Missiles smuggled into U.S.

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.

"There have been 26 aircraft worldwide shot down by MANPADs--Man Portable Defense Systems; Flight 800 may have been the 27th. To prove that foreign MANPADs have been previously smuggled into the country, Donaldson recalled the curious case of the French-made Mistral, a Stinger-type missile that was found along a country road in Westminster, Maryland in October, 1994. The owner of a nearby convenience store had noticed it alongside the road; the Mistral was leaning on its side. "Somebody brought it here," said Donaldson. "Normally a Mistral would not be in this country except for some type of joint military test. Westminister, Maryland is an area that is constantly overflown by airlines from the major airports on the east coast. It's a great place to try to shoot down a plane....

Just got back from my first airplane flight since 9-11.

Spent almost two hours on the taxiway while almost 40 planes waited for takeoff. Here's the kicker...the pilot had to turn off the engines and switch to the auxiliary to save fuel, and he told us. He also told us that a lot of East Coast Traffic was being diverted around a "weather event". Yet...we arrived cross country only 5 minutes late.

Hint...there was no weather event...planes from a certain 'high profile' airport were using our airspace to divert around some 'heavy duty' problem immediatly to the West.

Care to 'speculate' what that event was???

...chances are 50/50...The stakes are so high, the WTC on 9/11 being an example, that even if the odds aren't as good as 50/50 you have to gather intelligence anyway.

And let me warn you, it is very hard work and sometimes you have absolutely no idea what is coming at you or what is going to happen.

Doing nothing is worse than giving up and surrendering.

Care to 'speculate' what that event was???

Oh! Yeah...one more thing...as we approached our airport at the end of the trip, the pilot deployed his Spoilers (and his flaps) at about 10,000 feet to literally dump lift!

We practically Pancaked onto the runway.

I guess the name of the game now is to NOT do any more low altitude flying than is absolutely necessary.

I was just thinking about the same thing. I was supporting the side of the 'friendly fire' concept. There seemed to be a plethora of support and information that fit. The government is and has been known to cover up many incidents of this type. After 9/11 it made many people open up to the idea that it really could have been terrorists.

At this point we still don't know which one it really was, do we?

Some people have closed minds. Once they decide what they think happened, no amount of facts or new info can ever change their mind. I try to stay open minded. As I get new information, I evaluate it and see if it changes what I once thought was true.

As for you calling me and others jerks, remember what No personal attacks. You and I may agree or disagree on a particular subject. Fine, argue and debate the subject. You may still end up being wrong, you know.. The issue still isn't settled.

Everyone seems to be an EXPERT on plane disasters and what each and every missile would do to a plane. Funny thing is most of them don't agree.

I made a joking reference to the info that terrorists had been bringing in shoulder fired missiles to use in the U.S. Many of us here were pretty sure they were doing so back when we were discussing the TWA800 threads. But back then Clinktoon was in charge, so there was a big reason to distrust what the government was telling us. There still is.

I think the idea that terrorists did it should be just one more possibility added to the rest, to be proved or disproved.

If you have proof it was terrorists, why don't you tell us all about it ?

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