-Caveat Lector-
>From http://www.worldtribune.com/
{{<Begin>}}
Government newspaper suspects sabotage in EgyptAir crash
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Tuesday, November 9, 1999
CAIRO -- Egypt's government-owned press has now raised the possibility that
EgyptAir Flight 990 was downed in an attack meant to stop the training of
Egyptian airmen in the United States.
The government Al Akhbar daily said the presence of 33 Egyptian officers on
board the doomed flight on Oct. 31 has raised suspicion of foul play. "Sabotage
is thus highly possible," the newspaper said on Sunday.
Egyptian military sources said the officers were training to fly the Apache AH-
64D helicopter. The officers in the crash included a brigadier general.
Writer Mohamad. W. Kandil said he did not expect the United States to
acknowledge sabotage and that an investigation of the crash would take years.
"However, in most sabotage operations, as in the case of the Pan American
airliner which exploded several years ago over Lockerbie, Scotland, no
confirmed culprit is brought to justice, only suspects are, and this after
investigations have lasted quite a long time coming through," he said.
Last week, the Egyptian government Al Gomhuriya daily said the EgyptAir jet
might have been downed by a U.S. missile and charged Washington with a coverup.
The United States has protested the allegation.
Egyptian sources said on Monday that President Hosni Mubarak is expected to
return from Paris by Wednesday, when parliament opens its new session. Mubarak
has been in Paris for the last week for tests for what officials described as
an ear infection.
Mubarak is being faced with calls by opposition parties for reform in the
electoral law.
Over the weekend, A confidant of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak angered the
American officials with repeated suggestions that the United States was behind
the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990, in which 217 people, including the 33
Egyptian military officers, were killed.
"The circumstances of this tragedy remain suspect," Samir Ragab wrote in his
daily column Saturday in the government-owned daily Al Gomhuriya. Ragab is
editor of the newspaper.
State Department and Pentagon officials have been angered by the suggestion and
U.S. ambassador Daniel Kurtzer has protested Ragab's accusations. U.S.
officials said the accusations could make the thousands of Americans in Egypt,
many of whom employed in overseeing the $2.1 billion in annual aid to Cairo,
targets of revenge attacks.
Ragab's accusations began on Tuesday when he said in an editorial in both Al
Gomhuriya, and its sister paper the Egyptian Gazette, that Washington was
trying to cover up U.S. military responsibility for the deadly accident.
"The plane crash may have been due to surface-to-air missile which hit the
wrong target or a destructive laser ray aimed at the aircraft by one of the
quarrelling US security services," Ragab said. "The U.S. authorities have
announced that the inquiry will last a long time which means the results of the
investigation will amount to nothing and will perhaps never be made public."
Earlier, Mubarak and several of his ministers urged U.S. authorities to search
for a link between the EgyptAir crash and the TWA crash in 1996 in the same
area off the Atlantic coast. The TWA crash has never been resolved.
Kurtzer responded with a letter to both Ragab and Egyptian Information Minister
Safwat Sherif. But Al Gomhuriya waited four days until it published the
ambassador's reply.
"Insinuations of possible cover-up by U.S. authorities, potential intelligence
secrets, deliberate delays and obfuscation in the investigation, missiles and
'laser rays' are insulting," Kurtzer said in his letter, published on Saturday.
"They fly in the face of deep friendship and partnership between Egypt and the
United States. It is irresponsible to engage in the baseless speculation about
the EgyptAir Flight 990 tragedy contained in [your] column. Such idle musings
show disrespect to American and Egyptian victims and the tireless efforts put
forth by American and Egyptian individuals and institutions to ease the
suffering of the families and determine the true causes of the crash."
Tuesday, November 9, 1999
{{<End>}}
A<>E<>R
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Integrity has no need of rules. -Albert Camus (1913-1960)
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking
new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said
it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your
own reason and your common sense." --Buddha
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that
prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless
of frontiers." Universal Declaration of Human Rights
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will
teach you to keep your mouth shut." Ernest Hemingway
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material
is distributed without charge or profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information
for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic
screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters
and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright
frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects
spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL
gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers;
be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and
nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
