Similarities between Air France 447 and Swissair 111 crashes -- both clouded in mystery - Wayne Madsen Report

June 8-9, 2009 -- Similarities between Air France 447 and Swissair 111 crashes -- both clouded in mystery
publication date: Jun 8, 2009
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June 8-9, 2009 -- Similarities between Air France 447 and Swissair 111 crashes -- both clouded in mystery

On June 4, 2009, WMR reported, "WMR's intelligence sources in Paris report that the investigation of the crash of [Air France] flight 447 is focusing on an act of terrorism although the French government is being extremely tight-lipped about the entire matter."

WMR sources believe that the cases of Air France 447, which crashed into the sea between Brazil and Africa on May 31 en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, and Swissair 111, which crashed into the sea off Nova Scotia on September 2, 1998, are similar in nature. Although a short circuit in the on board entertainment system that caused a fire was blamed on the crash of the Swissair McDonnell Douglas MD-11 with 215 passengers and 14 crew members, the crash is still surrounded in mystery due to reports that one or more passengers may have been targets of a non-traditional terrorism attack from technical sabotage, one carried out not to push a political agenda but to eliminate one or more passengers who posed a threat to a criminal syndicate.

Investigators in the Air France Airbus 330 crash, which killed 228 passengers and crew, are now pushing the theory that faulty speed indicators caused the plane to plunge into the Atlantic. Initial reports that the Airbus crashed from severe weather were put to rest after the pilots of 12 other passenger planes on the same route from Brazil to Europe reported experiencing no unusually severe weather during the same time period that the Air France plane crashed.

In the case of Swissair 111, which was en route from New York to Geneva and was known as the "UN flight" because of the number of UN officials who would use the flight to shuttle between UN headquarters in New York and UN offices in Geneva, there was speculation that one or more passengers of note may have been targeted in a case of technical sabotage with a much different purpose than classic terrorism. Among those who died in the crash were Jonathan Mann, the former head of the AIDS program for the World Health Organization (WHO); Mann's wife, a top AIDS research scientist; and Pierce Gerety, Jr., the director of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for the Great Lakes Region of Africa, where Rwandan dictator Paul Kagame and Ugandan dictator Yoweri Museveni, both Clinton administration clients, were engaged in a genocidal war against the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with the assistance of the United States, Britain, and Israel.

The Swissair 111 pilot made the following last communication to air traffic control at Moncton, New Brunwswick, before his plane crashed:

PILOT: "111 Heavy is declaring Pan, Pan, Pan. We have smoke in the cockpit. Request deviate. Immediate right turn to a convenient place."

PILOT: "We are declaring an emergency at 01.24 (10.24pm local time). We are starting vent (dumping fuel) now. We have to land immediately." [Final message from pilot]

CONTROL: "Swissair 111 you are clear to commence fuel dump on that track and advise me when the dump is completed."

CONTROL: "Swissair 111, you are clear to start fuel dump."

As with Swissair 111, Air France 447 had on board passengers who would have been potential targets for a technical sabotage assassination.

Scotland's Sunday Herald reported on June 8 that on board the doomed Air France flight were two well-known opponents against global weapons and narcotics smuggling: Pablo Dreyfus, who had worked with the Brazilian government to combat drug gangs in Rio de Janeiro . Traveling with Dreyfus and his wife was Ronald Dreyer, a Swiss diplomat who coordinated the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and, with Dreyfus, worked with the Geneva-based Small Arms Survey, which worked with the UN to stem the flow of small arms, including man-portable air defence systems or "MANPADs," to world combat zones, including El Salvador, Mozambique, Azerbaijan, Kosovo, Cambodia, and Angola. Dreyfus also worked to pass in 2003 a landmark law in Brazil that tracked the sale of weapons and ammunition in the country, including ammunition manufactured by the large Brazilian firm CBC (Companhia Brasileira de Cartuchos). CBC's website states: "CBC- Companhía Brasileira de Cartuchos is the largest military and commercial ammunition manufacturer in Latin America, and has over 60 years expertise in small caliber military ammunition." The firm manufactures ammunition for Barretta, Colt, Browning, Glock, Sig-Sauer, Walther and other pistols, and Uzi, Mini-Uzi, Fabrique Nationale, and other larger weapons.

In addition to the UN officials on board Swissair 111 there was at least one passenger who was involved in negotiating legal claims by Holocaust survivors and heirs on some 54,000 bank accounts held by Swiss banks. The accounts were originally held by victims or survivors of the Holocaust.

On September 5, 1998, just three days after Swissair 11 plunged into the Atlantic off Nova Scotia, Daniel Dayer, the Swiss ambassador to Canada, who was involved in negotiating settlements with Canadian Holocaust survivors and heirs, was killed after he fell in front of an approaching train in Switzerland.

Dayer was returning to Geneva from where he was to fly back to Canada in order to resume his duties in Ottawa. Dayer fell on to the tracks as the train from Brig to Geneva was approaching Dayer's train station at Sion in the Swiss canton of Valais. Dayer was said to have tripped and fallen in front of the locomotive and was killed instantly. Police said the reason for Dayer's fall was "unclear."

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