Pentagon Strike Alleged Witness Account: Terrance Kean

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A13766-2001Sep11


Loud Boom, Then Flames In Hallways
Pentagon Employees Flee Fire, Help Rescue Injured Co-Workers

By Mary Beth Sheridan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 12, 2001; Page A15

At the Pentagon yesterday morning, the men and women in charge of the nation's defense were staring at news reports of the attack on the World Trade Center. "You know, the next best target would be us," mused Tom Seibert, a network engineering contractor, watching TV.

Five minutes later, Seibert and his associates heard something that sounded like a missile, then a loud boom. The massive Pentagon building trembled. Flames shot through some corridors and chunks of the ceiling started raining down.

"We just hit the dirt," said Seibert, 33, of Woodbridge. "We dived instinctively."

A hijacked American Airlines Boeing 757 had plowed into the west side of the Pentagon, blasting a giant hole into the concrete symbol of U.S. military might. The attack caused scores, perhaps hundreds, of casualties and turned the Pentagon into a scene of panic.

"Everybody started saying, 'Evacuate, evacuate!' " said Air Force Col. David Kopanski.

"It's pretty devastating," he added. "We've all thought this could possibly happen one day. Somebody has touched our country."

Arlington Fire Chief Edward Plaugher said federal authorities were estimating that 100 to 800 people had died at the Pentagon, including the plane's 64 passengers and crew. The Pentagon had said about 800 people worked in the crash area and had not been accounted for, the chief said.

"They are just giving us ballpark numbers," Plaugher said. Some people may have left the building without the Pentagon's knowledge, he added.

As the Pentagon roof continued to burn last night, rescue crews pulled an initial six bodies from the rubble and used dogs and listening devices to seek survivors.

"The human tragedy is overwhelming," said Virginia Gov. James S. Gilmore III (R), who visited the site last night.

The Pentagon is one of the world's largest office buildings, with 23,000 employees, a landmark since it was built during World War II. Constructed of 435,000 cubic yards of concrete, it had seemed a symbol of invincibility.

Until now.

The jet ripped a giant hole in the west side of the building nearWashington Boulevard that stretched from the ground to the roof five floors up. At least four floors on the west side pancaked upon each other. Workers and neighbors stood staring in shock at the charred, smoke-wreathed building; one described it as looking like a doughnut with a large bite taken out.

Witnesses in nearby cars and apartments realized something was wrong when they saw a passenger jet traveling fast below treetop level over Interstate 395 just after 9:30 a.m.

Terrance Kean, 35, who lives in a 14-story building nearby, heard the loud jet engines and glanced out his window.

"I saw this very, very large passenger jet," said the architect, who had been packing for a move. "It just plowed right into the side of the Pentagon. The nose penetrated into the portico. And then it sort of disappeared, and there was fire and smoke everywhere. . . . It was very sort of surreal."


Inside the Pentagon, the crash set off contrasting reactions. In some offices, military personnel calmly shut down their computers and walked out of the building. In more damaged areas, panic reigned.

Michael Stancil said he was watching CNN coverage of the World Trade Center attacks in the Pentagon basement when he heard a vibrating sound like a motor. Suddenly, a big gust of air blasted through the room, paper started to fly and smoke began to pour in.

Employees began to evacuate, picking up colleagues who fell in their hurry to escape, said Stancil, 43, an employee in financial resources services. "People were praying," he said.

Another Pentagon employee, a 37-year-old Marine major, said he was at a meeting in the innermost A Ring when he heard a thud and felt the building shudder. He and his colleagues rushed to help rescue people from an area that appeared most heavily damaged, the B Ring between corridors 4 and 5.

"From two-star Army generals to Marine officers, to Navy medics and petty officers, to Army officers and civilian contractors, everybody helped," said the sweaty, exhausted major, who was wearing a bloodstained T-shirt and carrying a face mask, as he took a break from rescue efforts.

The major, who declined to give his name, said he was part of a group that extricated a civilian pinned down by fallen pipes, chunks of wall and other debris. To keep from being overwhelmed by the hot, thick, black smoke, the rescuers passed wet T-shirts to one another to protect their faces as they removed the debris in an assembly-line fashion.

"It took 30 men 30 minutes to get just that one guy to the door 15 feet away," the major said, adding that the man appeared to have suffered cuts and bruises. He said that hundreds of people worked in the B Ring area and that it was "decimated."

"That heat and fire, it could eat you alive in three seconds," he said.

The area of the building hit by the 757 contains the offices of Army and Navy operations personnel. That section had recently been renovated, and officials said they hoped the death count would be limited by the fact that many people had not yet moved into their offices.

The search for survivors was hampered by intense heat and smoke. As late as 10 p.m., rescue teams were having trouble getting close enough to the worst damage.

"We went down that first ring, but we only got 100 feet," said Derek Spector, 37, an Arlington firefighter. "It was an intense amount of heat."

About 70 people, including some rescuers, were taken to hospitals in Virginia and the District. Among the most seriously hurt were a Virginia state trooper, listed in critical condition from smoke inhalation at Inova Alexandria Hospital, and patients at Washington Hospital Center who had burns on 25 percent to 70 percent of their bodies.

Many Pentagon employees pitched in on the relief effort. But others were overwhelmed by the trauma. After fleeing the building, workers collapsed on the lawn, some crying, some struggling to get a connection on cell phones, others looking dazed.

Tamara Moore, an employee in information management support, spoke haltingly.

"We knew the building had been hit. We could feel it." She paused. "It's tough. It's tough to talk about. I ran. I don't have anything. I don't have my pocketbook. I'm worried. Some of my co-workers were in that area."

Ambulances and government helicopters raced to the Pentagon after the attack. More than 300 military and medical personnel rushed into the building in waves, many bearing stretchers.

As firefighters trained streams of water on the blazing building, rescue workers carried dozens of people on stretchers from the interior onto the grass. There, emergency medical technicians from across the region laid out mats, set up intravenous tubes and organized teams of litter-bearers.

"We've got people in there dying," someone shouted.

At one point, panic set in when a rumor swept the crowd that another attack was imminent.

"There's another plane coming," someone shouted. Authorities ordered everyone to get under a concrete underpass. The crowd waited uneasily, staring at the sky. But there was no other attack.


Navy Lt. Evelyn Gibbs, who works at the Pentagon Annex nearby, had just dropped her children at the Pentagon day-care center when she heard about the crash.

"I grabbed my things, and I started running for the Pentagon. . . . I was heading for the day care. I ran, I ran fast. It was about three miles. I just kept running. Good people helped me. They showed me shortcuts," she said.

Finally, Gibbs got to the day-care center, only to find the children gone. She found them in a nearby grassy area with their teachers. "The children were oblivious. They were outside. They were playing," she said.

By afternoon, the investigation was underway. At one point, a column of 50 FBI officers walked shoulder-to-shoulder across the south grounds of the Pentagon, picking up debris and stuffing it into brown bags. The lawn was scattered with chunks of the airplane, some up to four feet across.

In the evening, some 100 people gathered on a hill in Arlington with a panoramic view of the Pentagon and the city beyond. Several set up cameras on tripods.

"I was just looking for someplace that I really could get in touch with what happened today," said Keith Whited, 49, a real estate agent from Mount Vernon. "I can't imagine how anybody could even conceive or do anything so terrible."

"I think a lot of people up here are just curious. I think a lot more up here are like me. They're just trying to understand how this could happen."
 
In this post I have arranged the alleged sources for the information in the article from The Washington Post that appeared a day after the Pentagon Strike. The list follows below, where S is source and WP# is witness or source number although not all have seen anything substantial.
[S14WP00=Journalist or unknown]
[S14WP01=Tom Seibert, 33, of Woodbridge, a network engineering contractor,]
[S14WP02=Air Force Col. David Kopansky]
[S14WP03= Arlington Fire Chief Edward Plaugher]
[S14WP04=Rescue crew]
[S14WP05=Virginia Gov. James S. Gilmore III (R)]
[S14WP06= workers and neighbors]
[S14WP07= Witnesses in nearby cars and apartments]
[S14WP08=Terrance Kean, 35, architect =WRHW15]
[S14WP09=Michael Stancil, 43, an employee (Pentagon) in financial resources services]
[S14WP10=A37-year-old Marine major]
[S14WP11=Officials]
[S14WP12=Terek Spector, 37, an Arlington firefighter ]
[S14WP13=Tamara Moore, an employee in information management support]
[S14WP14=Navy Lt. Evelyn Gibbs]
[S14WP15=Keith Whited]

Loud Boom, Then Flames In Hallways
Pentagon Employees Flee Fire, Help Rescue Injured Co-Workers

By Mary Beth Sheridan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 12, 2001; Page A15
[S14WP01=Tom Seibert, a network engineering contractor]
At the Pentagon yesterday morning, the men and women in charge of the nation's defense were staring at news reports of the attack on the World Trade Center. "You know, the next best target would be us," mused Tom Seibert, a network engineering contractor, watching TV.

Five minutes later, Seibert and his associates heard something that sounded like a missile, then a loud boom. The massive Pentagon building trembled. Flames shot through some corridors and chunks of the ceiling started raining down.

We just hit the dirt," said Seibert, 33, of Woodbridge. "We dived instinctively."
[S14WP00a=Journalist or unknown]
A hijacked American Airlines Boeing 757 had plowed into the west side of the Pentagon, blasting a giant hole into the concrete symbol of U.S. military might. The attack caused scores, perhaps hundreds, of casualties and turned the Pentagon into a scene of panic.
[S14WP02=Air Force Col. David Kopansky]
"Everybody started saying, 'Evacuate, evacuate!' " said Air Force Col. David Kopanski.

"It's pretty devastating," he added. "We've all thought this could possibly happen one day. Somebody has touched our country."
[S14WP03= Arlington Fire Chief Edward Plaugher]
Arlington Fire Chief Edward Plaugher said federal authorities were estimating that 100 to 800 people had died at the Pentagon, including the plane's 64 passengers and crew. The Pentagon had said about 800 people worked in the crash area and had not been accounted for, the chief said.

"They are just giving us ballpark numbers," Plaugher said. Some people may have left the building without the Pentagon's knowledge, he added.
[S14WP04=Rescue crew]
As the Pentagon roof continued to burn last night, rescue crews pulled an initial six bodies from the rubble and used dogs and listening devices to seek survivors.
[S14WP05=Virginia Gov. James S. Gilmore III (R)]
"The human tragedy is overwhelming," said Virginia Gov. James S. Gilmore III (R), who visited the site last night.
[S14WP00b=Journalist or unknown]
The Pentagon is one of the world's largest office buildings, with 23,000 employees, a landmark since it was built during World War II. Constructed of 435,000 cubic yards of concrete, it had seemed a symbol of invincibility.

Until now.

The jet ripped a giant hole in the west side of the building nearWashington Boulevard that stretched from the ground to the roof five floors up. At least four floors on the west side pancaked upon each other. [S14WP06= workers and neighbors] Workers and neighbors stood staring in shock at the charred, smoke-wreathed building; one described it as looking like a doughnut with a large bite taken out.
[S14WP07= Witnesses in nearby cars and apartments]
Witnesses in nearby cars and apartments realized something was wrong when they saw a passenger jet traveling fast below treetop level over Interstate 395 just after 9:30 a.m.
[S14WP08=Terrance Kean=WRHW15]
Terrance Kean, 35, who lives in a 14-story building nearby, heard the loud jet engines and glanced out his window.

"I saw this very, very large passenger jet," said the architect, who had been packing for a move. "It just plowed right into the side of the Pentagon. The nose penetrated into the portico. And then it sort of disappeared, and there was fire and smoke everywhere. . . . It was very sort of surreal."
[S14WP09= Michael Stancil, 43, an employee (Pentagon) in financial resources services]
Inside the Pentagon, the crash set off contrasting reactions. In some offices, military personnel calmly shut down their computers and walked out of the building. In more damaged areas, panic reigned.

Michael Stancil said he was watching CNN coverage of the World Trade Center attacks in the Pentagon basement when he heard a vibrating sound like a motor. Suddenly, a big gust of air blasted through the room, paper started to fly and smoke began to pour in.

Employees began to evacuate, picking up colleagues who fell in their hurry to escape, said Stancil, 43, an employee in financial resources services. "People were praying," he said.
[S14WP10= a 37-year-old Marine major]
Another Pentagon employee, a 37-year-old Marine major, said he was at a meeting in the innermost A Ring when he heard a thud and felt the building shudder. He and his colleagues rushed to help rescue people from an area that appeared most heavily damaged, the B Ring between corridors 4 and 5.

"From two-star Army generals to Marine officers, to Navy medics and petty officers, to Army officers and civilian contractors, everybody helped," said the sweaty, exhausted major, who was wearing a bloodstained T-shirt and carrying a face mask, as he took a break from rescue efforts.

The major, who declined to give his name, said he was part of a group that extricated a civilian pinned down by fallen pipes, chunks of wall and other debris. To keep from being overwhelmed by the hot, thick, black smoke, the rescuers passed wet T-shirts to one another to protect their faces as they removed the debris in an assembly-line fashion.

"It took 30 men 30 minutes to get just that one guy to the door 15 feet away," the major said, adding that the man appeared to have suffered cuts and bruises. He said that hundreds of people worked in the B Ring area and that it was "decimated."

"That heat and fire, it could eat you alive in three seconds," he said.
[S14WP11= Officials]
The area of the building hit by the 757 contains the offices of Army and Navy operations personnel. That section had recently been renovated, and officials said they hoped the death count would be limited by the fact that many people had not yet moved into their offices.
[S14WP12= Derek Spector, 37, an Arlington firefighter ]
The search for survivors was hampered by intense heat and smoke. As late as 10 p.m., rescue teams were having trouble getting close enough to the worst damage.

"We went down that first ring, but we only got 100 feet," said Derek Spector, 37, an Arlington firefighter. "It was an intense amount of heat."
[S14WP11= Officials]
About 70 people, including some rescuers, were taken to hospitals in Virginia and the District. Among the most seriously hurt were a Virginia state trooper, listed in critical condition from smoke inhalation at Inova Alexandria Hospital, and patients at Washington Hospital Center who had burns on 25 percent to 70 percent of their bodies.
[S14WP13= Tamara Moore, an employee in information management support]
Many Pentagon employees pitched in on the relief effort. But others were overwhelmed by the trauma. After fleeing the building, workers collapsed on the lawn, some crying, some struggling to get a connection on cell phones, others looking dazed.

Tamara Moore, an employee in information management support, spoke haltingly.
"We knew the building had been hit. We could feel it." She paused. "It's tough. It's tough to talk about. I ran. I don't have anything. I don't have my pocketbook. I'm worried. Some of my co-workers were in that area."
[S14WP11= Officials]
Ambulances and government helicopters raced to the Pentagon after the attack. More than 300 military and medical personnel rushed into the building in waves, many bearing stretchers.

As firefighters trained streams of water on the blazing building, rescue workers carried dozens of people on stretchers from the interior onto the grass. There, emergency medical technicians from across the region laid out mats, set up intravenous tubes and organized teams of litter-bearers.
[S14WP00=Journalist or Unknown]
"We've got people in there dying," someone shouted.

At one point, panic set in when a rumor swept the crowd that another attack was imminent.

"There's another plane coming," someone shouted. Authorities ordered everyone to get under a concrete underpass. The crowd waited uneasily, staring at the sky. But there was no other attack.
[S14WP14=Navy Lt. Evelyn Gibbs]
Navy Lt. Evelyn Gibbs, who works at the Pentagon Annex nearby, had just dropped her children at the Pentagon day-care center when she heard about the crash.

"I grabbed my things, and I started running for the Pentagon. . . . I was heading for the day care. I ran, I ran fast. It was about three miles. I just kept running. Good people helped me. They showed me shortcuts," she said.
Finally, Gibbs got to the day-care center, only to find the children gone. She found them in a nearby grassy area with their teachers. "The children were oblivious. They were outside. They were playing," she said
[S14WP00c=Journalist or unknown]
By afternoon, the investigation was underway. At one point, a column of 50 FBI officers walked shoulder-to-shoulder across the south grounds of the Pentagon, picking up debris and stuffing it into brown bags. The lawn was scattered with chunks of the airplane, some up to four feet across.
[S14WP15=Keith Whited]
In the evening, some 100 people gathered on a hill in Arlington with a panoramic view of the Pentagon and the city beyond. Several set up cameras on tripods.

"I was just looking for someplace that I really could get in touch with what happened today," said Keith Whited, 49, a real estate agent from Mount Vernon. "I can't imagine how anybody could even conceive or do anything so terrible."

"I think a lot of people up here are just curious. I think a lot more up here are like me. They're just trying to understand how this could happen."
Below I listed and commented on the main events related with the impact as described in the article.

TIME: Just after 9:30 a.m.
[S14WP07= Witnesses in nearby cars and apartments]
Witnesses in nearby cars and apartments realized something was wrong when they saw a passenger jet traveling fast below treetop level over Interstate 395 just after 9:30 a.m.
So it is coming over 395 not from the Sheraton National Hotel and the Cemetery as some claim and also the time is about ten minutes earlier than several other reports.
Of the witnesses from What Really Happned Christine Peterson, reports seeing about 9:30 a.m. Frank Probst a year later mentions about 9:35.
Deborah Anlauf: ""Anlauf was watching TV coverage of the Trade Center burning shortly before 9:30 a.m. when she decided to return to her 14th-floor room from another part of the hotel. Once in her room, she heard a "loud roar" and looked out the window to see what was going on."" We do not know what is ""once"" but apparently shortly before 9:30 is her last time registered, if we add a few minutes it gets to about or shortly after 9:30 a.m.

The media generally stick with 9:40 a.m. or 9:41 a.m, or 9:43 a.m. and even 9:45 a.m. If the reporters, the police and the military can not report accurately on something like the time then what about the rest. Everyone who heard a boom had a clock although they did not see it so why such a late time is reported? A news wire went on the CCN at 9:42 a.m. with a few detail of the blast, how long did it take to write that up. The link is here: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0109/11/bn.03.html and this thread has more on th time: http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=1182

[S14WP08=Terrance Kean=WRHW15]
Terrance Kean, 35, who lives in a 14-story building nearby, heard the loud jet engines and glanced out his window.

"I saw this very, very large passenger jet," said the architect, who had been packing for a move. "It just plowed right into the side of the Pentagon. The nose penetrated into the portico. And then it sort of disappeared, and there was fire and smoke everywhere. . . . It was very sort of surreal."
"A portico" is explained in the Longman dictionary of contemporary English as "a covered entrance to a building, sometimes consisting of a roof supported by pillars".

What was surreal? Was it that: the nose of this very very large passenger jet penetrated into the portico, and then sort of disappeared. Compare with other statements in the article:
[S14WP01=Tom Seibert, a network engineering contractor]
Five minutes later, Seibert and his associates heard something that sounded like a missile, then a loud boom. The massive Pentagon building trembled. Flames shot through some corridors and chunks of the ceiling started raining down.
How is the sound of a jet different from a missile, does Seibert know? Where was he when it happened? Well he must have been closer than the next witnesses:
[S14WP09= Michael Stancil, 43, an employee (Pentagon) in financial resources services]
Michael Stancil said he was watching CNN coverage of the World Trade Center attacks in the Pentagon basement when he heard a vibrating sound like a motor. Suddenly, a big gust of air blasted through the room, paper started to fly and smoke began to pour in.
[S14WP10= a 37-year-old Marine major]
Another Pentagon employee, a 37-year-old Marine major, said he was at a meeting in the innermost A Ring when he heard a thud and felt the building shudder. He and his colleagues rushed to help rescue people from an area that appeared most heavily damaged, the B Ring between corridors 4 and 5.
Why should one readily accepts that "the big gust of air that blasted through the room" and "a loud boom. The massive Pentagon building trembled", and "he heard a thud and felt the building shudder", should be caused by a simple impact of object and some fuel?

[S14WP00a=Journalist or unknown]
A hijacked American Airlines Boeing 757 had plowed into the west side of the Pentagon, blasting a giant hole into the concrete symbol of U.S. military might.
[S14WP00b=Journalist or unknown]
"The jet ripped a giant hole in the west side of the building near Washington Boulevard that stretched from the ground to the roof five floors up. At least four floors on the west side pancaked upon each other. Workers and neighbors stood staring in shock at the charred, smoke-wreathed building; one described it as looking like a doughnut with a large bite taken out."
Note how the reporter attributes the 'giant hole' to the crash of the 757 although Terrance Kean remarks: "The nose penetrated into the portico. And then it sort of disappeared, and there was fire and smoke everywhere. . . . It was very sort of surreal." When one looks at the pictures of the initial hole, it did not as reported, extend: "from the ground floor to the roof five floors up."

To emphasise that it was the 757 that created the effect which Terrance Kean observed, the reporter modifies the entire part of the phrase of Terrance Kean who said: "It ("this very, very large passenger jet") just plowed right into the side of the Pentagon" into "A hijacked American Airlines Boeing 757 had plowed into the west side of the Pentagon

Would the observation ofTom Seibert: "heard something that sounded like a missile, then a loud boom" explain the surreal impression of Terrance Kean. Other unnamed witnesses on the street, said it was a passenger jet, but it is not mentioned that it was an American Airlines or a 757 inparticular, only the reporter fills us in on those details. Not all reporters were insisting on the 757. In the David Battle article two witnesses are reported as seeing a 737.

Is the reporter logic like this:
Passenger jets never disappear.
Yesterday a passenger jet, an American Airlines 757 disappeared.
Yesterday an unexpected object, that appeared as a passenger jet and sounded like a loud jet was seen near the Pentagon, and was seen to disappear into it, leaving a hole behind.
At about the same time what sounded like a missile hit the Pentagon.
At the time of the hit and the hole being made explosive effects were felt.
Things have never hit the Pentagon. Therefore whatever hit the Pentagon yesterday, must have been the missing American Airlines 757 passenger jet.
Is it possible that this convincing logic has woked like a hypnotic command on some witnesses. Others may consciously not have seen what the others did but fear ridicule and falling out of the club of mass hysteria.


[S14WP00c=Journalist or unknown]
By afternoon, the investigation was underway. At one point, a column of 50 FBI officers walked shoulder-to-shoulder across the south grounds of the Pentagon, picking up debris and stuffing it into brown bags. The lawn was scattered with chunks of the airplane, some up to four feet across."
Possibly Terrence Kean did not see so well what happened to the plane. Why is it the the object was constructed such that only pieces of four feet and less would be left behind. What size pieces would an average 757 crash at the estimated Pentagon strike speed leave behind. Or was it because some explosive effects were also present. Or the big parts entered the building. Another idea I have been considering is how much of 4th density is available around the area of Pentagon! And if so what would bne th consequences?


[S14WP11= Officials]
The area of the building hit by the 757 contains the offices of Army and Navy operations personnel. That section had recently been renovated, and officials said they hoped the death count would be limited by the fact that many people had not yet moved into their offices.
On the one hand the authorities express a hope that not many die on the other hand there is confusion in the organisation leading to lack of action leading to dead people. Also the following is worth keeping in mind when one reads other reports, because it does raise some questions.

[S14WP00=Journalist or Unknown]
"We've got people in there dying," someone shouted.

At one point, panic set in when a rumor swept the crowd that another attack was imminent.

"There's another plane coming," someone shouted. Authorities ordered everyone to get under a concrete underpass. The crowd waited uneasily, staring at the sky. But there was no other attack.
For the rumor that swept the crowd see more details in the Mickey Bell story, where they where told that another plane was 10 miles away.

As for What Really Happened, and Michael Rivero , Terrance Kean appear to be a central witness for the existence of a "very, very large passenger jet." However in the context of the evidence presented in the original article it is less obvious what exactly took place at the Pentagon.

On the whole the reporter does get around to many angles, although with some inaccuracies. It is one of the more informative articles, if not explicitly, then, as we have seen, at least implicitly, but the silence of interest in the evidence from the satellites, the radar, the air traffic control, the security cameras and so on is remarkable if not outright comic considering how much US taxpayers and by default many of well earning Washiington Post readers are asked to contribute for the 'benefits
 
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