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Official TWA 800 Findings Challenged
By Reed Irvine and Cliff Kincaid
June 10, 2002
Posted on 06/10/2002 4:43:57 PM PDT by Asmodeus
Official TWA 800 Findings Challenged By Reed Irvine and Cliff Kincaid |
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The TWA Flight 800 Independent Researchers Organization, FIRO, has taken the unusual step of filing a petition with the National Transportation Safety Board, NTSB, asking for reconsideration of the findings on the probable cause of the crash of TWA Flight 800. Such petitions are entertained only if new evidence has been found or a showing that the NTSB findings were erroneous. FIRO claims that some evidence that the NTSB kept secret and which has now become available for public scrutiny is new evidence that shows that the official findings were erroneous.
Their petition cites as one important example metals of "unknown origin" that were found in the bodies of many of those who died in the crash on July 17, 1996. The FBI asked the Brookhaven National Laboratory to analyze pellets found in the bodies. They contained zirconium and barium, indicative of an incendiary device foreign to a Boeing 747airliner. The NTSB acknowledges that the source of these pellets is unknown and that the FBI did not try to determine the source.
The Suffolk County coroner, Dr. Wetli, found shrapnel in 89 of the bodies he examined. The FBI compiled a secret eight-page list describing the metal found in each of the bodies. FIRO has sued under FOIA to obtain this list. The court ordered the FBI to release it, but they are trying to get that reversed on privacy grounds, claiming it invades the privacy of the dead. That is a spurious argument because the dead have no privacy rights, but FIRO is not arguing that point. It says it is not interested in the names of those in whose bodies the shrapnel was found. What it wants is its description of the metal found in each of those bodies. It is believed that a lot of it will be pellets.
Retired Brigadier General Benton Partin, who helped design missiles for the Air Force, has said that the Brookhaven Laboratory’s analysis of the composition of the mysterious pellets suggests to him that they came from a missile. The FBI and NTSB never showed Gen. Partin or any other missile experts the Brookhaven analysis. They were content to list the shrapnel as coming from an unknown source. Their throwing a secrecy blanket over this evidence and their failure to determine its source indicates that they knew that sourcing it accurately would undermine their claim that a spontaneous fuel-tank explosion caused the crash.
The penchant of the FBI and NTSB for hiding, altering and finally destroying TWA Flight 800 evidence is very revealing. Last summer the NTSB, headed by a Bush appointee, secretly sold all the TWA 800 wreckage that had been kept at the Calverton hangar as scrap metal to be recycled. The buyer had to promise to keep it secret to get the contract.
The NTSB claims that the reason the buyer was asked not to tell anyone was to keep away scavengers and souvenir hunters. Why should the NTSB care about that once it was no longer their property? We believe they were determined to make sure it was all recycled so that none of it could be used as evidence to challenge their finding of the cause of the crash.
Reed Irvine can be reached at ri@aim.org
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Many have been led to suspect or believe the "missile witnesses" and "missile(s) shootdown" allegations published for years by Reed Irvine, the Donaldson brothers and Ian Goddard, among others. The NTSB denies their allegations. It should go without saying that one side or the other is spreading misinformation.
The "Missile Witnesses" Myth is a detailed and documented rebuttal of the allegations that there were "missile witnesses". None of those alleging there were "missile witnesses" have been able todate to provide anything remotely resembling a meaningful rebuttal of it.
Similarly, none of those making the "missile(s) shootdown" or "bomb" allegations have been able todate to publicly present any physical evidence that a missile or bomb was involved in the disaster, much less anything remotely resembling a meaningful rebuttal of FBI Chief Metallurgist Blows Whistle On Kallstrom's Wild Goose Chase that there was no physical evidence of either a missile or bomb in the wreckage.
Here's the earlier referred to excerpt of Donaldson's testimony during a congressional hearing.
Mr. LIPINSKI. Excuse me, Commander, but how many military air crashes have you participated in as a lead investigator?
Commander DONALDSON. Lead investigator, one or two.
Mr. LIPINSKI. How many overall?
Commander DONALDSON. Because of the way that the military is structured, I have supervised probably a dozen. I go through and critique in the superior-the wing safety officer, for instance, reviews every squadron crash in detail--
Mr. LIPINSKI. So as lead, one or two, and you were involved in 12 other ones. Have you ever participated in an official investigation of a civil air crash?
Commander DONALDSON. No.
Mr. LIPINSKI. Who funds your research?
Commander DONALDSON. No one has funded my research. I have had direct reimbursement for bills for rental cars and for motels, and that is about it, through Accuracy in Media.
Mr. LIPINSKI. Accuracy in Media?
Commander DONALDSON. Right.
Source
I did not personally see the missle but I know people that did. This evidence should be enough to confirm what took the plane down. We have a fragmentation AA missle warhead here.
Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown
There is no "Witness myth." I've heard several, met one, read gazillions of police reports, and seen lots of summaries on the 'net. Are you suggesting that all of these people, some pilots, some military, are engaged in some sort of conspiracy or fantasy? This isn't the first time that a plane has crashed in or around Long Island. It is the first time, to my knowledge, that there are any people who claim to have seen a missile bring down a plane. Can you cite another example? (There are 100's of people who say they saw a missile bring down TWA 800.)
I can understand why you might find some of the things Cmdr. Donaldson has said, somewhat suspect. He had an agenda: to deflect attention from his Navy.
What's your agenda, I wonder.
ML/NJ
Now I know that this statement is a load of horseshit; I vividly recall the events of that evening, I sat on my couch until the wee hours of the morning watching TV and I clearly recall several eyewitnesses who described something going UP and hitting the plane. Either the eyewitnesses existed or I'm crazy.
Well, I'm not crazy and I'm also one the least "tinfoil" type people on this forum, but I have to sadly deduce that one of our own missiles hit that plane. I'm sure it was an accident, at least I hope it was. Had this been the work of terrorists, our government would have fingered them immediately; even more likely is the fact that the terrorist organization responsible would have trumpeted their act.
So who is left among the suspects? And before someone questions motive or arrives at an outlandish scenario, I want to ask our FR vets what the first inclination of our US brass is when something gets frigged up and it's their fault.
Ah, yes....But here are very few facts from from which to base a well informed opinion here.
It is known that the government agencies involved are well known for their incompetence.
There are respectible people, well aquainted and experienced in flight, who believe that a missle attack was likely and who have testified so.
Although I have no opinion, I do not trust our government who has all too frequently swept embarrasing problems like this under the rug.
The current shakeup for politically correct politicians is just changing the deck chairs at CIA and the FBI and no one will loose their jobs(9-11). Mr Norm Mineta is a prime example of politically correct madness at the controls of government which is endangering us all.
Nonetheless, Have a nice day tommorrow.
Well, I'm alleging that I saw such people on TV, and the allegations are reliable. I saw them, and nothing you have stated can alter that fact.
I agree...the only thing I'm not sure of is what the powers-that-be should have done...confess? Pay the families of the victims? Apologize? Clinton had too much to lose to allow any of that, in my opinion.
I would suggest you familiarize yourself with all the details. When numerous eyewitness testimony and physical evidence is both ignored in reaching a conclusion that even George Stephenopolis admitted was a fabrication immediately after September 11, 2001 one may safely conclude that the fairy tale is the FBI/NTSB official conclusion. Finding metal fragments other than that consitent with a 747 or luggae is beyond suspect it is in itself proof of foul play much as a bullet in the body is "proof" that someone fired it into the body. The cites evidence proving that the FBI/Ntsb version is myth on its face. It is time for them to deal with the this evidence.
LOL You are not too famaliar with LI on a summer evening, Satan.
I worked with a sane and sober woman who witnessed it, as did countless others. BTW, she was interviewed by the FBI, so even if you think she misconstrued what she saw, she still witnessed it.
I would suggest that if pellets were found, of some uniformity, then the culprit is more likely an on-board bomb.
I do not know or surmise what brought down TWA 800, but I know from firefighting experience that the atmosphere inside a warm, sealed jet fuel tank is not an explosive mixture. The explosive mixture is too rich. A ruptured fuel tank, leaking fuel will spew fuel that atomizes, vaporizes and burns, perhaps explosively... but fuel tanks do not explode unless there is another charge detonated nearby or inside the tank.
First, the military who were possibly responsible for firing the missile. Their first inclination when something like this happens is to run for the tall grass. And in a way I don't blame them. Just look what is happening in the aftermath of 911; the politicians are looking for someone to griddle. Such politicians look at TWA 800 as an opportunity to make political hay.
Second, speaking of the politicians, several high-ranking among them are in charge of our military through various committees. They don't want to look bad.
And so I'll leave you with this thought: politicians are like diapers; both need to be changed often, and for the same reason.
Not waering my glasses so excuse any typos
Interestingly, James Kallstrom had the same erroneous knee jerk reaction and blew away the better part of $40,000,000 of the texpayers' money before having to admit that no evidence of a missile or bomb was found in the recovered wreckage.
The Massive Fireball explosion, informally estimated to have been 2000 feet in diameter, filled the sky at about 5500-7500 feet at approximately 8:31:47 - long after the wreckage of the 747 started descending.
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