Friday, October 05, 2001

 

Reports, including a Pentagon analysis, suggest the airliner that went down in the Black Sea Thursday might have been struck by a missile errantly fired during an exercise by Ukrainian forces. However, Ukraine's Defense Ministry denied those reports, saying the missiles did not have the range needed to hit the airliner from where they were fired.

Sounds to me as if our government is trying to feed us the same line they did when TWA Flight 800 was downed.

I have two problems with this. Number one: Don't the people doing the military exercises know commerical airliners are going to be flying in the same space they're shooting their missiles? Fiona Hill, a Central Asia specialist at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said the accident could have been caused by bad communication. "The military would forget to tell the civilian aviation control that they're having an exercise. These communications screw-ups happen a lot," she said.(Whatever you say, Fiona.) Number two: When is our government going to believe we're ready to hear the truth? (Soon, I hope.)

In an unusual public move that seem aimed at preventing further panic among air travelers, the Pentagon quickly put out word that its intelligence pointed toward an errant missile. Could that be because the decline in air travel is crippling our economy?

Russia's NTV television, citing unofficial sources, said security measures had been boosted Monday after an indication picked up by Russian security services that terrorists might target it. So, why does Colin Powell say he "hadn't seen anything" to suggest it was terrorism. Powell called the jet crash a "tragedy, and we're deeply concerned about it."

I'm more concerned about when we're going to start getting the truth. We're still reeling over the Sept. 11 attacks, but I believe Americans are strong enough -- and deserve -- to hear the truth about terrorist activity.

posted by Anne 10/05/2001 07:52:00 AM