“Governments lie. They do it all the time. And, much as we’d like to believe otherwise, the US government is no exception.”
Ted Koppel
“The USS Vincennes:
Public War, Secret War.”
ABC News
July 1, 1992
October 31 2023 — Time really flies when you are having fun… On this day seven years ago, I announced that I would start a rather long series regarding Suspicious Aviation Tragedies. I will take this opportunity to look back and reflect on what we have learned during these years. I will also speculate on what we may hope to find out in the near future. Finally, I will provide a few words of advice regarding the matters that still need additional work. Remember: Truth never dies. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
RELATED POST: Former CIA Director John McLaughlin Tells a Whopper: “We don’t blow up civilian airliners…”
RELATED POST : On This Day — Remembering Swissair Flight 330 (February 21 1970) [UPDATE — The Lockerbie Connection: A suspicious VISA]
RELATED POST : 45 Years Ago — Remembering the Bombing of Cubana Flight 455 (October 6 1976)
RELATED POST : On This Day — Remembering Arrow Air Flight 1285 (December 12 1985) [UPDATE : What does the CVR say?]
RELATED POST : Lockerbie — Questions from a reader
RELATED POST : Do you have what it takes to be an FBI Intelligence Analyst? [Parody]
“The only thing that we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.”
Georg Hegel
German philosopher
In the initial posts, I listed the following tragedies in chronological order: Ndola United Nations DC-6 crash (1961), Swissair Flight 330 (1970), Cubana de Aviacion Flight 455 (1976), Aerolinee Itavia Flight 870 (USTICA — 1980), Korean Airlines Flight 007 (1983), Arrow Air Flight 1285 (1985), Iran Flight 655 (1988), Pan Am 103 (Lockerbie — 1988), Avianca Flight 203 (1989), and UTA Flight 772 (1989).
“It will be necessary to find some way of pulling Hammarskjold up short.”
Harold Macmillan
UK Prime Minister
September 13 1961
Ndola United Nations DC-6 crash (September 18, 1961)
When I wrote my initial post, the death of Dag Hammarskjöld — the second Secretary-General of the United Nations — and 15 others was blamed on pilot error.
In February 2017, following a recommendation by a UN-appointed three-member expert panel, the UN tasked Mohamed Chande Othman — a former Tanzanian chief justice — to re-investigate the mysterious death of Dag Hammarskjöld. His initial reports confirm the thesis of an assassination which INTEL TODAY has always regarded as the most likely.
RELATE POST : On This Day — Who Killed Dag Hammarskjöld and Why? (September 18 1961) [2023]
RELATED POST : EXCLUSIVE — Belgian Mercenary Killed Dag Hammarskjold // UPDATE — Story Confirmed!
On September 19 1961, US President Harry Truman stated that “Hammarskjöld was at the point of getting something done when they killed him.” This statement raises questions about which governments might have been involved and what their motives were.
Most historians today believe that the United States, the United Kingdom, and Belgium played a role in Hammarskjöld’s death. However, the exact method remains a subject of debate. Recent revelations indicate that the Belgian State Security Services (VSSE) provided Belgian mercenary pilot Jan Van Risseghem with a fabricated alibi.
[On January 12 2019, The Guardian confirmed the findings I had previously reported about Van Risseghem. Of course, the author forgot to mention my blog…]
On February 11 2020, Swiss broadcasting company SRF, German public broadcaster ZDF and the Washington Post confirmed most details of the story I began to cover more than a decade ago after gaining access to a classified, comprehensive CIA history document summarizing Operations “Thesaurus” and “Rubicon”.
As I have explained, all the Crypto AG machines delivered to the UN — including the one used by Hammarskjöld during his visit to Congo — had been rigged at the request of the NSA.
Surprisingly, the UN investigators never interviewed the managers of Crypto AG, nor did they seek legal assistance from Switzerland.
The investigation into Dag Hammarskjöld’s death appears to avoid addressing the Crypto AG connection, and those reporting on Crypto AG seem uninterested in the United Nations scandal. The situation raises questions about the direction of the UN Hammarskjöld inquiry, which, in short, seems to be making little progress.
“KE-007 was a victim of the cold war. Another casualty, always war’s first, was the Truth. The story of KE-007 will be remembered pretty much the way the Americans told it in 1983 and not the way it really happened. (…) The moral of the story is that all governments, including our own, lie when it suits their purposes. The key is to lie first.”
Alvin A. Snyder
Warriors of Disinformation
Korean Airlines Flight 007 (1983)
Korean Air Lines Flight 007 (KAL 007), a scheduled flight from New York City to Seoul, met a tragic fate on September 1, 1983, when it was shot down by a Soviet Su-15 interceptor near Moneron Island west of Sakhalin in the Sea of Japan.
RELATED POST : 40 Years Ago — Korean Airliner Flight 007 Shot Down (September 1 1983) [UPDATE : Truth Is the First Casualty in War]
President Reagan swiftly condemned the attack, describing it as a ‘massacre’ and a ‘crime against humanity.’ However, behind the scenes, the National Security Agency (NSA) had correctly informed the U.S. President that the Russians had mistaken the airliner for a spy plane and genuinely believed it was a threat. The NSA concluded that ‘the pilot did his job.’
Evidence presented at the United Nations was later found to be edited, removing critical exchanges between the pilot and Russian authorities.
Today, the truth behind this tragedy is well-known and undisputed. The KAL 007 pilots made several errors during the flight that led them into Soviet airspace. While this mistake was a crucial factor, it’s worth noting that prior to this intrusion, American spy planes had repeatedly penetrated this highly sensitive area. Instead of acknowledging the U.S. role in the tragedy, the White House placed blame on the Russians.
Iran Flight 655 (July 3, 1988)
Iran Air Flight 655 was an Iran Air passenger flight from Tehran to Dubai. The aircraft operating on this route was shot down by a missile cruiser fired from the USS Vincennes under the command of William C. Rogers III.
The incident took place in Iranian airspace, over Iran’s territorial waters in the Persian Gulf, and on the flight’s usual flight path. All 290 people on board died.
The U.S. government issued notes of regret for the loss of human lives, but never apologized or acknowledged wrongdoing.
Many aspects of this tragedy are worthy of a serious investigation. For instance, I have no doubt that this crime is a direct consequence of the Iran-Contra scandal.
However, in the context of this post, I will focus on a single issue. Did Tehran retaliate? Specifically, did Iran play a role in the Lockerbie tragedy?
Following the explosion of Pan Am Flight 103 five months later (December 21 1988), the British and American governments initially blamed the PFLP-GC — a Palestinian militant group backed by Syria — with assumptions of assistance from Iran in retaliation for Iran Air Flight 655. To this day, some experts still believe that the two tragedies may very well be linked.
Money — Is there any evidence linking Tehran to Lockerbie? It has long been reported that Iran wired a large sum of money to Ahmed Jibril’s PFLP-GC in the days following the Lockerbie bombing.
This would be rather convincing as circumstantial evidence if it was not for the fact that this allegation has been fabricated… There is no truth to it. It is disinformation.
Over the last two decades, I have investigated the Lockerbie Case. Among other things, I managed to tracked the so-called Iran payment, and I can state with confidence that this transaction has nothing to do whatsoever with Lockerbie.
The SCCRC came to the same conclusion. Although Richard Marquise (FBI agent who led the Lockerbie investigation) is not willing to discuss the issue (the information is still classified), I believe that he agrees with my findings.
RELATED POST : On This Day — The Lockerbie DIA Memo (September 24 1989) [The Legend of The Iranian Payment]
The 5th device — And then, there was the ‘very convincing’ story of the infamous 5th device. However…
While researching the identity of The GOLFER, I discovered a very significant piece of (dis) information.
RELATED POST: Lockerbie — Who Is The Mysterious GOLFER? [Part I : Trust No One]
RELATED POST: Lockerbie — Who Is The Mysterious GOLFER? — Part II : “Whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” [UPDATE]
RELATED POST: Lockerbie — Who Is The Mysterious GOLFER? [Part III : Unmasking The Devil]
RELATED POST: Lockerbie — Lobster Magazine : The View From The Bridge by Robin Ramsay
During precognition (in 1999), Inspector John McGowan stated that both Toshiba Bombeat radio cassette recorders were recovered.
“I was aware that during the ‘Autumn Leaves’ operation, the Police in Germany had recovered four fully constructed improvised explosive devices and a partially constructed improvised explosive device.
The devices recovered were two Toshiba Bombeat radio cassette recorders, model number RT-F453D, recovered on 261088, two radio tuners, model n°s GMP8000 and ST500, recovered on 130489, and a Sanyo monitor, recovered on 170489.”
The story of the missing 5th device is obviously another fake news. By the way, I was able to identify all those who planted these false stories in the media during the first stage of the investigation.
Secret meetings in Montreux — In the aftermath of Flight 655 disaster, the US and Iran conducted a series of secret talks in the city of Montreux, Switzerland. Richard Lawless was representing Bush and Abolghasem Mesbahi was an envoy of Rafsanjani.
By the end of September 1988 — 3 months before Lockerbie — the US and Iran managed to settle an agreement. None of this has ever been made public for obvious reasons. It would have been perceived as a second Iran-Gate scandal.
Pan Am 103 (Lockerbie — December 21 1988)
Pan Am Flight 103’s tragic disintegration over Lockerbie has been a subject of intense debate. Like most experts, I regard the Lockerbie verdict against Megrahi as a ‘Grand Monument to Human Stupidity’. Indeed, the written opinion of the Lockerbie judges is a remarkable document that claims an ‘honoured place in the history of British miscarriages of justice.’
But unlike most of them, I do not blame Tehran for the destruction of Pan Am 103. As I have explained above, there is simply no real facts pointing to the involvement of Tehran in this tragedy. And I think that there is a good reason for this absence of evidence.
According to the legal truth, a bomb caused the disaster, but after years of research, I have reached a different conclusion.
RELATED POST : Lockerbie 30th Anniversary — What do you think about the Lockerbie verdict? [Poll Result – March 2019]
RELATED POST: One Year Ago — Lockerbie : Why I ruled out the bomb theory [Technical Analysis of the Debris Lines]
The evidence points to a massive structural failure due to well-known issues of metal fatigue in the Boeing 747 (Series 100 & 200), specifically in sections 41 and 42. This structural failure, not an explosive device, likely led to the catastrophic events.
At the center of this debate is PT/35(b), a fragment of a timer circuit that, according to the Lockerbie verdict, triggered an explosive device on Pan Am 103.
This fragment was supposedly found in the debris near Lockerbie. However, I have reason to believe that PT/35(b) is a forgery, deliberately planted among the debris to implicate Libya in the bombing.
RELATED POST : Lockerbie – Three Decades of Lies: J’Accuse…! [Chapter VIII : PT/35(b) — The Most Expensive Forgery in History]
Furthermore, I recently came across a crucial report that was withheld from the defense teams, revealing that forensic experts found no evidence of explosive residues on any debris recovered from Pan Am 103.
Lockerbie — Three Decades of Lies: J’Accuse…!
QUICK NOTE — To make it easier for the readers to retrieve various chapters of my book, I have created a special page “Lockerbie” where all the links to the chapters will be listed with a brief description. You can access that page directly as it appears at the far right of the top bar of this blog.
Lockerbie — Three Decades of Lies: J’Accuse…!
In the first chapter of my book, I wrote:
On December 23 1988, the New York Times reported that Frank Taylor, a former investigator for the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, believed an explosion knocked out communications, electricity and severed the cockpit from the aircraft.
On December 25 1988, FBI agent Thomas Thurman found a couple of pieces from a baggage container skid rail. These items appeared to show sign of an explosion. In the evening, Thurman reported to FBI Headquarters that PA 103 had been destroyed by a bomb.
On December 28 1988, Michael Charles, Inspector of Accidents for the Air Accidents Investigation Branch [AAIB] announced that the two pieces of metal discovered by FBI agent Thomas Thurman show convincing evidence of a high performance plastic explosive.
Vetting the sources of a story should be an important part of a journalist job. Had the reporters done a serious check on Frank Taylor, Thomas Thurman, Rick Hahn and Michael Charles, it is very likely that the Lockerbie Affair would have been perceived as transparent nonsense since the very beginning.
Aerolinee Itavia Flight 870 (USTICA — 1980)
Frank Taylor – Ustica — On June 27 1980, Itavia Flight 870 crashed into the Tyrrhenian Sea near Ustica, killing all on board.
Frank Taylor (one of the British investigator participants of the third technical investigation) concluded that a bomb had been planted in the rear toilet.
On January 23 2013, Italy’s top criminal court ruled out the bomb theory and concluded that: “There is abundantly clear evidence that the flight was brought down by a missile.”
A few weeks ago, in an interview with Rome daily La Repubblica, former two-time Premier Giuliano Amato said he is convinced that a French air force missile accidentally brought down Itavia Flight 870.
Amato said that in 2000, when he was premier, he wrote to the then presidents of the United States and France, Bill Clinton and Jacques Chirac, respectively, to press them to shed light on what happened. But ultimately, their only answer was: “total silence.”
The theory of a terrorist bomb as the cause of the crash appeared flawed from the outset. Equally significant is the revelation that this theory was likely manufactured by the same ‘experts’ — including Frank Taylor.
“No one acts alone without orders in the FBI. We had clear goals which were clearly given to us in every document we received from anyone. If a police organization wished for us to provide them ‘proof’ of guilt, then they told us in many ways of their absolute belief that the perpetrators were those individuals they had already arrested. If the president of the United States tells the country in the national news that Dandeny Munoz Mosquera is one of the most feared assassins in the history of the world, then every agent knows that he must provide information to support that statement. If leaders decide without concern for foundation of truth then most people will follow them.”
Fred Whitehurst
Former FBI Chemist
(Email to Intel Today)
Avianca Flight 203 (1989)
Avianca Airlines Flight 203 was a Colombian domestic passenger flight from El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá to Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport in Cali. Avianca Flight 203 crashed over the municipality of Soacha on November 27, 1989.
Allegedly, the plane was destroyed by a bomb. This explanation is however much disputed by experts today. Colombian journalists Pablo Correa, Sergio Silva and retired US Newton Center attorney Thomas Hoffman share the 2017 Simon Bolivar Prize (Category: Investigative journalism) for their outstanding work on the true story of AVIANCA Flight 203.
Rick Hahn – Avianca 203 — Former FBI Rick Hahn was a protegee of Thomas Thurman. Hahn was the lead investigator in the Avianca 203 case.
During the FBI “Labgate” investigation, Hahn admitted that he was not able to back up any of his “conclusions” about the bombing of Avianca 203; not even the alleged position of the bomb.
According to an expert I interviewed, the so-called ‘bomb evidence’ reported by Hahn was probably more properly characterized as cratering, not pitting, which is typically a corrosion phenomenon.
RELATED POST: Remembering French Investigative Journalist Pierre Péan (March 5 1938 – July 25 2019) [UPDATE : From Lockerbie to Avianca 203 — The same fake ‘scientists’…]
RELATED POST : On This Day — Remembering Avianca Flight 203 (November 27 1989) [Politicization of Intelligence]
When asked if he had any knowledge whatsoever about corrosion mechanisms of aluminum alloys, or had ever seen aluminum oxide (Al2O3), Hahn admitted that he didn’t have a clue!
Today we know that Avianca 203 was not destroyed by a bomb – blamed on Pablo Escobar! — but rather by a fuel system explosion of the type that destroyed at least five other Boeing airliners.
“It is striking to note the similarity of the ‘scientific’ evidence discovered by the FBI’s Tom Thurman in both the Lockerbie and UTA cases. Of the tens of thousands of pieces of debris collected at each disaster site, one lone piece of printed circuit was found and, miracle of miracles, in each case the fragment bore markings that allowed for positive identification: MEBO in the Lockerbie case and TY in the case of UTA Flight 772. Despite the common findings of the DCPJ, the DST and the Prefecture of Police crime laboratory, Judge Bruguière chose to believe Thurman, the expert in fabricating evidence.”
Pierre Péan
African Manipulations
UTA Flight 772 (September 19 1989)
Thomas Thurman – UTA 772 — It has been called the greatest murder investigation in French history. When a suitcase bomb destroyed French Airlines UTA Flight 772, killing all 170 passengers and crew on board, it triggered a decade long search for accountability.
At the conclusion of the investigation, the French investigative magistrate judge — Jean Louis Bruguiere — determined that the Libyan State was directly responsible for the bombing of UTA Flight 772.
Pierre Péan was one of the great French investigative journalists. In Manipulations Africaines (African Manipulations), published in February 2001, he investigated the sabotage of UTA Flight 772. Péan accused Thomas Thurman, a Federal Bureau of Investigation explosives expert, of fabricating false evidence.
RELATED POST: On This Day — Remembering UTA Flight 772 (September 19 1989) [2019]
The US Attorney General 1997 Report on the FBI Forensic Lab concluded: “Williams and [Thomas] Thurman merit special censure for their work. It recommends that [Thomas] Thurman, who has a degree in political science, be reassigned outside the lab and that only scientists work in its explosives section.”
Contrary to what Michael Charles stated, there is actually ZERO evidence of SEMTEX in the Lockerbie case! Out of 4 million pieces collected at Lockerbie — only the two pieces ‘discovered’ by Thomas Thurman were ever reported to indicate the presence of explosive residues: SEMTEX.
“Raufer established three new facts, all of them pointing — for the first time — to Libya as the culprit of both Pan Am 103 and UTA 772. These facts are false. (…) If that story gains credibility in the media and becomes the ‘new truth’, we will be forced to revisit our position regarding Libya and Gaddafi.”
French Intelligence (DST)
Note to French President Francois Mitterrand
(June 1991)
As with Lockerbie, the UTA Flight 772 case has yet to reach its final chapter. Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy will be tried in 2025 over allegations he took money from late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi to fund one of his election campaigns.
French Mediapart news website said it had gained access to extracts from the statements provided by former Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi, who reportedly detailed to French officials how he oversaw the multi-million dollar payment for Sarkozy’s campaign, as ordered by Colonel Gaddafi.
“Senussi also confirmed that as part of the deal, the former French president’s personal lawyer and friend Thierry Herzog attempted to overturn an international arrest warrant issued against Senussi, after his conviction in absentia by a Paris court for his part in the blowing up of a French airliner [UTA 772] in 1989. (…)
Yet Senussi’s latest statement is also believed to detail the time frame in which the money was transferred to the French interior minister over two installments in 2006.”
According to Mediapart, Senussi’s testimony is in line with some of the evidence already collected by the investigators, while other details still need fact-checking.
“The FBI didn’t want to hear about anything but a missile or a bomb, because otherwise there was no FBI case. Their conduct was disturbing from the very beginning.”
Chuck Grassley
Chairman of the Judiciary subcommittee
Washington Post (May 9 1999)
Trans World Airlines Flight 800 (November 18 2022)
Trans World Airlines Flight 800 (TWA 800) was a Boeing 747-100 which exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York, on July 17, 1996.
On November 17 1997, the FBI formally ended its 16-month investigation into the crash of TWA flight 800. FBI agents concluded there was no evidence it was a criminal act.
James K. Kallstrom, the New York F.B.I. chief, was in charge of the T.W.A. Flight 800 investigation.
Andrew Vita — then assistant director of field operations for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF) — and William Tobin — former chief metallurgist for the FBI — both testified that Kallstrom needlessly prolonged the probe for more than a year when the truth was actually known after just a few weeks.
I will take this opportunity to make three quick comments which relate to the destruction of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie.
SEMTEX — Kallstrom claimed that traces of the high explosives PETN and RDX ‘found’ on the aircraft were proof of an IED.
Yet, the FBI knew full well that water washes away all traces of high explosives within 24 hours. Obviously, someone planted the residue evidence, or else it was the result of a contamination at the FBI laboratory.
Loud noise — Kallstrom concluded that the sharp noise at the end of the tape was identical to the Lockerbie sound and this was clear evidence of a bomb explosion.
“The sudden halt to voice transmissions from the cockpit before the explosion was consistent with the pattern of Pan Am 103. So was the mid- air disintegration of the aircraft.”
As I explained in great details, this statement is absolutely false. There is simply no sound of a bomb explosion recorded in the Lockerbie tragedy.
Radar anomaly — A few seconds before the disintegration of TWA 800, several radars recorded an anomaly. In the Lockerbie case, the anomaly was recorded by two radars and was never explained.
“As I told the Prime Minister the last time, he vastly overestimates the competence of the CIA.”
Henri Kissinger
(Answer to Zhou Enlai about the US involvement in the bombing of the Kashmir Princess)
The Bombing of the “Kashmir Princess” (April 11 1955)
In the annals of aviation history, the bombing of the “Kashmir Princess” stands as a pivotal event. On April 11, 1955, this chartered Lockheed L-749A Constellation aircraft, owned by Air India, suffered a mid-air bomb explosion while en route from Hong Kong to Jakarta, Indonesia.
The tragic crash into the South China Sea resulted in the loss of sixteen lives, with three survivors. Remarkably, the target of this assassination attempt was none other than the Chinese Premier, Zhou Enlai.
RELATED POST : On This Day — Target Zhou Enlai : The Bombing of the “Kashmir Princess” (April 11 1955) [UPDATE : Just ask ChatGPT!]
Fast forward to April 15, 2019, when Mike Pompeo, then serving as the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), made a speech at Texas A&M University that raised eyebrows. Pompeo’s candid admission stated, ‘I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole. It’s – it was like – we had entire training courses. It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment.’
When the CIA engages in deception, they construct stories based on known events rather than inventing facts.
This practice of fabricating stories using real events is a recurring theme. For instance, the fragments of a timer discovered by FBI Thomas Thurman in the Lockerbie and UTA cases were widely believed to be fabricated to implicate Libya. But where did the CIA get the idea?
On May 26, 1955, an Indonesian board of inquiry revealed that a time bomb, equipped with an American-made MK-7 detonator, was responsible for the “Kashmir Princess” crash. It was later determined that the CIA had supplied MK-7 triggers to the terrorists. A lesson learned, one might say.
Did you know? During precognition, FBI Thomas Thurman admitted that he had been instructed by the FBI to lie about the Lockerbie timer when testifying before a Grand Jury, an effort to conceal the involvement of the CIA in the case.
“Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.”
Soren Kierkegaard
A final thought about Truth and Forgiveness
It is true that we do not know who — if anyone — shot down Dag Hammarskjöld’s Ndola United Nations DC-6 (Partly because the NSA is hiding crucial information). It is also true that we cannot be sure that the US military shot down Itavia Flight 870 (even tough, the US military is a prime suspect in this tragedy). In the case of Cuban Flight 455, I would even agree — as Gary Webb once put it — that there is a difference between people “working at the CIA” and people “linked to the CIA”.
But surely, in the case of Iran Flight 655, even a former CIA Director should be able to tell the truth. As Dr Jim Swire — the father of a young girl who die in the Pan Am 103 disaster — once told me, “I wish to forgive… ” But the truth is of course a pre-condition to forgiveness.
Be patient. The truth will come out one day… The truth never dies. In the meanwhile, I encourage you to take this test : Do you have what it takes to be an Intelligence Analyst?
सत्यमेव जयते नानृतं
Truth alone triumphs; not falsehood.
Mundaka Upanishad (3.1.6)
“PT/35(b) was extremely, extremely dodgy. It was very, very suspicious. The way it suddenly appeared, embedded in a shirt collar, with the information on the page overwritten and changed, all police procedures were thrown out of the window.”
Reverend John Mosey
Intel Today 