-Caveat Lector- I've just found out about Sanders' latest book on TWA 800 and the persecution meted out to him and his wife.Introduction below. Gavin. <A HREF="http://www.altered-evidence.com/ch1.doc">Altered-Evidence</A> I’m a retired police officer and investigative journalist. For almost fifteen years I have used the skills learned on the job in Southern California law enforcement to investigate wrongdoing within the federal government. This is my fourth book related to that subject. July 17, 1996, TWA Flight 800, a 747 with 230 passengers and crew, crashed less than ten miles south of Long Island. All 230 onboard died. During the first hours after the crash the airwaves were filled with eyewitness accounts of a missile streaking up into the air and a plane falling into the water. Within two months the New York Times was carrying Flight 800 stories that sounded more like FBI propaganda than journalism. And NBC evening news became the preferred method by which the NTSB began to spin a story around a mysterious mechanical event. Reporters began telling me about stories questioning the official government line being spiked. Stories about Navy divers removing highly sensitive debris from the ocean floor within forty-eight hours after the crash. Stories about military officers admitting off the record that a major “screw-up” had caused the crash. Stories about Navy sources telling of a large concentration of Navy ships south of Long Island, the launch of a drone and “friendly fire.” I eventually developed sources within government and the Flight 800 investigation. A stream of documents – and forensic evidence – became available establishing beyond a reasonable doubt that obstruction of justice was ongoing at the senior levels of those within government that controlled the investigation. I wrote a book entitled The Downing of TWA Flight 800. Released in April 1997, it provided the American public with a view of the TWA Flight 800 investigation never before seen. Government documents used to write the book revealed a much different initiating event than the government’s version. These documents said FAA radar technicians saw a missile on the radar and immediately notified the White House. The documents also said there was damage to the recovered debris consistent with a missile warhead explosion in the center-wing-tank (CWT). The documents said there was an initial, narrow area of damage that crossed the 747 in the area immediately in front of the CWT, generally in a right-to-left direction. My best source inside the investigation said there was a reddish-orange residue trail in this exact area. Eventually, he obtained two small samples of the residue and I had them tested. They were consistent with the residue from a solid fuel missile. Further investigation, after The Downing of TWA Flight 800 was published, established that more than 98% of the residue’s volume was consistent with an explosive event. The government counterattacked, saying the residue was glue. After months of ducking and dodging, trying not to name the glue, the NTSB said the residue was 3M, 1357 HP Adhesive. They pointed to NASA Chemist Charles Bassett as the scientist who confirmed this fact. I obtained a notarized affidavit from Charles Bassett. His written statement debunks the government’s glue allegation. But I did not stop there. A sample of 3M 1357 HP Adhesive was tested by Florida State University (FSU) and compared to my residue’s elemental analysis. FSU confirmed beyond any doubt that the government lied about my residue being 3M glue. Then, Dr. Merritt Birky, the NTSB bureaucrat in charge of the Flight 800 Fire & Explosion team, admitted that the government never tested my residue. Why? He indicated the government was afraid of the results. By this time you can almost visualize the Justice Department swooping down and hauling away the responsible miscreants through a frenzied throng of media. Unfortunately, the Justice Department, including the FBI, was involved in this scheme to obstruct justice and rewrite the history of TWA Flight 800. They were not going to investigate and imprison themselves. Three months after The Downing of TWA Flight 800 was published, the head of the National Transportation Safety Board, Jim Hall, under oath, before Congress, admitted the NTSB had essentially removed “mechanical” as a possible cause of the downing of Flight 800: Congressman TRAFFICANT: I would just like the panelists to answer my questions yes or no. If you can’t, just say you can’t answer it. First question, Mr. Hall. Hypotheses and theories and opinion, not a fact, correct? Hypothesis is theory, correct? NTSB Chairman Jim Hall: Yes. TRAFFICANT: To this point, has any physical evidence [surfaced], conclusive forensic evidence, to prove it was a mechanical failure that caused the explosion of the center fuel tank? Yes or no. HALL: We’re looking at that. TRAFFICANT: I want a one [word] answer. I know it is tough at this point. HALL: No. The NTSB exhaustively searched for a politically correct “mechanical” answer. Forty million dollars later the answer is still “No.” The book you are about to read reveals what really happens in America when powerful interests are threatened by aggressive journalism – when the politically correct answer is exposed as fraudulent. The same bureaucrats within the FBI and Justice Department I was investigating used the awesome power with which they were entrusted to harass, intimidate and persecute my wife and me. They were imperiled by my investigation. The Justice Department turned my wife into a hostage to their demands on April 19, 1997. In a face-to-face confrontation with the FBI and Justice Department, they said they would “target” and indict my wife if she did not assist them in their investigation of me. She refused and we were both indicted for conspiring with a source inside the TWA Flight 800 investigation to obtain additional evidence of their lawlessness. We were arrested, bound and dragged through throngs of reporters. My phone and financial records were seized in violation of Justice Department rules, regulations and case law. My computer was seized without a warrant. Major media was silent. When the government demanded that the First Amendment be excised from the trial, major media was silent. When the judge agreed, major media was silent. When the government’s star witness failed to perform on the stand as the government said he would, the New York Times printed a story misrepresenting what was said under oath. We were convicted of conspiring with a source to obtain additional evidence of government wrongdoing. The case is being appealed. If we lose the appeal, federal case law will allow the wife of any journalist to be made the target of a federal investigation, even in the absence of any evidence, real or imagined, upon which to justify the targeting. But major media remains silent. If I lose my appeal, federal case law will establish conspiracy as a legal tool to inhibit aggressive investigation of government lawlessness. But major media remains silent. If you have seen anything about this case in major media reports, it has been the government’s version of the truth, devoid of balance. My side of the story has not been revealed – until now. In spite of the best efforts of those placed at risk by my investigation, I have obtained compelling evidence of government’s motivation to illegally use its power to neutralize my investigation of their lawlessness. The reason for the government’s shrill, vindictive attack on me and my wife becomes apparent as you read the following chapters. Less apparent is the motivation for major media to cooperate with powerful interests rather than pursuing balanced journalism. 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. 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