Believable.
"Why do you discount his word?"
Sure, ol' labette is going to call a Vietnam vet a liar...on Free Republic no less..and on Sunday...NOT! {Well, maybe John Kerry..}
Why not simply treat him as a witness who is telling what he saw to the best of his ability and recollection. Dear FRiend frogjerk, you are the one who posted Captain McClaine's testimony @ reply# 121 where you said "I am also skeptical of the missile theory because of this Captain's testimony:"
I'm going to make a few points from very limited wisdom and please note that I am not trying to ridicule your opinion:
-Page McClaine 6- He isn't reporting what he is seeing, but what he remembers seeing two years ago.
-Page McClaine 12- He reports only high cirrus clouds above his 24000 ft. altitude. {Other witnesses claim lower clouds at TWA's 13000 area.}
-Page McClaine 17- "Boy, did he have a pair of landing lights."
-Page McClaine 18- He decides the two lights are really one light, Yet he was watching TWA constantly for two to five minutes. {Once again, from the position McClaine gives TWA in relation to his window, I wonder if he would have even been able to see a missile launched from even farther below. Therefore, it is irrelevant if he didn't see a missile. Two lights that are later one could even be stretched to support missile theories.}
-As a final observation,You yourself don't believe the zoom theory, so why do you think it was necessary for the CIA to get into the movie making business? {Hint, propaganda}
"Propaganda is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. If the means achieves the end then the means is good.." Goebbels
Behold. Here we have an age old evil, the end justifying the means. Could you imagine the wailing and gnashing of teeth by the MSM if Bush pulled this stunt?
It strikes me as being incredible to assume that just because this ONE man didn't see it, it didn't happen.
I don't think this is the first time he told this story. In fact, he wrote up an incident report the same day which he states he will refer to during the interview.
-Page McClaine 17- "Boy, did he have a pair of landing lights."
I don't understand what your point is regarding this. This is what he thought he was looking and it was the reason later on why he kept looking at the plane. He also noticed that it was off color and the "brightest thing in the sky".
-Page McClaine 18- He decides the two lights are really one light, Yet he was watching TWA constantly for two to five minutes.
Wrong. This is not what he did. He did not decide two lights were one but actually the opposite. He saw one light but because of the brightness and possibly the angle of viewing he considered it may have been two
As far as the CIA zoom theory, you are correct, I don't really buy it. Hey, I don't believe a word Bill or Hillary say but to believe this is a big conspiracy cover up because the CIA theorized incorrectly is a non sequitur based upon the evidence and information that I have seen. If I read up more upon the disaster I may agree with you. I'm just very skeptical when it comes to conspiracy theories, cover ups and such.
As I said earlier, I can be swayed in my opinion because my mind is not made up on this. It's just that the missile theory needs more real evidence in my mind before I can seriously consider it.