FBI Warns of New Shoe Bomb Attacks

USA Today / AP ^ | 12/24/2002 | AP Staff

[Paul Ross]

Nice image montages! I personally prefer the substitution of the tactical explosive for a Nine-Megaton nuclear mushroom cloud, and a subsequent 5-miles wide crater, glowing cobalt-blue......

[Asmodeus]

"Everyone here should note that Ass-mode is a paid shill for an ambulance-chasing outfit in NYC that sued Boeing on the basis of the fuel tank theory. His posts are spam to support a losing lawsuit that exploits TWA800 victims."

ALL those accusations are false.

[quote] To the flight 800 families, I would like to add this: It is unfortunate that a small number of people, pursuing their own agendas, have persisted in making unfounded charges of a government cover-up in this investigation. These people do a grievous injustice to the many dedicated individuals, civilian and military, who have been involved in this investigation.

Some 75 NTSB staff members have participated in this investigation. I'll pause while their names are being listed on the screens in front of you. Collectively, they have more than 1,000 years of government and aviation industry experience. Many of them have served in the military, including service in Southeast Asia and in the Gulf War. These men and women, in my opinion, represent the best in U.S. government service.

I recognize that the TWA flight 800 investigation is technically complex, and that knowledgeable people can disagree over some of the substantive matters. But I take exception to those who consistently distort the record and persist in making unfounded charges of a cover-up. They do a disservice to us all -- but most especially to you, the TWA 800 families, who have suffered so much in this tragedy. And, for that I'm sorry. [end quote]
Statement of Jim Hall, Chairman, National Transportation Safety Board at Opening of NTSB Board Meeting to Consider The Final Report On The Crash of TWA Flight 800 August 22, 2000

As you know, this is not some sort of fun internet game and the stakes are high. The Flight 800 conspiracy theorists allege that lots of people, thousands some of them say, should be in prison. Some others believe that when the families lawsuits against the manufacturing defendents have all been concluded, their lawyers will file emotional distress type lawsuits on behalf of the families against the Flight 800 conspiracy theorists, in which event the conspiracy theorists would have to prove their accusations and allegations, which they have been unable to do for over six years now.

[Asmodeus]

"the 300 + ...many of them highly qualified eyewitnesses".

Contrary to the allegations of the TWA 800 conspiracy theorists, all of them wannabe expert witness report analysts, there were no "shootdown" witnesses. The conspiracy theorists all made the same mistaken assumption at the outset that the Massive Fireball explosion took place at 13,800 feet at 8:31:12. It didn't. The timeline and altitudes of the major events of the TWA 800 disaster was approximately as follows:

8:31:11 Intact and climbing 747 approaches 13,800 feet.

8:31:12 Initiating Event at 13,800 feet.

8:31:43-8:31:47 Streak of light appears.

8:31:47 Explosion of Massive Fireball at 5500-7500 feet.

8:31:55-8:31:57 Splashdown of the Massive Fireball flames.
Source - The "missile Witnesses" Myth.

[Asmodeus]

"Obviously you black-suiters think the airline industry would tank if it was known that Al-Quaeda/Iraqi operatives are launching SAM-7s and Stingers right in our own country just down range of the airports. Well guess what, boys. Most Americans already suspect it".

One of the trademarks of some of the conspiracy theorists has always been to make wildly reckless accusations of heinous crimes about everyone who dares to disagree with their fantasys.

It shouldn't be necessary to remind you that FreeRepublic is a forum for Conservatives and that it is not a conspiracy theorists forum. There are plenty of those forums elsewhere. Conspiracy theories are a slippery slope for the credibility of those who promote them, as evidenced by this series of articles by a nationally prominent Conservative who wound up with his own credibility badly damaged.

[MatthewViti]

I had to remove my shoes in Mexico at Los Cabos Intl' Airport, and they were wanded.

[NetValue]

"What really sucks is that if a plane actually gets knocked down by a shoe-bomber, we'll never know. The NTSB will cover it up and blame it on pilot error or structural failure."

Or center fuel tank ignition from a spark?

[aristeides]

Shoe Bomber Reid should have been tried by military tribunal. Then he would face the death penalty, the way the German saboteurs in 1942 did.

[eno_]

I don't think the inference is that Israel assisnated the Egyptian officers, rather that AQ assasinated them. IIRC they were helicopter pilots or some other expensively trained specialty. AQ is pissed off at Egypt's (albeit cold) peace with Israel and the aid Egypt gets from the U.S. 30 helo pilots is about a $60M hit for cost of training alone. Egypt does not have that large a highly educated and trained elite to easily recover from that hit.

[Fiddlstix]

Bump

[ninenot]

Right.

All the evidence CLEARLY and INELUCTABLY led to the conclusion that the center fuel tank suffered spontaneous combustion, the result of which brought down the plane.

Yup.

Check with Ilbay to make sure that your posts are absolutely 100% guaranteed to be safe for our Gummint.

[copycat]

Was Richard Reid Shoe Bomber #2?

[eno_]

Just so this thread does not become a non-sequitor: Asmodeus successfully whined to the admin moderator to have my posts pulled for the heinous crime of "name derivation." I called him "Ass mode."

What a childish playground complaint! Apart from the fact that derivation is both hilarious approriate to the target, and that freepers should not be deprived of that hilarity, the Admin Moderator should be ashamed of wasting time on Asmodeus's whinge. Even the term "name derivation" reeks of public education PC and therefore should be soundly rejected in this forum. Can't you just picture your five year old being sent home with a note from a kindergaten counselor explaining that deriving a derogatory phrase from another child's name is now unacceptable on the playground?

The content of those posts accuses Asmodeus of:

a) Being a paid shill of Kreindler, as ambulance chasing nest of shysters. His response indicts himself.

b) Being a nutbag on par with Art Bell chemtrails enthusiasts for resting his theory on non-existent surveillance sat data tha puts an exploding TWA800 at an altitude that fits his preposterous theories. Such data was never published, and he never cites a source (other than maybe Elmer Barr, who is, in fact, Asmodeus).

c) Of, along with Kriendler, exploiting TWA800 victims for the sake of a lawsuit that is going nowhere.

His real motivation to complain is, of course, that he wants to keep these conclusions about his motivations out of fora like FR. "Name derivation" my ass. Elmer Barr was, by the way, banned from FR. So what is Asmodeous doing here if such bans have any meaning?

[ninenot]

Name-derivations aside, there's plenty of controversy surrounding TW800. It is not settled in my mind, nor the minds of Boeing (nor its union, the Machinists) that the "fuel tank" theory is fact.

Never happened before, never happened again.

OTOH, there are people who state that a boatload of Middle Eastern nationals took off going east from Long Island in a rented powerboat before the plane went down. THere are even more who state that they saw a flash RISING on the eastern horizon before the plane went down.

THere is room for a conclusion of co-incidence, I suppose. But that has to be proven, too.

[Asmodeus]

"resting his theory on non-existent surveillance sat data tha puts an exploding TWA800 at an altitude that fits his preposterous theories."

The source of the report of the satellite sighting of the Massive Fireball explosion "about 1 mile" above the surface is included in The "Missile Witnesses" Myth.

Additional confirmation of the low altitude of the Massive Fireball explosion is in the following Airborne Witness Matrix of NTSB Exhibit 4-A.

NTSB Airborne Witness Matrix

Also, witnesses Sven Faret and Ken Wendell clearly stated in their own personally prepared detailed report that the Massive Fireball explosion took place below their own flight altitude of 8500 feet and that they flew over to the smoke cloud it left and found that its top was at 7700 feet.

Additionally, New York Air National Guard Major Fred Meyer also clearly indicated in his own detailed report that the elapsed time between the first explosions he saw - which looked to him like an "ordnance" and the Massive Fireball explosion was only 3-4 seconds, leaving no room for doubt that all the explosions were in close proximity to each other. He further stated in his report that he and his helicopter crewmates all agreed that the falltime of the Massive Fireball flames to the surface was approximnately 10 seconds, an obvious impossibility if the Massive Fireball explosion had taken place anywhere near 13,800 feet as the "shootdown" conspiracy theorists erroneously assumed.

Witness Frederick C. Meyers' Own Press Graphic See "Source" At Lower Left

Note that the "ordnance" explosions were engulfed by the Massive Fireball explosion as further documented in graphic #5 of the following sequential graphics prepared by the New York Air National Guard after debriefing Major Meyer and his Jolly 14 helicopter crewmates.

NYANG Sequential Graphics

Incidentally, if the Moderators deleted your postings because of "name derivation", take it up with them. I've never even heard of that term.