[gg188]

Is the wee hours of the morning a time for some innocent tin-foil rumination?

The shuttle was far too high above the earth for a terrorist missle strike...

But...

Our work places---particularly those work places of skilled, particularly technical and engineering and computer work environments---are populated by tens of thousands of foreigners who a) owe no allegiance to the U.S., and/or b) personally ascribe to the beliefs of our enemies that we must be destroyed.

These people are ON THE INSIDE. I know what they could do to a typical Fortune 500 company in the transportation or manufacturing or telecommunications biz...Imagine what they could do in sabotaging an aircraft or spacecraft? ...

Whether this scenario applies to the Columbia or not, it is something we'd better be keenly aware of as we proceed into the uncertain future of securing our nation.

[Ronin]

That is my thinking too.

There are a lot of possibilities. The one that strikes me as the most plausible involves the pyrotechnic charges in the gear doors. If ever there was a weak point, that would be it.

You would think that they would know that, and take extra precautions. But sometimes the smartest people in the world miss the most obvious things. As Sept. 11 taught us in no uncertain terms.