9/11 Pentagon Attack Video To Be Released

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that Department of Defense will release a videotape to Judicial Watch at 1:00 p.m. this afternoon that allegedly shows American Airlines Flight 77 striking the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. The Department of Defense is releasing the videotape in response to a Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act request and related lawsuit.

“This is in response to your December 14, 2004 Freedom of Information Act Request, FOIA appeal of March 27, 2005, and complaint filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia,” wrote William Kammer, Chief of the Department of Defense, Office of Freedom of Information. “Now that the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui is over, we are able to complete your request and provide the video…”

Judicial Watch originally filed a Freedom of Information Act request on December 15, 2004, seeking all records pertaining to September 11, 2001 camera recordings of the Pentagon attack from the Sheraton National Hotel, the Nexcomm/Citgo gas station, Pentagon security cameras and the Virginia Department of Transportation. The Department of Defense admitted in a January 26, 2005 letter that it possessed a videotape responsive to Judicial Watch’s request. However, the Pentagon refused to release the videotape because it was, “part of an ongoing investigation involving Zacarias Moussaoui.” Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit on February 22, 2006 arguing that there was “no legal basis” for the Defense Department’s refusal to release the tape.

“We fought hard to obtain this video because we felt that it was very important to complete the public record with respect to the terrorist attacks of September 11,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “Finally, we hope that this video will put to rest the conspiracy theories involving American Airlines Flight 77. As always, our prayers remain with all those who suffered as a result of those murderous attacks.”

The attack on the Pentagon is one of the 9/11 related issues that has garnered quite a bit of conspiracy theorizing. Some question whether it was a plane that struck the Pentagon at all, despite the existence of some selected clips of the plane caught on a parking lot camera as it slammed into the Pentagon.

Unfortunately, the folks who peddle those conspiracy theories are undeterred by facts, logic, and science. However, this video should fill a gap in the history of that day. The tragic last moments of the collapsing WTC towers were captured by dozens of television cameras and home videos - not to mention thousands of eyewitnesses who watched the events unfolding live. The same couldn't be said of the attack on the Pentagon.

UPDATE:
The video will be released shortly - and the Judicial Watch site is slammed at the moment. One reason that this video hasn't been made public earlier was because it was part of the case against Zacarias Moussaoui.

Meanwhile,MSNBC carries an AP story claiming that the video had been leaked earlier and circulated.

The images, recorded by a Pentagon security camera, were to be released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by Judicial Watch, a public interest group. The video had previously been leaked and publicly circulated, but this is the first time the government will have officially released the imagery.

Anyone know what AP is talking about here?

UPDATE:
Jason at Texas Rainmaker notes the lefties reaction - they're questioning the timing and whether this was a faked tape. Jason should get hazard pay reading through some of the garbage passing as information over there.

Hot Air has more coverage, and should have the clip up shortly.

UPDATE:
Here's the footage of the video of the Pentagon attack via HotAir.

For those who have forgotten the horrors of 9/11, this video of the collapsing WTC doesn't even begin to cover the horror and inhumanity of the Islamic terrorists who sought to kill tens of thousands of Americans in the WTC.

UPDATE:
The video aired by FoxNews doesn't really present anything new. It's an expanded version of the select frames that have been available since shortly after the attacks. Unless there is another section or angle of video available, this isn't as significant a release as it could have been.