Thread: Answering Michael Moore

Originally Posted by Jimmy

Through sheer luck, the Pentagon was actually undergoing a massive renovation to reinforce the walls. The plane actually hit the first and only side that was done.

Yes that was fortunate for several reasons. That there were far fewer people in the involved area of the Pentagon and less penetration by the aircraft into the building.
One thing that helped was the year before the fire fighting capability inside the building was upgraded, and among the improvements was the doubling of the capability of the overhead sprinklers and water that the fire fighters would hook their hoses to.
A significant factor in the limited damage was the fact the B-757's left engine hit the ground before the nose of the aircraft struck the building. It would have caused more death and damage had the airliner impacted on the roof!
Inauguration of the Pentagon was 09/11/41! It was designed to be temporary warehouse or storage for the military as the war was approaching. It was to disassembled at the end of the war. In light of this, the walls were made of one foot thick concrete with re-bar, for it was anticipated that the enemy would try and bomb the building.
That is why the it is a far stronger structure than what the WTC provided.
If indeed the suicide pilot's first choice of targets to crash the B-757 was into the White House or the Capitol Building, it is easy to see why he could not find it. Once you have seen the White House or Capitol Building close up from the perspective of being in one of the buildings that are around it, you can understand the situation. The buildings around the White House are far taller and sometimes by a factor of two to three times!! (See the attached photo, taken from a restaurant of a hotel not far away. The White House is the building in the middle of the picture with the flag on it.)

Adrian