Article

2004-08-27 Russia

Russia concedes terrorism probably the cause of dual plane crash

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Posted by Dan Darling 2004-08-27 12:23:58 AM|| || Front Page|| [1 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 ...The old Soviet-era surprise meter doesn't seem to be working here...*tapski*tapski*...

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2004-08-27 12:33:44 AM|| 2004-08-27 12:33:44 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 a possible link between the crashes and an explosion a few hours earlier at a bus stop on a road leading to Domodedovo airport, where the two doomed planes took off

Gee, ya think there's a link?? Or do bus stops spontaneously explode in the vicinity of airports in that part of the world?

Posted by Rafael 2004-08-27 12:34:45 AM|| 2004-08-27 12:34:45 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 Now, what will Putin do?

Posted by OldSpook 2004-08-27 12:40:14 AM|| 2004-08-27 12:40:14 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 Probably? Probably?

Posted by Zhang Fei 2004-08-27 1:02:54 AM|| [http://www.polipundit.com] 2004-08-27 1:02:54 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 The Russians will cover the investigation up to 'blind' the US to it's ineptitude and defense preparation levels. My guess would be that two 'shoe bombers' got through; revealing the limitations of they're scanning equiptment!

Posted by smn 2004-08-27 1:23:06 AM|| 2004-08-27 1:23:06 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 I'll take malfunctioning air defense missle batteries for 2 Boris.

The give away is the "trouble" beacon sent out by both aircraft. This has sky jack writ on it. The destruction of the aircraft is AQ doing it's thing or the Rus taking them down before they could be turned into weapons as a saftey precaution. If it's the latter don't count on hearing about it. The explosives residue found on the wreckage is a pretty good indication of one or the other.

It can no longer be said that AQ and the Chechens are not hand in hand, this is an AQ MO.

Posted by Sock Puppet of Doom 2004-08-27 8:02:51 AM|| 2004-08-27 8:02:51 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 Mike K I'll bet you got one of those Surprize Metre Factory #17 numbers produced during the 4th five year plan. Wreckers were everywhere.

Posted by Shipman 2004-08-27 8:03:53 AM|| 2004-08-27 8:03:53 AM|| Front Page Top

#8 Confirmed terrorist act here.

Posted by .com 2004-08-27 8:06:16 AM|| 2004-08-27 8:06:16 AM|| Front Page Top

#9 Ship-
Sure enough, that's what it says on the plate. Man, you'd think you could trust Socialist technology...

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2004-08-27 9:20:55 AM|| 2004-08-27 9:20:55 AM|| Front Page Top

#10 Sock Puppet: This has sky jack writ on it. The destruction of the aircraft is AQ doing it's thing or the Rus taking them down before they could be turned into weapons as a saftey precaution.

No way Russia's air defenses could have taken the aircraft down. These defenses were lousy (remember Mathias Rust) at the peak of Soviet power, and they can't have gotten better now, with the massive manpower, equipment and maintenance cuts the Russian military has gone through. The other reason that Russian missiles couldn't have done it is this - we'd know. Every aircraft that takes off and every missile that's launched is carefully tracked by US surveillance equipment. In that accidental Ukraine Black Sea shootdown of the Israeli charter plane, our guys were the first to come out with the conclusion that it was shot down by a SAM.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2004-08-27 9:44:07 AM|| [http://www.polipundit.com] 2004-08-27 9:44:07 AM|| Front Page Top

#11 This is actually a positive development in Russia: it only took them 2 days to admit the truth. The USSR would have lied for months.

Posted by mojo 2004-08-27 11:05:17 AM|| 2004-08-27 11:05:17 AM|| Front Page Top

#12 C'mon Mike, that Soviet surprise meter is bigger than a breadbasket, and twice as heavy. How'd you pick it up to look at the plate underneath?

Nice thing about the Soviet model, though, is with all those vacuum tubes, it keeps you warm on a ~~Siberian~~ winter night.

Posted by Steve White 2004-08-27 11:31:47 AM|| 2004-08-27 11:31:47 AM|| Front Page Top

#13 Black boxes killed immediately, no comms other than the IFF squawk. Someone has a new MO for taking control of planes. Whether their plans included deliberately crashing them into targets, or just destroying them, we don't know--yet. Whether that MO is transferrable to other airlines, aircraft and security regimes is yet to be seen. Whether the testers are happy with the results is yet to be seen. But in any case, it appears again that the cockpits were stormed and the black boxes turned off because they don't want us to know how they did it. Stand by for further testing.

Posted by longtime lurker 2004-08-27 5:57:57 PM|| 2004-08-27 5:57:57 PM|| Front Page Top

#14 Hmmmmm LL I think this was an operational failure not a test... I'd like to know how much fuel was on board and the range of the aircraft, was Athens within range? I've no clue.

Posted by Shipman 2004-08-27 6:09:10 PM|| 2004-08-27 6:09:10 PM|| Front Page Top

#15 LGF has a post (Pravda - salt lick handy) that bombs in restrooms in tail sections brought em down

Posted by Frank G 2004-08-27 6:15:26 PM|| 2004-08-27 6:15:26 PM|| Front Page Top

#16 Shipman, concur, I think destruction was the goal, but was it of the planes only, or of the planes and other targets? An investigator I know noted that the wing box on the wreckage he saw was intact, which is unusual, but indicates the plane impacted in a flat spin with a loss of rudder control. Same scenario w/ the AA flight that plunged into the Bronx. Interesting, but I don't have any idea what it might mean, yet.

Posted by longtime lurker 2004-08-27 6:32:46 PM|| 2004-08-27 6:32:46 PM|| Front Page Top

#17 These defenses were lousy (remember Mathias Rust) at the peak of Soviet power

Didn't Rust make his flight on "Border Guards Day" -- when the guards were likely more sloshed than usual? Or was that a cover story the Soviets made up to hide their incompetence?

Posted by Robert Crawford 2004-08-27 6:34:05 PM|| [http://www.kloognome.com/] 2004-08-27 6:34:05 PM|| Front Page Top

15:25 Liberalhawk
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