On 12 Sep 2001, at 16:32, Declan McCullagh wrote:
On Wed, Sep 12, 2001 at 02:59:57PM -0400, Trei, Peter wrote:
This morning the local media here in Massachusetts were reporting that a bag for the flight which fortuitously failed to get on the plane was found to contain a Koran, "Islamic materials", and a videotape on flying commercial jets. Clearly, someone who was already a commercial pilot would not have needed the latter item.
Maybe I'm being a little suspicious, but why in the world would a terrorist who doesn't want to be caught and doesn't need the videotape (can't watch it on the plane, realistically, I presume) any more take it on the plane with him?
I was wondering in a similar vein. There are also the reports of the rented car found to contain Arabic-language flight training manuals, and the hotel room in Boston rented by persons sharing the names of suspect passengers on the hijacked flights. NewsMax carries a story (http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/9/12/80845.shtml) that 5 suspects have been identified. This is too easy. The overt sophistication of this attack was such that I have a hard time believing the perps would leave so many obvious clues behind without intending to. And if they intended to leave clues, the clues are almost certainly red herrings. Interesting times, indeed.
-Declan
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