Early March 2002: French Author Claims Plane Crash into Pentagon Was Staged

The book l’Effroyable Imposture (The Horrifying Fraud) is published in France. The book claims that Flight 77 did not crash into the Pentagon on 9/11. It is written by Thierry Meyssan, “president of the Voltaire Network, a respected independent think tank whose left-leaning research projects have until now been considered models of reasonableness and objectivity.”
[Guardian, 4/1/2002] The book is widely denounced by the media (See, for example, [Agence France-Presse, 3/21/2002; London Times, 5/19/2002; National Post, 8/31/2002; Baltimore Sun, 9/12/2002] ). One reporter heavily criticizes the book even while admitting never to have read it. [LA Weekly, 7/19/2002] In France, however, the book sets a publishing record for first-month sales. [Time (Europe), 5/20/2002] One of Meyssan’s theories is that people within the US government wanted to hit the Pentagon for its propaganda effect, but did not want to create a lot of damage or kill important people like Defense Secretary Rumsfeld. He notes that the plane hit the one section under construction, thus greatly reducing the loss of life. [Agence France-Presse, 3/21/2002; London Times, 5/19/2002] Furthermore, the wall at point of impact was the first and only one to be reinforced and have blast-resistant windows installed as part of an upgrade plan. [NFPA Journal, 11/1/2001]