Why did the terrorists hit the Pentagon ??

[kentuck]

They could have hit the White House. They could have hit the Capitol Building. They could have hit the Washington Monument. They could have hit numerous targets. But they chose the Pentagon, a more low-lying target. Why?

Reportedly the plane circled the city before crashing into the Pentagon. So it appears to have been their designated target? Why? Why would they choose the military nerve center of the greatest nation in the world?

[Walt Starr]

1. I believe the Pentagon was a secondary or tertiary target

I sincerely believe the WH was the primary target. If you look at the path it was like they were trying to find the WH, couldn't (it's an extremely small target from the air), then went for the Pentagon.

[Iluvleiberman]

11. Agreed if terrorists did do it n/t

[Ratty]

20. That's what I heard

The WH was almost certainly the primary target but they couldn't find it from the air. All of the trees you know. The TV show that was talking about it showed a tape of the area taken from an airplane. Right where the WH was you couldn't see anything. That whole area was just a big mass of trees. Who would have thought?

[ozymandius]

30. bright sun

The plane was flying directly into the sun on a west-east path. According to an air traffic controller, the plane missed the White House. It then turned back around and hit the next most visible target.

[AntiCoup2K4]

2. If you're going to characterize America as "the Great Satan"

Then what could be a more satanic symbol than the hugest military machine on Earth?

Or perhaps they thought "Pentagon" and "Pentagram" meant the same thing?

[Fixated]

3. ....

Yeah, the Washington Monument! That woulda racked up the kills!

Hell, they could have nailed the Reflecting Pool thingy. They were going to hit the White House with the 4th plane. The Pentagon is a symbol of our military dominance.

[Minstrel Boy]

4. and why

perform a 270 degree turn to strike the side of the Pentagon which was under reconstruction, the only side hardened against attack, and virtually empty?

And how did the alledged hijacker, Hani Hanjour, fly a commercial jet with such skill, when just three weeks before he couldn't even fly a Cessna 172?

questions, questions, questions...

[Solomon]

5. Assuming the "terra-ists"

drove a passenger plane into the Pentagon. Sorry. I appologize but I can't help it. The Pentagon is one of those things that reminds me of that Groucho Marx saying: Who you gonna believe? "Me, or your lying eyes?" I've reflected on it enough to be satisfied that something is seriously wrong with the government position on what happened at the Pentagon.

But assuming that they did, I don't know if I buy the theory that they couldn't find the whitehouse so they chose the pentagon. They had all damn day if they wanted to find the whitehouse, being as how worthless Richard Meyers provided absolutely no defense of the nations capitol but was promoted to Chairman of Jt. Chiefs of Staff.
And any pilot who could have executed that low fast 270 degree turn to hit the pentagon, surely could have managed to hit the white house. Clearly the pentagon was a target, but I'm very curious about why the pilot would execute such a turn to hit the pentagon. Why not hit it from any side?

[ProudGerman]

6. Maybe they were under the same misguided notion the Japanese were

The Japanese thought that hitting us at Pearl Harbor would make it impossible for us to enter the war, they also thought it would make us tuck tail and leave the Pacific altogether.

Maybe Al Queada thought if they destroyed the Pentagon, our military would be unable to fight back. Sort of take a page from Powell, his Gulf War I quote specifically, "First, we're gonna cut the head off, then we're gonna kill it." Given their meager opportunity to strike us militarily, they probably thought it was their best shot.

Little did they know they were being played for pawns by the powers that be.

[poskonig]

7. Symbols of western finance, militarism, and political. power.

The WTC was obviously $$$.
The Pentagon was a strike against US military power.
The plane that crashed in Pennsylvania was probably going towards a political target.

[leftofthedial]

8. because they hate our freedoms

(or so the papers say)

[arcane1]

9. didn't they hit a part of it that was under reconstruction?

thereby reducing the damage and casualties, since most of those offices were empty

:shrug:


I seem to recall reading that somewhere...

[Iluvleiberman]

12. But did they care what part they hit?

I think if terrorists did it they just wanted to hit any part of it.

[Blue_Chill]

15. Nope

They hit a portion that had been already renovated. The enitre pentagon was getting this treatment and some of it already had been completed.

[scarletwoman]

37. You are absolutely correct.

The Pentagon was chosen for its symbolic value, of course, by the orchestrators who wanted to deeply imprint upon the psyche of the citizenry the double message of fear and extreme vulnerability -- ...they even got to the PENTAGON!!!!" -- thus engendering a profound state of dependency in the panicked populace.

Then they (the orchestrators) could step forward and say "Trust us, we'll save you" to maximum effect -- without, however, (thanks to the strike being aimed at an already partially reinforced section of the building) sustaining a terribly serious level of damage to one their own power centers.

The orchestrators being, of course, elements within our own government -- the PNACers weren't going to leave to chance the occurence of "another Pearl Harbor" in order to set their agenda in motion. They got their puppet in place, time for the big show!

sw

[bvar22]

10. Pentagon is massive...

...and easily spotted from the air, especially for a novice operating a jumbo jet. Spotting and hitting the White House would be nearly impossible.

The Pentagon's low profile would make it difficult to hit unless the approach was perfect. There are any number of reasons for the 270, including lining up for a low, straight approach.

OTOH, maybe that is the side that had the homing beacon for the robot pilot.

[carpetbagger]

17. White house is tiny.

Big enough to hit with a small plane, as we saw, but for an amateur pilot in a chaotic situation, it's nearly impossible. If you look at the level of precision with which the WTC was hit, they would have missed the White House.

It only makes sense if compared to the bizarre administration stories about hitting Camp David and Air Force One.

The Capitol was the likely target, based on intelligence and common sense. Common sense alone would make the CIA Building and a repeat hit on the Pentagon viable options as well.

[Nicholas_J]

13. Correct

Pentegon was not a Primary Target. Most likely White House..Why Bother with the Washinton Monument. The direction of the plane that went down in PA was indicated that it too might have been targeting Washington, hitting another target while people were going nuts trying to deal with the first strike. Considering that they hit the World Trade Center with one plane, and then sent a SECOND plane in to hit the other tower, this is more likely than them going for another Washington target with the PA plane.

[Robb]

18. Annapolis

I always thought the PA plane was heading for Annapolis and the Naval Academy -- mostly since the straight line drawn with UAL93's last recorded route went right over it, not the White House. Made some sense, also, considering Al Q's historical love of our Navy.

As far as the Pentagon, I agree it's an odd target. Might have been a mistake -- which would explain away any piloting moves as "just what happened".

[Blue_Chill]

14. What do they hate about the US? Think about it.

1- Our money thus they hit the WTC buidlings.
2- Our power thus they hit the pentagone which is the heart of our military
3- Our politics, I believe the forth plane was headed to the white house or capitol.

[Iluvleiberman]

16. White House and Capitol were the 2 targets IMHO

But they never could reach them.

[MaverickX]

19. Possibly because the Pentagon..

Is the center of American military forces.

[TomNickell]

21. Symbolism?

From the viewpoint of a wealthy Saudi Islamist, perhaps the Pentagon is the ultimate symbol of American power--as apparently the WTC was.

I doubt the Capitol would have much visibility in Saudi Arabia, even though hitting that would cause -us- more chaos. Seems like the WH would be a prime target, but who knows. Maybe the PA plane was supposed to hit it. Or maybe, as some posters suggested, finding and hitting the WH would be difficult for a novice pilot.

('The Pilot' who writes a column on aviation in Salon did a few paragraphs on the technical difficulties of actually hitting a low bldg like the Pentagon.)

[ComerPerro]

22. Same reason they hit the WTC

And the same reason that they will strike the next location: Because it is where Bush and Cheney aren't.

[proud patriot]

23. My 2 cents cause they overshot capitalhill

I think they intended to hit Congress .

But it is just a gut instinct .

[Old and In the Way]

26. george would have been telling us that he had hit the

"Quadfecta" if they had taken out the Capital. Taking out the entire legislative branch would have made him the dictator he seems to fancy himself as.

[Postman]

24. WTC = imperial capitalism, Pentagon= it's enforcer

it's obvious to me why these targets were chosen. For their symbolic nature. Imperialist capitalism and it's enforcer the US military. The White House and Congress are secondary targets and less significant in sending the message. But either way if they were hit, it was to say "your government is corrupt in its foreign policy"

[flyingfish]

32. Not quite right. You missed out on what makes a superpower.

Politcal(White House)
Economic(WTC)
Military(Pentagon)
Those are the three areas in which one judges a superpower.

Read "Somebody Else's Civil War"

[burr]

25. because that is what they were paid to hit...

just as the terrorists in the planes that made it to New York were paid to hit the World Trade Center, and the plane that went down was believed to be headed to the Capital or the White House.

When you get trained and paid millions of dollars to complete a specific task, it is best not to disappoint your employers.

[Q]

27. Because...the terrorists don't 'hate us for our freedoms'...

...they hate that we have hundreds of military bases in almost every country...and plans to occupy the rest.

[scarletwoman]

34. "...it is best not to disappoint your employers." --WTF?!?!

A highjacker is going to complete a suicide mission so as to not "disappoint" his employers?!?! You're kidding, right?

Good grief....

sw

[pretzel4gore]

28. if DU'er are this obtuse!

how does the vile truth ever see light of day? The 'big lie' is successful cuz NO ONE who is sensible can believe the sheer scale of what's going on, and those who try to describe reality sound foolish. Apparently this isn't known, not even among cynics here at DU! To all intents and purposes, THERE WERE NO HIJACKERS, simply couldn't have been. The Pentagon was included in 911 because an unprovoked terror attack against WTC while it may have pissed off everyone, bushinc needed the anger focused....the tidal wave of sympthy for america etc would not have extended to the vast and nasty military industrial complex (and to geebush inc)! There is no need to debate the crumbs of truth that have been thrown to us...911 was part of a coup, and the men staging coup were doomed if they ever caught; so they must constantly press ahead, never let the people relax. And try imagine what 911 would have been like had not the Pentagon been hit. It would have been true global rage at the bastards who did it attacking biz community (as bad as they may be)...including the Pentagon just made sure that our rage was usable.
OF course, being a skeptic, i see blackmail in the bush gov's sending 100 plus thousand troops to Iraq borders, prior to UN agreement, thus giving US no choice but to USE THEM. No one else on earth sees blackmail of the AMerican people by the bush administration in that action. NObody! So i prolly wrong again!! :-o

[Pastiche423]

29. Can you elaborate

a little on the blackmail? I'm not sure I am following you.

Btw, ain't no one ever gonna be able to convince me that "terrorists" w/fucking boxcutters took over those planes.

[flyingfish]

35. tin foil alert

Bushco just did not take Al Qaeda seriously.
Osama struck at the heart of a superpower, the economic, political, and military centers.

Basic international politics people.

[Pastiche423]

36. Please provide me

proof that there were "terrorists" w/boxcutters on the four planes.

[flyingfish]

31. Political, economic, and military are the three areas of a superpower's...

...strength.

Brilliant, but devious, plan of Osmama bin Laden.
A superpower is defined by its political, economic, and military strength.
White House-Center of political power(Flight 93's intended target)
WTC-Center of economic power
Pentagon-Center of military power.


In case you did not realize it, Osama made the statement to the world, mainly the Muslim world, that if Al Qaeda could strike the centers of the world's only superpower, it could strike anywhere.

9/11 might have been the most brilliant, but again devious and maniacal, plan ever in human history. Osama used our weaknesses as his strengths.

[flyingfish]

33. Read "Somebody Else's Civil War"

It will give you a whole new perspective on 9/11, Osama bin Laden, etc....