Word: egyptian
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Early last week National Transportation Safety Board investigators took that theory seriously enough to consider handing the crash inquiry over to the FBI. But as soon as they heard the shocking suicide hypothesis, Egyptian officials, the Egyptian populace and most of the Arab world cried, "Wait...
Although the Egyptian government of Hosni Mubarak ceded responsibility for the case to the U.S., it could refuse to give the FBI free rein to investigate in Egypt. As Administration diplomats worked overtime to calm tempers and encourage cooperation, NTSB officials retreated. By Friday, chairman James Hall was blaming unauthorized news leaks for "flat wrong" speculation that "caused pain" to victims' families and had "done a disservice" to a long-standing international friendship. But despite the diplomatic delicacy, Hall, the Justice Department and FBI officials remain determined to pursue, on their own if need be, the hypothesis that someone deliberately...
...Egyptian officials and el-Batouti's family scoff that the NTSB fashioned a chain of events before there was sufficient evidence to rule out mechanical failure. They rail against the flood of premature news leaks and unsubstantiated, sensational headlines. They vehemently deny the notion that a regularly vetted pilot with 35 years' flying experience would suddenly commit mass murder. At least three pilots and some of the 33 air force officers were in the first-class cabin, but no one tried to overpower el-Batouti in the cockpit...
...Egyptians are particularly incensed that just three words, in circumstances difficult to interpret, could point to suicide. The words may have been totally misunderstood. El-Batouti was just as likely to be expressing concern at some emergency when he spoke. The phrase was no solemn invocation of death but an everyday expression among Egyptians, murmured at the start of many a mundane task. Suicide defies the holiest precepts of Islam, and for Egyptians it brings unthinkable shame to family and nation. "You can't jump to conclusions from someone quoting the Koran and say this was more than an accident...
Last week, with no leads on a mechanical cause for the crash of the flight, the case's investigator told the Associated Press that the Egyptian Muslim co-pilot had made a "cryptic reference to Allah" (News, Nov. 17) as the plane was going down. Had it been a Christian American pilot crying "God help me," such a suggestion would never have been made...