MH370: Did America Kill the Passengers?

Almost two months have past since the much-publicized disappearance of the infamous Malaysian flight MH370. There are so many theories that have been created to try and explain how the plane went missing and its possible location. Some of these theories do not seem to make sense at all, while others seem to be inspired by Hollywood action movies.  However, there has been a huge debate in some newsrooms and social media platforms as to whether America killed the passengers aboard the missing flight.

The Malaysian government has already given up searching for the missing flight; an operation that cost more than $56 million so far. Even as some private companies such as GeoResonance Technology continue searching for the missing flight MH370, there is a new theory that explains how the United States of America could be responsible for killing the passengers and crew on board.

The theory of terror attack

According to one of the theories that explain the disappearance of Malaysian flight MH370, it might have been as a result of a terror attack. Terrorists might have gained access into the cockpit by hijacking some of the crew members, turned off all communication networks and crashed the plane into an unknown or remote destination. This theory was beginning to make sense but after analyzing the trends of modern day terrorism, there is every reason to doubt it.

If the Malaysian plane had been crashed by terrorists, then by now, they would have claimed responsibility. Terrorist love taking credit of their criminal activities and the world would be expecting them to release a new video of themselves clad in masks with bazookas, machine guns, grenades, anti-aircraft missiles and all those sorts of weapons in the background as they congratulate their colleagues in the plane for a job well done. Secondly, when such terrorist groups start realizing that the world’s superpowers have no idea about the exact location of the plane or what led to its disappearance, they will start claiming responsibility as a way of declaring their power, yet deep inside their minds, they do not know anything about the flight or what happened to it.

The theory of mechanical faults

The ill-fated Japan Airlines Flight 123 that crashed in 1985 and claimed at least 520 lives leads the list of airplanes that crashed as a result of mechanical issues. However, it is too early to include flight MH370 on the list because this theory has some elements of doubt in it. The crew aboard the Malaysian passenger jet did not raise alarm or communicate to the aviation authorities about any  fault in the plane as it struggled to land in an unknown destination. This is the exact opposite of what their Japanese counterparts did. The missing flight MH370 had in-built modern communication systems and some worked independently. For them to shut down simultaneously, it would require expert knowledge from someone who might have studied them for quite a long time, but not necessarily the pilot.

The theory of military shootdown

Of all the theories that try to explain the whereabouts of the missing plane, this theory provides some shocking revelations that point an accusing finger at the United States of America. According to John Chuckman, a former senior economist for an established Canadian company, the US military forces might have shot down the plane, either deliberately or accidentally and as a result, the top administration wanted to keep it a secret. There is no country that wants to confess that it shot down an already-crashing passenger plane and the same case applies to the US.

Reports suggest that Malaysian flight MH370 disappeared off the radar as a result of lost signal and that is where America comes in as a suspect. The theory explains that when the US realized that there was an unidentified plane flying along its horizons with no signal, they might have decided to shoot it down for security reasons. Mr. Chukman explained that this was not the first time America had shot down a civilian airplane. He was probably referring to the Iranian Air Flight 655 that was shot down on Jul. 3, 1988 by the US Navy, killing all 290 passengers on board.

By the time of its disappearance, the plane was said to be flying low, without any communication network as it attempted to change its course. This event would not go unnoticed by America’s hawk-eyed intelligence agencies.

Another controversial book authored by Nigel Cawthorne also supports the theory of a military shoot down. The author argues that a man who was working on an oil rig spotted a burning passenger jet in the sky and this was a huge coincidence because joint military operations by the US and Thailand were going on nearby. He also explains that after realizing their mistake, America decided to focus on other unlikely search destinations such as the South Indian Ocean to draw attention away from the real scene of the incident.

The search process for the missing Malaysian flight MH370 will probably come to an end as a result of targeting the wrong area as the right one is being combed and cleared to avoid being detected, therefore leading to frustration. Malaysia is one of the nations that gave up during the multi-nation search exercise and other nations are expected to follow suit. As frustration continues to rise, someone, somewhere is probably enjoying the whole scene, withholding evidence and watching the rescuers quit one by one.  - Opinion by Andrew Amoth Wandola - guardian.com