Since witnesses are being touted as the authority for the Pentagon Strike, as opposed to material evidence, it is only reasonable for us to examine these witnesses.
http://www.leadertelegram.com/specialreports/attack/storydetail.asp?ID=7
Area woman watched as Pentagon exploded
By Julian Emerson and Eric Lindquist
Like millions of people in this shocked nation, Deb Anlauf spent Tuesday morning staring in disbelief at a TV screen, watching smoke billow from the World Trade Center in New York City.
Then, at about 8:40 a.m. CDT, the largest terrorist action in this country's history hit closer to home for Anlauf and her husband, Jeff.
The couple, who moved to Colfax from Australia four months ago, were at the Sheraton National Hotel in Arlington, Va., less than two blocks from the Pentagon when Deb Anlauf saw "a sight I never imagined I'd see."
Anlauf was watching TV coverage of the Trade Center burning shortly before 9:30 a.m. when she decided to return to her 14th-floor room from another part of the hotel. Once in her room, she heard a "loud roar" and looked out the window to see what was going on.
"Suddenly I saw this plane right outside my window," Anlauf said during a telephone interview from her hotel room this morning. "You felt like you could touch it; it was that close. It was just incredible.
"Then it shot straight across from where we are and flew right into the Pentagon. It was just this huge fireball that crashed into the wall (of the Pentagon). When it hit, the whole hotel shook."
The shock waves of that same crash were felt in the Chippewa Valley, where an Eau Claire woman feared for the safety of her uncle, a Pentagon employee.
Upon learning that her beloved uncle was injured -- but not killed -- in Tuesday's terrorist attack, Kelly Cortis of Eau Claire wept with joy.
The tears burst forth after the emotion of several frantic hours hoping for the best - but fearing the worst -- about her uncle, Carl Psistner, whose job was so secret that all he ever could tell Cortis about his livelihood was that he worked for the U.S. Navy at the Pentagon.
While Cortis was unsuccessful in learning anything about her uncle's condition from a Navy intelligence hot line Tuesday, she finally heard from her grandmother in Connecticut that Psistner received 150 stitches in his face and suffered a broken arm and some burns as a result of the explosion.
"At least he's alive. That's all that matters," said Cortis, 24, who moved from Connecticut to Eau Claire in March.
The relief she felt was incredible upon learning that her only uncle - a man who raised her like a father -- had survived the attack, Cortis said.
"Oh, my God, you don't even know," she said Tuesday evening. "I'm so glad he's OK. I was so scared he was dead.
"I feel really terrible about all the people who died, so I feel guilty about celebrating, but I can't help it."
As of Tuesday evening, Cortis hadn't spoken with her uncle to hear details about his harrowing ordeal.
Fresh from watching coverage of the Trade Center burning, Anlauf said she knew right away the incident outside her hotel room was a deliberate attack on the Pentagon.
"Absolutely, even before the plane hit I knew that this wasn't an accident. That plane had to purposefully swoop around our hotel to hit (the Pentagon). There was no doubt in my mind, given that we were near the Pentagon, that this was an attack."
Jeff didn't feel the impact of the plane crash as directly as his wife. He was attending an environmental meeting on the second floor of the hotel when the plane struck the Pentagon.
About five seconds before the crash, Jeff said he heard the sound of "tin being dropped," likely as construction workers building an addition to the hotel saw the plane and dropped their building materials.
"Then, about 5 seconds later, the whole hotel shook," Jeff recalled. "I could feel it moving. We said 'Oh, my gosh, what's going on?' "
The hotel was evacuated, and Jeff and other meeting participants were shuttled outside the building. Deb fled her room immediately after the blast, searching frantically for her husband.
"There was a sense of panic in the air. I was real scared," she said. "After the fireball, I just took off. I just ran for the elevator and went to try to find my husband."
Deb found Jeff minutes later and updated him on the attacks that had transpired during the previous hour. Because a five-story building between their hotel and the Pentagon blocked his view, Jeff didn't realize a plane had crashed into this country's national defense nerve center until his panic-stricken wife described the incident.
The couple soon joined hundreds of other people in front of the hotel. Shortly afterward, an F-16 fighter jet flew overhead, causing most of the crowd to fall to the ground in terror, Jeff said.
"At that time people were pretty scared," he said. "We were all waiting for something else to happen."
After a short time people evacuated from the burning Pentagon joined the crowd, many of them distraught and extremely shaken up by the crash and the ensuing fire in the building.
"It was just absolute chaos," Deb said of the scene in the minutes after the crash. "There were people everywhere in the streets outside crying, wondering if their loved ones were OK. It seemed like the world was ending."
Amid the calamity, the couple said they tried to comfort as many people as they could.
"I held onto a woman outside who came from the Pentagon that was just a total wreck," Jeff said. "It was hard to comfort everybody because so many people were really shook up."
As firefighters continued to battle the blaze this morning, Deb gazed from her hotel room out at the wreckage, staring at the gaping hole in the side of the Pentagon as she contemplated Tuesday's events.
"Strangely enough, I was able to sleep last night," she said. "It was just such a long, long stressful day. You wouldn't believe how tired I was.
"You go through everything. You shake. You're hot and you're cold. It's such an unbelievable experience. You can't compare it to anything else."
Emerson can be reached at 830-5911, (800) 236-7077 or julian.emerson@ecpc.com. Lindquist can be reached at 833-9209, (800) 236-7077 or eric.lindquist@ecpc.com.
http://www.leadertelegram.com/specialreports/attack/storydetail.asp?ID=7
Area woman watched as Pentagon exploded
By Julian Emerson and Eric Lindquist
Like millions of people in this shocked nation, Deb Anlauf spent Tuesday morning staring in disbelief at a TV screen, watching smoke billow from the World Trade Center in New York City.
Then, at about 8:40 a.m. CDT, the largest terrorist action in this country's history hit closer to home for Anlauf and her husband, Jeff.
The couple, who moved to Colfax from Australia four months ago, were at the Sheraton National Hotel in Arlington, Va., less than two blocks from the Pentagon when Deb Anlauf saw "a sight I never imagined I'd see."
Anlauf was watching TV coverage of the Trade Center burning shortly before 9:30 a.m. when she decided to return to her 14th-floor room from another part of the hotel. Once in her room, she heard a "loud roar" and looked out the window to see what was going on.
"Suddenly I saw this plane right outside my window," Anlauf said during a telephone interview from her hotel room this morning. "You felt like you could touch it; it was that close. It was just incredible.
"Then it shot straight across from where we are and flew right into the Pentagon. It was just this huge fireball that crashed into the wall (of the Pentagon). When it hit, the whole hotel shook."
The shock waves of that same crash were felt in the Chippewa Valley, where an Eau Claire woman feared for the safety of her uncle, a Pentagon employee.
Upon learning that her beloved uncle was injured -- but not killed -- in Tuesday's terrorist attack, Kelly Cortis of Eau Claire wept with joy.
The tears burst forth after the emotion of several frantic hours hoping for the best - but fearing the worst -- about her uncle, Carl Psistner, whose job was so secret that all he ever could tell Cortis about his livelihood was that he worked for the U.S. Navy at the Pentagon.
While Cortis was unsuccessful in learning anything about her uncle's condition from a Navy intelligence hot line Tuesday, she finally heard from her grandmother in Connecticut that Psistner received 150 stitches in his face and suffered a broken arm and some burns as a result of the explosion.
"At least he's alive. That's all that matters," said Cortis, 24, who moved from Connecticut to Eau Claire in March.
The relief she felt was incredible upon learning that her only uncle - a man who raised her like a father -- had survived the attack, Cortis said.
"Oh, my God, you don't even know," she said Tuesday evening. "I'm so glad he's OK. I was so scared he was dead.
"I feel really terrible about all the people who died, so I feel guilty about celebrating, but I can't help it."
As of Tuesday evening, Cortis hadn't spoken with her uncle to hear details about his harrowing ordeal.
Fresh from watching coverage of the Trade Center burning, Anlauf said she knew right away the incident outside her hotel room was a deliberate attack on the Pentagon.
"Absolutely, even before the plane hit I knew that this wasn't an accident. That plane had to purposefully swoop around our hotel to hit (the Pentagon). There was no doubt in my mind, given that we were near the Pentagon, that this was an attack."
Jeff didn't feel the impact of the plane crash as directly as his wife. He was attending an environmental meeting on the second floor of the hotel when the plane struck the Pentagon.
About five seconds before the crash, Jeff said he heard the sound of "tin being dropped," likely as construction workers building an addition to the hotel saw the plane and dropped their building materials.
"Then, about 5 seconds later, the whole hotel shook," Jeff recalled. "I could feel it moving. We said 'Oh, my gosh, what's going on?' "
The hotel was evacuated, and Jeff and other meeting participants were shuttled outside the building. Deb fled her room immediately after the blast, searching frantically for her husband.
"There was a sense of panic in the air. I was real scared," she said. "After the fireball, I just took off. I just ran for the elevator and went to try to find my husband."
Deb found Jeff minutes later and updated him on the attacks that had transpired during the previous hour. Because a five-story building between their hotel and the Pentagon blocked his view, Jeff didn't realize a plane had crashed into this country's national defense nerve center until his panic-stricken wife described the incident.
The couple soon joined hundreds of other people in front of the hotel. Shortly afterward, an F-16 fighter jet flew overhead, causing most of the crowd to fall to the ground in terror, Jeff said.
"At that time people were pretty scared," he said. "We were all waiting for something else to happen."
After a short time people evacuated from the burning Pentagon joined the crowd, many of them distraught and extremely shaken up by the crash and the ensuing fire in the building.
"It was just absolute chaos," Deb said of the scene in the minutes after the crash. "There were people everywhere in the streets outside crying, wondering if their loved ones were OK. It seemed like the world was ending."
Amid the calamity, the couple said they tried to comfort as many people as they could.
"I held onto a woman outside who came from the Pentagon that was just a total wreck," Jeff said. "It was hard to comfort everybody because so many people were really shook up."
As firefighters continued to battle the blaze this morning, Deb gazed from her hotel room out at the wreckage, staring at the gaping hole in the side of the Pentagon as she contemplated Tuesday's events.
"Strangely enough, I was able to sleep last night," she said. "It was just such a long, long stressful day. You wouldn't believe how tired I was.
"You go through everything. You shake. You're hot and you're cold. It's such an unbelievable experience. You can't compare it to anything else."
Emerson can be reached at 830-5911, (800) 236-7077 or julian.emerson@ecpc.com. Lindquist can be reached at 833-9209, (800) 236-7077 or eric.lindquist@ecpc.com.
