of the fuel, in the wings would have been scattered right and left of the central hole.

Go look at the pictures of the impact site. No scortches except in the middle. That's because it was probably a cruise missile - the radius of damage matches known cruise missile blast radii.

Another problem with the story is about the carbon monoxide thing. Its effect do clear with time but it's a cumulative effect. It's not just high levels, it's how high the level is for how long. Go buy - or just look at - a commercial carbon monoxide detector and read the labeling regarding safe dosages... And, they didn't talk about controlling the air - which is what any competent building engineer would deal with. They should have easily been able to alter the air flow - I've been in the Pentagon, it has sealing doors at the ends

[citizenofmars]

Bush did it...

[ThinkForYourself2]

For a building considered the most surveillanced in the world.... where are all the dang videos of the "plane" that hit the Pentagon? Where is the evidence of plane parts, luggage, bodies?

How much truth do you think you can handle?

Take the test....

http://www.infowars.com

[Wiredwilly]

$50 bucks says it was a drone.

[citizenofmars]

cruise missle- RUMMY EVEN SAID SO IN AN INFAMOUS 'SLIP OF THE TONGUE' during a news conference a few years back "......when the missle hit the Pentagon" he said. You can look it up..

[wndrwrthg]

technically the "jet" became a missle when it was used as it was.

[pcplz]

Cheney in charge! OMG! Shoot down the hijacked planes........omg. Bushy still trying to figure out the goat book. "Dicky, can I come down now???" Rummy in and out and in and out of the building.....sigh..... Bush, "Dicky, save the Saudis...get them out....save my friends!" .....sigh.....

[sharonh]

You are right--they had the clearheadedness to fly the bin Laden family out of the country--at my expense.

[fungeezer]

That's funny. This article says Cheney issued a "shoot down" order, yet a master sargeant I know and in a position to know said he issued a "stand down" order. Well, which was it?

[loki]

Can the VP issue such orders?

[Hirnlego]

From what I've gathered not before Cheney no..

[RTIII]

Officially, no.

[RTIII]

The orders were to stand down - your friend is right.

There has been some revisionist history from this administration. ...Here's a cute but obvious one: The video and still images on the aircraft carrier that had the banner reading "Mission Accomplished" has been modified on the white house website's archive.

[dumboldfarmer]

He told me that the commissioned officers were all shocked. They wanted to scramble.