[Paulie]

As I remember it, there were several photos that showed no damage to the building from wings/engines, nor was there evidence of the vertical stabilizer going through or even making contact with the Pentagon. People would ask rhetorically how this could be a 757 (or whatever plane it was supposed to be). Maybe those were ‘doctored’ pictures to confuse and distort the true story. If it was then I and many others were fooled.

Now, it's not nice to call people an ‘idiot. There are quite a few highly questionable ‘explanations’ on major events ranging from the JFK assination to TWA 800 to Sandy Hook to obama rising to the Presidency like he did. To take everything at face value, assuming everyone is playing it straight, is willful ignorance.

[Ramius]

I have friends that were there and saw the airplane come in fast and low and strike the building, exploding with a massive fireball. I don’t think they’re lying to me.

[Sloth]

As I remember it, there were several photos that showed no damage to the building from wings/engines, nor was there evidence of the vertical stabilizer going through or even making contact with the Pentagon.

Then you remember wrongly. There was a lot of damage to the ground floor. Was there a neat plane-shaped hole? No, nor would you reasonably expect there to be one. Airliners are made of aluminum and other lightweight materials for obvious reasons. Ancillary bits like the wings and stabilizer are not going to punch through a massive concrete structure. They deformed, twisted, fragmented and penetrated the structure through whatever was the path of least resistance. If you remember a clean, round hole with no damage around it, you might be thinking of an 'exit hole' on one of the Pentagon's inside rings, where landing gear punched through.

To take everything at face value, assuming everyone is playing it straight, is willful ignorance.

Fair enough. I don't put it past our government to create a Reichstag-style event to expand their power. But if you wanted to make people believe that a 757 struck the Pentagon, and you have the willingness and means to both carry out an attack and cover up your involvement, why wouldn't you just crash a real 757 into the Pentagon instead of a stupid missile?

Your thinking on this is on par with Rosie O'Donnell's "fire has never melted steel" claims.