Gander Different Crash, Same Questions

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A bomb, Wheaton contends, could have been planted on the plane in the Cairo airport, where a 30-minute blackout occurred during loading and where, he says, Egyptian baggage handlers were unsupervised by Americans. One month after the crash, the American embassy in Mauritius received a letter signed "Sons of Zion." It described how the Arrow Air jet was "sabotaged" by a "cold-blooded, premeditated act . . . a few hours before take-off with the complicity of several Egyptian and Libyan mechanics."

Repeated efforts by the Families for Truth About Gander to open FBI files about the crash have failed. Democratic Congressman Robin Tallon of South Carolina has tried to help. Two years ago, he persuaded 103 other members of the House of Representatives to petition President Bush to initiate an "investigation to explore all possible crash theories." Bush never responded. Tallon, who says that up until then he had frequently visited the White House, says he was never invited back. "The FBI and CIA have also sealed me off," Tallon complains. "They don't even answer my phone calls."

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Criminal Justice held a two- day hearing on the crash in December 1990. It ended without a call for action, despite surprising revelations of FBI apathy. Last week Tallon announced that he would introduce a bill to establish a commission with full subpoena power to investigate the crash the way it should have been examined seven years ago.

At that time the FBI's forensic team had flown to Newfoundland on the day of the crash, then sat in a Gander motel, the subcommittee found, awaiting "whatever reports or conclusions Canadian authorities saw fit to share with them. After a mere 36 hours the agents accepted a declaration that 'terrorism was not involved,' and returned home." The FBI claimed the Canadians did not allow its agents to visit the crash site or to participate in the investigation. But nothing prevented the bureau from launching a worldwide hunt for terrorist involvement, as it did after the Pan Am bombing.