Mistakes happen. We've all made them from time to time. Saying "hi" to someone we thought we knew, only to realize immediately it's not the person we thought it was. What do you say then? Sorry, or go on your way?
In war, mistakes can happen and be either swept under the rug or, worst case, exposed as such by the other side. Remember Mi Lai? Clearly a mistake, and the result was a PR disaster for the US Army.
I will suggest that the downing of TWA800 was a mistake. From the passenger list released soon after, no important names could be found, certainly none that terrorists would want to target. There were a number of French citizens aboard, for whatever it's worth.
Flight 800 was late departing Kennedy that evening. It took the departure slot of an El Al 747 also bound for Paris. From a boat in the water beneath the flight path, who could tell the difference? They were both 747s. TWA was prominently painted on the tail, but you wouldn't see it from directly below.
I have no idea who shot down TWA800, if that indeed was the case. I only know that TWA was not in itelf a target for terrorists, unlike Pan Am and El Al which we all know is Israel's flag carrier.
Had an El Al 747 blown up on july 17, 1996, wouldn't you think the investigation might have taken a different turn?
Restorer:I love it; don't even BOTHER taking that one head-on huh ...
Nobody, as far as I know, ever claimed credit for shooting down an American airliner. From a terrorist's viewpoint, what is the point of successfully pulling off the most spectacular terror attack in history (till then) if people generally think it was an accident?logician2u:
Mistakes happen.