Posted on 08/07/2003 4:22:34 PM PDT by dead
WASHINGTON - U.S. investigators now believe that a hijacker in the cockpit aboard United Airlines Flight 93 instructed terrorist-pilot Ziad Jarrah to crash the jetliner into a Pennsylvania field because of a passenger uprising in the cabin.
This theory, based on the government's analysis of cockpit recordings, discounts the popular perception of insurgent passengers grappling with terrorists to seize the plane's controls.
The government's findings — laid out deep within the report on the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that was sent to Congress last month — aim to resolve one of the enduring mysteries of the deadliest terror attacks in U.S. history: What happened in the final minutes aboard Flight 93?
The FBI strenuously maintains that its analysis does not diminish the heroism of passengers who — with the words "Let's roll" — apparently rushed down the airliner's narrow aisle to try to overtake the hijackers.
President Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft have regularly praised the courage of those aboard Flight 93, some of whom told family members by telephone they were planning to storm the cockpit.
"While no one will ever know exactly what transpired in the final minutes of Flight 93, every shred of evidence indicates this plane crashed because of the heroic actions of the passengers," FBI spokeswoman Susan Whitson said Thursday.
Thirty-three passengers, seven crew members and the four hijackers died.
Citing transcripts of the still-secret cockpit recordings, FBI Director Robert Mueller told congressional investigators in a closed briefing last year that, minutes before Flight 93 hit the ground, one of the hijackers "advised Jarrah to crash the plane and end the passengers' attempt to retake the airplane."
Jarrah is thought to have been the terrorist-pilot because he was the only of the four hijackers aboard known to have a pilot's license.
Mueller's description was disclosed in a brief passage far into the 858-page report to Congress. Previous statements by FBI and other government officials have been ambiguous about what occurred in the cockpit.
Mueller's explanation was based on the FBI's efforts to decipher the cacophonous sounds on the cockpit recorder and produce a comprehensive transcript, said one official, speaking only on condition of anonymity.
The FBI is convinced it may never know for certain what transpired in those final moments, but Mueller represented the information as the FBI's leading theory, this official said.
The same cockpit recording was played privately in April 2002 for family members of victims aboard Flight 93, and the FBI also provided them with its best effort at producing an understandable transcript.
Some family members indicated afterward they were led to believe that passengers used a food cart as a shield and successfully broke into the cockpit.
The FBI has been loath to publicly put forward a contradictory theory out of sensitivity to the families and because of uncertainty about what happened.
People who have heard the recording describe it as nearly indecipherable, containing static noises, cockpit alarms and wind interspersed with cries in English and Arabic. Near the end of the tape, sounds can be heard of breaking glass and crashing dishes — lending credence to the theory that passengers used the food cart to rush the jetliner's narrow aisle.
Separately, the data recorder showed the plane's wings rocking violently as the jet flew too low and too fast for safe flight.
Intelligence officials believe the likely target for Flight 93 was the White House, based on information from Abu Zubaydah, a senior al-Qaida terrorist leader in U.S. custody who is believed to have played a key role in organizing the Sept. 11 attacks.
Prosecutors have sought a U.S. judge's permission to play recordings from Flight 93 during the terrorism trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only defendant in a U.S. case prosecutors have directly tied to the attacks. Moussaoui is accused of conspiring with the hijackers.
The government has said it can link Moussaoui to Jarrah, using a telephone number found on a business card recovered at the Shanksville, Pa., crash site. Prosecutors believe the card belonged to Jarrah and that Moussaoui had called the same number.
Moussaoui has acknowledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida but says he was not involved in the attacks.
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The plane went down in the field because they passengers decided to fight back. Simple enough.
It should be noted they succeeded. The attack was foiled because they acted.
360-degree turns? Did Maxine Waters write this?
Planes make 360 degree turns all the time.
In layman’s terms, its known as “flying straight.”
You're right on the money, Arkie.
And it p*sses me off as well.
There have been people who have been working to discredit this story from Day 1. The notion that ordinary people could have a positive effect by defending themselves and their country is just too dangerous to the people who want us to rely on our betters in the Government and UN to protect us from harm.
This triumphalist BS from Reuters, about how a terrorist crashed the plane, rather than a passenger in a struggle, is no information at all. As far as I'm concerned, having the terrorists crash the plane in order to avoid losing control is the functional equivalent of the plane crashing during a struggle for control. The only difference, small though it is, is that the terrorists were a bit more cowardly in this latest version of the story.
The men and women who fought back on Flight 93 were heroes. This story does nothing to contradict that fact, as much as Reuters might wish it to be so.
And in my heart I know that even as the plane went down, the heroes on board knew that they had done well, and that their struggle was ultimately successful, even as it ended in their own deaths. I can't prove it, and nobody can prove otherwise, but I know it to be true.
Has the NTSB released the report of the crash yet? Those reports often show debris fields, minus the human remains found.
This has got to be the stupidest thing I have seen all year. Against some pretty stiff competition, BTW. How in the world do you cause more mayhem than the complete destruction of two 110 story skyscrapers by hitting them lower? They don't topple like trees, you know...
If the towers had been hit lower, I guess they might have collapsed somewhat faster. But they still would have fallen straight down.
I also believe that this was part of the "strategy" of the hijackers, on _all four_ of the commandeered planes. They had trained, to wit:
1. To reach their primary objective (World Trade Center, White House, Capital, etc.)
2. If unable to reach the primary objective, to aim for a "secondary target of opportunity" (it has been pointed out that the plane that hit the Pentagon _may_ have been on course for the White House, but that the hijacker pilot was unable to "home in" on the White House because it is hard to see from the air, and that the Pentagon was quickly chosen as "an alternative target")
3. If unable to reach _any_ target, to simply crash the plane, destroying it.
Option #3 is consistent with what happened in Pennsylvania. The passengers revolted, and it was clear to the hijackers (or at least the hijacker pilot) that options 1 and 2 were unattainable. Since the hijacking was thwarted (or about to be), the _only_ option left to them (him) per their training was to crash the plane immediately. Thus the nosedive into the field.
IN NO WAY DOES THIS SEQUENCE OF EVENTS DETRACT OR DENY THE HEROISM OF THE PASSENGERS. Quite to the contrary, those who fought back ACHIEVED _their_ "objective": to stop the hijacking, the destruction of a national landmark, and the subsequent murder of many people, quite possibly including the President. It was the hijackers on Flight 97 that "failed" in converting the airplane into a weapon -- and took the only way out available.
This article serves to _validate_ the brave actions of the passengers on board, even if the journalist (?) who wrote it would try to convince us of otherwise.
Cheers!
- John
This is just another pathetic attempt by the media whores to denigrate our country and her patriots.
And Anti-American Media Whore Extraordinaire!
Enjoy your walk through life on the cloudy side of the street.
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