A first draft memo from the FAA indicates that one of the passengers died from a bullet wound.

The final memo deletes the reference to a wound from a bullet.

But the FBI still says the matter is being investigated....

[size=4]Lewin: Flight 11's unsung hero?[/size=4]
[b]'Knives wouldn't have stopped' ex-Israeli commando, army pal says[/b]
By Paul Sperry © 2002 WorldNetDaily.com

WASHINGTON – He could bench-press 315 pounds and squat more than 450 pounds as a teen-ager. As an officer in an elite unit of the Israeli army, he was trained to kill terrorists with a pen or a credit card, or just his bare hands.

On Sept. 11, he may have gotten the chance.

As fate would have it, Daniel C. Lewin, a 31-year-old Israeli-American, was seated on American Airlines Flight 11 between hijackers Mohammed Atta and Abdulaziz Alomari in the row in front of him, and hijacker Satam al-Suqami in the row behind him.

A secret Federal Aviation Administration executive summary, first uncovered by WorldNetDaily, says that al-Suqami, who would have been sitting directly behind Lewin in seat 10B, shot and killed Lewin with a single bullet.

[b]Daniel C. Lewin[/b]

The FAA maintains the high-level report was a mistaken first draft and that Lewin was more than likely stabbed, not shot, along with American Airlines crew members on Flight 11. (Box cutters were allowed that day through airline security, which the FAA regulated, but not guns.)

But a childhood friend who served with Lewin in the Israel Defense Force says only a bullet would have stopped Lewin.

"He'd be more than a match for those skinny little (expletive)," said Brad Rephen, a New York lawyer who grew up with Lewin in Jerusalem. "With his training, he would have killed them with his bare hands."

"I can tell you, their knives would not have stopped him," he added. "He would have taken their knives or their box cutters away and used them against them."

Rephen recalls Lewin's injured hands after he returned from an Israeli anti-terrorist training course.

"They were pretty beaten up from the fighting he did," he said. "He knew how to fight with knives and take knives away from people."

He described Lewin, at about 5-11, 200 pounds, as "thick-boned." He says he witnessed him bench-press more than 300 pounds and squat close to 500 pounds.

"He was very, very strong and had a lot of meat on him," Rephen said. "They couldn't have subdued him by slashing him. The only way they could have stopped him was by shooting him."

Before returning to America, where he worked as an Internet company executive in Boston, the Denver-born Lewin was a captain in Sayeret Matkal, a top-secret reconnaissance unit of the Israeli army used for special anti-terror missions such as the raid on Entebbe. In 1976, Israeli commandos rescued 103 hostages from a gang of Arab terrorists at the airport in the Ugandan capital.

- continued -

Lewin went on dozens of such missions, friends say. In the '80s, for example, he helped rescue thousands of Jews stranded in Ethiopia. His outfit – Unit 269 – secured the airport there during the airlift operation, friends say.

Rephen called Lewin "the best of the best."

"About 2,500 guys try out for the unit he was in," he said. "Twenty-five make it, and one gets chosen as an officer. It was him."

He was also extremely tough and determined, Rephen says.

He recalls an earlier time, during basic military training, when Lewin fell into a ravine and was knocked unconscious and rushed to the hospital.

"He was back the next day," Rephen said.

He guesses that Lewin, who understood Arabic, sensed something was wrong on Flight 11 the moment he took his seat next to the three terrorists, including Atta, the ringleader.

"He probably picked up that they were on a suicide mission by what they were saying or wearing," Rephen said.

"Hamas and other Islamic terrorist groups put on headbands as badges of their death," he added. "If they put that stuff on, and he saw it, he would have known the ride was over."

And then he would have made his move.

"If I know Danny, when he realized what they were doing, he attacked them," Rephen said. "He probably cursed them in Arabic to scare them, and then he hurt them."

He speculates that during the struggle with Atta and the other hijacker sitting in front of Lewin in row 8, al-Suqami shot him from behind.

"I have no doubt they got a gun on the plane as a backup for a situation like that," Rephen said, speculating that they either brought it on board the plane, likely in pieces, or had it planted there earlier by ground services crew.

The FAA report, though very specific, does not indicate whether Lewin was killed during a struggle or while sitting in his seat. Whatever happened, it likely went down within 15 minutes or so of takeoff. Authorities say the pilots were overpowered by then.

Rephen, like other Lewin friends and associates contacted by WorldNetDaily, doubts the report of gunfire was written in error.

"If this were an error, they wouldn't have been so fact-specific," Rephen said.

[b]The FBI says the Lewin incident is still under investigation.

"I don't think we know for sure right now if he was killed" on board the flight, said FBI spokesman Paul Bresson. "All of this is something we're trying to figure out ourselves."[/b]

Attempts to reach Lewin's family were unsuccessful. His wife and children live in the Boston area, and his parents, both doctors, and two younger brothers live in Israel.

See article at:[url]http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=26973[/url]

Eric The(Inquisitive)Hun[>]:)]

[size=4]Lewin: Flight 11's unsung hero or Mossaad-Al Qaeda Liason?[/size=4]

[}:D]

*ducks and covers*

I know what you are doing!!

Considering even under the tightest security ever, 30% of guns are still able to make it through security, this is not implausable.

I got a Beretta .25 through airport security by accident once.  I didn't even realize I had it with me in my hip pocket until I saw an ad for one in a gum mag I was reading during the flight.  I wiggled around a little to feel for it with my butt cheek & my jaw dropped.  

Syracuse NY with a walk-through metal detector.   I convinced the security guy that it was my belt buckle or keys that set it off the first time.  I UPS'd it back on the way home.  I'd still be in jail now, ten years later, if they'd caught me.

No offense to Daniel Lewin, but I can't see how his friend can make such definitive statements.  Anybody can be killed with a knife.

Post from Doublefeed -

Read the initial FAA report that's linked to the article. The report said that a flight attendant aboard the doomed aircraft called on a cell phone and informed AA security that a passenger in Seat 9B had been shot by the hi- jackers.

Later, American Airlines denies the story.

Where did this story originate, then?

Eric The(StillInquisitive)Hun[>]:)]

Agreed.

Especially when the victim is squeezed and belted into an airliner seat and attacked from behind.

Post from ckapsl -

Surely! And I would also imagine that Lewin, who was sitting between two rows of terrorists, might have been the very first person that they would attack, if he presented any sort of perceived physical threat to the hijackers.

But, it is for certain that no one can say that a knife is a weapon that will definitively kill every time it's used.

The knives and boxcutters didn't stave off a passenger attack on the hijackers of Flight 93.

Eric The(WonderingAloud)Hun[>]:)]

Post from Kar98 -

Not even the Mossad is into suicide tactics.

Think of the wasted money and training.

Why send a Mossad agent to his death when there are plenty of so-called Israeli art students around?

[:D]

Eric The(YankingYourChain)Hun[>]:)]

Personally, I hope it was not a gun.  I can just hear the antis now.

Hey! That's not fair! I was yanking [i]yours![/i]

;)

Post from LARRYG -

I know, I hope it wasn't a gun, either, just for OUR sakes.

But let's not forget this little piece of history:

[size=4]Have We Forgotten?[/size=4]

by Nicki Fellenzer, [email protected]

In the wake of the monstrous terrorist attacks on America September 11, 2001 we have issued a renewed and stronger call for pilots to be armed.

This call was met with assertions from the Brady Bunch that allowing pilots to be armed would perpetuate the violence.

The Association of Flight Attendants has issued an official statement claiming that arming pilots would do more harm than good.

Gun grabbers everywhere began a mamby-pamby clamor that they that they don't feel comfortable or safe with anyone but federal marshals being armed aboard a plane?

[b]Have we forgotten William Bonnell?[/b]

I guess July 6, 1954 is a long time ago. It's easy to forget. As for me, I wasn't alive then, and I never heard of Captain William "Bill" Bonnell...

...until recently.

Bill Bonnell was an American Airlines pilot who shot an armed hijacker when this teen-ager, armed with a pistol, tried to commandeer his DC-6 at the Cleveland Airport.

Back in those days, pilots were required to carry handguns, because they hand carried mail from the plane to the terminal.

Back in those days, no one questioned the Post Office regulations that required all pilots be armed.

Back then, thanks to one corageous pilot and extremely skilled shot, 58 passengers and a number of flight attendants walked away alive that day.

Here's what happened that fateful day, according to a recent article in the Houston Chronicle.

Bill Bonnell had flown from Fort Worth to Cleveland the morning of July 6, 1954, and he was preparing for the return flight. The plane was carrying almost a full load.

A fifteen-year-old punk, Raymond Kuchenmeister, armed with a stolen pistol entered the cockpit and told Bonnell, his co-pilot and the engineer he wanted to go to Mexico. "No stops," he said. Kuchenmeister didn't listen when the co-pilot tried to explain that the plane didn't have enough fuel to make the trip.

- continued -

The flight engineer told Kuchenmeister it was necessary to throw a switch behind Kuchenmeister before the plane could taxi.

That's when Bill Bonnell reached into his flight bag, removed his Colt .380 and shot the would-be hijacker twice, fatally wounding him in the process.

He saved a plane load of passengers.

He saved the lives of 58 innocent people who were preparing to fly to Forth Worth that day.

He saved the lives of his crew.

So to those people screaming that pilots should not be armed I pose the following questions:

What would have happened had Bill Bonnell not shot the gun-wielding would-be hijacker?

What would have happened to the innocent men, women and children aboard that plane if the plane had been forced to make a fateful trip to Mexico with not enough fuel?

What would have happened if one person on each of the planes hijacked on September 11th - JUST ONE - had been armed?

Bill Bonnell shot dead a hijacker, who was armed with a stolen pistol. He was an acknowledged expert with a gun. Do you think pilots today, most of whom are former members of the US military, unable to handle firearms?

The September 11th hijackers were armed with box cutters. Could one armed pilot or passenger have prevented this tragedy and the death of 6000 innocent people?

And finally -- had you been aboard that DC-6 at Cleveland Airport on July 6, 1954, would you still shrilly demand that all pilots and passengers be unilaterally disarmed?

William "Bill" Bonnell was armed that fateful day in 1954. He shot an armed hijacker dead and saved innocent lives.

And not one passenger - not one pilot - on the four hijacked planes was armed September 11th.

Not one.

See article at:[url]http://www.keepandbeararms.com/newsarchives/XcNewsPlus.asp?cmd=view&articleid=2068[/url]

Eric The(SomethingToThinkAbout)Hun[>]:)]

Damn, Murphy's law is ironclad, isn't it?

I mean, of all the possible passengers on that one flight in 1st class, the terrorists get an ex-Israeli commando who speaks Arabic and completely understands how dangerous they are.

Too bad those bastards had a gun :(

obviously the flight crew and non-terrorist passengers didn't have guns.
the government was, and still is, perfectly content to send citizens to their death by making sure they are unarmed and unable to defend themselves - but it's ok for the military to shoot the plane down if it is perceived as a threat.
oh yeah, i want to fly...

Probably Lewin was a real tough dude, but these hijackers were fanatics.  On top of the Bin Laden and all his other camel sodomites were trained by our CIA.  Then they're training was only sharpened by actual combat with the Russians.  These guys were trained by Al Queda so they probably received was intensive.  These guys were probably very well trained on how to inflict a tremendous amount of damage with box cutters.

Against my better judgement, as I've learn to keep most of my political/religous opinions to myself:

This info is old and anyone who says the Israelis aren't neck deep involved in 9/11 has not been reading or watching Fox News(who pulled the Cameron info, the cowards).

Just happen to be seated between the hi-jackers, yeh right, "it could happen".

Just my opinion,
Mike

Post from mr_wilson -

Should have listened to your better judgment.

Yeah, the Mossad and Al Quaeda have been long time allies and co-conspirators!

How many Israelis do [u]you[/u] see committing suicide? Yeah, that about wraps up that issue.

Loosen your tin-foil hat just a tad, boy! It's cutting off the flow of blood.

Eric The(EvenTexasHasA'BashTheIsraelisAtEveryOpporunity'Group)Hun[>]:)]

Re- Flight 93, yeah, but everyone died, they didnt save the flight, they saved its intended target. Consider how fast they were going and how long it would have taken in a power dive to crash? Then consider just how long it would take to put the aircraft into a dive that would be impossible for an inexperienced 'guidance system' to pull out? I've no doubt a lot of the Flight 93 passengers that tried to take control were pretty badly injured by the time the plane got below 1,000 ft.

It just makes you wonder what would have been different had someone had a 'mouse gun' like a Kel-Tec P32 or something on board...

It wouldn't surprise me if he was shot.  My aunt accidentally got on a plane from Nevada to Boston with her personal protection weapon and didn't realize it until she got off the plane.  Evidently she got it back home again too.

However, all this horsepuckey about Lewin being some sort of superhuman killing machine is just that, horsepuckey.  The Israelis are good, Sayaret Matkal is about as good an AT unit as anyone else has, but this little description strikes too close to Dick Marcinko's inflated descriptions of himself and his SEAL Six guys.

Fighting in an aircraft body is not easy.  There are passengers to worry about, tons of obstructions to impede you, and in this guy's case, no-one to watch his back.  In first class, he's also got the entire economy class at his back where another terrorist could come from while he's trying to engage and defeat an armed, numerically superior force.

Knives don;t need to kill you to subdue you.  A nice cut across the face, especially in the viscinity of the eyes, just gave you a really bloody wound that limits your ability to see and react. At that point they can whittle you down to the point that they can deliver a single, decisive blow.

While Lewin might have been more than a match for one attacker, 4 or 5 would in all likelihood, taken him down.

But let the family and friends think what they will.  I knew a young woman on that plane and had watched her grow up from the age of 4.  She was to be married a little over a month later. My dad helped her get a job with the company he works for (which lost 7 employees in the attack). It would be nice if someone fought for her and the others on the flight.