TWA Flight 800 Downed 12 Years Ago Today

cashill.com ^ | July 17, 2008 | Jack Cashill

[Sioux-san]

I dedicated my book, What’s The Matter With California, to a retired United Airline pilot named Ray Lahr, “a true Californian and patriot”—and with good reason.

Today, the tireless World War II vet and his intrepid attorney, John Clarke, are all that stand in the way of the successful execution of the single most astonishing cover-up in American peacetime history.

What makes this whole event so astonishing is that TWA Flight 800 went down with 230 good souls on board in full view of literally hundreds of eyewitnesses on Long Island’s affluent south shore.

Even more astonishing, although 270 of those eyewitnesses—pilots, fishermen, surfers, military people—gave the FBI detailed accounts, many with illustrations, of a likely missile attack on the aircraft, the New York Times interviewed not a one of them.

[Non-Sequitur]

On the other hand, Kerry and Gore are dolts so maybe I reading too much into their actions and words.

Bingo.

[verity]

Feeding the paranoids.

[Waco]

Gore, probably couldn’t tie his shoes before 15.

[American_Centurion]

There was video of an object streaking into the sky and then an explosion. The video was taken at a party on a deck. I saw it on TV on the day after the downing. I know there are many others who saw the same video. I have NOT seen that video again since that day.

From what I saw on that video, the object was a missile, solid fuel, and definitely fired from ground/sea level. Yes I KNOW EXACTLY what that looks like, I’ve seen it HUNDREDS of times.

[DustyMoment]

I didn’t initially buy into the shootdown theory of TWA 800, but I am starting to be convinced. I recently picked up a book off the remainder shelf by Nelson DeMille (an author whose work I respect) called Night Fall.

DeMille doesn’t pretend that his novel is a scientific investigation of the crash, but he does try to present all sides (according to the disclaimer at the front of the book) based on the post-crash investigation. I’m just starting into the book and he is presenting some information about the number of eye witnesses I initially dismissed after the original investigation.

In restrospect, the official cause of the explosion and crash doesn’t make a lot of sense. The 747 has been around for a VERY long time and if the fuel tank pump were REALLY a problem, there should have been MANY explosions and crashes of 747s related to the same cause. Also, that the FAA took so long to finally order a change to the 747 center fuel tank after so many years, raises questions (and eyebrows). If this is truly as severe a problem as it would seem to be, the FAA should have acted on it years ago.

The whole thing is looking a lot more fishy and smell a lot more than it did 12 years ago.

[Joe 6-pack]

"I really haven’t read enough about TWA 800 to form an opinion."

While it's by no means the central subject of the book, I would recommend Peter Lance's 1000 Years for Revenge."

He extensively discusses Philippine Airlines Flight 434 as a warm up act/rehearsal for the Bojinka plot driven primarily by Ramzi Yousef and Khalid Sheik Mohammed. Curiously, "The seat where the bomb exploded (seat 26K) would normally be above the center wing fuel tank on an older Boeing 747 but on the SAS Version model of 747 the Seat 26K was two seats forward of the tank." A slightly more powerful explosive would have produced virtually identical dynamics to TWA 800.

[dmz]

Has your brother speculated on where it streaked from? Would that not have been visible given the pretty intense illumination a missile streaking creates? Have any of the eyewitnesses said they saw where it came from?

[Non-Sequitur]

From what I saw on that video, the object was a missile, solid fuel, and definitely fired from ground/sea level. Yes I KNOW EXACTLY what that looks like, I’ve seen it HUNDREDS of times.

So what kind of missile you think it is?

[Ticonderoga34]

Thanks, I’ll check it out.

[DustyMoment]

IMO, there was someone on that flight who could have been targeted for elimination.

DeMille's book reveals that an El Al flight was supposed to depart just before TWA 800 and was late, so that it ended up leaving about 15 minutes AFTER TWA 800. It is possible that the El Al flight was the actual intended target, NOT TWA 800.

[Don Corleone]

This just in.....Earhart plane missing over Pacific....foul play suspected.

[American_Centurion]

A small SAM, larger than shoulder launched though.

I need access to the video I saw that day. If I had it I could get an accurate ID in a few hours. But that video is GONE!

[DemonDeac]

“We haven’t had a TWA 800 paranoia-fest around here in I don’t know how long.”

There is no way that our government is competent enough to keep a secret like that for 12 years.

[mware]

papa. I tend to agree with you. NOt sure if it was one of ours or one of theirs, but something took out that plane.

Remember when Pierre Salinger who was in Paris, said he got reports that it was one of ours that took it out.

To be honest, I also think that the plane that crashed on the outskirts of NYC after 9/11. (sometime in Oct.) was also taken down. My guess a of the shoe bombers who succeeded.

[Non-Sequitur]

The 747 has been around for a VERY long time and if the fuel tank pump were REALLY a problem, there should have been MANY explosions and crashes of 747s related to the same cause.

Why? The DC-10 had flown for some time before the loss of a cargo door brought down the Turkish Airlines plane outside of Paris. And flew for years more before an engine fell off while taking off at O'Hare in 1979. The 767 had flown for years before the engine reverse suddenly activated in air in 1991. The MD-11 had years of flying time before the SwissAir flight was brought down by an electrical failure. Airplanes are well built and well designed. Problems can surface years later due to a single fluke combination of factors and bring a plane down.

[pfflier]

(I do not want to argue about it here),

Obama, is that you?

[Bryan24]

And I don't doubt that your brother saw something. Hundreds of people saw something. The question is what, and given all the conflicts in witness testimony we may never know. This is the reason why any police officer will tell you that quite often the most useless evidence to any investigation is eye-witness testimony.

When the eyewitness accounts begin to match, the reverse is true. As more and more eyewitnesses give the same details, the likleyhood that they actually got it right begins to climb. There are dozens and dozens of witnesses who gave accounts of particular details that matched exactly.

30 Witnesses may have seen a guy rob a bank, get into a car, and flee the scene. They variously saw, a man, a woman, a black guy, a white guy, a Chevy a Ford, a Honda, etc.... But 12 of the witnesses distinctly saw a blue, 4-door sedan with a broken right headlight tearing out of the bank parking lot. The police will start looking for a blue, 4-door sean with a boken headlight.

In the TWA800 case, the police began looking for the blue 4-door, then immediately dismissed that and began looking for a tour bus loaded with Japanese tourists.

[TXnMA]

Living down to your FRname again...

[Non-Sequitur]

Living down to your FRname again...

Merely lowering myself to the level of the discussion.

[Non-Sequitur]

A small SAM, larger than shoulder launched though.

What kind? If you've seen hundreds of launches then what kind of missile did it resemble? Not shoulder launched would seem to indicate that it needed a launcher platform of some kind, wouldn't it?