Air Blue Crash: Plane Now Believed Hijacked, Heading for Nuke Facility

By Gordon Duff

August 29, 2010 Islamabad, Pakistan (Veterans Today exclusive)  Informed sources in the Government of Pakistan have informed Veterans Today that they are developing “hard evidence” indicating  the Jet Blue Airbus 320 that crashed August 28th outside Islamabad was a terrorist hijacking  tied to rogue American security forces operating inside that country.

Sources indicate that the plane crash was an unsuccessful hijacking attempt  intended to crash into the nuclear  weapons facility at Kahuta, outside Islamabad.  Such an attack may have been blamed on India and would likely have led to retaliation which could easily have escalated to a nuclear exchange between these two nations that have spent decades at each other’s throats.

Suspicions were raised inside Pakistan’s military and intelligence organizations when American military contractors employed by Blackwater/Xe showed up on the scene immediately after the crash, seizing the black box and “other materials.”  There is no confirmation that parachutes or electronic equipment had been removed when Blackwater/Xe security relinquished control of the crash scene to Pakistani investigators.

Royal Television in Islamabad, owned by the brother of the head of Pakistan’s powerful JI (Jamate Islami), the Islamic political party, has reported that investigations are underway tying American based contractors to the planning of the attack.

Pakistan’s ISRP (Inter-Services Public Relations) has failed to confirm this but private sources indicate that an active investigation of these allegations is, not only underway but has established ties between an American group and the hijackers.

Military and intelligence officials inside Pakistan, in concert with the American embassy, are withholding all official details of the investigation and are likely to continue doing so.

This same facility had been the subject of an armed penetration by American contractors, believed to be employed by the State Department, in 2009.  Four Blackwater employees, armed and possessing explosives were arrested outside the Kahuta nuclear facility in 2009.  The four, driving a Jeep 4×4 and possessing advanced surveillance and jamming equipment of Israeli manufacture, were intercepted 1.5 miles from the Kahuta nuclear facility.

The four spoke fluent Pushtu and were dressed in a manner as to resemble Taliban fighters.  The order for their release, given by Minister of the Interior Rehman Malik, is an issue of considerable controversy between the civilian government in Pakistan and the powerful military.

The passenger jet with 152 on board slammed into a hillside in what was believed to be Pakistan’s most serious air crash.  At least 2 Americans were believed to be on board but, a month later, the US Embassy in Islamabad has left this unconfirmed.  Reports received today, however, confirm that at least 5 Americans, military contractors said to be employed by Xe, may also have been on the craft but could not be identified as they had been traveling in local garb and had boarded with false identification.

Xe is an American based military and intelligence contracting firm formerly known as Blackwater and has been the subject of considerable controversy for activities inside Pakistan.

Scene of July 28 Air Crash Outside Islamabad, Pakistan

Sources indicate that the attackers stormed the cockpit in a hijacking attempt.  The pilot is said to have jammed the flight controls, careening the Airbus 320 and all aboard into a hillside rather than allowing the plane to be used in a “9/11? type attack inside Pakistan or flown into Indian air space for a repeat of the 2008 Mumbai attack.

Pakistan has, at times in error, referred to American contractors employed by the Departments of Defense, State or the Central Intelligence Agency as Blackwater.  However, it is believed the majority of such employees are, in fact, members of that organization or is derivitive, Xe.

Blackwater/Xe, has been subject to considerable controversy inside Pakistan for involvement in an incident in 2009 where several armed Blackwater employees were arrested in what was said to be an unauthorized  ”penetration test” on the Kahuta Nuclear Plant, the same facility targeted in this attack.

The same group, often criticized for irregularities in Iraq, has been contracted by the  Central Intelligence Agency to operate Predator drones inside Pakistan, operations that have resulted in a significant number of civilian deaths and said by political leaders of several factions to do little but recruit terrorists.

Gordon Duff is a Marine Vietnam veteran, and Senior Editor at Veterans Today. His career has included extensiveexperience in international banking along with such diverse areas as consulting on counter insurgency, defense technologies or acting as diplomatic officer of UN humanitarian groups. Gordon Duff’s articles are published around the world and translated into a number of languages. He is a regularly on radio and tv. This article first appeared on Opinion Maker.