Posted on 01/02/2004 9:44:19 AM PST by Dog
'Real and Definite Threat' Caused BA Flight Cancellation
By Caroline Gammell, PA News
The cancellation of British Airways flight BA223 from Heathrow to Washington was caused by a “real and definite threat”, a defence expert warned today.
The plane had already started checking in passengers and was due to leave at 3.05pm.
But BA announced it had been cancelled at 1.15pm – less than two hours before take off – for security reasons.
Paul Beaver, a defence analyst, said: “This is certainly unusual. The intelligence is very, very precise which is why this one flight has been cancelled.
“We have got intelligence, I am told, that there was a plan to take the aircraft and destroy it over Washington or fly it into something.
“Washington is the definite target.”
Mr Beaver said the information passed on to BA via the Government was likely to have come from American intelligence.
“All I know is there is a real and definite threat.”
He went on: “There is good and precise intelligence that there is more than one al Qaida or al Qaida-like group operating against the US.
“One is based in central America and the other is based in Europe – in London or Paris.”
Mr Beaver said it was not known whether operatives in these potential terror cells are carrying legal British passports.
Yesterday’s flight BA223 was also cancelled several hours before it was scheduled to depart after BA received “security advice” from the Government.
On New Year’s Eve, the same flight had been kept on the runway for three hours after landing at Washington Dulles International Airport to allow security officials to board the plane and question passengers.
The Boeing 747 was escorted into Dulles by two F-16 fighter jets.
An Aeromexico flight from Mexico City to Los Angeles was also cancelled after US authorities refused to allow it to land.
Flight 490 was cancelled after Homeland Security officials said they were concerned it might be a safety risk, said a spokesman for Mexico’s President Vicente Fox.
I'm not so certain Coop. Sure, you and I know that the passengers would stand up and fight- but does al Qaeda? How do they know this? I mean, it hasn't been made an official policy or anything. If you're sitting in some stinking cave in Pakistan and you're planning this thing, what would be your impetus for thinking the passengers would put up a fight?
Second, this might not even be al Qaeda. This could be an 'also-ran' or a group that has the training but not the brains. We've been hammering away at al Qaeda for two years. Perhaps their serious planners and intel types that helped them put together such well coordinated operations like 9/11 are 'dead or otherwise accounted for'. Lot of people here figure Osama is dead. If he's dead and all his smart guys are out of the loop, maybe the ones they have left behind are not so smart and they figure they could get away with this.
I don't know, I just have a hard time applying rational thought to these nutjobs. I'm sure they're capable of it and I'm sure they try to figure out new and interesting ways to kill the Great Satan, but you always have to throw that 'Whacko Factor' into the mix.
I used to live within 10 miles of Dulles. If I were still there, you bet I'd be nosing around! :)
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