A (meandering) apocalyptic speculation
Yes, we'd all like that aircraft to be found.
After the WTC/Pentagon attacks, we have a tendency to think that the bad guys will just try to do something similar again.
But we know Osama bin Creepo is Macchiavellian and always thinks of *new bigger* things, rather than repeating *old smaller* things.
Question: if stolen aircraft with extra fuel flies across the Mediterranean or the Atlantic, by the time it gets to its destination, hasn't it used up a lot of the fuel so it isn't as good a weapon? The point of having a lot of fuel is to do your attack as near the beginning of the flight as possible. So flying to Tel Aviv instead seems more likely - but that may not be a trivial distance either, depending of course on starting point.
But now, what if the fuel *isn't* the weapon, but something else being transported *is* the weapon? Then, flying all the way to England (although I don't really think Creepo is interested in England) or to USA would still be worthwhile.
What if all along we've been thinking mickey mouse small potatoes while Creepo's been thinking big?
What I'm getting at is that it has always troubled me that Pakistan has, gulp,
nukes
and Creepo is currently believed to be in Pakistan.
Obviously USA, England, and others would be watching like hawks for any Pakistan-nuke-Creepo linkup, right? But can we take it for granted? Although the Pakistani leader has supported certain aspects of the US efforts, can we be confident such a linkup is impossible, such as through renegade engineers, etc.? Or "former Soviet" sources and others?
Of course, getting access to a nuke is much harder than getting access to a 727, so if Creepo had accomplished the former then he presumably would have the resources to simply buy a transport aircraft and not have to heist one in Angola.
Anyway the point I'm making is, everyone should be alert to the possibility that the stolen 727, or for that matter any other airliner acquired in any other manner, could be used, either in the near future or the medium or more distant future, to transport a, gulp, nuke to Tel Aviv, London, or New York.
Is everyone attuned to this idea?
Jetliners-as-fuel-bombs post-2001 is now small time stuff.
Creepo doesn't think small, he thinks big.
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I think the subject matter of this post needs to be a part of the public discussion (if it isn't already - but I haven't seen it anywhere), and is not something "dangerous to post in a public forum". But I'll report this post to the moderators myself to make sure they agree.