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I don't think this is pure paranoia. The pilot did report seeing something, and the FBI came out with a series of transparently ridiculous statements, including the whopper that a bottle rocket could reach 6000 feet.

I'm not saying that it WAS a missile, but I'd feel a little better about it if the FBI would make at least a faint effort to investigate it and report on it honestly.

And this is not the first time. With TWA 800, there were several witnesses with wartime fighter experience who said that what they saw was a missile, and that the color of the explosion was wrong for a fuel tank explosion. The CIA person who was sent in to explain it did a pathetic job, and the center fuel tank explanation never made any sense.

This recent incident follows fairly shortly after the preposterous FBI coverup of the suicide bomber in Oklahoma.

I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a thorough and careful investigation. And I don't see why it's in our national interest to cover it up. Sure, the odds of being on a plane that gets shot down are very small; but if we are at war with fantical Islam, it would help to let people know that they are threatening us on our own home ground, if that is what is happening. Otherwise the Democrats will take advantage of the perception that nothing is happening and we should all go back to sleep.

As in the case of TWA 800, but much MUCH less likely now, when and if the government feels the need to either restrict or deny information to the general public it is generally for a good reason.

I don't believe anything happened here, and there is a vested interest in keeping the tin-foil-hat brigade occupied and discredited, in case they ever get one right.

"The pilot did report seeing something, and the FBI came out with a series of transparently ridiculous statements, including the whopper that a bottle rocket could reach 6000 feet."

I've got 15 years experience flying fighters and currently fly MD-11's on international routes and have flown in and out of LAX on several occasions. It is not uncommon for pilots to report seeing strange things. The airspace around LAX is incredibly busy. No one else reported seeing anything unusual, and everyone airborne at the time was interviewed by the FBI after they landed (the FBI did do an investigation, but what more are they supposed to do when the only evidence is a single report). A missile launch is not an event that would go unnoticed by all but one aircraft.

"there were several witnesses with wartime fighter experience who said that what they saw was a missile, and that the color of the explosion was wrong for a fuel tank explosion."

I have considerable combat experience and the first thing I will tell you is that the color of an explosion tells you next to nothing. And in the case of TWA 800, I believe there was only one military witness to the event (an ANG helicopter pilot), and his actual statement was that he doesn't know what he saw but that it could have been a missile.