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Pentagon Attack Roils Washington Area
By Barbara Vobejda
An aircraft crashed into the Pentagon this morning less than an hour after two planes crashed into the World Trade Center in an apparent wave of terrorist attacks that triggered chaos in Washington and New York and dismay across the nation. Glenn Flood, a Pentagon spokesman, said there were "extensive casualties" and an unknown number of fatalities, according to Associated Press. "We don't know the extent of the injuries." Local hospitals reported treating dozens, many who suffered burns. The building that houses 24,000 workers and operates as the nation's military command center suffered heavy damage, with at least a portion of the structure collapsing, witnesses said. Shortly after the crash, witnesses reported secondary explosions and plumes of smoke that could be seen miles away. "I was right underneath the plane," said Kirk Milburn, a construction supervisor for Atlantis Co., who was on the Arlington National Cemetery exit of Interstate 395 when he said he saw the plane heading for the Pentagon. "I heard a plane. I saw it. I saw debris flying. I guess it was hitting light poles," said Milburn. "It was like a whoosh, then there was fire and smoke, then I heard a second explosion." Steve Patterson, who lives in Pentagon City, said it appeared to him that a commuter jet swooped over Arlington National Cemetery and headed for the Pentagon "at a frightening rate . . . just slicing into that building," apparently on the first or second floors. Around 11:05 a.m. a wave of emergency medical technicians descended on the Pentagon in an effort to aid the injured. Triage stations were set up on the lawn outside the damaged area. Craig Quigley, deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, said at an afternoon news conference that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was in his office at the time of the crash. Rumsfeld ran to the site and helped with those who were injured, Quigley said, then went to the command center at the interior of the building. "Fire was intense and only recently have Arlington search and rescue been able to get inside the Pentagon," he said. Fires are still burning and "it appeared as if a plane intentionally flew into the building," Quigley said. He said there were no numbers on casualties. Ten patients were brought to Inova Alexandria Hospital suffering from injuries ranging from burns to head lacerations, according to Kathleen Barry, chief nurse executive. By 1 p.m., two had been discharged, seven were in stable condition and one was in critical condition suffering from smoke inhalation. Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington is treating 26 injured and Georgetown University Hospital reported one serious injury. Washington Hospital Center is treating seven burn victims, officials reported. Earlier reports of other explosions in the Washington region, at the State Department and the Capitol, were not accurate, law enforcement officials said. In reaction to the attacks, the U.S. Navy's Atlantic fleet sent warships to bolster the air defenses of Washington and New York City. It also has sent U.S. Marines and medical personnel to both cities to lend support. Virginia Gov. James Gilmore (R) activated National Guard members for rescue duty and ordered special search and rescue teams and state police to the Pentagon attack site. The governor also closed state government offices that share space with federal agencies, and declared a state of emergency that generally applies to rescue and transportation agencies that would typically respond to hurricans and other national disasters. Associated Press reporter Dave Winslow saw the crash at the Pentagon. "I saw the tail of a large airliner. . . . It plowed right into the Pentagon," Associated Press reported. About 11:30 a.m., a Washington Post reporter in the courtyard of the Pentagon saw more than 300 military and medical personnel were rushing to the building in waves into the third and fourth corridors, most bearing stretchers and medical equipment in an effort to pull survivors from the sprawling, smoke-filled complex. Gen. Richard Myers, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the AP that prior to the crash into the Pentagon, military officials had been notified that another hijacked plane had been heading from the New York area to Washington. The crash at the Pentagon, which occurred less than an hour after the New York attacks, triggered immediate security steps in the Washington area, including evacuation of the State Department, the Capitol building and the West Wing of the White House. The nine top leaders of the House and Senate were taken into federal protection, according to the U.S. Capitol Police. Vice-President Dick Cheney and first lady Laura Bush, both of whom were in Washington, were taken to a secure, undisclosed location, AP reported. The Federal Aviation Administration shut down the air traffic system nationwide for the first time ever. D.C. Chief of Police Charles H. Ramsey declared emergency status for all officers. Police ordered that all suspicious vehicles be spot-checked and all police facilities were shut down and made accessible only to those with proper identification. District of Columbia government shut down and ordered nonessential personnel to leave, and many private firms closed and sent employees streaming home, jamming the subway and roads. Later in the day, the General Services Administration said it is allowing any of the 8,300 federal office buildings that it controls around the country to close. The action was not the result of threats, but a way to be cautious after attacks that occurred earlier in the day, agency officials said. The federal government closed all of its facilities around Washington at 10:30 a.m. and told the region's 340,000 federal employees they could leave at their discretion. "We have told people they may go home immediately. Right now because of the traffic situation the safest place might be their own offices," said Edmund Byrnes, spokesman for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. At Tysons Corner, one of the region's largest job centers, office buildings were evacuated before noon, creating a massive traffic jam on Route 7 and nearby streets. Within an hour of the New York explosions, the federal government took the additional step of shutting down national landmarks across the country, including the Washington Monument, the Statue of Liberty and the St. Louis Gateway Arch, among other locations, according to the National Park Service. The Metro system remained open except for the Pentagon stop. Metro shut down the Pentagon station just after the explosion at 9:45 a.m. It is unclear if the station was damaged, spokesman Ray Feldmann said. Outbound trains are being turned around at Arlington Cemetery on the Blue Line and at L'Enfant Plaza on the Yellow Line and Metro officials were scrambling to put together a "bus bridge" to ferry riders around the Pentagon station. Bus service at the Pentagon, one of the biggest transfer points in the region, was halted, Feldmann said. Police closed I-395 northbound at the Pentagon. In the District, Constitution and Independence Avenues around the Mall have been shut down. By 10 a.m., traffic heading into the District was jammed on all major thoroughfares and across all bridges, said Connie Niebuhr of Smartraveler, the telephone traffic information service. "This thing hit right in the middle of the rush, and now everything's jammed," she said. Traffic from the city to the suburbs began building at the same time, as federal workers were released from work and began heading home, she said. At the Pentagon, employees had heard about or seen footage of the World Trade Centre attack when they felt their own building shake. Ervin Brown, who works at the Pentagon, said he saw pieces of what appeared to be small aircraft on the ground, and the part of the building by the heliport had collapsed. "We heard what sounded like a missile, then we heard a loud boom," said Tom Seibert, 33, of Woodbridge, Va., a network engineer at the Pentagon. "We just hit the dirt. We dived instinctively. "We were sitting there and watching this thing in New York, and I said, 'you know, the next best target would be us. And five minutes later, boom.'" John Damoose, a Travis City, Mich. native who was in a meeting said "everybody got nervous . . . We didn't know whether to stay inside or go outside. The thing with terrorist attacks is that you don't know what is the next thing that will happen." Damoose said the worst part was leaving the Pentagon and walking along Fort Meyer Drive, a bike trail, "you could see pieces of the plane." Rick Watson, 30, of Lake Ridge, Va., another network engineer, felt as if he were reliving the California earthquake that struck during the World Series several years ago. "My first instinct was to jump under the desk," he said. Officials and employees said evacuation was orderly and calm. "There wasn't any crying and everybody was just making sure others were okay," said Navy commander Dawn Maskell. "When the guy said it was time to evacuate, we already knew about the World Trade Center, and so we secured classified documents and got out of the building. Our first concerns were safety and equipment," she said. "We were out in three minutes." The scene outside shocked many. "The scary sight was when we first walked outside the building and saw the big smoke," said Watson. "That literally made my knees buckle." Navy Lt. Matt Murphy was in the basement at the time. He was out of the building within a minute, he said. "A determined enemy can hit you," said Murphy, choking up with emotion as he spoke. "It's just a matter of determining how you do when you're hit. Being able to hit this many targets in a seemingly effective way is the stunning part to me." Navy Capt. Charles Fowler, assigned to the Joint Chiefs, was working on a speech for Gen. Henry Shelton, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, when he heard the explosion. "You could feel the building shake," said Fowler. You knew it was a major explosion. I grabbed all my gear and grabbed the laptop and headed out." "The interesting part was we didn't hear the alarm go off, but word got around very fast. It was an orderly evacuation" Fowler's office, on the river side, appeared to be on the opposite side from the explosion, he said. "Tons of smoke was coming up from the wedge – lots of black and gray smoke." Officials shut down the Virginia State Capitol building shortly after 10 a.m. this morning, locking all doors, with only key personnel inside. "The building is shut down," said a Capitol Police officer as he locked one door. Dozens of office workers gathered on the rooftops of their office buildings in Georgetown, staring across the river into Virginia where a huge cloud of smoke billowed from the Pentagon. Some held their heads in disbelief; others stared ahead stonily. Sirens could be heard wailing from both Virginia and other parts of the District. Traffic crept along the Whitehurst Freeway and then slowed even further on K street, where dozens of workers gathered to cross the busy street at every intersection. The news of the attacks and evacuation of federal buildings sent hundreds of office workers into the streets and created a frenzied atmosphere downtown today. Fire engines roared down streets, dozens of office workers milled in Farragut Square and K Street was jammed with cars at a time when most of establishment Washington usually would be in their offices. In Farragut Square, dozens of office workers milled in a park that normally would be left to unemployed and homeless spending the day on benches. "It's scary," said Anthony Riker, 23, an employee at a non-profit with offices next to the New Executive Office Building. Added co-worker, Ruben Duboin, 25, "It's something we always joke about, being right close to the White House, but this is scary." "I'm getting my kids out of school," said a shaken Paula Williams, who was standing at the corner of L Street and Connecticut Ave. NW about 10:10 am. She said she had been evacuated from her offices on K Street NW. "We were just told to get outta the building," said Steve Neugeboren who works for the Environmental Protection Agency. He was in his office when he heard someone in the hallway telling employees to leave around 10:30 a.m. "I'm scared." He was one of about 15 people clustered around a van at 15th and M Streets that had its radio on so people could hear what was happening. Tom Marshall, also of the EPA said he heard others saying "business as usual" but he left as Neugeboren, of Bethesda, dragged him out of the office. Marshall called his wife on her cell phone to meet her at the street corner. Marshall and his wife, Mary O'Lone, who works at the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, live in the District and were going to walk home. O'Lone's office is at 14th and New York. She was told to leave immediately this morning because her office is too close to the White House. Streets at 10:30 were clogged with cars, sidewalks were crowded with people on cell phones trying to get in touch with family and friends. "Okay, I'm at 16th Street now, near Dupont," said one woman into her phone. "I'm worried about friends and family in New York," said Marshall. Staff writers Nurith Aizenman, Amy Argetsinger, Steve Barr, Jo Becker, Victoria Benning, Adam Bernstein, Justin Blum, William Branigan, Bill Broadway, Sewell Chan, David Cho, D'Vera Cohn, Christian Davenport, Patricia Davis, Andrew DeMillo, David Fallis, Ann Gerhart, Maria Glod, Marcia Slacum Green, Hamil Harris, Rosalind S. Helderman, Spencer Hsu, Tom Jackman, Serge Kovaleski, Fredrick Kunkle, Lyndsey Layton, Susan Levine, Ray McCaffrey, Bill Miller, Carol Morello, Sylvia Moreno, Ellen Nakashima, Ann O'Hanlon, Jackie Salmon, Greg Schneider, Liz Seymour, Ian Shapira, Michael Shear, Mary Beth Sheridan, Leef Smith, Jamie Stockwell, Valerie Strauss, Neely Tucker, Linda Wheeler, Debbie Wilgoren, Josh White, Peter Whoriskey, and Yolanda Woodley contributed to this report. |
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