In July 2006, a Scripps Survey Research Center poll found that 12 percent of Americans “suspect the Pentagon was struck by a military cruise missile in 2001 rather than by an airliner captured by terrorists.”
This mistaken belief is largely based on the fallacy that the attack on the Pentagon created a small hole consistent with a cruise missile strike, rather than a large hole, as a commercial airliner would make. The wildly popular conspiracy theory video Loose Change made this mistake, among many others.
But the “small hole” was really a large hole, most of which was obscured by fire-fighting foam during the 19 minutes between when the airliner struck the Pentagon and when that section collapsed, forever obscuring the impact site. See this State Department photo gallery for selected photos of the Pentagon on 9/11.
Also, the remains of the 64 passengers on the plane were found at the Pentagon crash site. 184 of the 189 people who died in the attacks (64 on the plane and 125 in the Pentagon) were identified by DNA analysis. In addition, massive amounts of plane debris were found at the site. More than 100 eyewitnesses reported they saw a plane.
See the Pentagon page of Links for 9/11 Research for a wealth of information debunking this conspiracy theory.
Todd Leventhal is the Department’s expert on conspiracy theories and misinformation—stories that are untrue, but widely believed. He enjoys reading obituaries, which tell the personal stories of people who have shaped the fabric of American life.
Todd became interested in international affairs after a four-month trip to the Soviet Union, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India in 1972. He worked for Voice of America for seven years and bikes to work year-round.
Comments (6)
ronnie
10 July 2008 at 01:33 EDT
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like a government site would say if they performed the attack. which they did cause they has been no footage shown on the attack, also its an excuse to go to war like pearl harbour got america to go into world war 2
Todd Leventhal
America.gov Staff
10 July 2008 at 11:57 EDT
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Ronnie: You are employing many of the typical arguments that conspiracy theorists make:
1) Because I work for the government, therefore I am suspect. Actually, you may be shocked to learn that the U.S. government is made up of ordinary Americans, who are pretty much just like everybody else. If you had dozed off in as many less-than-exciting government meetings as I have, you might not be so confident that we are a bunch of devilishly clever conspirators.
2) Because there is no footage of the attack, you conclude that the U.S. government conducted the attacks. That’s a world class non-sequitur. If a convenience store was robbed and there was no footage of it, does that mean that the U.S. government did it? I don’t think so.
Also, there are photographs of the attack on the Pentagon. Google “911 Case Study: Pentagon Flight 77″ for a good video reconstruction of what happened, including a photo of the plane on its approach and plane parts found after the attack. Plus, dozens of eyewitnesses saw a plane hit the building (Google “Pentagon Witness Accounts”). And, forensic investigators identified the remains of all but five of the passengers and crew at the crash site with DNA.
3 The attacks were an “excuse” to go to war. When a hostile power attacks you, killing thousands of your citizens, that is not an “excuse,” but a universally acknowledged valid reason to go to war – to defend ourselves against further attacks. So, it was like Pearl Harbor.
Jimbob
25 July 2008 at 04:00 EDT
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Two days before Pearl Harbour the Honolulu Press declared that Japan was to attack the states. I work for the British government, but that doesn’t make me a robot that believes everything my employer tells me. There is no way that tiny object in the released video was a commercial plane. There was an exit hole in the building. Wake up. There is no footage because it was confiscated- by the Pentagon.
kameelyun
8 August 2008 at 01:49 EDT
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Your focus on the “cruise missile theory” as a debunker is classic, Mr. Leventhal. Debunkers love to give exposure to that theory, but rarely do they like to give exposure to the existence of the collapse of WTC7.
David
14 August 2008 at 09:08 EDT
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So we look at the photos and bingo! theres the small hole punched through the inner walls. How the hell did a plane make that? You know, the plane that hit the Pentagon but can’t be seen in any phots apart from the crummy piece of planted scrap on the front lawn. That one. Oh yes there was that turbine wasn’t there. The one the aircaft industry people said could not have come from a commercial airliner because it was much too small. Come off it! We are not stupid
dan falkenberg
28 September 2009 at 11:13 EDT
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Q: “How do you explain the actual remains of commercial aircraft recovered from the wreck sites?”
R: After 9 years….not ONE single piece of debris from ANY of the 4 planes from ANY of the 4 locations on 9-11 has EVER been tested, inpsected,analyzed, or verified in ANY way by ANYONE (FOIA requests FBI 2008). The criminals who perpetrated 9-11 had the audacity to “show” you the “debris” and then never allow it to be verified…as if no one would ever ask? (Research what the authorities did to the reporters who wanted to verify the debris’ serial numbers with pictures on the day of 9-11 during the initial “showing” of parts?)
Q: “How do you explain the eyewitness accounts of seeing commercial aircraft ploughing into the World Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon?”
R: Never in aviation history has a “witness” verified a plane or plane crash. Just as a “witness” to blood has never verified the DNA or type…or a witness to a UFO or ghost has never verified their existance. Regardless of how many witnesses you have….only debris and physical evidence itself verifies a plane or a plane crash.
Q: “you repeat lies and innuendo designed to propagate anti-American hatred”
R: I think staging the deaths of thousands, preemptively invading countries based on lies and killing millions, borrowing trillions in a never ending global US was on a tactic, torturing 1000’s worldwide…..ALL…based on a murderous lie….that is what propagates anti-american hatred.