Terror Connection Unlikely In Crash

Despite recent unsourced reports, investigators downplay possibility of terrorism in the crash of Air France Flight 447.

By Mark Hosenball | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Jun 10, 2009

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  • Posted By: Uday Salizar @ 06/16/2009 5:18:10 PM

    Is terrorist, is brag about. Is terrorist want to look like accident, is worst terrorist ever.

  • Posted By: DrewCAENG @ 06/11/2009 12:41:29 AM

    Funny I was watching FOX news the other day and they were nearly certain it was Terrorism what a surprise, fear as usual.

    • Posted By: Vigilance @ 06/11/2009 7:21:21 AM

      Fox News, or at least a lot of its leadership and/or readership, is convinced that anyone who doesn't agree with them must be a Muslim terrorist (e.g., Obama). :P

      • Posted By: Uday Salizar @ 06/16/2009 5:17:01 PM

        Obama is terrorist. Is say so on Fox when Obama bump fist with wife. Is well known terrorist symbol, yes?

    • Posted By: hlgns763 @ 06/11/2009 12:37:13 PM

      if it WAS terrorists, like Vig and others have mentioned, SOMEONE would have taken credit by now being that its such a highly publicized accident. and its just that, AN ACCIDENT. another plan just a few days ago had to make an emergency landing for some kind of malfunction.... it happens all the time every where.

      why is it that when a plane goes down, suddenly its terrorism (i mean, beyond the obvious fear behind 9/11)? planes, cars, trains, all of these mechanical devices malfunction, break, crash. thats a fact. its tragic that all those people died, but planes crash, and thats the risk you take when you travel with them.

      of course FOX eluded to terrorism, half the time the reporters are pissing they're pants anyways for one reason or another. they are always fearing the worst, and when it turns out not to be so bad, they still find a way to make things seem disasterous. fear, hate, and jumping to conclusions is never a good combo.

      no one knows what happened until the black boxes are recovered, which could be never being that the ocean is as massive as it is deep. so people, stop jumping to conclusions when no one knows what happened, not france, not america, not FOX nor Newsweek.

      making assumptions makes you look like an ass.

  • Posted By: dgongor2 @ 06/10/2009 6:29:47 PM

    Like I believe anything Newsweek says...you guys print what the corporation wants you to print.

    • Posted By: Uday Salizar @ 06/16/2009 5:16:04 PM

      Unlike all medias everywheres, yes?

    • Posted By: hlgns763 @ 06/11/2009 12:23:33 PM

      and your here reading because.... why exactly?

  • Posted By: Colonelbright @ 06/10/2009 6:23:56 PM

    Death to imfidels, heathens, barbarians, Crusaders, USAMarines, lotis, fargots, shemales, desert attackers, and all those man devils who attack the young men as they tedn their flocks of sheep and goats at night and swoop upon them and pillage rape and tear them asunder, making the young boys scream in terror and pain as their butox are torn apart by the wampinuses of the devil men and they are taken carnally and anally and savaged!! allah ahkbar!!

    • Posted By: Uday Salizar @ 06/16/2009 5:15:20 PM

      Aunt Diabo? Is you?

  • Posted By: 2por4jag @ 06/11/2009 1:41:34 PM

    I'm not buying it yet. The hair-splitting in the article is one of the things that makes me crazy about public discussions of Muslim terrorism:

    "The names are as common as John Smith..."

    "No birthdates connected to the names..."

    "No evidence or intelligence..."

    "The prior bomb threat was in Argentina, not Brazil."

    Absent finding the flight data and cockpit voice recorders, this crash will remain a mystery, with the eventual narrative strung together by only the flimsiest of evidence. With so little to go on now, it beggars the imagination why the press and gov't authorities are going so far out of their way to negate a terrorism theory, particularly since public transportation nodes remain such a lucarative target for inciting terror. This is unfortunately not an uncommon reaction by the authorities.

    So how about snooping around for the grieving families of Mohammad and Achmed? Impossible to make a connection to birthdates? Tracking passport use? Examine potential security holes in checked luggage handling in Rio? Passenger screening? Liquid explosives? As one cop I knew once told me, "There are witnesses to every event. The trick is finding them."

    Myself and many other pilots are aware enough about the weaknesses of the Airbus design philosophy to know that there is a better than theoretical opportunity for a problem with its flight management system. That said, there are also enough procedural and mechanical backups to render a catastrophe like this- particularly during the high altitude cruise phase- essentially impossible. This was a high-time captain who had certainly "been there & done that" enough times to recognize a potential problem with weather and deal with it earlier rather than later.

    Newsweek is doing the public a disservice with this article. Again, unfortunately, this is what Newsweek does.

  • Posted By: techresmgt @ 06/11/2009 1:42:56 AM

    No black boxes recovered. How can they make the assertion that terrorism played no part in the disaster? Answer; they cannot. For those that don't keep up with current events, there were two (2) passengers on the plane that were well known terrorists. DUH. Why do the liberals make a living criticizing the facts and embracing the fairy tales? After today, let's just label all liberals according to the thesaurus; flower children. Feel better now?

    • Posted By: hlgns763 @ 06/11/2009 12:28:00 PM

      "criticizing the facts and embracing the fairytales"

      fact: obama is an american citizen

      fact: conservatives critisized this fact

      fact: conservatives embraced the fairytales of 9/11, john mccain, religion....


      fact: you are a hypocrit. but thats your right i suppose.


      its fun when things go both ways isnt it?

    • Posted By: Vigilance @ 06/11/2009 7:20:00 AM

      Let's just label all conservatives as well: paranoid, suspicious people who don't give a damn about actual guilt or innocence.

      Or, not. But you personally would qualify. Stop pretending that you or anyone else actually knows what happened.

      Terrorists cause terror in order to get attention for their causes, generally. Nobody has taken credit for this yet. As high-profile as it is, if it were the work of a terror organization, one or another group probably would have. I'm idly surprised nobody has actually tried to claim it as an act of terror even if they had nothing to do with it, really.

  • Posted By: ttirrem2000 @ 06/10/2009 7:37:48 PM

    Why would they think terrorists? Terrorists always want you to know what happened. If we ever find out what happened to this plane it will be a miracle. Besides, we already have enough terrorists in this country, what with the White supremacists attacking museums and the crazy religious people attacking doctors offices because we won't all do as they like. Sorry, not gonna drink that Kool-Aid. How long before the Right-wing Death Squads show up? Also, Colonelbright.....you're effin' strange.

  • Posted By: ttirrem2000 @ 06/10/2009 7:36:59 PM

    Why would they think terrorists? Terrorists always want you to know what happened. If we ever find out what happened to this plane it will be a miracle. Besides, we already have enough terrorists in this country, what with the White supremacists attacking museums and the crazy religious people attacking doctors offices because we won't all do as they like. Sorry, not gonna drink that Kool-Aid. How long before the Right-wing Death Squads show up? Also, Colonelbright.....you're effin' strange.

  • Posted By: AnnieP. @ 06/10/2009 6:01:36 PM

    Believing an artilce published by Newsweek is like believing the baloney put out by MSNBC. So, is this what the administration wants us to believe today?

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