Below is the interview taken while Roosevelt Roberts was driving.
This interview contains a statement that is the source of Craig’s assertion that Roberts was on the “east side” of the Pentagon looking toward the Potomac River and toward Washington DC and, therefore, could have seen the plane fly past the Pentagon toward the Potomac River. It is 46 seconds into the interview where he states:
Roosevelt: [at 0:46 of above audio] I was in south parking, and I was at the east loading dock …
Figure 1 shows the location of the Eastern and Western Dock locations at the South Loading Docks.
Figure 1: Aerial view of the South Loading Dock with the East Dock and West Dock identified. During the renovations, East Dock remained active while the West Dock was converted to tenant space.
Craig’s misinterpretation of this “east loading,” statement allows him to assert that Roberts was at another place also referred to as East Loading Docks at/near the mall side of the Pentagon (north) as shown at the right in Figure 2.
However, if he were at the ground level on the north side, nothing else from either the CIT interview or Robert’s Library of Congress interview make sense. For example Roberts could not have seen a plane ” Right; around the lane one area, and it was like banking […] had to been no more than- had to been no more than fifty feet or less than a hundred feet” because the lane 1 area would not have been visible to him. Additionally, in his Library of Congress interviews he states three times that he was at the “South Loading Dock.”
The conclusion is that Craig’s flyover assertion based on Roosevelt Roberts’s statements are CABEMOH–BIFAB
Roosevelt Roberts’ Interview with CIT
Source of Text: CIT Research Forum
Aldo Marquis: Hello, Roosevelt?
Roosevelt Roberts: Yeah. Yeah.
Aldo: Hi. Than- thanks for taking my call. Um-
Roosevelt: Okay.
Aldo: -Yeah- yeah, just- uh, uh, we- b- had been listening to the uh. . . the uh recordings that. . . I guess Jennifer Brennan, which is the daughter of one of the other police officers there. . . uh, what-
Roosevelt: Right.
Aldo: -he- what he had. . . uh, what. . . I guess she had done with you guys. . . Um. . . if I can really quick. . . just, uh- if you can just tell me your story.
Roosevelt: Oh! Ho- hold on one second, uh, you caught me driving. Um. . .
Aldo: Okay. Well you know what, let me- let me just ask you a couple of quick questions. There’s- there- there is mainly a- a couple specific things. When you- you had mentioned, uh. . . right as you hung up the phone. . . you- you ran outside- what which parking lot- which dock were you at?
Roosevelt: [at 0:46 of above audio] I was in south parking, and I was at the east loading dock when I ran outside and saw the low-flying aircraft above the parking lot.
Aldo: Okay. . . Was it a- was it a- a jet or was it a- do you remember what kind of plane it was?
Roosevelt: Uh, it looked like to me at that time, uh, uh, uh, large, uh, aircraft-liner.
Aldo: Like a-
Roosevelt: It wasn’t a- it wasn’t a jet; it was a commercial aircraft.
Aldo: Okay. Did it have propellers, or did it have jet engines?
Roosevelt: It looked like jet engines, at that time.
Aldo: Jet engines. Okay. Um, uh- so- uh- y- how close were you to running outside ’cause this seemed to be pretty qui-eh- at least from what your account sounded like; it sounded like literally the explosion happened, and then you ran outside. I mean do you remember how many seconds it was when you heard the explosion and then saw that plane?
Roosevelt: From the time the explosion hit, oh. . . I ran outside and saw- it’s a loading dock, and you can run right out to the. . . look out and look off.
Aldo: Uh-hum.
Roosevelt: And then uh. . . you see the flickering lights. . . uh, and saw the area, and then. . . uh, real quick I realized that it was some sort of attack, and there was going to be a counter-measure with it.
Aldo: Right. So, how many seconds-
Roosevelt: Uh. . .
Aldo: -would you guess?
Roosevelt: Maybe, uh. . . ten seconds tops.
Aldo: Ten seconds tops?
Roosevelt: Ten seconds tops.
Aldo: So you- you heard the explosion and ten seconds later you were outside and you were able to see that plane?
Roosevelt: Correct. You could see that plane just as clear as day. Couldn’t miss it.
Aldo: Wha- what color was it; do you remember?
Roosevelt: Uh, it was- to me at that time, it looked like it was silver in color.
Aldo: Like silver in color; but you saw it over the south parking lot.
Roosevelt: Right; around the lane one area, and it was like banking just above the, uh, light poles like.
Aldo: Okay. And ho-
Roosevelt: Had to been no more than- had to been no more than fifty feet or less than a hundred feet.
Aldo: Wow. And s- ho- do you remember how many engines you saw on it?
Roosevelt: Uh, couldn’t tell for the engines.
Aldo: And it was- was it moving fast?
Roosevelt: Oh, it was moving extremely fast. It was like, uh. . . maybe you saw the aircraft maybe for like, uh-a quick five seconds.
Aldo: For a quick five seconds. But you definitely- and you saw it over the south parking lot. . . over lane one?
Roosevelt: In the south- in the south parking lot over lane one.
Aldo: Okay. Do you- do you remember which direction it was headed?
Roosevelt: Uh, coming from the, uh 27 side 27 heading, uh. . . uh, east towards DC; coming from that area, uh, there’s a highway. If you were to come up 395. . . uh, north heading towards the pentagon, and you got off in south parking. . . you were like right there, ’cause 395 went right into 27.
Aldo: So from where- from where it had headed away from the pentagon, which direction was it heading?
Roosevelt: From the w- uh, can you repeat that one more time, please?
Aldo: Yeah, when it was heading away from the pentagon, this- this second plane,-?
Roosevelt: Right.
Aldo: -wh- do you remember which-
Roosevelt: Right.
Aldo: -which direction it was heading?
Roosevelt: It was, uh. . . it was heading, um. . . back across 27. . . and it looks like. . . it appeared to me- I was in the south, and that plane was heading. . . like, um. . . southwest. . . coming out.
Aldo: So like banking around; turning back around?
Roosevelt: Correct.
Aldo: Okay.
Roosevelt: Banking- banking around, coming back out, turning southwest. . . and going straight across.
Aldo: Okay, so-
Roosevelt: And that was-
Aldo: -did it look like it went out over the river, and- and kind of turned around?
Roosevelt: Um, it looked like it went over on the mall entrance side and turned around; because you’ve got. . . the mall there, and then- where I was, was south; and the plane,. . . from the direction it was sitting, was facing west; so it went. . . southwest away from the Pentagon.
Aldo: Sou- southwest away from the pentagon, okay; so kind of doing a U-turn, in a way?
Roosevelt: Right.
Aldo: Okay. Okay.
Roosevelt: ‘Cause it banked out, and it was like U-turning and coming around and coming out. It looked like, uh. . . for those brief seconds it looked like it- it- it, um. . . uh, how do I want to say this, uh. . . it missed the wrong target, and it was going, like. . . out of the way, like back to the airport, or something like that.
Aldo: Oh, like- so it was headed towards the airport, it looked like.
Roosevelt: Well, no, not heading towards the airport; it’s almost like if a. . . if a pilot misses good he’ll try to do a banking and come around, because he missed the target: he missed the landing zone.
Aldo: Got it. Got it. And you’re, you’re- are you a hundred percent sure it was a jet: an actual jet plane?
Roosevelt: Commercial aircraft.
Aldo: Commercial aircraft. Okay. So there was another-
Roosevelt: Right.
Aldo: -so there was another commercial aircraft in the area as- as the, uh. . . the plane hit then, basically. Is that what you think?
Roosevelt: Yes, sir, that’s not what I think: I saw it. It was two aircraft. That’s for sure.
Aldo: Okay. Craig?
Craig Ranke: Now where- where did it seem like it came from?
Roosevelt: It seemed like, uh- when I saw it, by the time I got to the dock, it was already in the parking lot at lane one. And it was so large, you couldn’t miss from seeing it.
Craig: Right, but from what-
Roosevelt: And that-
Craig: -direction did it seem like it came from?
Aldo: He said it came f-
Roosevelt: It seemed like. . . that it came from, um. . . it- hold on a second. It seemed like it came from, um. . . southwest-lookin- the same way it came in, or appeared that it came in, it seemed like it was southwe- that the thing came in. . . uh. . . almost like where that ne- that first plane had, um. . . flew into the, um, pentagon right there. It- it- di- it looked like it came from that direction.
Craig: So from the same direction as- as- as the f-
Aldo: -From the impact side, basically, from that direction.
Roosevelt: Everything- right.
Aldo: Got-
Roosevelt: Exactly.
Aldo: -got it.
Craig: Okay.
Aldo: A- okay. So- an- an- but- would- now how long would- I mean would you be sure that it was about ten seconds that it would take you to run from the phone to the outside, or would you think it was less than ten se- ten seconds?
Craig: Or a little bit more?
Roosevelt: It would’ve t- it would’ve taken about ten seconds, because after impact I stepped out the little, uh, booth that I was in. And the distance between. . . that booth and the edge of that dock is about, maybe, I don’t know like. . . seven steps away from there.
Aldo: Wow.
Roosevelt: So, they’re extre- extremely close.
Aldo: Got it. Got it.
Craig: You were right there.
Aldo: You were right there. Okay. Woul- um-
Roosevelt: Yeah.
Aldo: -would it- w- I’ll let you get going there, um, would it be possible to get a- an email from you so we could s- even get, um, like you to draw on a map exactly where you saw everything, where you were standing, ’cause. . . I’m trying to gage everything, and it’s kind of hard without seeing it on a overhead. Would that be possible?
Roosevelt: Oh, sh-. Yeah, that’s not a problem, um. . .
Aldo: Oh-
Roosevelt: My email address:
Aldo: Yeah. Or- yeah, go ah-
Roosevelt: .mil
Aldo: .mil. Okay.
Roosevelt: And now I’ve, uh, switched from, uh, being (inaudible) service to, uh, special- to a-uh special aid, and I work for the Anti-Terrorism Force/Protection Directorate now.
Aldo: Okay. Alright, excellent. Wou- um, would- y- we definitely would love to- what- when’s an- another good time to get in touch with you where we could speak more at length with you?
Roosevelt: Um, I’m going to be back in the office. . . uh, no later than two o’clock.
Aldo: Okay. We’ll, uh, we’ll try to give you a buzz back later then, and- thi- I’m assuming this is your cell phone, or it transfers to your cell phone?
Roosevelt: Uh, yes, sir; it’s my cell phone.
Aldo: Okay, great. Um, you’ll definitely be hearing back from me a- and uh- I appreciate you taking the time to talk to us, Roosevelt.
Roosevelt: Hey, no problem; any time.
Aldo: Alright, buddy, we’ll te- talk to you soon.
Roosevelt: Okay, stay-
Aldo: Y-
Roosevelt: -safe.
Aldo: You too, man, bu-bye.
Roosevelt: Out.
South Loading Dock Renovations
A five-phased construction plan was conceived for the South Terrace. Phases 1-3 included the Corridor 2 bridge and lobby entrance, new dockmaster offices, and the renovation of the eastern half of the existing South Terrace loading dock. Phases 4 and include he bridge at the Corridor 3 building en-trance and the bus stop wall connecting the two bridges, which also provides a visual and security barrier to the loading dock operation.
Due to the construction of the new Remote Delivery Facility, only the eastern half of the existing South Loading Dock was renovated. The western half was converted into occupiable tenant space. [p 28]
Source: http://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/FOID/Reading%20Room/Other/renovation_1march2002.pdf
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