Personal Thoughts About The Book: "First Strike: TWA Flight 800 and the Attack on America"

02/14/2005 | Grey_Wolfe

[Grey_Wolfe]

The authors have done an excellent job in writing and stating their case in this non-fiction book! They tell you what is their speculation and document what they detail as fact. Since it is written in an investigative reporting journalistic style, it is not a book you can read in one night. But, it does periodically summarize what you have read so that you can put it down and pick it up days later and not lose the sequencing of facts.

I am wary of blindly accepting “conspiracy theories”, especially about possible terrorist activities in the present climate of our nation. But this book made such a compelling argument that I filed my own “Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA)” request to the FBI and the NTSB. So far only the FBI has allowed me to obtain some documents. The catch is that the ONLY “Documents available for release consist of 757 pages”. Seeing as there was over a year of investigations by the FBI that included multiple interviews with over 700 eyewitnesses, research of police, Navy, and CIA involvement and participation in the investigation, etc., this is a conspicuously limited amount of documents. As I have had to pay to get a copy of them, I am still waiting for the documents to arrive. I am extremely interested in seeing what those documents contain (or lack).

I am aware of and have researched the conflicting articles (and books) that appeared in the media of the months and years following the crash. I am also aware that there was more than one government reason given for the crash. It changed every time the NTSB or witness reports made it into or were leaked to the media news (in error) and were later dispelled by the government. Since the Dan Rather Scandal in 2004, if you still believe in major media investigative reporting without bias, I might have some prime real estate development (swampland) to sell you.

The FBI was in charge of the crash investigation from day one (07/17/1996). From day one the NTSB was NOT in charge of the investigation. It was not even called in to work the crash until a day after the FBI and the Navy were. Technically, the FBI is only brought in when an accident is ruled out and a crash is considered to be a crime. Also, with the FBI in charge they can invoke the "National Security" clause to quash any news they do not want the public to know about or to limit information given out via the “Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA)”.

Over 100 eyewitnesses followed an object in the sky as it made a sharp turn and then saw an explosion, were not allowed to give testimony at the NTSB Congressional Investigation. I challenge you to do a web (www) search on “TWA Flight 800 Eyewitness” and see what information you find. Read the sites with an open mind and then draw your own conclusions.

While appearing on the Larry King Live show, Senator John Kerry suggested that the TWA Fight 800 was brought down by a terrorist act. At the time, I thought that maybe he had made a mistake. But on September 24, 2001, on Hardball with Chris Matthews, he casually recited a number of terrorist attacks against the U.S.A., including the mention of TWA “Flight 800” (again).

After TWA Flight 800 crashed in 1996, to which an increasing amount of people are now starting to believe that the crash might have actually been a terrorist strike, Al Gore was put in charge of the new airline and national security commission. The commission originally declared additional security measures would need to be implemented immediately in order for the airline industry to thwart the risk of terrorist activity, including the hijacking of planes. The airline industry immediately screamed bloody murder about the cost of implementing the added security measures. After a short amount of time, the major airline companies donated approximately $500,000 to the 1996 Clinton DNC Presidential Campaign. The commission backed off the "immediacy" of its requirements and changed them to be only recommendations. Without issuing the empowerment for the government agencies or commission to back these recommendations up, there was no reason for the Airline Industry to initiate them. Since 9/11, most, if not all, of those same recommendations have been put into place.

If the recommendations had been followed and the enforcement of them not possibly been bought off by special interests, it is my belief that the chance of a war in Iraq might have been greatly reduced. One can only speculate whether preventive action in the 1990’s would have been sufficient to deter the September 11, 2001 tragedy, but this book gives you a lot of information to dwell on. Remember, in the first half of 1996, in a written proclamation, Usama Bin Laden formally declared war on the United States of America. Why did it take over 5 years for us to declare war on him?

Listed Below Are Just Some Of The Supporting Documentation (Books, Articles, And Links) …

Books:

Ron Brown's Body: How One Man's Death Saved the Clinton Presidency and Hillary's Future By Jack Cashill

First Strike – TWA Flight 800 And The Attack On America By Jack Cashill And James Sanders

The Third Terrorist: The Middle Eastern Connection to the Oklahoma City Bombing By Jayna Davis

Intelligence Failure: How Clinton's National Security Policy Set the Stage For 9/11 By David N. Bossie

The First Terrorist Act By Harold Thomas Beck

Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America By Yossef Bodansky

Report Links:

Interim Report on the Crash of TWA Flight 800 and the Actions of the NTSB and FBI – Cmdr. Bill Donaldson, USN/Ret. And the Associated Retired Aviation Professionals - July 17, 1998 http://www.TWA800.com/report/Flt800.pdf

Report Of Congressman James A. Traficant, Jr. - To The Transportation & Infrastructure. Subcommittee On Aviation - On The TWA Flight 800 Investigation - July 15, 1998 http://members.aol.com/bardonia2/traf.htm

Other Links:

9/11 Commission QuickTime Sound Clip: George "Stephie" Steponallofus, Dick Morris and, indirectly, Louis Freeh in his recent 9-11 Commission testimony-- http://users.rcn.com/scherado/misc/freehbombshell.mp3

Iraqis behind 747's demise.htm WorldNetDaily Iraqis behind 747's demise.htm (July 16, 1996 TWA Flight 800)-- http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=31818

http://www.apfn.org/apfn/eyewitnesses.htm

http://www.Flight800.org/witness_evidence.htm

http://www.Cashill.com/

http://www.multipull.com/TWAcasefile/proof.html

http://www.angelfire.com/hi/TWA800/

http://www.aci.net/kalliste/donaldso.htm

[Red Badger]

I will always believe TWA-800 was a terrorist act of murder........period.

[cweese]

Do you also post here using the handles "ILL" and "iliya Pavlovich"? The amount of pontificating by these posters is overwhelming.

[Darksheare]

Are you going to comment on your other threads?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/user-posts?id=195930

[Grey_Wolfe]

This is my only post handle

[cweese]

OK, sorry for the flame.

[Darksheare]

Ding ding ding.. first response within a thread you've posted.

[NCC-1701]

I will too. As a bit of trivia concerning TWA 800, this was found on IMDB.com under "trivia" for "9-5"

Trivia for
Nine to Five (1980)
In the middle of the film, Dolly and her colleagues send a nosy secretary to the Aspen Language Center in Colorado, to learn French. The particular TWA 747 shown in the film later was used in reality on the ill-fated flight of TWA 800, which exploded off of Long Island, NY.

Erie, isn't it?

[Grey_Wolfe]

Give me a chance to get there ...

[null and void]

Welcome to FR...

[Grey_Wolfe]

Didn't know that ...

[exit82]

Amen to that. Nothing that came out of the Clinton Administration could be trusted. Ever.

It was a terrorist attack, in my opinion.

I love the way that James Kallstrom, the FBI head of the investigation, retired after 35 years with the FBI, and landed on Wall Street as an "investment banker". The guy was a gumshoe--what did he know about "investments"?.

Typical Clinton payoff policy at work.

There needs to be an independent investigation.

And the complicity of the MSM, from the 1992 campaign on covering for the Clintons and their sorry administration, should never be forgotten.

[Darksheare]

Generally posting four threads in a row on the first day is not a good sign.
Especially lately.

[exit82]

Amen to that. Nothing that came out of the Clinton Administration could be trusted. Ever.

It was a terrorist attack, in my opinion.

I love the way that James Kallstrom, the FBI head of the investigation, retired after 35 years with the FBI, and landed on Wall Street as an "investment banker". The guy was a gumshoe--what did he know about "investments"?.

Typical Clinton payoff policy at work.

There needs to be an independent investigation.

And the complicity of the MSM, from the 1992 campaign on covering for the Clintons and their sorry administration, should never be forgotten.

[maestro]

There are NO.....Soviet black marketed SA missiles in the Americas!

/sarcasm

[SierraWasp]

Baloney! OKC was the first strike!!! (by Saddam, too!)(can't prove it. Just believe it.)

[Grey_Wolfe]

There was a Congressional hearing on the matter. It ended during the Clinton Administration.

[RayChuang88]

But here's a question no one has bothered to answer: did they ever find missile warhead fragments from the remains of TWA 800? When a conventional missile warhead detonates attacking an airplane it usually leaves a distinct fragmentation pattern at the point of impact or a proximity blast; NONE were ever found. Also, at the altitude TWA 800 was flying it is already out of the range of most MANPAD (MANned Portable Air Defense) systems, including the Stinger and SA-18 systems supposedly favored by terrorists. There's only one MANPAD system made in Sweden that could have hit TWA 800 from the ground, but I don't think it was ever exported outside of Sweden.

[1LongTimeLurker]

If the recommendations had been followed and the enforcement of them not possibly been bought off by special interests, it is my belief that the chance of a war in Iraq might have been greatly reduced.

Huh? What has one got to do with the other? We didn't go to war in Iraq because of 9/11, we went because of its violation of UN resolutions, it' s WMD programs, and to free millions of people from a tyrant.

[ladyjane]

Didn't George Stephanopolous also refer to "...when TWA800 was shot down..." on television?