Christopher Ruddy
Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2001

Many people here began bracing for another wave of attacks.

But none materialized. Maybe this awful disaster was just an accident.

Maybe not.

The FBI came out within a half hour of the incident to say there was no apparent terrorism, just a mechanical plane failure.

Larry Klayman’s Judicial Watch quickly issued a press release slamming the FBI for its snap assessment.

Whatever you may think of Judicial Watch, on this one it batted a homerun. How could any reasonable person come to any conclusion on this crash so fast?

So far, we know an engine fell from the jet. Engines typically don't just fall off planes.

Okay, let's say for the moment the crash was not caused by a bomb. What caused the mechanical failure? How about possible sabotage from one of the ground crew?

An investigation first needs to be conducted – and only then a conclusion drawn.

But the government is so anxious to calm an already panicked public; it is trying, at every opportunity, to hold back any possibility of bad news.

We saw how federal officials downplayed the anthrax attacks.

Some officials are holding back the truth, perhaps to protect the economy.

Yes, the economy is shaky and another terrorist act against a civilian jet will only hurt. But in the long run, fairytales don't help. We ignore the truth and bad news at our peril.

I don't believe in holding back bad news. Failing to tell the public "bad news" doesn't lead to better news, just more trouble.

The reason we Americans are in this terrorist predicament is because of the increasing deceit coming from our government.

This process of deceit is a decades-long one. We all know now the Gulf of Tonkin incident was a provocation – and that the government fed the public lies about the progress of the Vietnam War.

In the end, the U.S. government lost South Vietnam, and years of public trust was eroded.

When Clinton came to power in 1993, he brought "government by deceit" to a new height.

One episode during the Clinton years that may have parallels to Monday's crash was the 1996 crash of TWA 800.

Reed Irvine of Accuracy in Media has concluded that the overwhelming evidence proves a missile downed TWA 800, and that the Clinton White House and the FBI ensured that the truth would not be made known to the public.

I personally have not investigated the matter, though I know the investigation was a sham.

A friend of mine, a high-ranking New York state official, told me that on the day the FBI was brought into the TWA investigation he spoke with then New York assistant FBI Director James Kallstrom.

Kallstrom told my friend, before the FBI had even gotten its feet wet investigating, that the investigation would not show that a missile downed the plane.

Kallstrom told my friend that the public couldn't handle such a revelation, and mentioned that several shoulder missiles went missing during the Gulf War.

The truth of TWA 800 was damned, I believe, not in the interest of the public, but in the interest of Clinton's 1996 re-election drive.

No one took Kallstrom, or the Clinton White House, to task for their shameful handling of the matter. Amazingly, Kallstrom retired from the FBI and is now in charge of New York’s disaster management!

Covering up the truth didn't hurt his career.

We have been living through make-believe times, and the only way we can ensure our future is to embrace the truth – and hold those who deny it accountable.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
TWA 800
Clinton Scandals
War on Terrorism

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