Cargo clean on American jet

By Paul Sperry

American Airlines officials doubt a jet that hijackers used to blow up one of the World Trade Center towers contained explosives.

NBC News and other media have speculated that both the
American and United Airlines jets that crashed into
the towers may have contained a large quantity of
dynamite or other explosives. The American flight
originated from Boston.

“We only had two cargo things, which were lobsters,” said an American cargo manager.

The live lobsters were shipped in two large pods by commercial operators in Boston to customers on the West Coast. American Flight 11 was bound for Los Angeles.

“We ship them all the time,” the American worker said.

The plane, carrying 81 passengers, nine flight attendants and two pilots, also was loaded with U.S. mail and luggage, which did not raise any suspicions.

“There wasn’t much cargo in it at all,” the worker said. “Nothing was unusual.”

Attorney General John Ashcroft confirmed that the
box-cutter-wielding hijackers also threatened
passengers and crews by claiming they had bombs.

Paul Sperry

Paul Sperry, formerly WND's Washington bureau chief, is a Hoover Institution media fellow and author of "Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives have Penetrated Washington." Read more of Paul Sperry's articles here.