Now a captured terrorist in Canada is indicating that al Qaeda may have been responsible for that crash (via Ace).
National Post - A captured al-Qaeda operative has told Canadian intelligence investigators that a Montreal man who trained in Afghanistan alongside the 9/11 hijackers was responsible for the crash of an American Airlines flight in New York three years ago.
Canadian Security Intelligence Service agents were told during five days of interviews with the source that Abderraouf Jdey, a Canadian citizen also known as Farouk the Tunisian, had downed the plane with explosives on Nov. 12, 2001.
The source claimed Jdey had used his Canadian passport to board Flight 587 and "conducted a suicide mission" with a small bomb similar to the one used by convicted shoe bomber Richard Reid, a "Top Secret" Canadian government report says.
But officials said it was unlikely Jdey was actually involved in the crash, which killed 265 people and is considered accidental. The fact that al-Qaeda attributed the crash to Jdey, however, suggests they were expecting him to attack a plane.
I've always wondered about flight 587. No evidence of terrorism was found by officials, but remember that this investigation was taking place in the months of chaos that followed 9/11. It wouldn't be a stretch to imagine that a mistake could have been made. Especially considering that Farouk is claiming that the flight was disrupted by a small bomb brought on board by a terrorist.
Would investigators have been able to find evidence of such a bomb in the aftermath of a major plane crash in the middle of a populated area? I can't answer that, but I don't think its outside the realm of possibility.
We'll just have to see how this one pans out. I'm sure investigators are going to be looking into the flight 587 matter again in light of this revelation.