Pentagon Officially Releases Its 9/11 Videos
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon on Tuesday released the first video images of American Airlines Flight 77 crashing into the military headquarters building and killing 189 people in the Sept. 11 attacks.
The images, recorded by Pentagon security cameras outside the building, were made public in response to a December 2004 Freedom of Information Act request by Judicial Watch, a public interest group. Some still images from the video had previously been leaked and publicly circulated, but this was the first official release.
The airplane is a thin white blur on the video as it slams into the Pentagon at ground level. Almost instantly a white flash and an orange fireball appear on the video, followed by a tower of gray-black smoke.
Traveling about 350 mph, the hijacked jetliner plowed into the southwest side of the Pentagon at 9:39 a.m.
The attack set off fires in a portion of the building and killed 125 people inside, in addition to the 59 passengers and crew and the five hijackers.
The Pentagon had previously refused to release the videos, saying they had been provided to the Justice Department as evidence in any criminal proceedings.
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