The Hull Thread
Chronology of Events From January 2005 - December 2005
(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.)
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March 21, 2005 WorldNetDaily Posted: March 21, 2005 By Jack Cashill The internal NSA e-mail contained information pertaining to a recorded
telephone call made from New York within minutes of the downing of Flight 800.
The New York offices of the FBI had intercepted an overseas phone call made by a
party under FBI surveillance. As the caller's language was unknown to FBI
analysts, a recording of that call was sent to the NSA at the bequest of James
Kallstrom specifically, then the head of the FBI's New York office, with a
request for assistance in its translation. The NSA had no experience with the
recorded language and with FBI approval forwarded the tape to the Defense
Language Institute where it was translated. The letter's most provocative
sentence follows immediately. The language was identified as Baluchi and was transcribed as, "What had to
be done has been done, TWA 800 (last two words unintelligible)." Among those to whom I sent this letter was Peter Lance, a former
correspondent for ABC News and a five-time Emmy winner. Lance had written
extensively about al-Qaida in best seller "1000 Years for Revenge" and more
recently in his book "Cover Up." The latter deals with the exquisitely
documented communications between Ramzi Yousef and his New York City jail mate,
Gregory Scarpa Jr., a second-generation FBI informant. In the summer of 1996,
Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, was being held
for trial in New York for the notorious Bojinka plot, his plan to blow up a
dozen American commercial airliners over the Pacific and/or to attack America
using planes as bombs, either of which he was scarily capable of executing.
Yousef used Scarpa's connections to pass information to the outside world little
knowing that Scarpa was routing much of it through his own FBI handlers. Some of
that information had to do with Yousef's ongoing plans to destroy a 747. Yousef
told Scarpa that if there were to be a terrorist attack on such a plane during
his Bojinka trial, it would surely prejudice the jurors against him, and Yousef
would ask for a mistrial on those very grounds. The morning after the TWA Flight
800 crash, Yousef, representing himself, made just such a request. As Lance
makes clear, Yousef was part of the larger al-Qaida network, its evil genius.
His uncle, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, with whom Yousef communicated from his jail
cell, coordinated the 9-11 plot. And Yousef talked often to Scarpa about Osama
bin Laden also under the code name, as Scarpa heard it, of "Bojinga."
Ironically, it was the FBI – seeking to gain intelligence from Yousef and to
locate his "people" overseas – that set up the system allowing him to make the
outside calls. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was the last Bojinka conspirator on the
loose who knew how to build, among other devices, a Casio-watch nitroglycerine
bomb trigger. Yousef had used such a device on a Philippine Airlines 747 in
1994. Although improperly placed, the bomb killed a Japanese national in seat
26K and almost crashed the plane, proving its lethal effectiveness. The presumed NSA letter fully caught Lance's attention. He found it
"consistent with my Ramzi Yousef-KSM [Khalid Shaikh Mohammed] theory."
Particular eye-opening was the fact that the communication cited in the NSA
letter was in Yousef's native language, Baluchi. The anonymous letter writer speaks of the contents of the memorandum he sent
to the Washington Times, specifically the "detailed instructions to NSA
personnel on the handling and control of NSA derived intelligence relating to
TWA 800." The memo apparently also identified "specific individuals at the White
House and their STU (secure) telephone numbers" with whom the NSA could discuss
relevant information. The reference to the STU (secure telephone) would not be
commonly known. I am inclined to think the letter legitimate if for no other
reason than it seems so unlikely a hoax. Before accepting it as such, however, I
would invite the sender of this letter to follow up with more specific
information. We are interested.
Recently, an anonymous letter was sent to the regional business magazine
that I serve – from afar – as executive editor. Thinking it crank, the
receptionist bundled it with a bunch of miscellaneous press releases and the
like and forwarded it on to me without envelope. To say the least, the letter is
intriguing. In the spirit of cooperation that prevails among TWA Flight 800
dissidents as we approach the 10th anniversary in 2006 (and the closing of any
real window of justice), I retyped it – unedited – and shared it with a handful
of serious investigators to get their feedback.
The
letter writer tells of sending "an internal NSA e-mail and memorandum" to the
Washington Times two years ago and getting no response. The NSA, of course,
refers to the famously cryptic National Security Agency, heretofore
un-implicated in the TWA 800 investigation. What follows is the most compelling
section of the letter:
FBI upheld in air-crash records suit
March 31, 2005 MassLive.com Article by Marla A. Goldberg
A federal judge in Springfield will not order the Federal Bureau of
Investigation to conduct further searches of its records into the investigation
of the breakup of TWA's Flight 800 off Long Island July 17, 1996. Judge
Michael A. Ponsor granted summary judgment to the FBI Tuesday in a lawsuit filed
by a Shutesbury man. "I'm very disappointed," said Graeme J. Sephton, a
former director of the Flight 800 Independent Researchers Association. Sephton,
a telecommunications engineer at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, sued
the FBI under the Freedom of Information Act in U.S. District Court in 2000.
He has 60 days to decide whether to appeal the ruling. Sephton's suit
demanded that the FBI release data on metal debris and pellets found in or on
the corpses of 89 Flight 800 victims to help explain why the plane exploded.
"In the instant of an explosion, you have this environment which is very well
described by the things which hit the victims," he said yesterday. Sephton
said he will consult with the research association on whether to appeal. About
200 people, including a dozen victims' families, have been donating to legal
expenses. The airliner had just left John F. Kennedy International
Airport, bound for Paris, when there was an explosion and it crashed into the
Atlantic Ocean, killing 230. In August 2000, the National Transportation
Safety Board determined that the crash was probably caused by "an explosion of
the center wing fuel tank ... The source of ignition ... could not be determined
with certainty." The board found that the most likely ignition source was a
short circuit, allowing "excessive voltage" to enter the fuel tank through
wiring. Ponsor's order criticized the FBI for its "halting response" to
Sephton's information requests, but found that it did not deliberately conceal
material. Ponsor stated that the bureau's search for documents was reasonable,
based on four affidavits from bureau officials. However, the court "noted
with sharp disappointment" the FBI's declining to submit an affidavit
"confirming in conclusory terms that a reasonable search was performed for
responsive documents." Tuesday's ruling could end the almost five-year-old
case. "It's history has included, so far, three trips to the Court of
Appeals and the death of the judge (Frank H. Freedman) who initially presided,"
Ponsor wrote. About 550 pages of FBI documents were released to Sephton in
May 2003, and they contained information about unidentified metal pellets and
fragments removed from victims' bodies, but did not include analysis results.
Sephton is president of the non-profit Freedom of Information Advocacy
Coalition, whose Web site poses that a missile could have struck Flight 800.
In Los Angeles, a retired pilot and captain, H. Ray Lahr, is suing the
Transportation Safety Board and the Central Intelligence Agency under the
Freedom of Information Act for information about Flight 800.
July 25, 2005
http://homelandsecurityus.com/SOsborne.asp
Sean Osborne Military Affairs and Senior Analyst The Northeast
Intelligence Network
The following report has been corroborated by a high ranking US military
source. This report states in essence that a USAF B1-B Lancer, a long-range
strategic bomber, was targeted for shoot down by three suspected Islamic
terrorists one week ago at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The
terrorists were forced to abort their mission when run off by alert USAF
Security.
SITUATION: On 14 Jul 05, three individuals were observed outside
of the perimeter of Tinker AFB, OK. They were looking through binoculars,
taking pictures and one appeared to be holding a large weapon at chest level.
The weapon appeared to be aimed towards a low flying aircraft. The three
individuals were described as being of Middle Eastern descent and left the area
when approached. The weapon was later identified as a rocket launcher (MANPAD)
and the low flying aircraft to be a B-1 Bomber. FBI in Oklahoma City and AFOSI
determined the threat to be credible. Due to this and other recent incidents
and security concerns surrounding Tinker AFB, OK, the potential for suspicious
activity in the Tinker AFB (TAFB) Area of Responsibility (AOR) has increased.
While there is no specific threat information directed towards the TAFB AOR, it
is imperative that all personnel remember their responsibilities to report any
and all suspicious activity they observe.
September 19, 2005 Report from J. Stephen of Garfield, NJ -
Eyewitness to TWA 800 missile attack.
The night flight 800 crashed was a beautiful crystal clear night. I had
taken my dog out for a walk. I was living in Garfield N.J. and the dog and I
were coming down the hill to my house. I guess we were maybe 200 feet above sea
level with nothing to impair my view. The geography of that part of New Jersey
is such that there is not very much between where I was walking and Long Island
Sound. I would guess that I was about 20 to 25 miles away. I base that guess
on the fact that I usually could see the lights of large planes coming into
Kennedy or Newark about 10 to 12 minutes before they got to the airport.
I noticed a strange light in the sky. It took me about two seconds to realize that there was a missile in the air. When you see flames coming out of something and the top of the flame is much wider than the bottom so that it looks like a point of light in the center of the flame, that's a missile. They are very unique looking! I used to live in the extreme south eastern part of Orlando, Florida and I have seen many missile tests. There was no mistake, this was a missile! I also want to point out that it was far too large to have been a shoulder fired missile.
I grabbed a pair of 7X binoculars that I kept in the side pouch of my car and started following this missile. All of a sudden the tail of the missile seemed to rear up like it had glanced off of something. It sort of wobbled and nosed down a little bit, straightened up and continued on it's way. About that time there was an orange glow that seemed to grow until I could see the silhouette of a 747. This was not a case of being blown out of the sky. There was no explosion, just a growing orange fireball. It was about 30 to 45 seconds before the front cabin heeled over to the left and fell trailing flames and debris. It was about 15 seconds later that the rest of the plane heeled over to the right and started raining flames and parts of the fuselage as it fell. It is my opinion that the missile struck a glancing blow to the underside of the fuselage in the proximity of the rear portion of the main wing. The plane broke into two main pieces that rained off more pieces and flames as they fell to the water below. It did not climb 5,000 feet as reported. The nose section peeled off to the left trailing flame as it fell. The main body of the plane heeled over to the right and broke apart as it fell to the water.
I ran to my house and called the FAA. When I reached someone there I told them that "a missile had collided with a 747 over Long Island Sound." They asked me where I was calling from and when I told them Garfield N.J. I was told that I was too far away to see something like that. About that time I could hear a lot of yelling as they had just gotten "official" word that an airliner had gone down over Long Island Sound. The person at the FAA then asked me for my name and number which I gave him and he then told me that they would get back to me. I'm still waiting! This phone call occurred at least ten minutes before television news broke in with the story.
I had a friend pretty high up at one of the government agencies that investigates plane crashes. When all the ridiculous explanations from the so called “investigations” of the crash were made public, I called him and told him my whole story. He promised to look into it and he did. First thing he found out is that there is no record of my phone call to the FAA. He also found that my phone records show a four minute call to the FAA. Pressure was put on him by his superiors to stop poking around.
I know what happened. It will always be my belief that
the missile struck the lower fuselage under the rear portion of the main wing.
I think it damaged the center fuel tanks causing fuel to pour out. What bothers
me is that no one seems to care. It's almost like it never happened! I have
been trying for years to get to the truth about Flight 800. I've written
letters to newspapers, Congressmen and Senators. I guess the government’s plan
was to ignore the situation.
Sincerely,
J. Stephen
Friday, September 16, 2005
An American West Flight out of New York was apparently fired upon by a surface
to air missile. The pilot and passengers witnessed it and were questioned
by the FAA and FBI. America West 17 took off from JFK at 6:05pm EDT. The
captain reported an ‘irregularity’ to air traffic control as the plane was
ascending. The plane continued to Phoenix and landed safely at 8:55pm MST. The
sighting was reported near Colt’s Neck, NJ, which is a major route south out of
NY. FAA set up a small temporary flight restriction around the area while
checking radar files.
Saturday, December 3, 2005 Pilot Reports 'Missile' Fired at Jetliner Near
LAX (11/28/05)
http://www.kyw1060.com/news_archives_detail.cfm?newsitemid=50753
FBI agents and Homeland Security officials spent the weekend investigating the report of a possible missile fired at an American Airlines plane taking off from Los Angeles International Airport on November 28. Sources tell ABC News the pilot of American Airlines Flight 621, en route to Chicago, radioed air traffic controllers after takeoff from LAX. He told them a missile had been fired at the aircraft and missed. The plane was over water about 6000 feet off the shoreline when the pilot said he saw a smoke trail pass by the cockpit. FBI agents believe it was a flare or a bottle rocket, but say they may never know if that's what it actually was.