The myth that refuses to die.
Here's a list of confirmed, fatal commercial airline bombings for which no claim of responsibility was ever made:
Air France Flight 406 (May 10, 1961)
Crashed in Libya/78 killed
Aden Airways (November 22, 1966)
Crashed in Yemen/30 killed
Philippine Air Lines (April 21, 1970)
Crashed in Manila/36 killed
China Airlines (November 21, 1971)
Crashed off Penghu Island/25 killed
Philippine Air Lines (April 21, 1973)
Crashed near Patabangan, Philippines/33 killed
Ethiopian Airlines (February 19, 1979)
Crashed in Barentu, Ethiopia/5 killed
Transportes Aereos del Caribe (December 21, 1980)
Crashed in Rio Hacha, Colombia/70 killed
Air India Flight (June 23, 1985)
Crashed over the Atlantic/329 killed*
* part of a coordinated attack; a second bomb detonated in the Tokyo airport, killing 2
Air Lanka (May 3, 1986)
Exploded on the runway in Colombo, Sri Lanka/21 killed
Korean Air (November 29, 1987)
Departed Abu Dhabi, UAE and vanished over the Andaman Sea/115 killed
Philippine Air Lines (December 11, 1994)
Detonated after leaving Narita, Japan (by way of Manila)/1 killed*
*Dry run for Operation: Bojinka/Ramzi Yousef was proven to have planted the bomb
Those are just the successful bombings that authorities confirmed were caused by on-board bombs. There are many more that failed to cause fatalities or bring down the target (including three attempted attacks against Air France). There's also the 9/11 attacks, which weren't claimed until months later when the OBL tape was released; and the AA587 crash over Queens, which was claimed by al Qaeda in May, 2004 (two and a half years after the fact). Both incidents were also claimed by the Iraqi regime in December, 2001 (in the form of a poem by a regime mouthpiece, delivered in Saddam's presence).
The most alarming thing about this isn't all of the Freepers ruling out terrorism because no claim has been made at this point. It's the authorities who are saying it publicly. Do the men charged with investigating the possibility of terrorism have no knowledge of the history of terrorism against commercial airliners? About 60% of these attacks are claimed, the other 40% aren't. And of the 60% that are claimed, many (if not most) of those claims are false claims designed to throw off investigators (PanAm 103 was claimed by three groups, none of whom were involved in any way; Volga-AviaExpress 1303 and Siberia Airlines 1047 were claimed by nonexistent groups, etc.)
When you put this much stock in the claim of responsibility, you're giving the jihadists (or the narco terrorists, or the whatever separatists, etc.) a very powerful tool. And they will use it to their advantage.
That’s interesting, and I appreciate the information.
It seems to me though, that what you’re saying is that because the jihadists make these claims later or never, it somehow proves they did it. I’m not sure that’s a logical conclusion, although I’ll reserve judgment on the 11/12/94 Philippine Air Lines since I don’t know what the “proof” is.
The fact that the jihadists sometimes take credit long after the incident suggests they may be taking advantage of the circumstances, although they may well be responsible.
I also notice that the last incident on your list occurred in late 2001, which suggests that Bush’s efforts had an impact on their ability to operate. Since this event just occurred, it doesn’t fit the time frame presented by your list, nor does it disproportionately harm Americans or Israelis.
I do think some terrorist attacks and bombings are covered up, but I don’t think the list itself proves that those particular events were terrorist events. Further detail substantiated by professionals would be helpful in establishing the validity of the claim that THOSE events were jihadist/terrorist events.