Pentagon Strike Alleged Witness Account: James R. Cissell

[Laura]

http://www.cincypost.com/attack/cissel091201.html

'I saw the faces of some of the passengers'

By Kimball Perry, Post staff reporter

As former Cincinnatian James R. Cissell sat in traffic on a Virginia interstate by the Pentagon Tuesday morning, he saw the blur of a commercial jet and wondered why it was flying so low. ''Right about the time it was crossing over the highway, it kind of dawned on me what was happening,'' said Cissell, son of Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Jim Cissell.

In the next blink of an eye, he realized he had a front-row seat to history, as the plane plowed into the Pentagon, sending a fireball exploding into the air and scattering debris - including a tire rim suspected of belonging to the airplane - past his car.

''I've been in life and death situations before ... You can't count your thoughts. It was very surreal. It wasn't slo-mo. It was surreal. I think I was in kind of a state of shock,'' Cissell said.

A former photojournalist who, for the last three years, has worked for the Freedom Forum Museum in Arlington, Va., Cissell was listening to his car radio and the news of the planes slamming into the World Trade Center while sitting in traffic.

''I was thinking, 'If anything happens to the Pentagon right now, I don't have my (photo) gear with me,' '' he said today.

He usually cuts through the Pentagon parking lot to get to work, but was stuck on Interstate 110 because of extra security at the Pentagon following the attack on the World Trade Center.

''Out of my peripheral vision,'' Cissell said, ''I saw this plane coming in and it was low - and getting lower.

''If you couldn't touch it from standing on the highway, you could by standing on your car.''

In the next seconds dozens of things flashed through his mind.

''I thought, 'This isn't really happening. That is a big plane.' Then I saw the faces of some of the passengers on board,'' Cissell said.

''I remember thinking, 'The World Trade Center was just the beginning, there's going to be more.' ''

He remembers the helipad the plane flew over before smacking into the Pentagon was close enough to him that ''I could have thrown a baseball at it and hit it.''

Then the plane, which was taking out telephone and power lines on its way in, hit the building.

While he remembers seeing the crash, Cissell remembers none of the sounds.

''It came in in a perfectly straight line,'' he said.

''It didn't slow down. I want to say it accelerated. It just shot straight in.''

Publication date: 09-12-01

 

[thorbiorn]

I have re-posted the article with James R. Cissell from The Cincinnati Post with the "What Really Happened" section underlined. After the article some comments.
[S10WP01= WRHW10=Jamer R. Cissell]

'I saw the faces of some of the passengers'
By Kimball Perry, Post staff reporter


As former Cincinnatian James R. Cissell sat in traffic on a Virginia interstate by the Pentagon Tuesday morning, he saw the blur of a commercial jet and wondered why it was flying so low. ''Right about the time it was crossing over the highway, it kind of dawned on me what was happening,'' said Cissell, son of Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Jim Cissell.

In the next blink of an eye, he realized he had a front-row seat to history, as the plane plowed into the Pentagon, sending a fireball exploding into the air and scattering debris - including a tire rim suspected of belonging to the airplane - past his car.

''I've been in life and death situations before ... You can't count your thoughts. It was very surreal. It wasn't slo-mo. It was surreal. I think I was in kind of a state of shock,'' Cissell said.

A former photojournalist who, for the last three years, has worked for the Freedom Forum Museum in Arlington, Va., Cissell was listening to his car radio and the news of the planes slamming into the World Trade Center while sitting in traffic.

''I was thinking, 'If anything happens to the Pentagon right now, I don't have my (photo) gear with me,' '' he said today.

He usually cuts through the Pentagon parking lot to get to work, but was stuck on Interstate 110 because of extra security at the Pentagon following the attack on the World Trade Center.

''Out of my peripheral vision,'' Cissell said, ''I saw this plane coming in and it was low - and getting lower.

''If you couldn't touch it from standing on the highway, you could by standing on your car.''

In the next seconds dozens of things flashed through his mind.

''I thought, 'This isn't really happening. That is a big plane.' Then I saw the faces of some of the passengers on board,'' Cissell said.

''I remember thinking, 'The World Trade Center was just the beginning, there's going to be more.' ''

He remembers the helipad the plane flew over before smacking into the Pentagon was close enough to him that ''I could have thrown a baseball at it and hit it.''

Then the plane, which was taking out telephone and power lines on its way in, hit the building.

While he remembers seeing the crash, Cissell remembers none of the sounds.

''It came in in a perfectly straight line,'' he said.

''It didn't slow down. I want to say it accelerated. It just shot straight in.''

Publication date: 09-12-01

Comment: His first thought was: 'This isn't really happening". Next follows the "big plane" and the "faces of the passengers" and as we read further on about the impact: "sending a fireball exploding into the air and scattering debris - including a tire rim suspected of belonging to the airplane - past his car." but surprisingly enough although he must be honest to admit it: "Cissell remembers none of the sounds".

Although Cissell is a former photographer and therefore probably has a good eye, I am wondering about the absence of his ears and the probability then of the presence of his eyes. If as he himself expresses, he was in a kind of state of chock, then how consistent are his observations. I think a person who knows about possible perceptions during a state of chock is required to get a more clear understanding of what Cissell experienced and why he did not register sounds that were audible to the majority of observers.

Mr. Cissell is a lamppost observer. So formulated and worth remembering because the witnesses according to some analysts do not agree on the incoming path of the object(s). The lamppost path is one option and the alleged path from the Sheraton National Hotel along the Arlington National Cemetery to the Pentagon another.

"he saw the blur of a commercial jet" ....

In the next seconds dozens of things flashed through his mind.

If he was so close as he claims and if the speed of the object was say 300 miles per hour which is the equivalent of 480 km/hr or 8km/minute or 133m/s he has not had much time to think, possibly less than a few seconds, tenth of seconds would be more precise.

''It didn't slow down. I want to say it accelerated. It just shot straight in.''

Many observers seem to agree on the speeding up of the object before hitting, but some also say that the object had some problems balancing, like James Ryan and William Middleton Sr, however Mr. Cissel may not have been one of those because he claims "it came in in a perfectly straight line." One question would be how he detected the accleration if he could not hear it?

The alleged passengers make for the heading of the article, and although there is a slight appeal to authority and local Cincinnatian patriotism by listing the background and position of Mr. Cissell's family, neither Mr. Cissell nor the reporter obscure that the state of mind of the witness may not have been optimal. I am not convinced one can believe all that is in this News report. Why is it that What Really Happended doesn

 

[Approaching Infinity]

Check out Paul Watson's latest: http://www.propagandamatrix.com/articles/june2006/300606flight77.htm

It seems Cissell's words were almost completely fabricated. And he's angry about this. Here's what he remembers saying to the reporter (assuming, of course, that Watson is actually in contact with Cissell):

"The reporter took extreme creative license not only with the title but also with the story as a whole. Why he felt the need to sensationalize anything that happened on September 11 is beyond me. My words to the reporter were, "I was about four cars back from where the plane crossed over the highway. That it happened so quickly I didn't even see what airline it was from. However, I was so close to the plane when it went past that had it been sitting on a runway, I could have seen the faces of passengers peering out."

He also says it seemed "at least the size of a 727." Also:

"Looking at the trajectories in the diagrams they have online seems off to me. I remember the plane coming in more directly at the side of the building than at an angle," said Cissell.