Strange Bedfellows - The Iranians,
The Algerians
The North Koreans, and The Libyans
Misery acquaints a man with strange
bedfellows
William Shakespeare - The Tempest
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On December 22, 1999, A Korean 747 jumbo jet crashed onto an English field .......
December 22, 1999 13 Tevet 5760 (Jewish calendar)
BBC News
A jumbo jet has crashed near Stansted Airport in Essex, killing up to four
crew members. The Boeing 747 Korean Air cargo plane crashed minutes after
taking off from the airport north-east of London on a flight to Italy. There
are reports that it exploded in mid-air. Eyewitness Neill Foster, who was
driving from the airport terminal to the M11 when the plane crashed, said:
"There was a large flash followed by a large bang. "There was lots of falling
debris, all on fire falling on roads surrounding the area." Annette Brooke-Taylor
told how she was at a service station near Stansted when they saw the plane
explode. She said: "There was a big explosion and huge flames in the sky.
It was a sort of mushroom shape. An incredible sight. It lit up the sky.
"There was a tremendous noise. There were lots of flaming particles in the
sky and then it went very quiet and then we realized something terrible had
happened."
The Times of London noted an anniversary date ....
December 23, 1999 The Times of London
David Murtagh told how the burning wreckage of the Korean Air 747 flashed
past his window as he watched television in Great Hallingbury. "I saw the
aircraft and it was on fire. I saw it blazing in flames and it was so close
that I ducked. I thought, 'Oh my God it's going to hit me'. I'm still shaking."
The crash came just hours after the 11th anniversary of the Lockerbie disaster
when PanAm flight 103 was blown up with the loss of 270 lives. That was the
last occasion that a jumbo jet crashed in Britain.
The Times should have looked beyond the Gregorian calendar to find the anniversary of this crash. It occurred exactly on the eleventh anniversary of the PA 103 bombing in the Jewish calendar (13 Tevet)
December 21, 1988 13 Tevet 5749 (Jewish Calendar)
Pan Am 103 bombed over Lockerbie.
Two of Libyan leader Ghadafi's subordinates are being held for trial by a Scottish court. Was a message being delivered here?
When TWA 800 crashed was a similar message delivered?
July 20, 1996 London Times.
New York: Jurors at the trial here of the alleged mastermind of the World
Trade Centre bombing, who is accused of plotting to attack US airliners over
Asia, were told to ignore reports about the (TWA 800) crash while considering
the case against Ramzi Yousef.
There was certainly plenty of evidence as to who sent the message ..
July 21, 1996 The Jerusalem Post
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called US President Bill Clinton on Thursday
and offered Israel's help in the war against terror. Israeli terrorism experts
are looking for possible links between Moslem militants and the explosion
of TWA flight 800, the newspaper Ha'aretz said on Friday. The paper quoted
an unidentified senior security source as saying Israel was helping US
intelligence agencies and the FBI in every way it could in their investigation
of the crash. Netanyahu's office declined comment on the report. But Israeli
security sources told Reuter that Israel routinely cooperates on such matters
with the US. TWA said flight 800 used to go on from Paris to Tel Aviv, but
the Israel leg was discontinued in January. Israeli officials have not drawn
any connection between the air disaster, and the Arab-Israeli conflict. They
say they have yet to determine whether it was an accident or an attack. "We
still don't know if this is an attack," Brig.- Gen. Yigal Pressler, Netanyahu's
adviser on counter- terrorism, told Israel Radio.
But he cited previous attempts he said involved
Iran, Syria and Libya.
August 3, 1996 EmergencyNet NEWS Service Daily
Report Vol. 2 - 216
Three or four sources have been telling ENN of a "terrorist summit" that
has recently taken place in Tehran. Israeli intelligence sources have said
that attacks "to be directed primarily against U.S. targets." were discussed
at the meeting.....An official international terrorist
organization, represented by Iran, Libya and Syria, was said to have been
formed. It is to be called the "Movement for Islamic Change."
Other members are said to be from the Hezbollah terrorist organization in
Lebanon and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
August 5 1996 International News The Telegraph (U.K. Electronic Edition)
Issue 442
Iran has embarked on the most far-reaching campaign of state-sponsored terrorism
ever conducted against the United States, threatening US airliners, public
buildings with a wave of destructive attacks. US officials are convinced
that the clerical regime in Teheran has made a strategic decision to escalate
its permanent war against the "Great Satan", striking US targets on American
soil for the first time in a systematic way. Although it is too early to
conclude that the crash of TWA Flight 800 off the coast of New York was caused
by sabotage, the view in Washington is that it was almost certainly a bomb.
Coming just weeks after the Iranian-backed bombing of the US barracks in
Dhahran, which killed 19 American servicemen, it
is now widely suspected that the TWA tragedy is part of Iran's ugly new
campaign. "This is just the beginning," said Kenneth Timmerman,
publisher of the Iran Brief in Washington. "More aircraft are going to fall
out of the sky." .....
The Movement of Islamic Change was quite clear on the TWA 800 matter .....
July 19, 1996 New York Times.
A specific warning about the flight had been sent by an extremist Saudi
organization called the Movement of Islamic
Change, the organization that claimed responsibility for blowing
up US military personnel in Saudi Arabia last November.
"Late this morning we got a copy of a letter in
Arabic that we then had translated, and got it to the FBI" said
a State Department spokesman ... "It's a ... statement
that seems aimed at the Saudi regime or the American presence in Saudi
Arabia"......... Officials said they were reviewing a telephone
call placed to a Tampa, Florida
television station yesterday morning from a man who identified
himself as a member of a jihad and claimed
responsibility for the crash.
President Clinton replied to the message by signing a sanctions bill against Iran and Libya while surrounded by the families of victims of the Pan Am 103 bombing.
August 6, 1996 Electronic Telegraph
A bill to punish foreign companies investing in Iran and Libya was signed
by President Clinton yesterday. The Bill, aimed at the two nations which
Mr Clinton described as "the most dangerous supporters of terrorism in the
world", requires America to impose sanctions on any company that invests
more than $40 million (£26 million) a year in Iran or Libya's oil and
gas sectors. Mr Clinton ...... defended the move against Iran and Libya,
saying "the US has to act . . . to protect innocent lives and our way of
life". He went on: "You can't do business with people by day who are killing
your people by night." Mr Clinton signed the Bill
surrounded by relatives of victims of the bomb which destroyed Pan Am 103
over Lockerbie almost eight years ago and which has been blamed on two
Libyans. The president said he hoped that the measure would increase
pressure for the extradition of the two suspects.
The ceremony came on a day when reports indicated
that the CIA was studying signals intercepted from Iran to see if there was
any indication of Teheran involvement in the explosion aboard TWA Flight
800 off Long Island almost three weeks ago, which killed 230.
American companies are already banned from engaging in trade with Iran and
Libya. The Bill introduces six possible sanctions on foreign firms: denying
Export-Import Bank loans; denying export licences; banning US banks from
extending loans; barring financial institutions from being primary dealers
in US government bonds; imposing import sanctions; and imposing a ban on
any government business.
Ramsey Yousef's plan to blow up airliners over the Pacific causes one to wonder about the following arrest that occurred in Seattle...
January 21, 2000 USA Today
A federal grand jury filed a terrorism conspiracy indictment against two
Algerians Thursday, alleging for the first time here that explosives smuggled
into Washington state were going to be used to blow up buildings or
other U.S. targets. The nine-count
indictment, which supersedes previous federal charges, accuses Ahmed Ressam
and Abdelmajid Dahoumane of conspiring since 1998 ''to destroy or damage
structures, conveyances or other real
or personal property within the United States.'' It does not disclose specific
targets or how investigators had discovered the plot stretched back at least
a year. It does not allege any property was actually damaged. Ressam, 32,
was arrested Dec. 14 at Port Angeles. The trunk of his rental car contained
a substance used to make the military-grade C-4 explosive and a
''nitroglycerine equivalent'' in two
glass jars. He was detained as he left a ferry from Victoria, British Columbia.
Dahoumane remains at large, accused of being an accomplice to Ressam. The
two men had shared a $36 per night Vancouver, British Columbia, motel room
in the 25 days before Ressam's arrest, during which time they either made
or had in their possession the explosives, according to a Canadian arrest
warrant for Dahoumane. Ressam had made a one-night motel reservation near
the Seattle Center and its Space Needle for Dec. 14, and had a
plane reservation to London from Seattle-Tacoma
International Airport. Counterterrorism experts have suggested
that Ressam, who reportedly was trained in terrorist
tactics in Afghanistan, may be linked to suspected terrorist mastermind Osama
bin Laden, a Saudi exile believed to be in Afghanistan. Timing
devices found in Ressam's rented Chrysler are identical to ones used by bin
Laden's forces in previous attacks, former CIA counterterrorism chief Vincent
Cannistraro has said.
The article above contains a few intriguing references to "other U.S. targets", "conveyances", "nitroglycerine", "a plane reservation to London from Seattle", and someone who was "trained in terrorist tactics in Afghanistan". Further in the article below we find references to "timing devices consisting of Casio watches mounted on circuit boards with 9-volt batteries"
December 18, 1999 Seattle Times
Court papers said Ressam was carrying four timing devices consisting of
Casio watches mounted on circuit boards with a 9-volt
battery. A former chief of counter-terrorism at the Central
Intelligence Agency said last night that the timing devices and use of
nitroglycerine are the "signature devices"
of groups affiliated with Afghan-based Osama bin Laden. "These are devices
we have seen before," said Vincent Cannistraro, speaking last night from
his home in McLean, Va. "They were used among groups affiliated with bin
Laden in attacks in the Philippines and
at an apartment bombing in Moscow." The use of a Casio watch in the
homemade timing devices found in the car in Port Angeles, the use of the
two 9-volt batteries combined with the type of explosive found, suggest that
whoever made those devices has ties to bin Laden, Cannistraro said. "This
particular device is associated with the bomb-making methodology taught at
the terrorist training camps in Afghanistan," Cannistraro said. Court documents
filed yesterday revealed the prosecutors' first suggestion of the suspect's
plans. They said Ressam was planning to stay just one night at the Best Western
Loyal Motor Inn and then fly Wednesday to New York
on a flight connecting to London.
The U.S. government have let it be believed that this was a planned bombing of a Seattle building, perhaps the Seattle Needle.
December 18, 1999 NY Times
Several plastic garbage bags containing more than 130 pounds of two kinds
of powder, later identified by the Washington state police crime laboratory
as urea and sulfate, as well as two jars of a yellowish liquid found to be
nitroglycerine, were found in the trunk of the car, in the spare-tire
compartment. The car also contained four black boxes, each with a circuit
board connected to a Casio watch and a 9-volt battery, apparently to be used
as timing devices, a government official said. Urea and nitroglycerine were
two of the main ingredients in the bombing of the
World Trade Center in 1993. Urea is a
chemical sold for melting ice and is used in fertilizer. It takes more technical
skill to make it into a bomb than was employed by the two Americans who killed
168 people in Oklahoma City in 1995 with a huge but crude bomb made of fuel
oil and fertilizer. The World Trade Center bomb, carried out by Islamic radicals,
was built with a main charge of urea nitrate -- a combination of 1,200 pounds
of urea and about 105 gallons of nitric acid, a chemical widely used in
industrial etching -- and a booster made of nitroglycerine. The motel where
Mr. Ressam made a reservation is a few blocks from the Seattle Center, a
complex of public buildings, including the Space Needle, that is to be the
site of New Year's Eve celebrations.
However, in the World Trade Center bombing, carried out by individuals trained in camps financed by Osama bin Laden, much greater amounts of bomb materials were utilized and the triggering devices were fuses that were lit.
These news reports are eerily similar to those that we have seen before. Take, for example, Ramsey Yousef's plan to blow up several airliners in the Philippines ......
July 29, 1996 TIME magazine
(In December 1994) Ramsey Yousef tested his plan for attacking U.S. carriers
by boarding a Philippine Airlines flight on the first leg from the Philippines
to Japan. He carried with him the components of a bomb, unassembled in his
carry-on bag. On board he assembled the bomb, which was made of gun cotton,
a nitroglycerine solution packed into
a contact-lens bottle. He tucked the bomb under a cushion and left the plane
after its first stop in the Philippine city of Cebu. Two hours later the
device exploded killing a passenger.
May 13, 1996 International News The Telegraph (U.K. Electronic Edition)
Issue 382
Ramsey Yousef is accused of having designed the bomb that blew up in the
World Trade Centre in 1993. His idea was to topple one of the twin towers
onto the other - perhaps 50,000 people would have perished. Yousef placed
a bomb on a Philippines Airlines jet (to test) a method he intended using
to destroy three US passenger planes at a later date. That plan, had it worked,
would have killed about 700 civilians, dwarfing all previous terrorist outrages
against air passengers. A fire at the flat where he lodged in Manila - possibly
caused by nitroglycerine - led to a search
by the Philippines police. Yousef managed to escape, fleeing to Pakistan.
America should expect further attacks.
August 26, 1996 International News The Telegraph (U.K. Electronic Edition)
Issue 460
FBI agents are re-examining evidence from a New York trial that reveals in
chilling detail how Islamic militants have perfected sophisticated techniques
for bombing civilian airliners. Three Muslim fundamentalists are on trial
for an audacious plan to destroy 12 American-owned Boeing 747s in a series
of attacks in the Far East during just two days in January 1995. Had the
plan succeeded, as many as 4,000 passengers would have perished in the most
sustained assault to have been carried out against civilian aircraft in
peacetime. The alleged mastermind of the plan was Ramzi Yousef - the alleged
brain behind the New York World Trade Centre bombing. A stable form of liquid
nitroglycerine was carried in a bottle
labelled as contact-lens solution and not detectable by airport X-ray machines.
To make sure their plan worked, the bombers are said to have carried out
a "dry run" on a Philippines Airlines flight when a Japanese businessmen
had the bottom half of his body blown away.
Were the arrests in Seattle linked to a plot to place bombs on the New York leg, and/or the London leg, of the flights that Ressam had booked and set them to go off with casio timing devices once he had left the aircraft in New York and in London? Ressam had booked to fly to London through New York departing on Wednesday, December 22, 1999. A bombing on that date would have occurred on the eleventh anniversary of the downing of PA 103 in the Jewish calendar - PA 103 was bombed on December 21, 1988 which is 13 Tevet 5749 in the Jewish calendar. December 22, 1999 is 13 Tevet 5760 in the Jewish calendar.
In London on the PA 103 anniversary, as mentioned earlier in this article, a Korean airlines 747 aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff in mysterious circumstances.
The London Times might have recalled another anniversary had it cared to look to the Islamic calendar. A Swissair plane crashed in strange circumstances exactly on the tenth anniversary of the bombing of PA 103 in the Islamic calendar ...
December 21, 1988 11 Jumaada al-awal 1409 A.H (Islamic
Calendar)
Pan Am 103 bombed over Lockerbie.
September 2, 1998 11 Jumaada al-awal 1419 A.H.
Swissair 111 crashes off Nova Scotia not far from the city of Halifax.
Are these simply coincidences or is there a pattern here? Looking at an earlier Korean airlines crash we find another strange pattern. In an August 1997 incident in Guam a Korean jumbo jet, Flight 801, was destroyed. The flight number was one number higher than that of TWA 800. The date of this crash in the Jewish calendar (2 Av) was one day later than that of TWA 800 (1 Av).
July 17, 1996 1 Av 5756 (Jewish Calendar)
TWA 800 crash.
August 5, 1997 2 Av 5757 (Jewish Calendar)
Electronic Telegraph Issue 803
KAL 801 crash.
Minutes before the crash, the pilot of the Korean Air flight 801 from Seoul,
South Korea, told air traffic controllers that he was having "engine trouble".
...... Later, the Pentagon said a fire had been reported on board. Guam,
for three-quarters of a century an important US military outpost, is a
self-governing US territory. The crash happened a year after TWA flight 800,
another Boeing 747, crashed into the Atlantic off Long Island, New York.
The cause of that crash is unknown.
Why after TWA 800 was downed one might ask did one country on the far side of the world take immediate precautions to guard its aircraft?
July 18, 1996 EmergencyNet NEWS Service
Vol. 2 - 200 ENN 7/18/96 10:36CDT
Internationally, the government of South Korea quickly tightened security
checks for flights to and from the United States. A police official in Seoul
said, "In view of the possibility of a terrorist attack on the airliner,
we have decided to strengthen security drills at the airport, particularly
flights to and from the United States.
Perhaps as a strong ally of the United States, South Korea knew it too had now become a target for state sponsored terrorism. The U.S. had declared South Korea's arch enemy, North Korea, to be a 'rogue terrorist state' along with Iran, the arch enemy of the United States. Iran and North Korea, were meanwhile becoming strange bedfellows.....
For example, when the CIA tried to get its missiles back from Afghanistan, the Afghan protectors of Osama bin Laden seemed only too willing to unload them to the North Koreans and the Iranians. If the U.S. authorities were concerned that these missiles might be used to bring down U.S. aircraft, the South Koreans would have been prudent to share these fears.
November 3, 1996 The Electronic Telegraph.
A race between terrorists and the Western powers for control of a huge cache
of missiles is underway in the arms bazaars of Afghanistan. The hunt, that
has pitched the resources of intelligence services against terrorist groups
and pariah states, is for an arsenal of shoulder-launched Stinger anti-aircraft
missiles. The weapons were sent into Afghanistan by the CIA during the Soviet
occupation and were a key factor in tipping the balance of firepower against
the Red Army. Now the West fears that, if they fall into the wrong hands,
the Stingers could turn the tables in future conflicts or prove devastating
if used by terror groups against civilian aviation. The CIA has spent more
than £70 million in a belated and often bungled operation to buy back
the missiles. As a result, the weapons are fetching up to £200,000 each
on the Afghan black market - 10 times their official "retail" price - and
have proved lucrative investments for their current owners, a mixture of
warlords, black marketeers and drug barons. There is evidence that Afghan
military commanders have been only too eager to sell them to embassies in
Kabul such as the North Koreans' and the Iranians'. The two pariah states
are believed to have bought 40. "The Stinger is a status symbol weapon and
would be a significant weapon for any terrorist group," said Damon Bristow
of the Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies. "With little
training it can bring down any aircraft. The CIA has botched its shopping
trip in Afghanistan." When the CIA first sent covert shipments of missiles
to Afghanistan through Pakistan in June 1986, it kept a check of their serial
numbers and distribution. But at least 1,000 had been sent by April 1988
and the Americans now admit to having no idea what became of most of them.
"The Israelis found Stingers held by Hizbollah. American Special Forces found
the wreckage of some in Iranian patrol boats destroyed in helicopter attacks
in the Gulf war and the Tamils have used them in the Sri Lankan civil war."
The FBI is still unsure whether a heat-seeking missile might have brought
down TWA flight 800, the civilian airliner that crashed earlier this year
in the sea near New York.
Not surprisingly Libya appears ready to welcome bin Laden to its shores ....
October 4, 1998 Electronic Telegraph
A recent report that bin Laden had offered to leave Afghanistan for another
terrorist-friendly country such as Libya has been denied by the Taliban.
We might note here that Irish police discovered one of the Libyan and Algerian immigrants living in Dublin, who were arrested on information from the C.I.A., were found to have links with Ressam and to the Egyptian branch of Islamic Jihad....
January 22, 2000 The NY Times
Early on the morning of Dec. 21 Irish police officers raided a house in a
working-class section of Dublin as part of a series of sweeps that rounded
up five North African immigrants for questioning. But they released the men
after about 24 hours, saying they did not have enough evidence to hold them.
Within days, authorities in Ireland and the United States began to realize
that they might have missed a chance to learn more about a terrorist network.
They now say an analysis of documents and a computer seized in the raids
show that one of the men, Hamid Aich, might have
had ties to an Algerian, Ahmed Ressam, who was arrested in Seattle
on Dec. 14 after military explosives and homemade detonators were found in
his car. The Irish authorities, aware that Mr. Ressam had been arrested trying
to cross into the United States from Canada, decided to question the handful
of Algerian and Libyan immigrants in
Dublin. American law enforcement officials made it clear that they were
disappointed that they were unable to question Mr. Aich or fully explore
his ties to Mr. Ressam. They are still reviewing information in his computer,
hoping that it might explain Mr. Ressam's plans for the explosives hidden
in the wheelwell of his car, his possible accomplices and any broader
organization or group that may have sponsored the plot. No criminal charges
have been brought against Mr. Aich, F.B.I. officials said. One investigator
said some material on the computer suggests that Mr.
Aich had ties to Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which has targeted tourists and
Egyptian officials. American law enforcement officials would not
say whether they suspect that Mr. Aich was directly involved in the plot
involving Mr. Ressam, nor would they detail the possible ties between him
and Mr. Ressam found on the computer. The raids in Ireland were part of a
series of sweeps around the world last month, from Canada and New York, to
Jordan and other parts of Europe, officials said. Irish Special Branch detectives
from a unit that investigates terrorist groups detained Mr. Aich in the
working-class South Dublin suburb of Talaght. Irish officials would not discuss
the raids. An American official said the Central Intelligence Agency had
alerted counterparts in Ireland to the significance of the five, but declined
to specify whether the raid was made at Washington's request. It was not
clear whether Irish authorities had a clear picture of Mr. Aich's significance
or possible ties to Islamic militants. (For
more background on the activities of the Egyptian wing of Islamic Jihad
see
The Mystery of EgyptAir
990)
When Iran developed artillery rockets to supply to Hezbollah for attacks on Israel, North Korea supplied the technology...
November 6, 1996 Jane's Defence Weekly
Iran has developed a 240 mm artillery rocket with a range of over 40 km.
Allegedly supplied to Hezbollah, FADJR-3 has the same calibre, range and
warhead weight as three known North Korean systems.
As the Iranians moved from rockets to medium-range missiles, the source remained unchanged ....
July 23, 1998 New York Times
Iran successfully tested a medium-range missile on Wednesday, a senior
administration official said on Wednesday night. The weapon, with a range
of about 800 miles, is capable of hitting Israel and Saudi Arabia, and of
altering the political and military balance of power in the Middle East,
he said. "This weapon would allow Iran to strike all of Israel, all of Saudi
Arabia, most of Turkey and a tip of Russia," said the official .. a U.S.
spy satellite had detected the test on Wednesday morning .... intelligence
experts were still poring over data from the launching of the missile, which
they believe Iran bought from North Korea. ... Present and former intelligence
officials said the missile came from North Korea, which has vowed to continue
selling its weapons to any nation that can provide that cash-starved regime
with hard currency. The official North Korean news agency issued a statement
last month saying that "our missile export is aimed at obtaining foreign
money we need at present." U.S. intelligence officials say millions of dollars
that Iran has paid North Korean is invested in more missile production rather
than in civilian needs. "There is some prestige element here," he said. "We
have long thought that the Iranians believe that such a weapon would give
them a reach inside the region, and that they believe that it serves their
interests in terms of being a strong power in the Middle East." .... "My
guess is they purchased a very small number of these missiles, and that this
is as much a political statement as anything, and that the statement is to
Israel, and that statement is: 'You are now vulnerable. You have to take
us seriously."' ... "The important point here is that they have very little
indigenous internal capability to make a real missile, and they've required
extensive outside technical support," this former official said. "But they've
been willing to spend the money. I'd guess the Rodong would cost $10 million,"
referring to the North Korean missile. .... "In the long term," he said,
"the missile production assistance they've gotten from Russia and China will
have the greater impact. But the Rodongs are the attention-getters."
Smiling benignly in the background on a Hannity and Colmes Fox Channel broadcast aired on December 22, 1999 during a discussion on terrorism, Libyan leader Ghadafi suspiciously predicted forthcoming events. Perhaps he was thinking that with the United Kingdom's help the 'terrorist' attack on him ....
April 14, 1986 4 SHa`baan 1406 A.H. (Islamic Calendar)
U.S. jets flying from the United Kingdom bomb Libya killing 37 people, including
Gadhafi's adopted daughter.
... was regrettably not avenged on the ninth anniversary of this incident in the Islamic calendar ......
January 6, 1995 4 SHa`baan 1415 A.H. (Islamic Calendar)
Report on January 26th, 1995. 'The Sun' newspaper:
Two pilots thought their last moment had come as their British Airways jet
headed for mid-air collision - with a high speed UFO. Terrified fliers Roger
Willis and Mark Stuart ducked down in the cockpit when the brightly lit mystery
craft appeared only yards in front of them at 13,000ft over the Pennines.
But as they waited for the deadly impact, they saw the triangular UFO flash
down the right hand side of their Boeing 737 and disappear. Captain Willis
and First Officer Stuart immediately checked with air traffic control. But
they were told theirs was the only plane on the radar. Their flight from
Milan, Italy to Manchester Ringway was 17 minutes from touchdown when the
"alien" invader zoomed past. The Boeing landed safely, with the 60 passengers
unaware of the drama. At first, the pilots didn't tell pals about the UFO,
in case of ridicule. But BA bosses were informed and they sent a detailed
log and sketches to the Joint Air Miss Working Group, which is part of the
Civil Aviation Authority. An inquiry was launched into the January 6th incident.
But a CAA spokesman said yesterday: "We have not been able to trace the aircraft
involved." The pilots refused to comment. A colleague said: "They are high
grade, sensible guys. Everyone's talking about what they saw." Theories that
the UFO could have been a new military aircraft were discounted by experts.
A spokesman for Jane's Defence Weekly said: "We know of nothing at all being
developed that could account for this sighting."
But was his PA 103 'achievement' about to be commemorated for a second time in a far away field in England while the United States government sat beneath an olive branch .......
May 1, 1999 The New York Times
In what U.S. officials described as a move they hoped would ease relations
with Iran, the State Department on Friday dropped its designation of the
Tehran government as the world's leading state sponsor of
terrorism. In issuing its annual report on global terrorism, the
department accused Iran and six other nations of sponsoring terrorist groups.
But it did not single out Tehran as the worst offender, as it has in the
past, even though evidence cited in the report suggests that Iran might still
hold that distinction. The governments of at least
four nations on the State Department list -- Cuba, Libya, North Korea and
Syria -- are not accused of involvement in any recent acts of international
terrorism.
.... from whence it may issue a requested apology .......
December 23 - 29, 1999 Al-Ahram Weekly Issue No. 461
Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi said he intends to seek an apology and compensation
from the US if the two Libyan suspects on trial for the 1988 bombing of a
Pan-Am passenger plane over Lockerbie are found innocent. In a taped interview
from Tripoli on CBS's "Early Show" on Tuesday, the 11th anniversary of the
bombing Gaddafi, said he was sorry his country has suffered from sanctions
imposed by the US and Britain.
(Articles from news sources have been placed
within for educational, research, and discussion purposes only, in compliance
with "Fair Use" criteria established in Section 107 of the Copyright Act
of 1976.)