So who shot the missile and how did they keep it quiet?
We may never know the answers to those questions. They DIDN’T keep it quiet, the 200+ witnesses compiled their observations and it was (maybe still is) on a website who’s address escapes me now.
I also have a vivid recollection from that day. I happened to be home from work when the first reports went out that 800 went down. I happened to be watching TV, and I was fixated on the coverage. Within no more than 15 minutes — before ANYone speculated as to the cause — there was a cute little animation on MSNBC (back before it became a Propaganda channel of the White House) that showed it was a center fuel tank explosion, and how the lift from that explosion might make it seem like a missile streaking up.
The animation was watermarked, Property of the CIA.
That shocked me. How did they have this animation THAT quick and making THESE determinations and discounting a missile before it was even MENTIONED?
And why the CIA???? What the hell were they doing authoring animations to ‘explain’ airline incidents before the parts had even cooled down?
Later, the same animation was widely circulated, but now it had been rebranded: Property of the FAA.
That, alone, told me something heinous was up.