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Clarke's complicity in crash cover-up
WorldNetDaily.com ^ | March 24, 2004 | Jack Cashill

Posted on 03/24/2004 4:31:03 PM PST by js1138

Clarke's complicity in crash cover-up


Posted: March 24, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Jack Cashill


© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

While counter-terrorism expert and man-of-the-hour Richard Clarke is in a chatty mood, someone might choose to ask him what he knows about TWA Flight 800. If no one in the media will, perhaps retired United Airline pilot Ray Lahr will get the chance to put Clarke under oath.

Lahr next goes to court on April 5 in Los Angeles to advance his suit against the National Transportation Safety Board, the CIA and a reluctant Boeing for their role in creating the CIA's preposterous zoom-climb animation, the one that was used to discredit the 270 eyewitness to a likely missile attack.

Clarke, you see, was involved in the creation of that animation. He has boasted about it. Clarke, in fact, was involved with TWA Flight 800 from the beginning. As designated chairman of the Coordinating Security Group on terrorism in July 1996, it was he who called the critical meeting that began about 90 minutes after the crash of TWA Flight 800 in the White House situation room.

Gathered in the room that night were some 40 representatives of the agencies involved. Teleconferencing in on the room's eight monitors were terrorist experts from around the nation. Represented either in person or on screen were the Pentagon, the FBI, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Secret Service, the CIA, the State Department, the Justice Department, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the White House. The NTSB, which should have been present, was not.

The FAA made it clear that, at this point, there was no effective deterrence if terrorists were planning to take out additional planes. The attendees realized that two days before the Olympics and a month before the political conventions, a terrorist scenario had the potential to virtually shut down the airline industry and cripple the economy.

President Clinton knew this all too well and dreaded it. He was squirreled away that night in the family quarters, likely with access to satellite and other data not shared in the situation room. Just four months shy of pulling off one of the great political comebacks of all time, Clinton lived in mortal fear of an incident that could throw the advantage to war hero, Bob Dole. And this was one such incident.

Unlike President Bush, Clinton obviously did not share his sentiments with Clarke. Clarke called the security meeting in good faith and executed it in the same spirit. The presumption reigned during the meeting that the destruction of the plane had been a terrorist act. Years later, Clarke casually acknowledged "the widespread speculation within the CSG that [TWA 800] had been shot down by a shoulder-fired missile from the shore." Those gathered had received the heads-up from the FAA on the radar data. They were aware of reports that streaks of light had been seen in the sky heading towards the plane prior to the explosion. They knew that the plane had vanished without a word of distress from the pilots, a fact that suggested terrorism as well.

When, however, the White House let it be known the next day that all talk of missiles should go away, an obliging Richard Clarke played a role in helping the missiles do just that.

The final cleansing of the likely missile attack from history came some 16 months later. What made Nov. 18, 1997, so memorable – and so controversial – was less the FBI press conference that concluded the criminal investigation than the 15-minute, CIA-produced zoom-climb animation that concluded the press conference.

As with all perceived successes, everyone wanted credit. A New Yorker profile post-Sept. 11 gave the honors to the late FBI anti-terrorism expert John O'Neill. The New Yorker's source was none other than Richard Clarke. According to Clarke, O'Neill insisted that TWA 800 was out of range of the most-likely shoulder-fired missile, the Stinger.

O'Neill believed that the "ascending flare" must have been something else, like "the ignition of leaking fuel from the aircraft" Clarke, who was clearly in the loop, played along He also credits O'Neill with persuading the CIA to create a visual recreation of the same. It is hard to know whether Clarke was complicit in the CIA plot or just plain ignorant, but neither speaks well for his credibility.

"The case of TWA 800 served as a turning point because of Washington's determination and to a great extent ability to suppress terrorist explanations and 'float' mechanical failure theories," wrote Director of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism Yossef Bodansky in1999. "To avoid such suppression after future strikes, terrorism-sponsoring states would raise the ante so that the West cannot ignore them."

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, while terrorists prepared to raise that ante, New Yorkers went about their business, unknowing, unsuspecting and totally unprepared.

For this, they can thank, among others, Richard Clarke.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 800; 911commission; clarke; complicity; coverup; crash; dontdelete; richardclarke; twa; twa800; twa800list
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Admins. Feel free to delete if this is too tin-foil.

I don't know what caused TWA 800, but I'm pretty sure the video produced under Clarke's direction is bogus.

1 posted on 03/24/2004 4:31:04 PM PST by js1138
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To: Admin Moderator
I don't know if this is a forbidden topic.
2 posted on 03/24/2004 4:31:50 PM PST by js1138
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To: js1138
New York City, October 23, 1995: "For the first time since the dawn of the nuclear age, there's not a single solitary nuclear missile pointed at the people of the United States of America."

Concord, New Hampshire, February 2, 1996: ". . . for the first time since the dawn of the nuclear age, there is not a single nuclear missile pointed at an American child today."

Philadelphia, April 26, 1996: ". . . for the first time since the dawn of the nuclear age, there is not a single, solitary nuclear missile pointed at an American child tonight."

Toledo, Ohio, August 26, 1996: ". . . for the first time since the dawn of the nuclear age, on this night, this beautiful night, there is not a single nuclear missile pointed at a child in the United States of America."

And so on: In Nashville, Washington, Iowa City, New Orleans, Coral Gables, San Francisco, Santa Monica, St. Louis; Ashland, Kentucky; Sun City, Arizona; Hartford, Connecticut -- even in a telephone speech to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the very people who would coordinate disaster relief in the event of a nuclear attack. Mr. Clinton is not alone in making this mistake.

Vice President Al Gore echoed the president in his carefully rehearsed speech to the 1996 Democratic National Convention: "Our strength at home has led to renewed respect abroad: nuclear missiles no longer pointed at our cities. . . ." No clear tie to Russia.
3 posted on 03/24/2004 4:34:33 PM PST by Toespi (,)
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To: js1138
What makes you think this topic is forbidd.....UGH...SLUMP!
4 posted on 03/24/2004 4:38:39 PM PST by JOE6PAK ("The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein)
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To: js1138
...but I'm pretty sure the video produced under Clarke's direction is bogus.
What? Do you doubt that a plane going 500+ mph with its nose torn off would continue to climb a couple of thousand feet?

You're just too cynical. Nothing wrong at all with the aerodynamics of that scenario.


5 posted on 03/24/2004 4:39:07 PM PST by DallasMike
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To: js1138
Was TWA800 really 4 days before Clinton's re-election?
6 posted on 03/24/2004 4:42:34 PM PST by spyone
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To: spyone
No, it was four months.
7 posted on 03/24/2004 4:46:59 PM PST by Alberta's Child (Alberta -- the TRUE north strong and free.)
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To: js1138
INCREDIBLE!!!
8 posted on 03/24/2004 4:47:04 PM PST by Enduring Freedom (Guess How We Ended Japanese Kamikaze Attacks?)
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To: spyone
Doesn't look like it from the article. July 1996? That's four months. A terrorist attack could have cost him the election, however. A reverse Spain.
9 posted on 03/24/2004 4:47:13 PM PST by js1138
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To: JOE6PAK
Ooops! Call the coroner, Joe's over in the back, and to the left...
10 posted on 03/24/2004 4:48:25 PM PST by Frank_Discussion (May the wings of Liberty never lose a feather!)
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To: js1138
I don't think this topic is too "tin-foil" at all.

I've reviewed a lot of information related to TWA 800 over the years, and I've reached one basic conclusion: IF the aircraft was shot down, it was not done by terrorists -- it was an accidental shoot-down by a U.S. Navy vessel or NATO warship conducting exercises off the south shore of Long Island that night.

11 posted on 03/24/2004 4:49:28 PM PST by Alberta's Child (Alberta -- the TRUE north strong and free.)
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To: js1138
Definitely not.
12 posted on 03/24/2004 4:49:40 PM PST by Admin Moderator
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To: js1138
A reverse Spain...my GOD!...Clinton lies to the world to save his sorry ass...no wonder we'll never hear about this in the press, everyone expects it from him...just lies about sex, no big deal...just lies about mass murder, no big deal...just politics.
13 posted on 03/24/2004 4:52:43 PM PST by spyone
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To: js1138
All those plane downed during the 1990s, and explained as "mechanical failure" was something I picked up soon after 9/11. Too many crashes, none of the pilots expressing distress, and that one pilot hailing Allah.

I also was not suprised that the sudden "mechanical failures" ceased after we finally address the war on terrorism.

Yes, some think it's tin foil, but I don't.
14 posted on 03/24/2004 4:54:33 PM PST by mabelkitty (A tuning, a Vote in the topic package to the starting US presidency election fight)
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To: Alberta's Child
A heat seaking missle would have probably hit one of the engines. I don't see how an SA7 could have done it.
15 posted on 03/24/2004 4:58:00 PM PST by U S Army EOD (John Kerry, the mother of all flip floppers.)
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To: js1138; *TWA800_list; Admin Moderator
How can it be a forbidden topic if there's a bump list in its name?

Hi _Jim!!

16 posted on 03/24/2004 4:59:53 PM PST by coloradan (Hence, etc.)
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To: Alberta's Child
That would also not look good on clinton's resume. Have you considered the posibility, however, that TWA 800 was in the time slot allocated for an Israeli Airliner? Do you really believe that terrorists with technical assistance from Iraq or Iran could not have done it?
17 posted on 03/24/2004 4:59:59 PM PST by js1138
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To: mabelkitty
You're right -- there were there a lot of those "mechanical failure" incidents. I determined that most of the findings were a total hoax when I realized that all of them involved international flights out of John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City -- including TWA Flight 800, the SwissAir flight that crashed off the coast of Newfoundland, the Egypt Air flight that crashed while the pilot was praying to Allah saying grace before dinner, and American Airlines (I think) Flight 587 (about two months after 9/11).

Anyone who flies out of that airport in light of all these "accidents" ought to get a head examination.

18 posted on 03/24/2004 5:00:40 PM PST by Alberta's Child (Alberta -- the TRUE north strong and free.)
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To: spyone
Clinton had already gotten away with covering up Oklahoma City. He had no reason to think he couldn't pull it off again.
19 posted on 03/24/2004 5:01:02 PM PST by Nita Nupress
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To: Alberta's Child
You've decided that either US or NATO shot down flt 800.

When exactly did the South Shore of LI, home of one of the world's most heavily populated flight paths, become a Naval Live Fire Range?

20 posted on 03/24/2004 5:01:52 PM PST by wtc911 (Doesn't matter if your head is in the sand or up your a**, the view is the same.)
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