Where The Pentagon Was Hit

Implications of the Part of the Pentagon Struck on September 11th

While the truth about what hit the Pentagon on 9/11/01 remains shrouded in mystery and the subject of bitter arguments among skeptics of the official account, the location of the attack is an undisputable fact: the damage was confined to the outer three rings of the building's west block, a portion of the building that was undergoing renovation scheduled for completion in mid-September of 2001.

The renovation was being undertaken on Wedge One, one of five radial sections of the building that was five days from completion when the attack occurred. ¹  

Targeting of Wedge One Saves Thousands

Because of the renovation, the stricken portion of the building was sparsely occupied. According to the Los Angeles Times:

It was the only area of the Pentagon with a sprinkler system, and it had been reconstructed with a web of steel columns and bars [and blast-resistant windows] to withstand bomb blasts.... While perhaps 4,500 people normally would have been working in the hardest-hit areas, because of the renovation work only about 800 were there. 2

More than half of the people listed as missing in the aftermath of the attack worked in the Pentagon's Naval Command Center, the enlarged rectangle above. Personnel were moved into this facility shortly before the attack. Were personnel in the Naval Command Center targeted by the attack?

Of the thousands of people in the building at the time of the attack, only 123 people were killed. Of those, none were high-level officials. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was safe in his office on the opposite side of the building.

The fact that the attack targeted the one portion of the building that was mostly vacant is all the more remarkable considering the approach required by the aircraft blamed for the damage. The jetliner alleged to be American Airlines Flight 77 approached the capital from the northwest, flying over the White House before swooping down on the Pentagon. Instead of attacking the huge building in a direct fashion, the jet executed a 320-degree descending spiral to its east, south, and southwest, losing seven thousand feet before leveling out at nearly tree-top height as it made its final approach from the southwest.

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References

1. Pentagon Renovation and Rebuilding Briefing, defenselink.mil, 3/7/02 [cached]
2. Pentagon, a Vulnerable Building, Was Hit in Least Vulnerable Spot, Los Angeles Times, 9/16/01 [cached]