My reasoning about the Pentagon plane targeting the White House is that it flew down the Mall and came back around to the Pentagon rather than heading straight into the Pentagon, which would have hit near the main entrance.
If you've ever taken that approach to Reagan National down the Mall, it's really hard to spot the White House. It's off the Mall, surprisingly small, and surrounded by trees. So, my theory is the terrorists missed the White House and circled around to hit the Pentagon instead. If so, that would mean the two Washington planes were originally targeting the White House and Capitol. As awful as 9-11 was, it could have been even worse.
“As awful as 9-11 was, it could have been even worse.”
I sincerely believe God was watching over us that terrible day. (”Well, then why did ANYONE die?”) Regardless of that age-old question, I was amazed when it turned out relatively few people in the Trade Towers died. First day of school so lots of people were late getting to work (dropping off their kids, etc.), the first tower got hit high, allowing the second tower to be evacuated before it got hit. And, the first tower to get hit falling last so more time for the floors below the flames to be evacuated.
And of course it wasn’t just “miracles”. It was physics, ineptitude of the hijackers, fast response of the FAA (how many other planes were involved?), heroism of the Shanksville passengers, the firefighters, and ordinary folks.
Another great read was called something like “101 Minutes”. A very detailed account of what was going on inside the Trade Towers based on radio messages, eywitnesses, etc.