Flight 93 Was More than 100 Miles from the Pentagon

In a previous essay, I argued that Secretary of Transportation Norm Mineta could not have been referring to Flight 93 because that Flight never got within "50 miles out", let alone 30 or 10 miles, from the Pentagon. Here's an update.

I found latitude and longitude information for the Pentagon and the Flight 93 crash site. Specifically, the Pentagon appears to be at a latitude of approximately 38.871 and a longitude of -77.0561.

The crater for Flight 93 (ignoring the possible that Flight 93 was shot down in order to focus, for this essay only, on Cheney's discussion of the plane at the PEOC), is probably located within a few seconds of 40°03'02" N longitude
78°45'22" W latitude, according to Jim Hoffman's research.

The Flight 93 memorial is located at a latitude of approximately 40° 3′3″N, and a longitude of approximately 78° 54′13″W. The memorial appears to be located right at the crash site. (Another website has the memorial at latitude 40.05083 and longitude -78.90556).

Converting the information in decimal format into degrees minutes and seconds, and plugging the information into a distance calculator, we get about 128 statute miles or 111 nautical miles (the calculator can do either one.)

So Mineta could not have been referring to Flight 93. It was never 50 miles, let alone 30 or 10 miles, from the Pentagon.

In contrast, Flight 77 was in the right place at the right time.

Thanks to Jim Hoffman for help with the calculator.

the 9/11 commission report

the 9/11 commission report states that UA 93 crashed 130 miles away from the Pentagon/White house. this fact is not debated by anyone.

the debunkers argue that mineta was refering to UA 93 because the people in the PEOC were recieving updates on UA 93 after it crashed, on a projected flight path, not an actual radar return. So they thought it was 80 and 60 miles out, despite the fact it crashed when it was 130 miles out because it was a projected flight path.

i've already looked into all of this and written it in my paper. if you want to learn more about the mineta arguement, just read my paper.

http://www.members.shaw.ca/truth914/mineta.html

why are you wasting time finding out how far away the shanksville crash site was from the Pentagon? it says in the 9/11 commission that it was 130 miles. this fact is not under debate from either side.

post this if you want

Richard Clarke described in his book Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror his account of the events in the White House on 9/11. Since he was the man in charge on 9/11, Clarke can be considered a very credible source. Richard Clarke confirms Mineta’s timeline of when he arrived in the PEOC and when Cheney was in the PEOC. He directly contradicts the 9/11 commission report in many respects. He clearly explains that Cheney would have definitely been in the PEOC well before 9:28, likely between 9:05 and 9:10. He also states that his brief meeting with Mineta also occurred before 9:28 and that Mineta also joined the Vice President in the PEOC before 9:28. Clarke’s account supports and verifies Mineta’s testimony, especially since they both recounted meeting briefly with one another at around 9:20am. Richard Clarke could not possibly be confused about his timeline, as further evident by his notice of when the President made his address on CNN and when the Pentagon was struck.

Clarke’s account of 9/11 represented the first chapter of his book. The relevant sections have been quoted below and “…” spaces are used to replace sections that are irrelevant to this discussion. This is given in chronological order, and “…” spaces represent events occurring and the passing of time. Therefore notice that Clarke sent Mineta to the PEOC before 9:28, and Mineta’s recollection of the time of 9:20 proves to be accurate considering Clarke’s narrative. Clarke explains that Mineta called in from this car phone, went briefly to the Situation Room where Clarke sent Mineta to the PEOC to be with Vice President Dick Cheney. Also, Mineta was less than two miles away from the White House when he left from the Department of Transportation. Therefore when he called in from his car, he would have only been a few minutes away at most from the White House.

Richard Clarke’s Book:

Cheney began to gather up his papers. In his outer office the normal Secret Service presence was two agents. As I left, I counted eight, ready to move to the PEOC, the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, a bunker in the East Wing.

“You’re going to need some decisions quickly,” Rice said off camera. “I’m going to the PEOC to be with the Vice President. Tell us what you need.”

“What I need is an open line to Cheney and you.”

Shortly thereafter, Mineta called in from his car and I asked him to come directly to the Situation Room. He had two sons who were pilots for United. He did not know where they were that day. I suggested he join the Vice President.

It was now 9:28.

The television screen in the upper left was running CNN on mute. Noticing the President coming on, Lisa turned on the volume and the crisis conference halted to listen.

Garvey read from a list: “All aircraft have been ordered to land at the nearest field. Here’s what we have as potential hijacks: Delta 1989 over West Virginia , United 93 over Pennsylvania …”

Stafford slipped me a not. “Radar shows aircraft headed this way.” Secret Service had a system that allowed them to see what FAA’s radar was seeing

Ralph Seigler stuck his head into the room, “there has been an explosion in the Pentagon parking lot, maybe a car bomb!”

Roger Cressey stepped back into the video conference and announced: “A plane just hit the Pentagon.”

“I can still see Rumsfeld on the screen,” I replied, “so the whole building didn’t get hit”.

The above excerpts directly contradict the 9/11 Commission Report but do not reflect the credibility of Clarke’s account. Richard Clarke himself narrated his book which properly illustrates his authority. After listening to him read his full account, it would be naïve to conclude that this man was confused about what he observed on 9/11. Clarke appears to be one of the most credible sources to explain what happened on 9/11. The fact that Mineta’s testimony agrees with Clarke’s account is indisputable proof that Mineta and Cheney were in the PEOC before the Pentagon was struck.

Part 1 [1.3 MB] – 3min 56sec

http://www.members.shaw.ca/truth914/clarke1.mp3

Part 2 [1.4 MB] – 4min 04sec

http://www.members.shaw.ca/truth914/clarke2.mp3

Part 3 [1.7 MB] – 5min 01sec

http://www.members.shaw.ca/truth914/clarke3.mp3

Part 4 [1.5 MB] – 4min 30sec
http://www.members.shaw.ca/truth914/clarke4.mp3