09/059/2007

The Pentagon Is a Symbol of Might
By Tom Range, Sr.

It is understandable that, in the perverted minds of Osama Bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda associates, the Pentagon would represent a symbol of America's militaristic mindset and therefore be a worthy target on September 11, 2001.  As the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were seen as icons to America's materialistic aspect, the destruction of the headquarters of the Department of Defense would focus the world's attention to Al-Qaeda and the distortions the organization represents.

There are few buildings in the United States and indeed in the world that are recognizable not so much as a structure but for the activities carried on within its walls.  The White House, Number 10 Downing St., the Kremlin and the Vatican serve as examples, not because of the buildings alone, but more because they represent the venues in which history is made.  The Pentagon is a building that dates from its day of dedication, January 15, 1943.  Ground was broken for its construction on September 11, 1941, exactly 60 years before the September 11, 2001 attacks.  An area in Arlington, VA was chosen for a huge new building to house the War Department, forerunner of today's Department of Defense.  The structure was built in the five-sided form of a pentagon since five roads surrounded the site and the configuration fit nicely into the topography.

Originally the architectural drawings called for three floors, but as the military prepared for the inevitability of participation in World War II, two additional stories were added.  To conserve steel for the war effort, concrete ramps were used in place of elevators and the outside walls were made of reinforced concrete.  The building consists of five concentric rings connected by 10 corridors that run, like spokes, from the inner ring to the outer.  The corridors are a total of 17.5 miles in cumulative length.  The building houses over 26,000 personnel on a workday.

Prior to its construction, the War Department was housed in a series of 17 "temporary" buildings erected during World War I that covered much of the National Mall in Washington.  During the first half of 1941 the War Department found it increasingly difficult to provide space for the headquarters staff of an expanding army.  In May, the Public Buildings Administration proposed erecting temporary structures for various agencies on the outskirts of the city.  In July 1941, 24,000 personnel were scattered among the 17 buildings on the Mall, with others in Fort Myer and Alexandria, VA.  By the beginning of 1942, the number was expected to reach 30,000. 

President Franklin Roosevelt therefore asked Congress for authority to construct additional buildings within or near the District of Columbia.  The War Department's Chief of Construction Brigadier General Brehon B. Somervell had a better idea, a plan to house the entire War Department under one roof. During the early years of World War II, the construction was supervised by the future Manhattan project supervisor General Leslie Groves.  The President chose the site.  He did not want the new building to obstruct the view of Washington, DC from Arlington National Cemetery.

During the late 1960s, the Pentagon became the focus for peace protests against the Vietnam War.  In one of the better known incidents, on October 21, 1967, some 35,000 anti-war protestors organized by the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, gathered for a demonstration at the Defense Department, where they were confronted by some 2,500 armed soldiers. 

On May 19, 1972, the American radicals known as the Weather Underground Organization successfully planted and exploded a bomb in a Pentagon restroom in retaliation for the Nixon administration's bombing attacks on Hanoi during the final stages of the Vietnam War.  This era saw the publication of the so-called Pentagon Papers, purported to be internal memoranda indicating that top Defense Department officials considered that the winning of the Vietnam War was highly improbable.

In the early morning hours of September 11, 2001, American Airlines Flight 77 was flown into the west side of the Pentagon after being hijacked by Al-Qaeda terrorists.  The crash that killed 189 people caused a gash of the west side of the building measuring 30 yards wide and 10 yards deep.  Three of the five Pentagon rings were damaged.  It cost $501 million to repair the building; repairs were finished within a year of the attack. 

The Pentagon continues to be the headquarters of the Department of Defense in the direction of the wars in Iraq, and Afghanistan as well as against terrorism on a global scale.