It's a bird, it's a plane... well, maybe we'll never know

As numerous media outlets reported Monday, two videos of the explosion at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, have been released to Judicial Watch pursuant to a FOIA request.

As an aside, I've been following http://www.flight77.info/, a website documenting a FOIA request for these same videos, along with some colorful, often humorous commentary, since its inception in March 2005. Oddly, the government's response to the flight77.info FOIA request indicates that there are at least eighty-five videotapes in the possession of the FBI that recorded the events at or near the Pentagon on September 11. Those tapes should be forthcoming, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Back to Judicial Watch who, according to their president Tom Fitton, sought the videos, "to complete the public record with respect to the terrorist attacks of September 11.'' Fitton went on to say that, "[w]e hope that this video will put to rest the conspiracy theories involving American Airlines Flight 77.''

Before you view the videos, you should know that an extraordinary number of news outlets, both print and television, have asserted that these videos put to rest any remaining notion that the events of 9/11 are any different than as reported in the 9/11 Commission report. Now watch the two videos (1 and 2) and ask yourself, was that a bird, a plane or a quick blurb that you just can't make out no matter how many times you try to pause the videos.

I believe that the videos prove nothing, unless the absence of evidence is truly evidence of absence. Anyone who definitively states that there is an image of an American Airlines 757 on either of these videos is either delusional or lying. How is it then that it can be widely reported that the videos "dispel conspiracy" theories? That's disgustingly irresponsible, shabby journalism. Moreover, how do these two grainy videotapes "complete the public record with repsect to the September 11," as Mr. Fitton asserts? Quite to the contrary, there are numerous unanswered questions relating to not only the explosion at the Pentagon, but the inexplicable collapses of WTC 1, WTC 2 and, most notably, WTC 7.

As for the Pentagon attack, numerous questions remain unanswered and, most importantly, univestigated. For example, you would expect that bodies (or at least some tissue) would be recovered from any plane wreckage. The DOD/NTSB team was able to conduct autopsies on some tissue "recovered" at the site of the explosion and were able to match the tissue samples to fifty-eight of the people on the Flight 77 passenger list. However, the full passenger list has never been released to the public and, interestingly, the version that was released immediately after September 11 did not contain the names of any of the terrorists. The fact that there were five samples of tissue that did not match the DNA samples provided by the family members of each of the 183 victims that were either on Flight 77 or in the Pentagon has been billed as conclusive evidence that those five samples are all that is left of the alleged flight 77 hijackers.

Coincidentally, or perhaps consequently, the released passenger lists for American 11, the flight that allegedly struck WTC 1, are a monumental clusterfuck. Click here for a thoroughly sourced discussion of the AA 11 passenger lists.

In addition to the questionable reasoning involving the conclusion of the Pentagon DNA tests, there remains the question of how an admittedly inexperienced pilot, alleged to be Hani Hanjour, was able to conduct such extraordinary maneuvers in a commercial jet, descending 7,000 feet in under two minutes while maintaining a perfect 270 degree banking turn over the Pentagon. Full, objective details on Flight 77, including flight path and radar data can be found here. Flight of fancy indeed.

There's so much more out there about 9/11. It's not my goal to here to put forth one theory in front of any others, but, rather, merely to alert you to the fact that while news outlets report that the "the case is closed," it should not be closed until a truly independent investigation, with access to all information, classified and not, is completed. Unfortunately, most of the evidence has gone the way of the WTC steel, never to be seen again. Sure makes it difficult to figure out how a dissipating pool of kerosene jet fuel can bring down a 110 story steel skyscraper perfectly upon itself. Excellent discussion of the physics (or lack thereof) of the WTC collapses is here.

If you wish to learn more, I offer several links below that are the result of my own relentless search through the morass of 9/11 websites. While I won't assert what theory or theories I believe may have some veracity, I will tell you that I firmly believe that the 9/11 Commission Report is not the end-all, tell-all on 9/11. That feeling comes not only from my review of the collection of independent evidence, but also the clear indication from the Bush administration that it does not hesitate to lie and obfuscate as a means to justify its ends. WMD, anyone?

An excellent overview of all 9/11 theories, from the moderate to the mundane is here.

The most complete 9/11 timeline ever created is here.

Primary sources, the best source of truth, recorded from actual witnesses to the events of 9/11 can be found here.

The mysterious story of WTC 7 is here (site is dead, but data saved by the ultra-cool Wayback Machine).

The underreported story of mistaken identity of the alleged hijackers is here and here.

Indulge your wildest conspiracy theories here.

Finally, a good blog that follows 9/11 developments can be found here.

Comments welcome.