Missiles smuggled into U.S.

Washington Times ^ | 5/31/02 | Bill Gertz

[kattracks]

The U.S. government has alerted airlines and law enforcement agencies that new intelligence indicates that Islamic terrorists have smuggled shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles into the United States.

Classified intelligence reports circulated among top Bush administration policymakers during the past two weeks identified the missiles as Russian-made SA-7 surface-to-air missiles or U.S.-made Stinger anti-aircraft missiles obtained covertly in Afghanistan, said intelligence officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

[Starrgaizr]

Today's Shuttle Launch TFR

[CJ Wolf]

thanks, which one is that? Can we get focused on what all these threats look like? Will it fit in a duffle bag?

[Jeff Chandler]

If it is true that the government has now decided to let out the truth about TWA 800, I think a lot of heads will roll. I wonder how the Clintons will explain this one.

The press won't mention Clinton. They'll just refer to "The President" and "The Whitehouse" and most people will think of Bush.

[swarthyguy]

Noticed the same when flights started up after 9/11. Seem to moderate then for the past few weeks, coming in at right angles to the established landing path, banked at angles and seeming sometimes flying a lot faster to land than what i observed last summer, when they would make straight line leisurely landings.

Mobile and those Miss beaches are beautiful.

[eno_]

I wonder just who these shills are in real life. Some disruptors are just that: disruptive, and are probably random leftists, but Asmodeus cannot possibly at this point be pumping that center fuel tank theory for his own amusement. Somebody must be seriously interested in using FR postings as a propaganda tool.

[swarthyguy]

That statement by GeorgeS. should be cause to depose, get the truth out. Bodansky says by not disclosing the claims made by islamic groups regarding TWA800 we raised the threshold for the terrorists to gain our attention when they saw that the crash was attributed to sparks in the fuel tank. Of course, 747's sit on the tarmac in all kinds of hot places with no untoward incidents.

[Plummz]

You still believe that garbage? The Ay-rab Stinger story was spread solely to divert attention from the plausible, which is a Navy missle drone.

[Poohbah]

The SA-7's range is only 200 feet lower than the altitude. Could the missile have self-destructed after firing, and put a fragment into the fuel tank?

Remember, that range is a proving-ground figure, not real-world.

[DoughtyOne]

The page I linked says it's a (SA-7 Grail). But it's in cyrilic. Only the tag is readable.

[Poohbah]

Four engine heat source. The missile nulls on the center of the heat sources which is the center of the aircraft where by coincidence the center fuel tank is located.

Too bad that IR guidance systems don't work like that.

[eno_]

The only solution that will make a serious dent in Al Quaida's operational effectiveness in the U.S. is:

1. Hunt down and deport all Arab and other Moslem illegal aliens.

2. Perform security checks on all Arabs and other Moslems with valid visas.

3. Monitor all activity at radicalized mosques.

Anything less amounts to setting up a planeload of innocents for death, or whatever other victims they have in mind. I cannot get the idea of what the parents of children on those doomed airplanes went through out of my mind. It makes me very very angry at the buffoons running the airlines and airport security to think of this. Now it is up to the FBI and INS. I am not hopeful (and neither I nor my family is flying, either).

[timestax]

TWA800 shootdown/cover-up

[Joe Hadenuf]

Flight 800 was shot down. you know it, i know it, and look at the stats on this missile. Why were we lied to? To protect us from the truth?

No no. It can't be. The FBI and the government told us it had a bad gas tank and just blew up. The FBI said so.

[JohnGalt]

So more policing is the answer? Like a leftie who looks at the failed Great Society and asks for more money to make it work next time?...

How 'bout:

1) Stop bombing soveriegn nations and dropping missiles on asprin factories

2) Buy off Arab regimes who hunt down terrorsits

3) Allow private enterprise to purchase air defense systems

4)Allow airlines to decide for themselves who can carry a firearm onto a plane and who can't

[Tao Yin]

I am so torn between wanting to eradicate evil and sparing innocence. But when innocence is complacent, even accommodating, is it really innocent. I'd really like to say eradicate them all. Then this threat would be over. I realize there are other threats out there, but nothing even close to this evil and insidious. I'm wondering when the majority of people will stand up and say, enough is enough. Then it really will be the end, and I shudder to think of the morality that will be through out the window, along with who knows what else.

[eno_]

Allow private enterprise to purchase air defense systems

How about a suggestion that can be implemented in the next few weeks before the effing towelheads take out an airliner? Then we can have a pissing match over which one of us is more philosophically pure.

[NautiNurse]

Air Force One was a target on 9/11.

Your statement brought back real memories of terror to me. I was white-knuckling the chair that morning, repeating over and over --"Please let President Bush and Air Force One clear our airspace quickly." I recall watching the television and out the window as Air Force One taxied down the runway at SRQ. Far too close for comfort for me. I never doubted for one moment the idea that it was a target.

[in the Arena]

"We don't have information that al Qaeda is planning to use these against commercial aircraft in the United States," an FBI official said. "However, we are passing the information along for people to remain alert to the potential use."

I suppose they could have brought the missles into the country for sporting purposes...

Why the hell else would you smuggle a missle into the country ? It's to shoot down an aircraft.

[Steve0113]

Speaking of Air Force One, if terrorists could take down TWA 800 with a Stinger, seems to me they would have been equally capable of taking down Air Force One by hiding right outside Andrews Air Force Base.

IIRC, Air Force 1 is a 747. Four engines, flies just fine with three. One Stinger couldn't bring it down.

For the same reason, one Stinger couldn't have brought down TWA-800, also a 747.

[in the Arena]

Do you have a link to the story ? Has the government made a statement ?