9/11

9/11, heroes, September 11

Firefight: Inside the Battle to Save the Pentagon on 9/11

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At 9:37 a.m., on 9/11, those aboard Arlington Fire Department Engine 101 were headed north on I-395 for a training session near the Pentagon. Firefighter Jamie Lewis saw the American Airlines Flight 77 first. “Hey, look at the plane!” he shouted. “What’s he doing?” Nearby, on the Columbia Pike, Paramedic Claude Conde was loading a stroke victim into an ambulance when a plane roared overhead. “He had never seen a plane so close. Something wasn’t right. The airport wasn’t far away, but the plane was already at treetop level, well below the glide path it should be on for National Airport.” On a routine watch at the Pentagon’s helipad, Firefighter Mark Skipper was standing in front of Foam 161 when the firefighter he was talking with, Alan Wallace, “…noticed some movement out of the corner of his eye … The plane was heading straight towards them … a few feet off the ground … ‘Run!’ Wallace screamed.”

Firefight: Inside the Battle to Save the Pentagon on 9/11' by Patrick Creed and Rick Newman

In Firefight: Inside the Battle to Save the Pentagon on 9/11, authors Patrick Creed and Rick Newman slam you awake as to what happened there that day.

While many staggered through smoke, rising heat, and shockwave-strewn wreckage in search of an exit, it took the sheer valor of troops, civilians, and first responders to save the lives of hundreds — some died in the attempt. Firefighters from far and near came running, found a vortex of chaos, sucked rancid smoke, and fought the ‘big one’ fire of their careers. Even as carbon monoxide levels rose in the national command center, our nation’s senior military leadership refused to evacuate, the fire was spreading, and the entire Pentagon was at risk of burning down.

Pat Creed and Rick Newman described it all, as best as anyone could within 486 pages.

If you wish to learn more about the courage and tragedy of 9/11, buy their book.

I read it in one sitting.

Finally, I learned of the heroism and fate of Major Steven Long and of how and where my friend Army Sergeant Major Larry Strickland was murdered. I at least now know some measure of the many firefighters and paramedics from that area who joined our families and FDNY firefighters in honoring the 343 in Washington, D.C, in October 2002.

As journalist Michael Doyle put it, “Firefighters at Pentagon get their due, at last.”


CLICK ON IMAGE FOR BOOK’S PAGE ON AMAZON

About the authors:

Patrick Creed is an amateur historian, volunteer firefighter, and U.S. Army Reserve officer who recently returned from a tour in Iraq as a civil affairs officer with the Army’s Special Operations Command. Creed has one son and lives in Havertown, Pennsylvania, where he is a member of Bon Air and Lansdowne Fire companies.

Rick Newman is an award-winning journalist and staff writer for U.S. News & World Report. He has also written for The Washington Post and many other publications, and is the co-author of Bury Us Upside Down: The Misty Pilots and the Secret Battle for the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Newman has two children and lives in Westchester County, New York.

Editor’s note to 9/11 “truthers” wishing to remain ignorant: do not read their book.

9/11, Guantanamo, September 11

Charges against 20th 9/11 hijacker dropped, can be filed later

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The Associated Press reports the charges against the alleged 20th 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Mani Ahmad al Kahtani, a.k.a. Mohammed al-Qahtani, were dropped without prejudice by a military judge at Guantanamo yesterday, meaning the charges can be filed later. The AP’s breathless headline ‘US drops charges against Saudi in Sept. 11 attacks’ left the last part out.

A search of immigration service records after 9/11 revealed that Mohamed Mani Ahmad al Kahtani landed in Orlando International Airport on August 4, 2001. Yet, according to the 9/11 Commission, “Upon arrival … Kahtani was denied entry by immigration officials because he had a one-way ticket and little money, could not speak English, and could not adequately explain what he intended to do in the United States.”

While their interrogations were obviously conducted separately, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi Binalshibh both confirmed al Kahtani was to become the 20th hijacker and that Mohamed Atta went to meet his arrival in Orlando. In addition, a later review of intercepted communications that occured on August 3, 2001, indicate why al Kahtani travelled to America:

In addition to the operatives who eventually participated in the 9/11 attacks as muscle hijackers, Bin Ladin apparently selected at least nine other Saudis who, for various reasons, did not end up taking part in the operation: Mohamed Mani Ahmad al Kahtani, Khalid Saeed Ahmad al Zahrani, Ali Abd al Rahman al Faqasi al Ghamdi, Saeed al Baluchi, Qutaybah al Najdi, Zuhair al Thubaiti, Saeed Abdullah Saeed al Ghamdi, Saud al Rashid, and Mushabib al Hamlan. A tenth individual, a Tunisian with Canadian citizenship named Abderraouf Jdey, may have been a candidate to participate in 9/11, or he may have been a candidate for a later attack. These candidate hijackers either backed out, had trouble obtaining needed travel documents, or were removed from the operation by the al Qaeda leadership. Khallad believes KSM wanted between four and six operatives per plane. KSM states that al Qaeda had originally planned to use 25 or 26 hijackers but ended up with only the 19.
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A week after he returned from meeting Binalshibh in Spain, Atta traveled to Newark, probably to coordinate with Hazmi and give him additional funds. Atta spent a few days in the area before returning to Florida on July 30.The month of August was busy, as revealed by a set of contemporaneous Atta-Binalshibh communications that were recovered after September 11.

On August 3, for example, Atta and Binalshibh discussed several matters, such as the best way for the operatives to purchase plane tickets and the assignment of muscle hijackers to individual teams. Atta and Binalshibh also revisited the question of whether to target the White House. They discussed targets in coded language, pretending to be students discussing various fields of study: “architecture” referred to the World Trade Center, “arts” the Pentagon, “law” the Capitol, and “politics” the White House.

Binalshibh reminded Atta that Bin Ladin wanted to target the White House. Atta again cautioned that this would be difficult. When Binalshibh persisted, Atta agreed to include the White House but suggested they keep the Capitol as an alternate target in case the White House proved too difficult. Atta also suggested that the attacks would not happen until after the first week in September, when Congress reconvened.

Atta and Binalshibh also discussed “the friend who is coming as a tourist”- a cryptic reference to candidate hijacker Mohamed al Kahtani (mentioned above), whom Hawsawi was sending the next day as “the last one” to “complete the group.” On August 4, Atta drove to the Orlando airport to meet Kahtani. Upon arrival, however, Kahtani was denied entry by immigration officials because he had a one-way ticket and little money, could not speak English, and could not adequately explain what he intended to do in the United States. He was sent back to Dubai. Hawsawi contacted KSM, who told him to help Kahtani return to Pakistan.

During his own interrogation, Mohamed Mani Ahmad al Kahtani (ISN 063) further corroberated he was sent to the United States to become a martyr and arrived in Orlando on August 4, 2001.