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- CAIRO (Reuters) - Many Egyptians
said Thursday that a conspiracy was behind the crash of EgyptAir Flight
990, with some blaming Israel because 33 Egyptian military officers were
among the passengers killed.
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- Others said the United States was trying to cover up
what really happened in order to evade responsibility.
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- They rejected suggestions that one of the crew members
might have committed suicide, sending the plane nosediving into the Atlantic
Ocean off the coast of Massachusetts on Oct. 31, killing all 217 people
on board.
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- "We still have two options: the first is the invisible
fingers of Israel, which has developed scientific potentials," wrote
columnist Abbas Tarabili, chief editor of the opposition daily al-Wafd
newspaper.
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- "The second is that America seems to wish to evade
responsibility for the crime by holding EgyptAir's pilots responsible."
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- In the weeks since the crash the Egyptian press has been
full of conspiracy theories, ranging from plots by Israel's secret service
or other foreign agents to the existence of a secret "no-fly"
area over a key U.S. base, from which missiles may have been fired, downing
the plane.
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- Many cited the presence of Egyptian military officers
on the flight, a fact confirmed by the government, as a likely motive.
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- MEDIA SAY CONSPIRACY
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- Sayyed Abdel-Aati had an unsourced article in al-Wafd
Thursday headlined "The Israeli Mossad planned to blow up the plane
to kill 33 Egyptian military officers."
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- "Planting explosives on the Egyptian plane was an
easy task in light of the presence of all the Israeli intelligence networks
in the United States," he said.
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- U.S. investigators have released details supporting a
theory that Flight 990's pilot and co-pilot were competing for control
of the plane before it crashed into the ocean.
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- Working with the flight data and voice recorders, the
investigators speculate co-pilot Gameel al-Battouti took advantage of the
captain's absence from the cockpit to send the Boeing 767 airliner into
a steep dive.
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- Some Egyptian media and citizens questioned the intention
of U.S. investigators, saying they leaked part of their findings to cover
up the real cause of the crash for their own interest.
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- "The only explanation for this is that they wish
to hold EgyptAir responsible," said Galal Doweidar, chief editor of
the state-owned daily al-Akhbar. He added that U.S. officials either wanted
to evade responsibility for lax security measures or to protect Boeing,
the U.S. plane's manufacturer.
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- MANY REJECT SUICIDE THEORY
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- EgyptAir co-pilot Gameel al-Battouti, suspected by U.S.
officials of crashing his plane in a suicidal act, was in good spirits
before the tragic flight, a colleague said Thursday.
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- Captain Zaki al-Kashef also defended what is thought
to have been the co-pilot's action of switching off the engines as standard
procedure in an emergency landing over water.
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- Kashef told Reuters he met al-Battouti in New York before
the flight that ended disastrously off the U.S. coast.
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- "We stood near the hotel reception as I was checking
in and the Flight 990 crew were checking out," Kashef said. "He
was laughing as usual, with a smile on his face. It was a smile of someone
returning to his kids.
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- "Al-Battouti was a very normal man with very normal
problems in his life, nothing that serious," Kashef added.
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- American investigators said Tuesday they were holding
off a decision on whether to turn their probe into a criminal investigation
until more Egyptian experts, including translators, heard the cockpit recording.
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- Comment/UPDATE
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- Grassroots Response To Government 990 Lies From
NewsHawk Inc <hawkeye@saber.net 11-19-99
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- We just received this intelligent, substantive message
from one of our respondents, which makes a wealth of very important points,
and includes her statements as a witness to the fact that early news reports
on the Fl. 990 crash said unequivocally the plane's HIGHLY irregular stop
at Edwards Air Force Base east of Los Angeles WAS CONFIRMED.
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- The Egyptian government and EgyptAir to this day have
NEVER retracted their statements on this.
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- Also included in the note reprinted below is an appraisal
of the impact NewsHawk's blockbuster articles on the FL. 990 crash have
been having on the local level here in the U.S. In short--WORD IS GETTING
AROUND!
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- NewsHawk® Inc.
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- _______________
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- Subject: pressure valve... Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 01:19:47
EST From: AMMMJM@aol.com To: NewsHawk
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- John and Bob; This note is being sent to blow off steam
that has been accumulating since flight 990 went down. Thanks for being
the pressure valve!
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- First of all, I was one of those people who was up early
and heard the TV reporters speculating WHY the þight had landed (conÞrmed)
at Edwards AFB. After going out that day I came back to updates which mentioned
nothing of this. I didn,t even hear about the EWR (Newark) story until
the next day. Who knows where this plane lost 2:20 þight time? I
have learned to pay CLOSE attention to the earliest reports of any incidents,
since they are the closest to true investigative reporting, BEFORE they
are scrutinized, sanitized and spun into the "ofÞcial reports."
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- Then, when the next speculations came out about the Boeing
reversers possibly being at fault, I was outraged! The plane was under
water, there was NO corroborating evidence to even MAKE this allegation,
and yet the press was publishing unsubstantiated, unveriÞed specualtion!
This does not seem to be responsible journalistic reporting, it doesn,t
even seem up o standard for the tabloids, yet THERE IT WAS!
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- I was curious as to how they would alter the facts to
make this theory stick... [This theory is still hovering in the background.
Today there was a report of a domestic -AA(?)"767 that had reverser
problems, and made an unscheduled landing"I can,t remember where.]
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- Along THIS line of thought, I am wondering why the media
is continually blasting Boeing they make a FAR superior product to ANY
of the Airbus Industrie aircraft, both in durability and safety, yet it
seems there is a PUSH to convince the public that Boeing is out and Airbus
is in. (I do not know of any political/NWO reasons for this, do you?) For
example, the 747 fuel-tank spark story advocated in the TWA 800 case is
SO very far-fetched it is incredible what the public will swallow as long
as it comes from 'ofÞcial' sources.
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- This investigation has been very interesting, due to
the fact that the Egyptians will NOT accept the quick, pat answers that
the US ofÞcials want to slap on the case (so we can move on to the
next mass murder?). Hu-ray-y-y for them! My fear is that once they arrive,
they will be appropriately threatened / misinformed until they agree with
whatever STUPID Þndings the FBI invents.
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- The MOST infuriating part of this "investigation"
began when the news reported that the pilot was heard saying a PRAYER,
and all HELL broke loose.
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- Just because he didn,t say "HOLY JESUS" or
"MARY, MOTHER OF GOD, SAVE US!!" in ENGLISH, they are trying
to FABRICATE a theory the public will accept. Fortunately, so far the Egyptians
are OUTRAGED and active. Even the timing of this prayer is problematic,
since I have heard it reported that he said it at differing parts of the
dive/descent. All I know is that ANY person who is religious, if placed
in that situation (the 'oh-my-god-we,re-gonna-die-e-e' situation) would
commend him/herself into God,s hands. WHATEVER this poor person said in
prayer could have been twisted, edited and rewritten by the spin doctors
in the time they had the recorders (especialy if they were picked up within
48 hours, as you have reported).
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- One Þnal commentyour articles are deÞnitely
getting around, which is probably why "THEY" are trying to stop
you. Talk of your articles has even permeated the Middle and High Schools
here! The students have been circulating your articles among themselves
via e-mail, and actually DISCUSSING THEM!!!
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- Thanks for keeping us up-to-date! AMM
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