Heat seeking missiles guide to engines. Not internal fuel tanks.
"If all those hundreds of eyewitnesses did not see a missile, what did they see?"
Ask them. Almost none of them claimed they saw a missile.
"Or are all people stupid except for representatives of the federal government?"
Nope. Only people who make stuff up to support their theories.
Do you speak English as your fifteenth language or something?
What dimension do you live in?
The latest SAM technology is able to lock onto center-of-mass.
That's Clintonisque. Many eyewitnesses did not want to draw conclusions, they reported what they saw - but what many eyewitnesses described can be summrized by concluding that they saw a missile.