David wrote:

On Mon, 12 Dec 2005 15:01:05 -0600, "MnMikew"
wrote:


"David" wrote in message
.. .
There are several thousand Stinger type weapons loose in the world,

Yes, but what does that have to do with TWA800?


Try to focus...

''FBI head acknowledges terrorist missile could have brought TWA jet
down
March 13, 1997
5.11 p.m. EST (2211 GMT)

NEW YORK (AP) -- The FBI agent in charge of the TWA Flight 800
investigation acknowledged for the first time Thursday that the plane
could have been brought down by a shoulder-fired terrorist missile.

But so far, there is no evidence to prove that theory, James Kallstrom
said. And he condemned as ridiculous a new flurry of claims that the
jet was destroyed accidentally by the U.S. military.

"This terrible, terrible tragedy was not caused by our military,''
Kallstrom said in an interview with The Associated Press. "Our
military, in particular the Navy divers, are the heroes of this
operation -- not the culprits.''

Investigators have focused on three possible explanations for the July
17 disaster: a bomb, a missile or mechanical failure.

Kallstrom said that it is "technically possible'' a terrorist using a
shoulder-fired, Stinger-type missile could have caused the tragedy,
and he said investigators are examining that possibility. He would not
elaborate on where a missile could have been fired from or provide
other specifics.

The plane was 10 miles offshore and more than 13,000 feet up at the
time.

Kallstrom said there is no new evidence to support the terrorist
missile scenario over other theories.

But he noted that similar missiles have been used to down more than 25
commercial planes over the past two decades in places such as Africa,
the Middle East and the former Soviet Union. Stinger-type missiles are
designed specifically to shoot down planes.

Flight 800 exploded after takeoff from Kennedy Airport, killing all
230 people on board and scattering wreckage across a five-mile stretch
of the Atlantic Ocean.

The missile theory has been bolstered by people who reported seeing
something in the sky before the disaster.

"There were too many people who describe strange events like flares
and streaks of light in the sky'' to ignore the missile possibility,
Kallstrom said.

Kallstrom's remarks came in a week rife with reports that a missile
was responsible for the explosion. He was particularly incensed by
claims by Pierre Salinger, a former ABC newsman and press secretary to
President Kennedy, that the U.S. government is covering up the real
cause of the blast.

"The outrageous claims of the Pierre Salingers of the world that are
unfounded in any facts, absent any rational analysis ... do nothing to
assist us in trying to find the answers to this horrific event,''
Kallstrom said.

Salinger offered an expanded version Thursday of his theory that a
Navy missile shot down Flight 800. At a Paris news conference, he
released a 69-page document and a set of radar images from a video.

The tape "completely confirms a missile fired down TWA 800,'' Salinger
said.

Kallstrom said investigators long ago eliminated any "friendly fire''
scenarios or the possibility of a military cover-up. The FBI reviewed
radar and other sources to conclude the military could not have shot
down the plane, he said.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------''

See the part where it says "But so far, there is no evidence to prove that theory...".

dxAce
Michigan
USA