I’m puzzled.
Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting Donald J. Trump bellowed that he is absolutely certain it was a terrorist attack.
Democratic nominee-to-be Hillary Rodham Clinton said in more restrained tones that it appears to be an act of terror.
Greek aviation officials said mechanical failure likely wasn’t the cause.
FBI director James Comey has dispatched the finest investigators in the world to the scene of the tragedy.
Everyone seems to think the downing of EgyptAir 804 was the act of the Islamic State, or al-Qaeda, or some other nefarious, evil group.
Where, though, are the claims of responsibility?
History tells us that ISIS is quick to take “credit” for these evil acts. Al-Qaeda is a little slower to do so, but not this slow.
Indeed, terrorist groups want the world to know they have succeeded in committing these terrible deeds. In the case of this tragedy, 66 people have died. The jetliner was en route from Paris to Cairo when it veered 90 degrees and then spun in a circle before apparently plummeting into the Mediterranean Sea near the Greek island of Karpathos.
So, the question must be asked: Was it an act of terror?
The latest news is that sensors reportedly detected smoke inside the plane moments before it plunged into the sea.
Was it mechanical or electrical failure after all?
Let’s turn for just a moment to the politics of it all.
Perhaps you heard Trump say immediately that terrorists did this, that anything less than an all-out retaliatory strike against ISIS would be a sign of weakness.
Clinton didn’t want to be left on the sidelines, as she, too, sought to lay blame, although not with the bellicosity that Trump exhibited.
There remains a good chance that search teams will find the flight data recorders on the sea bottom. Absent any declaration of responsibility from terrorists, it would be wise in the extreme to see what’s contained in those recorders.
