Columbia broke up, and the WTC were not destroyed by the initial impacts of the airliners, so we shouldn't be surprised that papers from the shuttle or the buildings survived and drifted to the ground.

We should be surprised, however, that the reputedly indestructable black boxes from the suicide jets allegedly did not survive, but Mohammed Atta's passport did.

We should be even more surprised that Atta's passport was on the plane at all, since it had been reported stolen sometime earlier.

The fact that AW&ST published timelines and explanations does not address the simple facts that procedures were not followed, and - as the Star article relates - the various AF spokespersons couldn't even get their stories straight about if and when interceptors were scrambled.

If your closing paragraph you imply that the very enormity of the crime excludes certain parties from being suspects.

A.C. Doyle had it right when his Sherlock Holmes stated: "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

Yes, on occasion, we must stretch our brains to accomodate the enormity, the horror, of the truth.

"How could we let 'em catch us with our pants down, Mr. President?" was the question posed by one GI to FDR in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor.

It is now quite clear that President Roosevelt, General George C. Marshall, Winston Churchill, and a handful of other high officials conspired to goad the Japanese into attacking Pearl Harbor, covered up their knowledge of Japanese plans and the attack fleet's movements, while at the same time blinding and tying the hands of those directly responsible for Pearl's defense, flag officers and subsequent scapegoats like Admiral Kimmel and General Short, so that the Japanese attack would succeed.

No, the enormity of a crime does not automatically exclude any suspects.

YoursTruly