Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Satellites tell the truth: Reed Irvine exposes CIA cover-up of downed aircraft
WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Saturday, October 13, 2001 | Reed Irvine

Posted on 10/13/2001 12:52:16 AM PDT by JohnHuang2

WND Commentary
Satellites tell the truth


By Reed Irvine
© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com

The explosion of a Russian airliner over the Black Sea on Oct. 4 has raised an interesting question relating to the crash of TWA Flight 800 off Long Island five years ago. Both planes exploded and crashed into the sea. Flight 800 was still in its ascent, at 13,800 feet, and it was only 10 miles off the shore of Long Island. Its crash was witnessed by hundreds of people who have been questioned by the FBI about what they saw. Many of them said they had seen what must have been a missile either rising from the surface or high in the sky streaking toward the airliner just before it blew up.

The Russian airliner was over 30,000 feet above the Black Sea, and as far as we know, no eyewitnesses saw the crash. But U.S. satellites apparently did. It was reported the next day that Defense Department satellites equipped with infrared sensors detected a missile launched by Ukrainian troops on the Crimean peninsula which U.S. intelligence officials believed hit the airliner. The government of Ukraine acknowledged that a training exercise involving missiles was being conducted at the time, but they insisted that none of their missiles could have shot down the Russian plane. Russian investigators have found small metal balls from the missile's warhead in the bodies of the victims. President Kuchma of Ukraine now says he will accept the findings of the investigation.

In 1996, the United States had two KH-11 satellites in polar orbit. Their infrared sensors have a resolution down to a few inches. Ray Lahr, a TWA Flight 800 afficionado, has pointed out that if one of those two satellites was over New York on July 17, 1996, there is a lot of information about TWA 800 that has not been released. Apparently one of them was able to record images of the TWA 800 crash. Request for that imagery or descriptions of it have been made under the Freedom of Information Act to both the Department of Defense and the CIA. Both have acknowledged that they have the images, but they have refused to release them or descriptions of them to the public.

In rejecting an FOIA request last January, the CIA claimed that information was exempt from the Freedom of Information Act. It cited exemptions (b)(1) and (b)(3), which cover material that must be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy and for the protection of intelligence sources and methods. The CIA has actively propagated the government's claim that the TWA 800 crash was the result of a fuel-tank explosion. It is hard to see why releasing satellite images of an airliner fuel-tank exploding would imperil national security, damage our foreign relations or reveal anything not already known about the use of satellites.

The CIA devoted a lot of time and money to the production of a video that was crafted to prove that the hundreds of eyewitnesses who thought they saw a missile streaking toward the airliner actually saw nothing but the airliner itself. The CIA claims that it rocketed upward after its entire front end was broken off and that the eyewitnesses mistook it for a missile. That claim and the video that presented it have been the subject of a lot of ridicule by people who are knowledgeable about aeronautics. It was not at all convincing.

If the CIA has satellite imagery of what transpired and the pictures show that there were no missiles anywhere near the airliner when it blew up, they could have used those pictures to make their case. It would have been far more convincing and would have cost them nothing. The speed with which the government released the information about the Ukrainian missile, which no doubt offended the Ukrainians and showed them our intelligence capabilities, exposes the absurdity of the CIA's excuses for not releasing the pictures.

The press officer for the National Transportation Safety Board says that they examined the satellite images but they were of no help in determining the cause of the crash. He said they did not retain them or keep any records of what they showed. The member of the staff who gave him that information refuses to be interviewed, and Mrs. Marion Blakey, the new NTSB chairman, also seems to think that not returning calls is the safest policy.

Apparently, the satellite imagery is not being released because it does for TWA Flight 800 what it did for the Russian airliner. It tells the truth that governments want to hide.


Reed Irvine is the chairman of Accuracy In Media, a media watchdog group based in Washington, D.C.

For Education And Discussion Only. Not For Commercial Use.



TOPICS: Editorial; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-51 next last

1 posted on 10/13/2001 12:52:16 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: AuntB; nunya bidness; GrandmaC; Washington_minuteman; tex-oma; buffyt; Grampa Dave...

2 posted on 10/13/2001 12:52:48 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2
Bingo
3 posted on 10/13/2001 1:01:53 AM PDT by The Real Deal
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2
It cited exemptions (b)(1) and (b)(3), which cover material that must be kept secret in the interest of national defense . . .

Just think. Had they admitted that an air liner had been shot down people would have been afraid to fly. The economy might have tanked. People would have been AFRAID . . .

Yep! Cover-up was best . . .

4 posted on 10/13/2001 1:02:28 AM PDT by Phil V.
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2
And Clinton and Hillary (arranged) (covered up) (pick one) the TWA 800 shootdown to win the 1996 election. And Dole didn't expose their treachery because he's a slave to the tri-lateral commission. And Kallstrom admitted he was lying by shouting it to a Washington Post reporter across the room. And Reed Irvine, like Judicial Watch, is broke now that there is no Clinton in the white house, but there will be in 2004 because Hillary is an elephant-ankle, diabolical, devil-worshipping, Taliban supporting bitch. And at least 3,000 sailors and government workers are covering up the shootdown because they (couldn't make at least $10 million for exposing it) (Clinton will kill them like [{he} {she} {both of them} {both of them and Chelsea} {all three of them plus Sox the cat} {pick one}] killed Vince Foster) (pick one). And Bush is covering up the truth of TWA 800 up because... Blah Blah Blah.
--Raoul
5 posted on 10/13/2001 1:08:19 AM PDT by RDangerfield
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2
There is a LOT more that FedGov has than the satellite pics that refute the Clinton-coverup of TWA-800. But, I doubt that any of us will ever see it. The clowns we support with our tax dollars are NOT friends of truth. They will lie until their dying day to protect their own hide and their own paycheck.
6 posted on 10/13/2001 1:09:21 AM PDT by Ron C.
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Phil V.; JohnHuang2
Gee, just think if they would have been on the ball and got on the stick, maybe some lives would have been saves...6,000 or so...
7 posted on 10/13/2001 1:14:35 AM PDT by Syncro
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2
the CIA claimed that information was exempt from the Freedom of Information Act. It cited exemptions (b)(1) and (b)(3), which cover material that must be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy and for the protection of intelligence sources and methods.

And now we know not only what that foriegn policy was (ignoring the presence of terrorists on our own soil), we know the results of it. Will anyone in our government be held accountable? I'm not holding my breath.

8 posted on 10/13/2001 1:19:53 AM PDT by Lion's Cub
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2
"If the CIA has satellite imagery of what transpired and the pictures show that there were no missiles anywhere near the airliner when it blew up, they could have used those pictures to make their case."

Uh huh, yeah, right. Even if this were true, why would the CIA give away an intel source over a downed airliner. We all want the goverment to keep its intel secrets unless it is our pet concern? I think not.

9 posted on 10/13/2001 1:23:54 AM PDT by TheLooseThread
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lion's Cub
btt for daylight
10 posted on 10/13/2001 1:24:13 AM PDT by snorkeler
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Syncro
Ya. But they would have frightened children and gurlz.
11 posted on 10/13/2001 1:33:07 AM PDT by Phil V.
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2
... because our spy satellites are targeted at other countries, and not NY????? I would find it extremly strange if we spied with high-resolution satellites on ourselves, especially since we could simply use an airplane to get much better pictures.
12 posted on 10/13/2001 1:37:46 AM PDT by Economist_MA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Ron C.
They will lie until their dying day to protect their own hide and their own paycheck.

No, they will protect information that if declassified would disclose intelligence sources, methods, and capabilities. Just because we have it, does not entitle you to see it.

13 posted on 10/13/2001 1:37:56 AM PDT by LouD
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: TheLooseThread
Even if this were true, why would the CIA give away an intel source over a downed airliner.

You missed the author's point -- This is exactly what the CIA did in the case of the Russian airliner last week.

14 posted on 10/13/2001 1:42:36 AM PDT by Alberta's Child
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Yellow Rose of Texas; Alamo-Girl
ahhh
15 posted on 10/13/2001 1:59:55 AM PDT by amom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2
This has been up for over an hour and nobody from the DOD or JD has been here yet? This is a new record. I guess _Jim is off duty.
16 posted on 10/13/2001 2:05:41 AM PDT by DoughtyOne
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DoughtyOne
hehehehe
17 posted on 10/13/2001 2:07:47 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: TheLooseThread
Did mind giving up sources and capabilities over the Black Sea. (Or was it another?) At any rate, it's interesting how open our government is when it's other nation's citizens who died. If it's just our citizens they could care less.
18 posted on 10/13/2001 2:08:40 AM PDT by DoughtyOne
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2
works for me! thanks for the magic PING, John!
19 posted on 10/13/2001 2:27:23 AM PDT by xsmommy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: JohnHuang2
FYI--

-Index of TWA 800 articles--

-Index of TWA 800--Archive articles--

20 posted on 10/13/2001 2:44:36 AM PDT by backhoe
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-51 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson