Posted on 08/15/2003 6:55:38 AM PDT by dead
Links? If so, then the current cover story of the Lebanese 'Business' interests doesn't wash. They could not haul any other kind of cargo, than fuel, and why would they do that to Lebanon by plane?
And what legitimate business operators, no matter how shady, want to be put squarely in the target-sight of the CIA, NSA and FBI? And risk a nice long stretch in Guantanamo?
I doubt you could physically put that much fuel on a 727. 1.7 Mlbs of fuel is twice the weight of a fully fueled 747.
For a price.
The plane was to be used as a fuel transportation tanker to isolated places. There are multiple tanks in side that were intended
to haul multiple fuels - gas, diesel, kerosene, etc.
How it ends up being used, may be a cause for concern.
I have always use them as an example of US policy gone nuts. Gulf Oil owned a refinery, guarded by marxist troops (Cuban for years) to keep CIA backed terrorist from blowing it up.
Smacking it into a southern European city would much easier. Athens, Rome, Madrid, for example.
Assuming there are good roads to where they are going. This is Africa after all...
You don't truck much of anything anywhere.
If you can’t truck anything, there’s no point to mining anything.
The mining story is complete hogwash.
No, I didn't bookmark any of them, sorry. Even this story mentions that fact though. I remember the older stories talking about the plane had huge tanks where the cargo/passengers would ordinarily have gone and like I said, this story mentions it as well. I have no stake in it one way or the other- I don't really care.
I wouldn't count on it.
I entered Mozambique from Zimbabwe once. My intentions were to visit the city of Beira and then travel down the coast to the capital and then on back to South Africa. I was in an old VW Passat. Beira is the second largerst city. The map shows a big paved road all the way down the coast but in actual practice, Beira was effectively cut off. The city when I saw it was like something from the twilight zone. Decaying, wary, quiet. Big Russian ships washed up on the beach, everything metal rusting. The locals peering out at you from the broken windows of the huge Portugese colonial type houses.
Getting into Beira was an adventure, getting down the coast even more so. Some craters in the road were house sized and in many areas there were still mines along the road. The petrol stations were so spread out (and couldn't be counted on to have petrol in the first place) you were literally rolling the dice on whether you could make it or not. We were fairly lucky, we made it and only lost the exhaust system while skirting a massive crater in the road. Many fall prey to bribery rackets along the way- basically if they see you coming, they push a young child in front of the car and when you hit it- it's off to jail with you until you pony up a lot of cash.
I don't know the situation in Angola. All I was saying is- Africa is... Well, it's Africa. It's total chaos. Nothing can be counted upon. There might be a four lane highway running right up to the mountains in Angola or it might be a track that forces you to ford rivers (a distinct possibility) or it might be lined with bandits waiting to hijack the fuel truck. It's something to think about- that's all.
I traveled down one of these spur roads from a major city to a minor city. The potholed paved road turned into a dirt road at the far end of the smaller town, where a police station was. The dirt road, after 100 miles, would go to Somalia.
It was the only time I really felt like I was on the edge of civilization.
Diamonds are rather easy to move.
After you get them out of the ground, which generally involves moving and sifting enormous amounts of earth with very heavy equipment you truck in.
You would also need some heavy equipment to build a runway that could land a 727 in the mountains.
The story sounds implausible to me. And this plane was never used as they claim it was intended.
Listen I have no idea why the plane was there and am no expert on Angola having only been there a few times, you may know more than I do about the place. HOWEVER moving heavy equipment to an area once is different than moving fuel all the time. You get it in once with a heavy armed guard.
I will also tell you there are few mountains in the country though much of it is high plateau. Further there are a dozen or so runways of 2,000+ meters. There are also hundreds of dirt fields and smaller paved ones that get fuel from somewhere.
Wait until we find out what the ending is. Now go get the rest of us some popcorn.
-archy-/-
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