Posted on 07/13/2006 3:02:34 PM PDT by Hal1950
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Bolstered by eyewitness accounts and the Internet, the explosion of TWA Flight 800 off the coast of New York 10 years ago spawned a slew of sinister conspiracy theories, most notably the belief that a missile from a U.S. Navy ship was responsible.
So prevalent were these theories that the term "Pierre Salinger Syndrome" - the belief that everything on the Internet is true - entered the lexicon.
For investigators, the conspiracy theories wasted time and diverted valuable resources. Investigators ultimately determined that Flight 800 was the victim of a center fuel tank explosion, most likely caused by a spark in its vapor-filled center tank. Terrorism was ruled out, as was the notion of a friendly fire missile.
Then came Pierre Salinger
"It's a document I got about five weeks ago -- came from France -- from an intelligence agent of France. He had been given this document from an American Secret Service agent based in France," Salinger said at the time. "He had been doing an inquiry and had some contacts with the U.S. Navy."
It turned out to be a discredited document that had been floating around the Internet for weeks. Salinger took to the news airwaves, including CNN, touting his theory. But as baseless as it sounded, Salinger could not be ignored. His accusations gave conspiracy theorists a voice of distinction and credibility.
"He was an idiot," said Bob Francis, the former vice chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. "He didn't know what he was talking about, and he was totally irresponsible."
As for Salinger, after years of suffering from dementia, he died of heart failure in 2004, but his syndrome lives on.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
* Pierre Salinger :
1998 : (GABON'S PRESIDENT OMAR BONGO TRAVELS TO THE US; GABON HIRED WILSON'S SECOND WIFE, THE FRENCH WOMAN JACQUELINE, AS A LOBBYIST. PIERRE SALINGER AND OTHER LOBBYISTS WERE ALSO EMPLOYED - See NIGERFLAP / CIA PLAME NAME GAME) Here’s a French language article regarding a 1998 trip by Gabon President Omar Bongo to the United States. Apparently, the Gabonese hired Wilson’s second wife Jacqueline as a lobbyist in support of the trip. Another who worked with her was the famous Pierre Salinger, known for many things, eg he was JFK’s press secretary and for his TWA 800 theories. But even more lobbyists were engaged, they apparently had a “too many cooks in the kitchen” kind of conflict, and the trip didn’t come off well Joseph Wilson was “very present” at the events of the visit. -- Source: FreeRepublic's Shermy using this source
http://www.bdpgabon.org/ancien_site/bdp/revelationspol1.html
Salinger wrote a book on the first Gulf War, “Dossier.” In it are about ten pages of a recounting of conversations between Saddam [Hussein] and [Joseph] Wilson. I can only guess Wilson was the source.-- Source: FreeRepublic's Shermy , in 1 posted on 04/16/2004 1:01:47 PM PDT by Shermy
I think I have Pierre Salinger Syndrome.It sounds fancy and I might have for another flight.
What if :
"It's a document I got about five weeks ago -- came from France -- from Joe Wilson. He had been given this document from an American Secret Service agent based in France," Salinger said at the time. "He had been doing an inquiry and had some contacts with the U.S. Navy."
Or what if :
"It's a document I got about five weeks ago -- came from France -- from Rocco Martino. He had been given this document from an American Secret Service agent based in France," Salinger said at the time. "He had been doing an inquiry and had some contacts with the U.S. Navy."
What're two more conspiracy theories after all...
It wasn't completely empty.
This is a critical element of the FBI's version of the event.
A completely empty gas tank will not ignite.
A very low tank will, given the right ignition.
A full tank will not.
Also, the fuel used is very hard to light.
If you don't believe me, ask experienced commercial 747 pilots.
They will tell you that they don't need all the fuel, mainly on the tailwind flights. When flying against, a different story.
If you have ever flown a plane, gas needed for trip there is different than what is needed for trip back.
Remember that NTSB official might have been a Clinton operative (Hillary's FBI files).
Read the original article of this thread and see that an EX NTSB official is the one being qouted by the MSM.
Are they qouting him the same way they do Ramsey Clark, Murtha, Pelosi,Kerry? The same as Wilson, Berger, or a source who remains confidential due to secrecy of what WE, the all powerful OZ (I mean NYT), have chosen to reveal to you.
Is this ex official the same one you listened to back then?
Very likely. (No blame, no ridicule, just offering up food for thought).
"What're two more conspiracy theories after all..."
Smiling.
"And yet ... down it came. Someone brought it down."
And it might not have been the enemy.
It might have been destroyed for the safety of others.
It might have been a sacrifice kept in confidence.
Thank you. You bring up another point, which was, why did the FBI and the NAVY intercede in NTSB's jurisdiction?
Why did the NAVY clear everyone out during rescue and salvage?
Why did it take so long to find the black box?
Why is a crucial segment of the black box recording missing, which is explained by the FBI as (that's when the miss...I mean CWT exploded)? The black box is not in the CWT.
10th Anniversary of the disaster.
For real fun, figure out why Joe Wilson, who happened to be going to Niger on company business, was picked by the CIA to spy on reported sale of Yellowcake from the President of Niger to Saddam through a third party.
He did this once, during the Clinton admin, reported no sales going on.
He did this once, during the Bush admin, reported no sales going on.
Saddam got several tons of yellowcake from Niger anyway. Through a third party.
Now, for the bonus question, what 'company business' was Joe Wilson conducting in NIGER????
What does the company he owns do for a living????
IIRC, Clintoon signed an executive order rescinding whislte blower protection for the Navy seals that went into the water looking for TWA 800 ......
why did he do that except maybe he expected evidence of a missle and didn't want anyone to know???????
If I recall correctly, there were 26 incidents involving fuel tank explosions... the vast majority involving military aircraft and JP4. On almost all, there were extenuation circumstance totally unlike the conditions on TWA-800.
The CWT on a Boeing 747 is not just a fuel tank... it is a box girder system to which the wings are attached and on which the entire fuselage is mounted. Had it "exploded" the integrity of the girder would have been vastly compromised and the wings would have come off very quickly. The reconstructed wreckage does not show such massive damage. The CWT did eventually "explode" in the disaster but it was highly unlikely it was the initiating event.
Actually, the NTSB often investigates accidents in foreign countries... sometimes at the request of that country.
SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 : (REFERENCES BY OFFICIALS TO TWA FLIGHT 800 AS A TERRORIST INCIDENT, INCLUDING ADMISSION BY SENATOR JOHN KERRY) In the weeks following Sept. 11, 2001, several political insiders referred to the destruction of Flight 800 as a terrorist incident. But only one did it twice. That person is Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts. Appearing on Larry King Live on Sept. 11 itself, Kerry suggested that TWA Flight 800 was brought down by a terrorist act. ----- source may be "Why did Al Gore really drop out? Cashill & Sanders suggest Kerry was willing to expose subversion, " by Jack Cashill & James Sanders, WorldNetDaily.com , Tuesday, December 17, 2002
SEPTEMBER 24, 2001 : (ANOTHER REFERENCE TO TWA FLIGHT 800 BEING A TERRORIST INCIDENT BY SENATOR JOHN KERRY) On Sept. 24, on Hardball with Chris Matthews, the authors watched as Kerry casually recited a number of terrorist attacks against the United States, among them TWA "Flight 800." Like Larry King before him, Chris Matthews either did not catch the remark or chose to let it pass. If the first admission seemed more or less innocent and accidental, the second one had to be purposeful. Indeed, Kerry's office took and responded to calls about his remarks on Flight 800 after the first incident. If a mistake, it seems highly unlikely that it could have happened again. But it did. ----- source may be "Why did Al Gore really drop out? Cashill & Sanders suggest Kerry was willing to expose subversion, " by Jack Cashill & James Sanders, WorldNetDaily.com , Tuesday, December 17, 2002
What does Dick Morris know? On July 15, I was able to question Morris on Paul Schiffer's excellent Cleveland-area radio show. Although in his new book Morris refers to TWA 800 as one of three "attacks" in the "terrorist summer of 1996," he clearly did not want to talk about this incident on the air. ----"What does Dick Morris know about TWA 800?" WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Friday, July 18, 2003 | Jack Cashill
How can George Stephanopolous continue to pose as a "journalist" while he keeps quiet on why he told Peter Jennings that the destruction of TWA 800 was a "bombing"? Why was NSA honcho Tony Lake kept out of the July 17-18 meeting at the White House family quarters while his deputy, Sandy Berger, was reportedly invited in? ----"What does Dick Morris know about TWA 800?" WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Friday, July 18, 2003 | Jack Cashill
On July 17, 1996 – Liberation Day in Saddam's Iraq and two days before the Atlanta Olympics – TWA Flight 800 blew up in the sky off the south coast of Long Island. The reader need not endorse a particular theory as to the nature of that crash to appreciate the role that Richard Clarke played in devising the one theory that prevailed. How Richard Clarke concocted the TWA 800 'exit strategy' ... and why WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Tuesday, April 6, 2004 | Jack Cashill
JULY 17, 1996 : (MOVEMENT FOR ISLAMIC CHANGE ISSUES A COMMUNIQUE THE SAME DAY AS TWA FLIGHT 800 IS DESTROYED IN MIDAIR) Early on July 17, 1996, the very day TWA Flight 800 was destroyed, the Islamic Change Movement issued a communique that, according to Yossef Bodansky, "laid the foundation for the downing of TWA 800." As director of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, Bodansky knows the subject as well as any man alive. This is the "group" that had taken responsibility for the Riyadh bombing in 1995 that killed five Americans and two Indian nationals, and the Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia on June 25, 1996, that killed 19 American servicemen. The communique was chilling: "The mujahideen will deliver the ultimate response to the threats of the foolish American president. Everyone will be amazed at the size of that response," it read in part. "Their time is at the morning-dawn. Is not the morning-dawn near?" Dawn in Afghanistan corresponded almost exactly to dusk in New York, the moment of TWA Flight 800's demise. - "TWA Flight 800 - no longer an accident! Jack Cashill on evidence Iraq orchestrated attack," WorldNetDaily.com, Wednesday, November 20, 2002, by Jack Cashill
JULY 17, 1996 : (TWA FLT 800 EXPLODES, 230 PEOPLE KILLED - See "MOVEMENT FOR ISLAMIC CHANGE" ) The possibility of a Middle East connection has been raised with regard to the 17 July explosion of TWA flight 800 off New York which killed 230 people. Investigators were in late July still searching the seabed for evidence of what caused the Boeing 747, bound from New York to Paris, to crash in flames. The White House has cautioned the media against the kind of early speculation which in 1995 wrongly blamed the Oklahoma bombing of a government building on Muslim fundamentalists.
However, some of the media in the US and Europe have said Muslim extremists opposed to the US presence or role in the Middle East may be responsible.
Attention has focused on groups such as the Movement for Islamic Change, which claimed responsibility for the bombing on 25 June of a US military compound in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, in which 19 American airmen were killed. The London-based Arabic language Al-Hayat says it received a statement from the group hours before the plane crash warning of a new attack against the US, but US officials said such warnings were routine. Investigators say circumstantial evidence points to a bomb explosion aboard the TWA flight. Some have alleged that the White House was initially discouraging sabotage theories in order not to spoil the festive atmosphere of the Olympic games in Atlanta, Georgia. -- "Middle East link probed in TWA crash," Middle East Economic Digest, News; Pg. 14 , August 2, 1996 Copyright: EMAP Business International Ltd. All rights reserved
AUGUST 3, 1996 : (REPORTS SURFACE THAT THERE WAS A TERRORIST SUMMIT IN TEHRAN RECENTLY CONCERNING MOSTLY US TARGETS : "MOVEMENT FOR ISLAMIC CHANGE" CREATED - See LIBYA, SYRIA, IRAN, HEZBOLLAH) Three or four sources have been telling ENN of a "terrorist summit" that has recently taken place in Tehran. Israeli intelligence sources have said that attacks "to be directed primarily against U.S. targets." were discussed at the meeting. French sources say that the main goal is the annihilation of Israel and the United States. Discussed were ways to improve the terror camps, propaganda -- it has been seen that Iranian and Libyan rhetoric against the U.S. has been increased as of late, and financing. An official international terrorist organization, represented by Iran, Libya and Syria, was said to have been formed. It is to be called the "Movement for Islamic Change." Other members are said to be from the Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. - "ORGANIZED TERRORISM; "Movement for Islamic Change," By Steve Macko, ENN Editor, Excerpted from EmergencyNet NEWS Service Daily Report, Vol. 2 - 216, Saturday, August 3, 1996
AUGUST 23, 1996 : (BIN LADEN'S 'DECLARATION OF WAR' ON US) Date on bin Laden's written "declaration" of attack against the US. The document was written and published about two months after the bombing in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Demands included the removal of US troops from Saudi Arabia, and the overthrow of the government of Saudi Arabia.
AUGUST 26 , 1996 : (IRAQIS HIJACK SUDANESE AIRLINER IN KHARTOUM AND DIVERT TO ENGLAND) Six Iraqi dissidents hijack a Sudan Airways A310 Airbus airliner en route from Khartoom to Jordan and divert it to Stanstead, England. After eight and one half hours negotiating with British authorities the hijackers release all the 13 crew and 180 passengers unharmed.
Now, it sounds strange to me that a center tank would be: just after take off on a long international flight ahead!??! Then we certainly also need to believe that the USS "Cole" was damaged from an explosion in its bunker fuel tanks, and NOT from a suicide boat full with explosion!!!
Thanks Piasa for posting the time line.
It was two months before the Olympics in Atlanta.
Five months before the campaign of 1996 where Bubba was seeking re-election.
Would the Clintons knowingly lie to the American public to hold onto power?
It wasn't a long flight, it was just to Europe (with the wind too). Compared to flights like NYC to Buenos Aires or something it's pretty short (like half). They probably only were half full for this trip.
Of course the Cole was attacked by a haywire bunker fuel tank,
I believe that. Clinton is still looking for it so it can be brought to justice. Under Clinton, things were just simpler and straightforward. We must put a stop to "fuel tank violence".
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